Newbie needs advice, camera software etc « Videomaker Community Forums

PMR
Member

Hi,

I will be adding video to my website very soon, and am looking for some help please. (Naturally I'll be taking a look at the articles already on this site.)

I've done audio in the past but for video I'll probably have to go the you tube route to save bandwidth.

I will be recording the screen for some videos with audio on tip which should be straight forward enough. I used Camtasia for this before but seem to have lost the disk, and dont have it on my new pc. So a cheaper alternative would be good.

I've already got some software, virtual dub and some other codecs etc, as I fiddled with making IL2 (Flight sim videos)

The real life video blog type stuff is what represents the biggest challenge to me though, I have no camcorder and really have no idea what to look for.

I will mainly want it for doing simple presentations from my office, but I want them to be decent quality. i.e The video quality is probably less important than the audio for these.

A cheap flip type camera might have been ok if it wasn't for the fact that the audio will be shite if I use that.

I dont want to spend a lot but HD would be good, if nothing else for the future. So I'm looking for a camera with good audio that will suit a newbie.

It also needs to be able to work with easy to use software and not record in a codec that is impossible to work with. And shold be small enough for holidays etc.

I cant stand shocking software that comes with so many devices no days, it must be easy, ideally drag and drop files from it.

Also I detest anything Apple, and will avoid Quicktime like the plague. Both Quicktime and iTunes have been responsible for messing up more my computers more than once.

Thanks

Paul

Posted 3 years ago #
griz11
Member

If you want good audio you need a cam with an external mic. I recommend a Rode videomic. Its stereo and very nice. Its not cheap to do video unless its pretty crappy video. Stay away from anything that has anything besides tape for storing the vid. Reason being is that all other methods use compression. You don't want to edit something that has been saved in Mpeg-2 then render it out to something else. It creates too many compression artifacts. The more pristine the original video is meaning as uncompressed as possible the better the output. If I were looking for a get in set-up that will go quite a ways before you'd have to upgrade is a Canon HV-30 and a Rode VideoMic. That gives you sd and hd camera tape for storage although its encoded but then again all HD has to be compressed highly unless you go to a P2 type over 10K camera. Vegas software handles SD and HD very well. Even includes a codec that will make proxy copies of your HD footage for you to edit then when you encode it uses the original files. Speeds things up a bunch. Anything that is going to the net needs to be deinterlaced. Progressive only on the net. Interlacing looks horrible in certain situations and the whole vid will benefit from deinterlacing. Any video is recorded through a codec. Won't work eny other way. Download handbrake for free. Its the best free encoder I've seen. The docs are worth the download. Very in depth. I only use quicktime for making streaming video for the net. Its a one step process that creates a directory with all the files necessary to put the video on the net. Even the html. Just stay away from itunes and don't turn on the automatic updates. Check the box that only gives you quicktime. And you'll need to give them 30 bucks for the pro version if you want to encode. Worth it in my opinion since its one step and does a combined file with iphone and other forms all in one file. Makes it much easier on the site developer. The QT version looks like this on the net once its encoded and uploaded http://www.promofo-racing.org/video/Offroad-NCRC/Offroad-NCRC.html Don't try and do it on the cheap. It will just frustrate you and if you do get into it you'll end up buying equipment all over again. Take it from someone that has been down that road.

Griz

Posted 3 years ago #
composite1
Moderator

PMR,

What Griz said and; If you're doing this on the cheap and want to learn the interface quick, roll with Vegas Studio products. Save you some cash, you'll learn the Vegas line's interface so when you outgrow Studio moving into Vegas, ACID and Soundforge won't be any stretch. You might want to put some of the cash you save into a prosumer camera rig. For SD I'd roll with a Canon GL2 or XL2. Both do progressive frames (24p) and are both inexpensive and serious cameras. For HD, it really depends on your budget. Just about anything decent with as you say 'good audio' will run $3k - $5k. Truthfully, you don't need HD to post on the web. If you shoot SD at the highest resolution your sofware allows (Vegas does 10-bit) then use solid compression sofware like Cleaner or Sorenson Squeeze, then you're online video will look damn good anyway.

H.Wolfgang Porter, Composite Media Producer
Dreaded Enterprises Unlimited, Inc.
http://www.dreadedenterprises.com

Posted 3 years ago #
PMR
Member

Thanks for the replies, thats the second time someone recommended the Canon HV 30!

I have also been looking at the PANASONIC HDC-SD100 this one gets good reviews, it is a solid state recorder though.

I would love to watch your vid, but I dont have the quicktime plug in to watch it! As I remember quicktime automatically turns on the updates even after you turn it off. I had so many problems with it I just wont trust it again. I run my whole life from my computer and wont risk it with some intrusive software from apple!

Luckily a friend of mine has a pretty good camera (a £1500 panasonic with 3 ccds, dvtape i think) and has several types of microphone with the booms etc and also lighting equipment, he is in to making movies, but not for the net. He is going to let me see what I can get from his set up first.

I will have a look at the software you mentioned.

Cheers

Posted 3 years ago #