Camcorder questions

[ochadd]

In the last 1.5 years I've shot about 5GB of video using my Canon A560 at default settings not sure about the total "time" of he videos. Also can't find the specs for how many Mbps it records at. How many GB of storage would that translate into if it was shot in 720 or 1080 HD?

Thinking about picking up an actual HD camcorder and want to make sure I've got the storage to deal with it. The specs the camera I'm looking at:
LP (5 Mbps) 3 hours
SP (7 Mbps) 2 hours 20 min
XP+ (12 Mbps) 1 hour 25 min
FXP (17 Mbps) 1 hour -Allows 1920 x 1080 Full

Can anyone tell me the actual resolution these translate into outside of FXP?

 

[randomlinh]

The 5/7/12/17Mbps is basically the data rate... so it's recording 17Mbps, or 2.125MBps, or 127.5 MB a minute. Rough estimates anyway. It's not perfect, but can give you a ball park range

 

[Kaido]

It depends on what you store your files in. I transcode all of my files into ProRes, since it works with Final Cut, Shake, and After Effects on my Mac, and my 1080p ProRes files takes up about a Gig per minute. So a $99 1TB drive, formatted down to 931 gigs, can hold about 15-1/2 hours of HD footage.

 

[theblackbox]

the newest canon , the hg21 offers 24Mbps onto it's internal 120gb drive.

LP (5 Mbps) 45 hours 55 minutes
SP (7 Mbps) 36 hours
XP+ (12 Mbps) 21 hours 40 minutes
FXP (17 Mbps) 15 hours 45 minutes
MXP (24 Mbps) 11 hours 05 minutes

the conversion is 1 Mbps = 0.125 MBps

Also, be careful, if it says it will shoot full 1920x1080, you will notice the quality is not that hot at 17Mbps. AVCHD has come a long way, and the new canon's do a better job at 24Mbps.



if you plan on shooting HD, have you decided how you will edit it?

 

[ochadd]

I haven't done much checking on anything but camera's and storage requirements atm. What do you folks recommend for someone that just wants to do basic editing for movies just shown to family/friends? (something cheap)

15 hours of video per terrabyte is harsh. Drives are cheap though and I've got three open sata ports For the amount of video I shoot that sounds doable.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ochadd
I haven't done much checking on anything but camera's and storage requirements atm. What do you folks recommend for someone that just wants to do basic editing for movies just shown to family/friends? (something cheap)

15 hours of video per terrabyte is harsh. Drives are cheap though and I've got three open sata ports For the amount of video I shoot that sounds doable.

Keep this is mind: a Blu-ray drive is 25 gigs per disc and only holds 2 hours worth of movie You're holding 24 to 30 frames per second of 1920x1200-resolution images...adds up quick!