mediageek

Tag: hd

  • Death of the Flip camcorder doesn’t mean camcorders are obsolete

    I was certainly surprised today when I learned that Cisco is shutting down its Flip camcorder division. The Flip camcorder has only been with us about four years, and Cisco has owned the company for only two, all the while the Flip has pretty well stood on top as the best selling camcorder in the…

  • Pick up a Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 for just $109

    I don’t normally go in for deal tracking here at mediageek, but this is one I have to pass on. Thanks to Scott Eggleston at the Frugal Filmmaker, I just learned that B&H has my favorite palm-sized camcorder, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10, on sale for just $109. That’s a good 40% less than what I…

  • Zoom finally adds HD video to a portable audio recorder, but still no mic input

    I’m always complaining about how most consumer-level camcorders don’t feature microphone inputs, or even decent mics. My Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 has pretty good mics for camcorder of it’s size and price. But because the mics are on the camera and there’s no input to add an external mic, they’re still inappropriate for interviews or any…

  • Interesting new Sanyo flip-style camcorder

    Sanyo just announced a new Xacti camcorder that looks interesting due to the way it breaks from the company’s typical pistol-grip style camcorders and due to its lens. The VPC-PD2BK has a form-factor more like the Flip-style cams, but with a 3x zoom lens that looks like it came from a compact still digicam, therefore…

  • Putting the Xacti VPC-CG10 camcorder to work DIY style

    As I’ve blogged before, I’m having a blast using my Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10 palm-sized HD camcorder. I’m starting to hear about other videographers who appreciate the CG10 not just for its cost, size and HD, but also for its manual control over exposure and focus. I just read a quick post at the Frugal Filmmaker…

  • From miniDV to dSLR – Contemplating the New Era of Digital Video

    When I saw the first miniDV digital camcorders in the late 1990s I was blown away by the edit-ready broadcast-quality picture they captured on tapes half the size of an 8mm videocassette and on cameras smaller than ever seen before. Yet, I couldn’t predict that only about a decade later we’d see the ability to…

  • Making the HD Camcorder Leap with Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-CG10

    Over the last three years I have not been shy about airing criticism of the newest wave of low-cost flash memory camcorders shooting alleged high-definition video. My critique has largely rested upon video quality being lower than established tape-based HDV camcorders and the difficulty of editing footage shot in the highly compressed AVCHD format. The…

  • HD Video for under $200?

    Last month Kodak announced its entry into the hot mini-camcorder market, obscurely named the Zi6. Kodak’s big splash with the Zi6 is that it offers HD video for just a little bit more than the standard-def Flip camcorders. Now, Sanyo has had an “HD” flash memory camcorder on the market for a while, though reviews…

  • DIY Spiderlite and Softbox

    This one’s for the video/photo geeks. Back at my last gig we used a pile of Spiderlites, which are pretty easy to use and relatively inexpensive lights that accommodate five bulbs, switchable in banks, that can be either incandescent or fluorescent. They’re not super-cheap–several hundred dollars–but for flexible continuous lighting they’re not bad. Lighting is…