Recording in High Definition
Just as school plays and kids’ concerts are an interesting variety of moments, so, too, is the variety of choices among Sony’s current range of HD Handycam®. For easier purchasing decisions, you can categorize them according to recording media. Here are the four recording media used in HD Handycam® camcorders and their inherent benefits.
As far as recording capacity goes, nothing yet quite beats the storage space an onboard Hard Disk Drive can offer. In Sony’s current HD Handycam® range are models which have 40GB, 60GB and 120GB capacities, which let you record phenomenal amounts of HD video. Hard Disk Drive also offers instant cuing to particular scenes you’ve shot without the tedium of having to rewind.
These smaller-diameter recordable DVDs let you record HD video in AVCHD or SD video in MPEG2. Another thing that’s great about this medium is, once the disc is finalized, you can pop it into any DVD or Blu-ray Disc™ player, home computer, or PlayStation® 3 to view your videos instantly. Copying your videos for friends and family is likewise easy using any PC with write capabilities.
One of the most versatile memory formats around is Sony’s Memory Stick™. This flash-based media is compatible across many of Sony’s product lines, from digital cameras to BRAVIA LCD TVs. While currently available in up to 16GB capacities, not all devices support this capacity and it is prudent to check with a product’s specifications to find out if it can handle such a size. Using Memory Stick™ as a recording media for HD means smaller, more compact camcorders, such as the diminutive yet diligent HDR-TG1.
You could almost call MiniDV old school. The technology may have been around for several years now, but it is capable of recording HD video, using the older HDV format. HDV compresses video using MPEG2 and audio in Stereo MPEG1. Despite its age, it still remains a popular legacy choice even among professional videographers. |
