Don't look in the main manual. Look in the file "Software_GB.pdf" posted elsewhere in this forum. Look on page 26. The first part of the text is:

USING AS A PC CAMERA
If running Windows XP, you can connect the camera to a computer and use it
as a PC camera. Before using your camera as a PC camera, please install
Windows XP SP2.


Paul

After shooting the summer and fall with an HD100 I took my HD1 to Asia and fell back in love with it. Even rewrote my HD1/HD10 Shooting Guide because I realized I could use the HD1/HD10 just like the HD100 -- even though it doesn't have the controls you are "supposed" to have.

The JVC's are very EZ to shoot with if you use them like a PRO camera. It's a 1, 2, 3 step with either an HD100 or HD1.

Here's short film shot -- not mine -- with the JVC HD10.

http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail....m_id=63&list=1

VLC doesn't play all that well either. My interest was in seeing if it could be edited in FCP. Maybe I'll try iMovieHD.

The S30 shot goes so far out of focus during the pan. I suspect he wasn't using manual focus. You just must not use AF except to set focus. Once a shot starts it must be off. If you don't not only may it go out of focus -- every tiny AF change wastes encoding power causing quality to drop.

I'm not sure it over-exposed -- its that the latitude is so great in the scene something has to give. It has great detail in the shadows.

"BTW you can not go higher then f6.8 in manual modes." Are you saying if you set the shutter-speed you can't go higher than 6.8?

Also, what ISO is being used?

Aperture
 

User manual is giving F8 as the smalest aperture. But in a previous post, Joseph tell us than in A mode setting(IMO), he can't set an aperture smalest than 6.8. I suppose that in automatic mode or S mode the cam can set the aperture to 8. The other possibility is that F8 is reserved to still mode.
For ISO (ASA), I suppose it is kind of trick to make gain understandable to argentic still camera old users ?
He used the smallest one 50 ISO setting (said to be 100 ISO for video in user guide).
For focus, I think you are right, the panoramic is not so fast.
I am far to be a pro of video editing, but for me iMovieHD (#5 bundled with MacOSX G5 last year) works for basics needs, but is too slow on my PB. Works well with 2XG5 PowerMac.

Luc-Henri

Sure Steve, but the point I was making was strictly in relation to the relatively decent manual control allowance on the Sanyo, which reminded me about that old anomaly on the JVC HD1/0 - where one couldn't properly set the controls simultaneously, because setting one would knock another out.

Ultimately, the JVC HD1/0 is probably superior to the Sanyo HD1.

Not to drift off the point, but I find that short quite badly shot - mainly due to poor blocking and lighting, particularly in the bar. The poor acting obviously isn't relevant. When video is done badly, the consequences are very severe, no matter what the spec of the camera.

It is possible to record SD card mpeg4 720p30 and capture HD 4:2:2 through
component in same time? Thank you.

I wonder if it is possible to use HD1 when screen is closed.
As I read it from CNET news:
""Opening the screen turns on the camcorder. On paper, that's a sweet, natural feature that cuts down on the preparing-to-shoot checklist. In practice, though, it means that the screen must be open to record anything, which eats up battery power and looks silly when you're just recording audio.""

If not then how can sky divers or extreme guys use it?


Thanks in advance,
T.

There's no viewfinder Toenis... ;)

In manual the f stop seems to be limited to f6.8, but can go to 8 in auto.

Yes, the LCD needs to be open to record anything.

I think when I did the pans, the ISO was on auto.

Serge, I did one test where I recorded video while attached to a TV. It was with the s-video, not the component. The component output can only be used while the camera is in the charging base. The picture seemed to get much worse on the TV while the recording was taking place.

Am I smelling, a SHD1 shooting guide Steve? ;)

Many people might debate it's use as a primary camera, but I think these MPEG4/H264 style cameras still have a good place as back up/second/special purpose cameras. If the compression worked better, I would have a use for them. I have a friend that wants to do a documentary on a person, who is sort of like a athlete, and we could strap it to him.


Joseph and crew:

I am going to kick myself for this, as it is unlikely I will buy one to use it: but is it possible to get a better picture from this camera. Does a direct live computer, component, or web-cam hookup offer better compression, uncompressed, or anything?

Mounted on helmet or snowboard or on what-so-ever never depends on viewfinder either... ;)

I just meant the LCD is the only way to shoot on this model - apart from shooting blind...

I love cheap products that can do a great job IF you figure out the right path.

But, I think H.264 has the possibility of much better quality so I'll wait. I'm wondering if the next JVC will use the new AVC chip.

Also I don't have the cash for a Sanyo!

++++++++

iMovieHD works fine.

Testing? Fine... it just bugs me when people focus on resolution as if it is THE benchmark. My buddy has an HD1 and I was checking it out today, like I said, neat little toy. Does it have more resolution than an XL2? Sure... so what, it doesnt look near as good, not close. I guess you guys are judging solely on resolution? An image is limited by the sensor that recieves it and the glass it goes thru. In anything but sunlight the HD1 images are extremely noisy and uber-compressed. I was just thrown for a loop when I saw the length of this thread and talk of 35mm adapters... I personally dont get it... CLEARLY many others do!



ash =o)

Ash, there's a difference between being intrigued and being stupid.

Most people know virtually the only assets this camera has are it's physical size, slightly smaller than standard... and it's image resolution, slightly greater than standard.

Still, it's fun to test the boundaries!

I've directed a feature on Super 16mm and recently another feature on a JVC PD1. I chose the latter camera 18 months ago over the HD1 because I wanted to stick with 25p for the project. So when you say 'I guess you guys are judging solely on resolution?' you're quite wrong.

I certainly do not just pick the cam with the greatest resolution.

Danny Boyle did a great job with a Canon XL1S on 28 Days Later. He used roughly 8 cams. He could have done that on HDCAM if he'd wanted, they had approx 15 million, but he chose the XL1S and on the director's commentary says one reason was that personal handycams had become so ubiquitous: theirs was the look he wanted in a world where official systems had broken down. Buttressed by the respectable interchangeable lens system of the Canon, of course..

You wouldn't like it if someone dismissed an XL2 just because it wasn't HD. Don't dismiss this cam just because it isn't semi-pro.

In this brave new digital world it's not really a question of whether cameras are good or bad Ash - more whether they are suitable or unsuitable for a particular job. That's what I was trying to get at by bringing up Super 8. It was never meant to be semi-pro but definitely can be.

You're right, some people may get confused, think this camera is better than it is, but many of us do know what we are talking about.

I've been wondering that too, it would be a logical way to go, though camera standard support is not about logic that suits the customer. I posted an news article that indicated that the new camera would have both 720p and 1080i support, like the Ambarella chip, but it could be dual HDV support. But where is the pro version?

For the snowboarders :)

You can flip 180 degrees the lcd display so it stays laying over the camera but the camera will power on. Whith my old C1 i made a lot of videos skiing in my weekend past year. The result was not very profesional but fun to see later. I put the camera on my head with a strap!

Pd. My HD1 just arrived. Going to fill the card with some shots.

Regards.

Thanks Raf,

Sounds logical, wanted to be sure cause of the comment in cNet news about recording sound and lookin` silly with screen open :)...

I always preach, right camera for the job...as I noted I can see where this camera could have use, it is the talk of filters, adapters, etc. that had be baffled. At that point, why not just get a better camera?



ash =o)

Try putting a HC1, or HD10 in your pocket.

It will be fun for these people, and they can produce some nice things on DVD (lets face it, the compression on HDTV aren't that great either). Join in the spirit, even home videos on cheap mini-DV cameras benefit from 35mm DOF, especially with something like a large Canon zoom lens (slr adaptor on your camera, what camera? ;).

I sure hope there is an HD10 replacement because the HD100 I find it too big for travel. and for HD I really like/need AF. I'd take an HD10B with better controls and 12-bit DSP.

Still, as soon as I find a place with a 30-day trial, I'll try the Sanyo.

Joseph,

are you in PAL land - if so do you have any ideas for how to create a PAL DVD from the 30p footage?

Graham

No, sorry, I am in NTSC land. I would think editing programs like VEGAS would allow output to PAL, but I can't say I have ever checked it out.

I'm looking in the manual and it says on page 133 that you can:

'Specify the type of image signal that is output from your camera's USB/AV terminal or component terminal..'

It goes on to talk about how you can switch between PAL and NTSC, among other things.

I wonder does this mean you can capture 25p MPEG4?

Sounds too good to be true.

A lot of TVs ship with an auto NTSC mode now, that helps a bit, if setup right (under saturation in DVD player/TV, which is the one causing it). But yes DVD players can play back the footage on PAL, but say on a cheap player like mine, it comes out dull, jagged, jumpy, and or if it was transcoded from NTSC in the first place you get all these funny little double images etc from the Pull down.

I think I saw one of the Washington monuments in the background of one of Joseph's clips.

Yes, the Washington monument in NTSC ;) The video I took near the water was down the river from Washington DC.

Does anyone have more information about the Samsung SC-HDX15, then just some simple specs?

Look at the links I posted on the news forum threads, there are people talking about them in some forums.

We don't really need h264, if only the makers had released 50-100Mb/s Mpeg2 (even 35Mb/s Mpeg4) in the last year or two. Pro-sumer HD cameras are not like the 8 Mp Mpeg4 camera (like JVC did years ago).

Thanks

Wayne.

Pal
 

Graham,
I am using Apple hardware.
I put (drag and drop) all the Sanyo, Joseph & Co mp4 Clips into Imovie HD 5 (720p setting), exported the project to IDVD (Pal setting), and I got a playable PAL SD DVD (1 hour later on my PB G4 1.5). The quality is comparable to regular DVDs.
Here are the VOB features : mpeg-2, 720x576, 8000 kbps, 25 fps.

Luc-Henri

Thanks Wayne, i'll check it out.

Graham, I tried a clip with the setting in Pal mode and you get the same NTSC MP4 clip. This option is just for analog playback output from the camera to a TV. When they say USB it is because the USB and the AV are the same port. It is called the USB/AV port on the base.

Steve's Review
 

Check out www.stevesdigicams.com for Steve's review of the HD1. He has always liked the Sanyos ("a blast to use") and seems to have advanced his usually deliberate pace of "first looks" etc. I find his sample shots (mostly still) particularly useful because he shoots the same subjects with each camera.

Thanks Luc-Henri & Joseph - really appreciate your checking that out.

I work with PCs right now.

I'll hear about software that will forge a good PAL output, I'm sure.

Anybody have any ideas, please speak up.

Just reading that review at Steves Digicams.

"The HD1 incorporates a digital image stabilizer that compensates for distracting up-and-down or side-to-side camera movement, keeping your subject steady and easy to follow. It accurately distinguishes between unintentional camera shake and deliberate camera movement. This handy feature operates in both wide-angle and telephoto modes, giving every shot a solid, professional-looking feel."

I am usually very dismissive of OIS but perhaps it has application here. That said, I was playing with a C5 or a C6 in Dixons today, to get a rough idea what shooting with one of these Xacti's is like, and I must say that I didn't find keeping it steady difficult at all. I found the lightweight factor made keeping it steady very easy - although it is definitely a two-handed business, in my opinion, the other hand on the monitor...

HD1 artifacts
 

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this:
In all the 720p samples from the HD1 that have been posted on the web so far (from various people), one can see some pretty disturbing jaggies on all sharp transitions oriented along the lower left - upper right direction. This does not happen along the upper left - lower right direction. This is especially obvious on the branches in the "OC3.MP4" clip posted by Joseph in this thread.
May it is a bug with the MP4 codecs I have on Windows, although I have the same problem when watched with VLC, which comes with its own codecs.
Or could it be some bug in the handling of the DCT coefficients inside the HD1?

Bug ?
 

Emmanuel, for me (Mac user) branches comming from lower right going to upper left are saw-toothed, branches lower left to upper right are OK !
It is obvious at the begining of the ezsm07.mov clip, looking at the perpendicular & oblique white wood stuff.
Mac-PC antagonism ? ;-)
I shall try tomorow with a new Intel Mac (may be its an endianess pb of mp4 encoder).
Luc-Henri

With these cameras, I often am interested if there is an frame synchronisation input, or frame advance/snapshot feature that can be used to lower frame rate into 25p territory. Does anybody know anything?

Thanks

Wayne.

hi this is my first message here :)

i'm very interested in buying the sanyo HD1 but here is my main concern :

my actual camcorder (a sony) records mp4 files just like the HD1, and i use MP4CAM2AVI to convert (very easily) those mp4 files into AVI in order to be able to do some editing via Windows movie maker (yeah i know it's cheap but unlike most of you guys i do Video editing mainly as a hobby so i don't wanna buy a specific application like Vegas).

here is the main problem : the many MP4 files from the HD1 that i downloaded from this thread (thank u Joseph :)) seem to be kinda difficult to convert to AVI : i manage to convert them through MP4CAM2AVI , but then when i wanna play the .avi files through Windows Media player it won't even play and then would crash the Windows player (one funny thing is that as soon as i put the mouse click on the name of the .avi file -without even opening the file- it crashes all Windows explorer windows) !!!

I tried to read them directly through Windows movie maker but then what i see is an un-watchable video footage with a kinda green filter all along...

thinking that this was due to windows media player i tried to read those same .avi files through another player (Divx Concverter) but the same thing happens : it crash the player...

i don't know where the problem come from : is it due to MP4CAM2AVI which is not designed to well convert HD MP4 files or is it due to some codec that i would need in my system ?

I even downloaded a codec i think called H264 ATI but it won't help anything (this codec just made it possible to read the MP4 files directly with Quicktime instead of VLC player but it has no effect regarding the converted .avi files) !!!

please help me cause i have no use to buy this sexy camcorder if i can't do any editing with it !!!

thanx

kony

Avi
 

Bundle Software user guide page 25 : (Photo Explorer)

"Convert the format of video clip data
Video clips (QuickTime format) that were shot with your digital camera can be
converted to other formats, such as AVI and MPEG.

For questions about Photo Explorer
Further information about Photo Explorer can be found at
http://www.ulead.com "

Luc-Henri