Digital Video, Part 2

We're really starting to settle on the Samsung camera. It's just too slick with all its features. Additionally, the Samsung actually communicated with the computer easily, unlike the Canon. I've also been working more with the video on the computer, which put me in front of the computer until 2:30am for a second night in a row -- today will definitely be a day for the fast-drip intravenous coffee.

In kino, I managed to get the software controlling the camera (start, stop, rewind, fast-forward) by enabling the AV/C button on the capture screen. I captured the entire 30 minutes or so that's been recorded so far from the Samsung. It amounted to about 5G. I then managed to export a short segment of Paige playing (read pounding upon gleefully) with my old dvorak keyboard. It's 18M as a high-res, dvd-quality mpeg file. I still need to figure out scaling to make these videos more deliverable. I was thinking about archiving the videos on the original tape, since it's cheaper than hard drive space, but Claire had the excellent idea of burning the videos to CD. If I format the CD the right way, I should be able to play it as a VCD in any DVD player as well. DivX is another option, but I doubt that's compatible with consumer DVD players.

I've been reading the Samsung manual now and figured out how to turn on the digital image stability feature to help compensate for my shaky hands. I also figured out that it has an "Easy.Q" mode which set everything on automatic and disables the bells and whistles that confuse the novice. I like a maze of configurations and options, but Claire may appreciate that capability.

To follow the thread, this started in this previous article, continued in comments, and has thus far come to this article: Digital Video.