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High definition camcorder question: how do you watch the videos?
Question : High definition camcorder question: how do you watch the videos?
With a standard camcorder you could transfer the videos to DVD or VCR and watch them. Where can you transfer high definition videos and how do you watch them on TV after you have removed them from the camcorder?
high definition camcorder
Best answer:
Answer by Master
Hook your computer to your television. Most Samsung HD LCD panels accept a VGA cable. 25′ VGA cables work fine.
You can store the video files on a data DVD for play on the computer.
Modern HD formats require a recent CPU to play smoothly. Don’t expect your three year old laptop to cut the mustard.
It depends on the camcorder’s recording media and whether you need to watch in high definition.
MiniDV tape: After capturing the video, connect to a computer using a firewire cable (just like a standard definition miniDV tape based camcorder). Import the video using a HDV-friendly video editor. The Windows XP version of MovieMaker cannot handle HDV; the Vista version can – iMovieHD has been dealing with HDV for several years). Edit. Render to a DVD with a DVD authoring tool – just like standard definition. The DVD authoring tool (like WinDVD, Nero or iDVD) will downsample the video from high definition to standard definition and burn the DVD for regular DVD players to play back. Or, if you have a BluRay player or PS3, you can export the high definition video project to a h.264 AVCHD file and burn that to a data DVD – for high definition playback… or, playback in the computer if you can connect the computer to a HDTV with a VGA cable (like my Panasonic plasma) or in some cases, HDMI or even component. Or, I can export the high definition video project back out to the miniDV HDV camcorder’s tape – then connect the camcorder to the HDTV with component or HDMI cables. Or, I can export a compressed version and reduce from 1080i/1080p to 720p (h.264) and upload to vimeo.com or YouTube if the file size or length of the video meets their requirements… Or, if I have a “Direct to DVD” box, I can connect the DV port of the camcorder to the firewire/1394 port of the “Direct to DVD” box and burn a downsampled, unedited version. Or, I can connect the analog AV cable to the camcorder and a VCR (or a “Direct to DVD” recorder) and dub a tape (or burn a downsampled, unedited version).
The great thing about miniDV tape is if you don’t re-use the tape, you have that digital “archive”. Especially handy when you export the finished high definition project back out to the camcorder…
With a hard disc drive or flash memory, when you copy the video files from the camcorder to the computer, your very first step should be to copy those video files to something else – Data DVD or another hard drive – before you start editing the first set you copied over. This “extra step” is needed – as you point out, once the data is copied, the tendency is to delete the files on the camcorder to get ready for the next video capture project. But you really need to make a back up set – and most folks don’t do that.
MiniDV tape continues to provide the most flexibility and best video quality and easiest video process flow (especially with the “built-in archive” step… and with the known vibration and high altitude problems hard disc drive camcorders have and the continued relatively high expense of flash memory (one 60 minute miniDV tape is about $ 3 and holds 63 minutes of 1080i, high definition video – which uses about 44 gig of computer hard drive space), I don’t understand how people can think they are getting a better deal with “easier to use” from HDD or flash memory… it just isn’t so. MiniDV tape is still king of the hill for video quality, least $ /gig, long shelf life archive and process flexibility.