Video Cameras for Pool?

Wink

Wink

14.1 Wannabe
Silver Member
Folks,

I need to get a video camera that I can use to tape my 14.1 practice sessions and some matches.

Anyone have any suggestions for what I should get and what I should avoid?

Clearly, it needs good battery life, ability to tape an entire match, and have good low light capability.

Small would be a bonus. (inexpensive if possible)

Any thoughts or suggestions on what you use or have seen used that would make it easy for me to get this stuff recorded, imported and posted online?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
I can't tell you what to get, but I can tell what not to get

http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-PlaySport-Waterproof-Pocket-Camera/dp/B0030MITDK

I have a Kodak Playsport, it cost me 150 dollars. I love this camera, but the battery life isn't that good, about 50 minutes. It records in 720p @30 and 60 FPS. Also it records 1080p, or full HD. It eats up memory like crazy, about 10 minutes per GIG. That being said, if you plan to record in full HD on any camera you'll probably need a lot of memory, whether on the camera or with flash memory cards.

I have record myself practicing and it looks very nice (but what would one expect, it's full HD). But it's nothing I'd try and record a full match for as I'd be changing batteries and cards a few times.

BTW, I found this just in case you were interested in the FlipHD.
 
Wink said:
Folks,

I need to get a video camera that I can use to tape my 14.1 practice sessions and some matches.

Anyone have any suggestions for what I should get and what I should avoid?

Clearly, it needs good battery life, ability to tape an entire match, and have good low light capability.

Small would be a bonus. (inexpensive if possible)

Any thoughts or suggestions on what you use or have seen used that would make it easy for me to get this stuff recorded, imported and posted online?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Click to expand...

Hey Brian,

I use a SONY AVCHD Handycam it records full HD @ 1080. everything is recorded onto a hard drive. i can record up to 120gb - (50 hours) before having to dump the files onto my computer. the battery life is pretty good as well. i forget how long i get. when i use the camera for pool, i normally just have it plugged in to the wall.

normally when i dump the files into the computer i have to re-encode them down to a size that will fit on vimeo, but for pool thats ok. you dont really notice it too much unless you re-encode it lower after its been already done.

this camera is a little much for pool, at the time i got it we were planning a vacation. from what i remember i think i paid like 700 or so for the cam with extra battery and camera case.

good luck
-Steve

the cam is pretty similar to the one pictured here:

sony-hdr-xr500-camcorder.jpg
[/IMG]
 
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Wink said:
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Typically the best times of the year to buy expensive electronic toys are between the Thanksgiving and New Year's holidays. If you can wait another month, you might be able to buy a very nice video camera at a substantial discount.

Also, if you know what camera you want, pricegrabber.com can be a invaluable search engine of many electronics retailers.
 
long ago i bought a panasonic SDR-S7 that records on SD cards. it's not HD but for pool it's fine. the vid quality is not great but it's so fricking small that i can carry it in my pocket. it has a 10x lens zoom and a 16gb card. battery life is good but if you are concerned, you can plug it into the wall outlet with the recharger. i think this is the same camera that marop uses. HD is nice but not great for uploading files to the net and it's really not necessary for pool vids.
 
sausage said:
long ago i bought a panasonic SDR-S7 that records on SD cards. it's not HD but for pool it's fine. the vid quality is not great but it's so fricking small that i can carry it in my pocket. it has a 10x lens zoom and a 16gb card. battery life is good but if you are concerned, you can plug it into the wall outlet with the recharger. i think this is the same camera that marop uses. HD is nice but not great for uploading files to the net and it's really not necessary for pool vids.
Click to expand...

Like i said, we got it with the intention that we were going on a trip to St. Lucia and we wanted to capture the true beauty of the tropics !

i agree its a little excessive for pool, but now that i have it i might as well use it.

-Steve
 
Almost two years ago, I bought a budget Polaroid DVC 725 HD camcorder for $130. At the time it was a woot deal and I couldn't pass it up. Works great for recording pool. Its small enough that I can throw into a backpack and cheap enough that I don't have to worry breakage and handling with kid gloves.

On a 4GB SD card it can record for 2 1/2 hours in 720HD, or 6 hours in regular 3x4 TV mode. Saves in the popular AVI format, so I don't have to reconvert to share with friends. Battery life is only 45 minutes, so I either hook it up to an outlet or keep swapping batteries. Fortunately, it uses a universal style battery and they're dirt cheap $3-5 each on ebay.

Here is a video sample, you can toggle to 720HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL5C7KeG_-g
 

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Great input so far, thanks folks. I think a key would be to be able to record in a format that I do not need to reconvert.

I am surprised that Vimeo or other sites don't have articles on recommended things to look for in a video camera for posting online. At least if there are ones, I have had problems finding those articles or posts.
 
Brian,

you are not really just converting it for vimeo. vimeo supports alot of the file types, and am sure there is a help file on there site which explains that. Each format type is a different compression of the video, hence the file size and most certainly the quality.
vimeo allows you 500mb per week for free, and i am not sure what they would give you if you pay.

rhe other thing to consider is that not everyone can play the same file types without having to update the video codecs in there machine.

hope this helps
-Steve
 
Thanks Steve. David mentioned that he actually record his home games with a WebCam. I have checked into doing exactly that, and I will try a test video tonight with it.

I already have a good cam, and have a 2-3 good recording software apps, so this may prove interesting. I still want a video camera regardless, but this will be a nice interim step for me to try out.

I guess I need to go and learn about what to record in and what to upload in for Vimeo. I have no idea what 500meg equates to, so I guess that will be the next thing that i need to learn about.

I also get really impressed with the on screen work that David does, even the ball counter ala http://vimeo.com/channels/wink#15578293

Nice editing, I wonder how much extra effort is required by David, my assumption is quite a bit!
 
I have the Kodak Zi8, and it does pretty well. Check out http://vimeo.com/johnny101 for some samples of what I've shot with it.

The battery life is about 1.5 hours, so I have 3 batteries that I rotate. Charging is quick - maybe an hour or so for each one? I record at 720 @60fps and get about an hour per gig at that resolution, so not sure where that other guy was getting 10 mins per gig from; but maybe his camera is much higher resolution. I have an 8gig card and have never come close to filling it. got half of it once, because i didn't wipe out the previous night's recordings.

It only costs about $120-ish; but accessories will up that amount. extra batteries, tripod or other mounting, plus remote and possibly even an external mic (which I do not have). It has a built-in tripod hole, and really couldn't be easier to operate.

Oh - and as far as converting for video sites, I've never done that. Well, i should say, I don't do it anymore. When I first got the cam, I did the whole convert to different format, but I saw no difference in quality, so I just upload what i want. I will make a clip from the main "all night" video for certain racks, save those as quicktime's default .mov format and upload.

i would like to get some real video software though... most likely pinnacle studio, just so i can easily put up graphics, text, annotations, etc. the Arcsoft software that comes with the camera is terribly lacking, slow and honestly, i can't get it to play well with my vista x64 machine.
 
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wink: i forgot to mention.... the thing that really bugs me most about my panasonic SD7 is that it records files in "mod" format. i then have to convert them to mpg. i wish that there was a firmware update for my camera to get it out of "mod" mode. if i were looking for another camera i'd get one that records in "mpg" format or "AVI" like straightman's camera.
 
What bugs me about my video camera is the image sensor. The higher priced cameras will have better components, which are more sensitive and record better in low light situations. If I'm not careful about my lighting, it comes out grainy. This is true with any budget camcorders. They're made for outdoors, so you need to pick your lighting carefully or augment with additional lights; couple of 500Ws worklights from Home Depot.

At my camera's price level, it doesn't come with a remote. A feature I think is very useful.
 
This isn't a bad choice for a low priced camera as its remote capable and has an external microphone port.

I did some googling, and the accessories seem down right cheap.

B&H has the remote for $7
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/643495-REG/Kodak_1402486_Pocket_Video_Remote_Control.html

Amazon has the same remote for $7.10
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Kodak brand batteries for $18
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...IC_7004_Rechargeable_Lithium_Ion_Battery.html

Omni directional external mic, with 20' cord for $17.15
http://www.amazon.com/Technica-ATR-...-Microphone/dp/B002HJ9PTO/ref=pd_bxgy_p_img_c

Wireless microphone for $18
http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Pro-PDWM...al-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1288987004&sr=1-34

stljohnny said:
I have the Kodak Zi8, and it does pretty well. Check out http://vimeo.com/johnny101 for some samples of what I've shot with it.

The battery life is about 1.5 hours, so I have 3 batteries that I rotate. Charging is quick - maybe an hour or so for each one? I record at 720 @60fps and get about an hour per gig at that resolution, so not sure where that other guy was getting 10 mins per gig from; but maybe his camera is much higher resolution. I have an 8gig card and have never come close to filling it. got half of it once, because i didn't wipe out the previous night's recordings.

It only costs about $120-ish; but accessories will up that amount. extra batteries, tripod or other mounting, plus remote and possibly even an external mic (which I do not have). It has a built-in tripod hole, and really couldn't be easier to operate.

Oh - and as far as converting for video sites, I've never done that. Well, i should say, I don't do it anymore. When I first got the cam, I did the whole convert to different format, but I saw no difference in quality, so I just upload what i want. I will make a clip from the main "all night" video for certain racks, save those as quicktime's default .mov format and upload.

i would like to get some real video software though... most likely pinnacle studio, just so i can easily put up graphics, text, annotations, etc. the Arcsoft software that comes with the camera is terribly lacking, slow and honestly, i can't get it to play well with my vista x64 machine.
Click to expand...
 
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