[Woolly]

I thinking of buying a Panasonic sdrs150 video camera for the car / bike. Anyone had any experience of these?. I like the small size, and use of SD cards (up to 32Gig soon), which limits the moving parts to the lens only.

 

[Tslick]

Nice camera but there are others with better quality and less price. Don't be fooled with the SDS card size, you should use a card size that will last as long as the battery charge (1 to 2 gig card). If you have more than one battery, have more than one card.

Here's the specs

Panasonic SDR-S150 $999.00

Sony DCR-HC96 $650.00

The benefit of the Panasonic is the 3 separate CCD's for red/green/blue

The benefit for the Sony is gross pixels in video mode. It's greater than the Panasonic for better resolution.

The Sony has better features and better quality.

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[easty]

not sure if your bothered mate. but when i purchased mine i also wanted to buy a helmet camera. this means the camera will need a video/audio in. these were pretty rare when i bought mine. also sometimes models that have line in disable the recod mode in the UK because you pay extra tax for it being basically a vcr. maybe look at buying it abroad.

 

[dsb]

I've played with a few models awhile ago. The units I tested produced substandard quality. I decided to simply get an inexpensive DV unit that had aux in. That way, I could beat on it and have no issues WHEN I finally break it. Besides, size was not so much an issue as DV cams have gotten so small now and the fact that either unit would fit the mount. If you have a need for the bike, then I too would recommend a unit with aux in so you can get a bullet cam if you so desire. Keep in mind, nice bullet cams will cost you.

 

[Woolly]

The benefit of the Panasonic is the 3 separate CCD's for red/green/blue

The benefit for the Sony is gross pixels in video mode. It's greater than the Panasonic for better resolution.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Does a 3CCD camera give you that much better picture quality?

Do you think vibration from a car / bike will cause problems to tape transport mechanism's over time.

I agree with the 'spare battery' idea, but I like the idea of storing straight onto an SD card - I think this is where it's going (look at vinyl - cassette - CD - HDDMP3 players - Flash Memory MP3 players - I just seem to think tape (Mini DV) is outdated - and recording straight onto SD is the way to go).

The spec on the Sony looks good, but seems like 5YO technology. . .

 

[dsb]

Currently, there are basically 4 options available. DV, HDD, DVD, and flash. I didn't like the image quality of flash, although it might be much better now. I was worried about HDD drive failure. DVD would be a concern too as the ride is too rough for the disc. So, that left me with DV. Of course, I do believe it's old technology. Doesn't matter to me anyway since I edit on the PC then burn to DVD.

 

[easty]

I'd go with miniDV also woolly. That's where the the commecial end is and the technology is very mature. I wouldn't worry about the MP. it's quite a mute point when you think of how you end up viewing. I used to output from my miniDV via the firewire port. All controlled on the PC once you plug it in. In av quality I could play back on my projector at higher than DVD resolution. My mini has been through a couple of bike crashes. A lot of bike racing, Scuba diving in a scuba case and loads of time in my car. The mechanism is bullet proof.

Also if your not thinking of bullet cam, at least think about external mic. built in mics for external use are pretty much useless. on the bike you'll need to hide the mic inside the bike somewhere.

as in this.

Google Video

 

[Woolly]

I'd go with miniDV also woolly. That's where the the commecial end is and the technology is very mature. I wouldn't worry about the MP. it's quite a mute point when you think of how you end up viewing. I used to output from my miniDV via the firewire port. All controlled on the PC once you plug it in. In av quality I could play back on my projector at higher than DVD resolution. My mini has been through a couple of bike crashes. A lot of bike racing, Scuba diving in a scuba case and loads of time in my car. The mechanism is bullet proof.

Also if your not thinking of bullet cam, at least think about external mic. built in mics for external use are pretty much useless. on the bike you'll need to hide the mic inside the bike somewhere.

as in this.


5185108821630380748

I have a couple of Canon XM1's for work, mini DVD, and use Adobe Premiere as an editing suite. I just liked the size of the little Panasonic, and it does have an external mike jack, also has very good image stabilisation - still like to discuss it with someone who has one before I commit myself.

 

[easty]

K mate, you seem to know enough i'd say to make a good purchase.. If your looking at spending nearlly 1000$ look a little further at something like the PAno HDC SD1.

I've been waiting for HD camera's to get this cheap, imaging racing through the yorkshire dales in hd.. drool!! I can bring it back from the states for you if its cheaper. hehe

 

[Woolly]

If your looking at spending nearlly 1000$ look a little further at something like the PAno HDC SD1.

I've been waiting for HD camera's to get this cheap, imaging racing through the yorkshire dales in hd.. drool!! I can bring it back from the states for you if its cheaper. hehe

I looked at the PAno HDC SD1 but . . . ...BIG problem at the moment, there is virtually no editing software for HD footage - both Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas are promising plugins for later this year, or early next year - virtually all you can do at the moment with with HD is replay it onto an HD screen. I hired a couple of HD cameras last year, and eventually had to export the footage as non-HD because I could not edit the native format.

 

[tungster]

I looked at the PAno HDC SD1 but . . . ...BIG problem at the moment, there is virtually no editing software for HD footage - both Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas are promising plugins for later this year, or early next year - virtually all you can do at the moment with with HD is replay it onto an HD screen. I hired a couple of HD cameras last year, and eventually had to export the footage as non-HD because I could not edit the native format.

I know its a lot of money but I have the first generation Sony HD video cam and the new ones are around 1500.00 I think.
As far as no way to edit the HD footage (If money wasn't an issue) can't you buy a Sony Blu-Ray burner and with the Sony HD video cam the DVD's should be HD right??

I just can't see where $650 - $700 for a Blu-Ray burner is worth it yet.

But I think that setup should work with getting true HD dvd's!

 

[mtiede]

I was very close to ordering the RM1 computer from Sony, but they seem to have pulled that model almost before you could get it. I was told because there wasn't sufficient demand.

Anyway, that was supposed to be tailored for HD and included Adobe Premiere 2.0 which, from what I could gather, was used to edit HD. Don't know for sure, but you may want to check again on that Adobe Premiere.

 

[easty]

Not looked into it that much woolly. I'd bet there coming fast though as HD-DVD is getting much cheaper in the next few months. Players for the PC and standalone for the TV for between 100-200$ I think I read. A big battle against the b-ray. I spent 200$ on a player for my xbox 360 which was the cheapest way at the time. I'm hoping hybrid players recorders hit the market soon as these standard wars are never good for the users.

I'm generally on the blade edge of some of this stuff which is risky and expensive, but I love playing.

Regarding burning HD-dvd I'm afraid were entering another terminology mind messer here. Please don't get confused with media and format. HD DVD and blue-ray only indicate a media type and capacity. yes you need specific hardware to read the actual media but this is not directly related to the format of the files.

for instance you can burn dvd quality video to an old CD, just not enough for a whole 2hr movie. You can burn HD video to a DVD and play it in HD DVD players. your just not going to get the capacity you do with a HD-DVD.

I think the demo of Uleads DVD editor can do this already and you can edit the HD video in pinnacle and vegas you just cannot burn it just yet.


So you need to use one app to edit your video at whatever resolution required. then save of the video and use another program like Uleads DVD app to create/burn the disk.

 

[tungster]

I guess I just assumed that everyone knew the difference between storage media vs format and the differences of cd, dvd, hd-dvd, blu-ray media.

The only way that you get the true quality of true High Definition video on a disc will be either on Blu-Ray (Sony's media 50 gig capacity) or HD-DVD (Toshiba's media 30 gig capacity). Toshiba recently has found a way to burn multiple layers and can now get 60 gig on an HD-DVD disk.....Watch out Sony!!!

And yes, ULead and Pinnacle are one of the only software packages that you can use to manipulate HD recorded video but have no way to put it on disk without down converting it for regular DVD's or CD's.

Not sure what software packages come with Sony's Blu-Ray dvd burner.....and I don't believe that there is an HD-DVD burner available to the market as of yet. What do you think Toshiba is waiting for??

Now....I have a Sony Vaio laptop and they have a software package which works seemlessly with another Sony device (HD or non-HD). This software is called "Click to DVD". I do not have a Blu-Ray burner so I can not tell you if it will burn true HD video.

But..............with one click it recognized my vid cam, played back the video while capturing it on the hard drive, then burned it to regular DVD (HD signal from camera down converted to 480p for regular DVD disk).

My problem was before I had to take the video, get it off the camera with Ulead, convert it to an AVI, MPEG, or whatever format and then get the file back on to the DVD and the end quality was horrible because of all the inbetween stuff to get it off my camera was a huge loss of quality.

With the Sony cam to Sony laptop and "Click to DVD" there is no in between and the end result is not HD but it is a good quality video that is put on dvd and you can watch it on any dvd player.

 

[mtiede]

That Sony RGC RM-1 (model?) included a Blu Ray (sp?) burner and a little round device that was a "jogger" to help with the video editing. Very weird that it was hardly even on the market before they pulled it. I was really looking forward to getting into HD recording and burning.

 

[easty]

The only way that you get the true quality of true High Definition video on a disc will be either on Blu-Ray (Sony's media 50 gig capacity) or HD-DVD (Toshiba's media 30 gig capacity).

Thats just not true mate. they are the only media large enough to put HD video in the size for a full motion video with all the extras.
But you can burn HD quality video onto anything. vc-1 encoded video is at something like 3.5Mb per sec at a max bitrate. So you could in fact fit 3 mins on a standard CD.

If you browse the net you can find people that are burning HD video and playing it back on standard HD players as you can get like 42 mins on a dvd you obviously can not fit the movie and all the extras of a HD-DVD/B-ray title on a DVD. but the players will read the HD video format from a DVD.

As i said before there is a huge terminology misunderstanding between format and media. DVD never stood for digital video disk when it first came out. I've read people in magazine explaining how amazing it is they can put PC games and information on a video disk. I'm thinking wtf these people don't have a clue and they are writing for magazines.

I know if i was wanting to put footage from the motorbike, scuba diving or the car on a 9gb DVD, 40 mins would be fine. and in a couple of years recorders will be $60

 

[Woolly]

DVD never stood for digital video disk when it first came out.

Brian, you're right - DVD stood for digital Versatile disk - the reason I'm goin for a SDR-S150 is

a) the small size,
b) SD media - no movin parts
c) Picture quallity for a non-HD camera is pretty good.

. . . but, . . you try to buy one now, - no stock, everything on back order, both in the States, UK and even off Panasonic's own website - has it been dropped already, or whats going on???

 

[easty]

seen this

also try froogle here. or google product search as they renamed it here. If you need someone to relay it for you pm me.