I am confused....if the new camcorders these days have up to 100GB of space are available.....why are manufactures coming out with the SDHC memory card camcorders if the cards only hold around 8GB? Why not go buy a 100GB Sony camcorder, shoot in AVCHD and import into iMovie 08??
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SDHC vs HDD
- Thread starter bkvideography
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uumm 8gb for video storage??? thats just a little too tiny. in HD that would be like 8minutes of footage. big no-no
um, actually, for HDV (which im sure the OP is referring to) its about the same file size as regular DV footage (13 gigs per hour).
Actually, the OP is referring to AVCHD, not HDV. AVCHD tops out at 15 Mbps currently. HDV is 25 Mbps.
An 8 GB SDHC card holds about 60 to 80 minutes (depending on bitrate) at HD quality.
As for the original question, why 8GB cards vs. 100GB HDDs. My opinion is that very few people need that much storage. A few SDHC cards will be plenty for a regular user and allows the manufacturer to keep the prices more reasonable.
Another reason is size. In electronics, smaller, thinner, lighter is better. An SDHC card based camcorder will always be smaller than a HDD based one.
Personally, I would rather have an SDHC based device than a HDD one. The main reason is the separation of the video from the device. If you're on vacation, if you get your camcorder stolen (or lost), you lose all of your video. If you have an SD camcorder, you would just lose the stuff that was still in the camcorder. Hopefully, the footage on the other cards was in a different bag.
Also, HDDs fail and I would tend to think that replacing a HDD would be a difficult task.
ft
Here is some data for you to consider.
Using a Canon TX1 with an 8GB SDHC card:
- I can record about 27 minutes at 720p, 30 fps, 16 bit stereo.
- I can record about 1 hour and 10 minutes at 640x480, 30 fps, 8 bit mono.
At 1080p, 30 fps, 16 bit stereo, the time would shorten quite a bit. My guess around 15 minutes.
The TX1 records to MJPEG, which IMHO is great for motion pictures. Much better than the AVCHD format. MJPEG takes a lot more memory but you capture more detail. AVCHD gives you longer recording time but you loose detail.
I prefer solid state due to the environment that I use the camera. Vibrations can't be good for the HD.
Using a Canon TX1 with an 8GB SDHC card:
- I can record about 27 minutes at 720p, 30 fps, 16 bit stereo.
- I can record about 1 hour and 10 minutes at 640x480, 30 fps, 8 bit mono.
At 1080p, 30 fps, 16 bit stereo, the time would shorten quite a bit. My guess around 15 minutes.
The TX1 records to MJPEG, which IMHO is great for motion pictures. Much better than the AVCHD format. MJPEG takes a lot more memory but you capture more detail. AVCHD gives you longer recording time but you loose detail.
I prefer solid state due to the environment that I use the camera. Vibrations can't be good for the HD.
sushi,
The Canon TX1 is not really in the same ballpark with other AVCHD camcorders. The TX1 is more of a hybrid product, rather than a camcorder, and as such, needs to make certain sacrifices.
So the data points that you listed are applicable only to the TX1. The reason why the TX1 has such limited recording times is because of the use of MJPEG. It's basically recording 30 individual JPEGs and stiching them. This codec is used because it's not very processor intensive and the TX1 is meant to be a small device.
ft
I think this is a great reason for flash over HDD. Hard drives have to spin and can break more easily than a flash card, and the flash card is replaceable. I might be wrong, but I believe that flash cards can also record higher mbps than hard drives.
Thanks for the comments.
I prefer the MJPEG format over AVCHD format. I record a lot of motion such as skiing videos and I find that there is more detail -- especially when doing slow motion. Maybe that will change in the future as there are some nice cameras/camcorders that use AVCHD format.
But for now, I'll stick with MJPEG.
BTW, also have a consumer MiniDV camcorder, but prefer MJPEG format over DV as well when it comes to slow motion shots.
Of course if I went to the pro level I would use DV. But that is way out of my price range for now.