HD Camcorder - What to do with the Video?

[dioxide45]

We bought a Sony HD Camcorder in May 2010 and now have a collection of very large Hi-Def video files. I have some stored on out PC and some more stored on an external USB hard drive.

Unlike the old SD camcorders, it isn't overly practical to put these on disk. We don't have a Blu-ray burner. We can use DL DVDs to hold about an hour or so of Hi-Def video, but the video quality isn't anywhere close to what we can if we connect the camcorder directly to the TV.

We have a network connected Sony television, but it doesn't recognize the HD content through Windows Media Player from our computer, so we can't watch it through the network from our PC. It also won't recognize it if we connect the hard drive to the USB port on the TV. The TV was bought just as HD camcorders started to become more mainstream. I am sure that newer TVs may work, but unfortunately for us, ours doesn't.

We love the quality of the video when watching with the camcorder directly connected to our home theater system with an HDMI cable, but that causes some issues with how to store the video.

With the low cost of SDHC memory chips, we could just buy a new chip for every vacation that we take the camcorder on. Store the vacation and other videos on separate chips. Having a separate chip for each vacation would be a good way to keep the videos organized.

Anyone else out there which an HD Camcorder? What do you do with all those video files? I am sure that I could edit each vacation down to a mini movie and put that on a disk, but I fear the quality is there when compared to direct from the camcorder. I didn't buy an HD camcorder to have to watch the videos in SD on a DVD. We love the camcorder, but dealing with the finished video files is a pain in the butt.

 

[Elan]

Why don't you buy a blu ray burner for your PC? They're about $50-60.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106374

 

[dioxide45]

Not sure if that is a burner, it indicates ROM. ROM is for Read Only Memory I believe. We also only have laptops so the internal wouldn't work. I did find an external here for about $185. It looks like 50GB writable Blu-ray disks are about $10 a piece, capacity wize, this is cheaper than SDHC.

I also question the long term usability of Blu-ray. Keeping the videos in their raw form may be better as those can be converted to just about any type of media in the future as long as the file type is still supported.

It always seems that when we get a new camcorder, the old videos from the prior camcorder are never watch or sometimes not usable. We have had C-VHS, record able mini-DVD, and now HD. We still have the C-VHS adapter but don't really know where the tapes are stored. We still have all the mini-DVC in a cabinet beside our TV, but did sell the camcorder. We love the new camcorder, but with the speed that these things change, it won't be long before it is considered obsolete.

 

[Elan]

Not sure if that is a burner, it indicates ROM. ROM is for Read Only Memory I believe. We also only have laptops so the internal wouldn't work. I did find an external here for about $185. It looks like 50GB writable Blu-ray disks are about $10 a piece, capacity wize, this is cheaper than SDHC.

I also question the long term usability of Blu-ray. Keeping the videos in their raw form may be better as those can be converted to just about any type of media in the future as long as the file type is still supported.

It always seems that when we get a new camcorder, the old videos from the prior camcorder are never watch or sometimes not usable. We have had C-VHS, record able mini-DVD, and now HD. We still have the C-VHS adapter but don't really know where the tapes are stored. We still have all the mini-DVC in a cabinet beside our TV, but did sell the camcorder. We love the new camcorder, but with the speed that these things change, it won't be long before it is considered obsolete.

Yep, I posted the wrong link. If you don't have a desktop, I guess it doesn't matter. I'd still consider the external USB burner.

Flash memory, SDHC, is typically about $1 to $1.50/GB. Here are some 25GB blu-ray discs (write once) for about $1.50 each:

http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-97238-Blu-ray-Recordable-10-Disc/dp/B003EE08S8/ref=pd_cp_e_2

Another consideration is a discrete video streaming device. Without knowing your hardware, it's hard to say what's possible.

 

[PigsDad]

I also question the long term usability of Blu-ray. Keeping the videos in their raw form may be better as those can be converted to just about any type of media in the future as long as the file type is still supported.

In order to keep the same quality, you can burn onto a blu-ray disc (or even the DL DVD disc you previously mentioned) in file mode, not video mode. That just treats the disc as a file storage device, so effectively you are just making a file backup copy of the HD video file.

You will not be able to pop that disc into a blu-ray player and play it directly on your TV, but it will archive it with no modification to the original quality for future use, such as creating videos, etc.

Kurt

 

[dioxide45]

In order to keep the same quality, you can burn onto a blu-ray disc (or even the DL DVD disc you previously mentioned) in file mode, not video mode. That just treats the disc as a file storage device, so effectively you are just making a file backup copy of the HD video file.

You will not be able to pop that disc into a blu-ray player and play it directly on your TV, but it will archive it with no modification to the original quality for future use, such as creating videos, etc.

Kurt

After researching further, it doesn't seem that Blu-ray burners are as expensive as I expected. I might pick one up. With the ability to burn to 25 and 50GB disks, that is far cheaper than SDHC cards. I can always burn photos and other stuff in file mode as you mentioned to the disks for archiving.

I always have a fear of our 1TB external hard drive going bust and losing tens of thousands of photos and years of SD and HD video. We have over 400GB of photos and videos.

 

[pwrshift]

Here's an HD video I did of a trip...you can blow this up to full screen quite nicely. http://vimeo.com/11766620

To make a BluRay disk is another big step in the creative process but learnable with a very powerful expensive $3000 computer with software and you've discovered a new hobby that is more rewarding than HD movies from your camcorder plugged into your HD TV. The expense and time is not discussed when you buy these camcorders. Yet they look so much better with titles, mixed media, music, etc.

If you're game for the next step let me know and I'll help you get there.

Brian

Also...external 2T drives are cheap now. Just get two of them, both 7200 rpm, keep all your captures on one that automatically backs up to the other. Disk drives do fail and you need a mirror image.

 

[dioxide45]

Here's an HD video I did of a trip...you can blow this up to full screen quite nicely. http://vimeo.com/11766620

To make a BluRay disk is another big step in the creative process but learnable with a very powerful expensive $3000 computer with software and you've discovered a new hobby that is more rewarding than HD movies from your camcorder plugged into your HD TV. The expense and time is not discussed when you buy these camcorders. Yet they look so much better with titles, mixed media, music, etc.

If you're game for the next step let me know and I'll help you get there.

Brian

Not sure how committed I am to the time and the high price tag. I do want a means to watch these videos on our HDTV. Once they are off the camera there is no way to put them back on to watch through the camera connected to the TV. Just being able to create raw BluRay disks of the videos would be enough. I saw an LG BluRay drive for around $140, and it seems disks are cheap enough. Just not sure I have the computer to do the job. I have the software that came with the camera that will create BluRay disks.

 

[pgnewarkboy]

After researching further, it doesn't seem that Blu-ray burners are as expensive as I expected. I might pick one up. With the ability to burn to 25 and 50GB disks, that is far cheaper than SDHC cards. I can always burn photos and other stuff in file mode as you mentioned to the disks for archiving.

I always have a fear of our 1TB external hard drive going bust and losing tens of thousands of photos and years of SD and HD video. We have over 400GB of photos and videos.

Back them up to the cloud! The thought of losing that personal history is awful. I use carbonite service. It is cheap,unlimited, and automatic. Whatever service you choose, it all should be backed up on the cloud.

 

[dioxide45]

Back them up to the cloud! The thought of losing that personal history is awful. I use carbonite service. It is cheap,unlimited, and automatic. Whatever service you choose, it all should be backed up on the cloud.

The problem I have found with many of these cloud services is that it will only backup information from the local hard drive. It doesn't play well with external drives. Because of the over 400GB of data, getting it from the external HDD to the cloud may be an issue. Perhaps I just need to use an online photo service to transfer the photos and videos to.

 

[pgnewarkboy]

The problem I have found with many of these cloud services is that it will only backup information from the local hard drive. It doesn't play well with external drives. Because of the over 400GB of data, getting it from the external HDD to the cloud may be an issue. Perhaps I just need to use an online photo service to transfer the photos and videos to.

You can get a free trial of carbonite. If it doesn't work no harm done.