Video Camera

OK, I went with the Panasonic SDR-H40. $319 at buydig.com.

If it sucks, I'll return it ;).

Thanks so much to everyone for all the advice! I'm sure I'll have questions once it arrives.

- Steve
 
elvicash said:
You can also use DVD2AVI to convert the files to AVI or better yet you can use "Virtual-Dub-Mpeg2" which you can download here:

Virtual-Dub-Mpeg2
http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/stable/VirtualDub-MPEG2.zip

Also download and install this:

AC3ACM Decompressor
http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/AC3ACM/AC3ACM.zip

That makes it to Virtual-Dub can read the audio in VOB files....

When editing in Virtual-Dub you should have the "Video" and "Audio" set to "Direct Stream Copy"..
If you do not set it to this your Edited File will Be Huge because it is being converted to Uncompressed AVI....Cheers

PS:If you get a Message about the audio being VBR when Loading your AVI file into V-Dub then set the Audio to "Full processing Mode" and the Video to "Direct Stream Copy"....

Lots of cool info on this type of thing can be found at http://www.doom9.org/
Click to expand...

I tried the Virtual-Dub, but it wouldn't allow me to set the Audio/video to Direct Stream copy. it gave me some sort of error message (which I forgot write down). When I saved the file, it was over 5 GB. Obviously, that's what you were referring to when you said the file would be huge. It was only 11 minutes of video.

Any ideas?
 
Steve Lipsky said:
OK, I went with the Panasonic SDR-H40. $319 at buydig.com.

If it sucks, I'll return it ;).

Thanks so much to everyone for all the advice! I'm sure I'll have questions once it arrives.

- Steve
Click to expand...

Good luck with the camera and the 100 run steve :thumbup:

Please, let us know how its working, as im sure many have asked themselves the same question before. At least, i know i did.
 
Steve Lipsky said:
OK, I went with the Panasonic SDR-H40. $319 at buydig.com.

If it sucks, I'll return it ;).

Thanks so much to everyone for all the advice! I'm sure I'll have questions once it arrives.

- Steve
Click to expand...

Good luck with the camera and the 100 run steve :thumbup:

Please, let us know how its working, as im sure many have asked themselves the same question before. At least, i know i did.
 
So... the camera actually came yesterday! One day turnaround time, and I chose the 6-7 business day option... so far I'm very impressed with buydig.com.

OK, next question - how tall should the tripod be? I think someone mentioned 8 feet, but I wanted to get a few opinions on that.

Thanks!

- Steve
 
Steve Lipsky said:
So... the camera actually came yesterday! One day turnaround time, and I chose the 6-7 business day option... so far I'm very impressed with buydig.com.

OK, next question - how tall should the tripod be? I think someone mentioned 8 feet, but I wanted to get a few opinions on that.

Thanks!

- Steve
Click to expand...

I'd like to know this too. I bought a cheap $25 tripod from ebay, but it is probably about 4 feet and I usually have to put it on a counter or a table.
Size, brands, places to buy would be appreciated.
 
nineballman said:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos5dmkii.asp

Read the specs and watch the clips and you will want one!
Click to expand...

Well, fist and for-most, this is a digital SLR, not a video camera. Though it does have a video mode which is unmatched by anything under $30k, its just not practical to record yourself playing pool. Especially straight pool. The max record time is 12 min.

I mean, if you want some very artistic shots with a shallow depth of field, this is perfect.

I personally am about to get the Nikon D90. Similar features but Im a Nikon guy.
 
Steve Lipsky said:
So... the camera actually came yesterday! One day turnaround time, and I chose the 6-7 business day option... so far I'm very impressed with buydig.com.

OK, next question - how tall should the tripod be? I think someone mentioned 8 feet, but I wanted to get a few opinions on that.

Thanks!

- Steve
Click to expand...

Buydig.com is one of the best places to buy a camera. Good choice.

A big tripod can be annoying to carry around. For pool, I always use a mini tripod and find something to set it on. They are cheap and fit in your pocket or camera bag.

If you do go with a large tripod, I think 8ft is a little overkill. I mean, if you want to press record, find out how much battery you have, etc... you may need a boost.

Your typical cheap tripod from Best Buy should be around eye level and should work fine.

Just my opinion.
 
Steve Lipsky said:
So... the camera actually came yesterday! One day turnaround time, and I chose the 6-7 business day option... so far I'm very impressed with buydig.com.

OK, next question - how tall should the tripod be? I think someone mentioned 8 feet, but I wanted to get a few opinions on that.

Thanks!

- Steve
Click to expand...

IMO it is camera angle that is important. The further away the higher the camera will need to be.

In this video the camera was about 7-8' above the floor and about 8-9' from the near end rail.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mpt-at-chalkys-cue-stick-cafe

I was using a small tripod and had it sitting on a counter, so my distance to the table was locked in. This weekend I'll be streaming again and I am going to try raising the camera a little.

Steve
 
Steve Lipsky said:
So... the camera actually came yesterday! One day turnaround time, and I chose the 6-7 business day option... so far I'm very impressed with buydig.com.

OK, next question - how tall should the tripod be? I think someone mentioned 8 feet, but I wanted to get a few opinions on that.

Thanks!

- Steve
Click to expand...

That's the great thing about living in a major metropolitan area, "ground" shipping is often just 1 day!
 
OK, now that I've had a very little time to play with this thing, I need some help on the software end.

My movies are taping in .mod format. What is the best format for editing? Is it .avi? I tried using Virtual Dub to convert .mod to .avi and that seemed to erase all my sound AND make the file 25x larger (40mb went to 1gb)?? How did this happen, lol?

I tried using Prism, a free .mod to .avi converter, and this reduced the file size tremendously - but I still lost the sound.

I guess my main questions now are:

1) What is the best file format for editing and viewing? .AVI? (If the "best" will lead to a complicated answer of pros and cons for different types, then what is a good file format? :) )

2) How do I convert .MOD to whatever the answer to #1 is, keeping my sound and keeping file size reasonable?

I have been doing all kinds of research on the net for this and it all just leads in circles. This is very frustrating.

Thanks,
Steve
 
Thanks Dennis. With some further research, here is where I am now:

I changed the file extension from .mod to .mpg, so that Windows Movie Maker can read it. I am now experimenting with editing the file using this program.

This kept the sound and kept the file size exactly the same as the .mod. So far so good, though I need to know if there are any negatives associated with converting to the .mpg format?

- Steve
 
sde said:
IMO it is camera angle that is important. The further away the higher the camera will need to be.

In this video the camera was about 7-8' above the floor and about 8-9' from the near end rail.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mpt-at-chalkys-cue-stick-cafe

I was using a small tripod and had it sitting on a counter, so my distance to the table was locked in. This weekend I'll be streaming again and I am going to try raising the camera a little.

Steve
Click to expand...

I just measured and the height is 8' off the floor and 10' from the end rail.

Steve
 
Steve Lipsky said:
OK, now that I've had a very little time to play with this thing, I need some help on the software end.

My movies are taping in .mod format. What is the best format for editing? Is it .avi? I tried using Virtual Dub to convert .mod to .avi and that seemed to erase all my sound AND make the file 25x larger (40mb went to 1gb)?? How did this happen, lol?

I tried using Prism, a free .mod to .avi converter, and this reduced the file size tremendously - but I still lost the sound.

I guess my main questions now are:

1) What is the best file format for editing and viewing? .AVI? (If the "best" will lead to a complicated answer of pros and cons for different types, then what is a good file format? :) )

2) How do I convert .MOD to whatever the answer to #1 is, keeping my sound and keeping file size reasonable?

I have been doing all kinds of research on the net for this and it all just leads in circles. This is very frustrating.

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...


steve,

be sure you have the

video: full procesing mode and in the compression menu, chose the last one xvid mpeg-4 and in the configure buton you can put the compression as low or high as you want. Should give you a very small avi file.

audio; full procesing mode too.


if you want to edit, you can edit the file as soon as its opened in virtual dub. Edit all you want (check the filter menu out... thats where you'll find most of the cool editing things), once you got it like u want, do the above full procesing mode and save as avi or save as segmented avi if you only want to save a part of the movie (use on the screen on the bottom the two black arows the most to the right.)
 
Solartje said:
steve,

be sure you have the

video: full procesing mode and in the compression menu, chose the last one xvid mpeg-4 and in the configure buton you can put the compression as low or high as you want. Should give you a very small avi file.

audio; full procesing mode too.


if you want to edit, you can edit the file as soon as its opened in virtual dub. Edit all you want (check the filter menu out... thats where you'll find most of the cool editing things), once you got it like u want, do the above full procesing mode and save as avi or save as segmented avi if you only want to save a part of the movie (use on the screen on the bottom the two black arows the most to the right.)
Click to expand...

How do you get it to give you an avi file 100 mb or less?

Dennis
 
Steve Lipsky said:
Hey guys... wondering if someone could point me in the right direction for a decent but cheap video camera. All I want is the ability to tape a game of straight pool (so battery and recording life of around 90 minutes), good enough quality to distinguish the balls, and most of all, quick and easy uploading to a windows vista computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...


Steve: I hope you are figuring out the video editing ok.
Did you record any matches yet?

In addition to you being able to edit out your high run for us to enjoy, what about uploading entire matches between you and whomever you happen to be playing?

That might be a way for us midwestern yokels to get a chance to see the game played the right way.

Do you play Danny B every week?

I'm sure you have other strong players in your league, too.
 
dmgwalsh said:
How do you get it to give you an avi file 100 mb or less?

Dennis
Click to expand...


Keep in mind that an "AVI" file is not synonymous with DV-AVI, (the commonly known edit friendly AVI.

AVI is NOT a file type. It is a container or wrapper for any number of video codec types. Reading and decoding various AVI wrappers depends upon the codec software you have available.

Depending on what file type is inside the AVI wrapper, will depend on how much it can be compressed. You're not going to do it with dv-avi because it is too high quality.

One of the most common and troublesome AVI wrapped files are the AVIs that come from Digital Still Cameras. Many people think these are dv-avi files like the ones found in a video camera. Not so. These AVIs created from the Still Camera are what I call the notorious Motion JPEG files. Multiple still JPEG images compressed and wrapped in an AVI container. Good luck with those in any degree of editing beyond very very basic.

Anyway, the point is AVI is not a file type.

Here is something quick I found....

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/avi.cfm
 
3andstop said:
Keep in mind that an "AVI" file is not synonymous with DV-AVI, (the commonly known edit friendly AVI.

AVI is NOT a file type. It is a container or wrapper for any number of video codec types. Reading and decoding various AVI wrappers depends upon the codec software you have available.

Depending on what file type is inside the AVI wrapper, will depend on how much it can be compressed. You're not going to do it with dv-avi because it is too high quality.

One of the most common and troublesome AVI wrapped files are the AVIs that come from Digital Still Cameras. Many people think these are dv-avi files like the ones found in a video camera. Not so. These AVIs created from the Still Camera are what I call the notorious Motion JPEG files. Multiple still JPEG images compressed and wrapped in an AVI container. Good luck with those in any degree of editing beyond very very basic.

Anyway, the point is AVI is not a file type.

Here is something quick I found....

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/avi.cfm
Click to expand...

You sound like you know an awful lot about this stuff.

I was using virtual dub to take a mpeg file and save it as avi, using xvid codec and I was trying to get the size under 100 mb and was asking Solartje how to do that, using virtual dub. He says he uses it a lot. Some of the uploading services want you to keep the vid size under 100 mb.

What do you thing would be the best way to, for example, reduce the size of an mpeg file? My Canon saves the movies as mpeg.
 
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