We Finally jumped in and got a hi def video camera. Jeanette wanted a new camera for an upcoming trip we are expecting. I have been looking for over a year and had not found the right combination of ease of use and quality. Here are the main characteristics we were looking for.
- Portability
- High quality video
- Drag and drop file based content
- Easy to use file format
- Playback via any workstation in the house
I simply do not have that kind of time. I want to be able to shoot the video, transfer the video to a central location, and play the clips randomly. I may choose to edit them later and make movies, but I want to view them like photos for the most part.
In our home I have a central ReadyNAS NV+ which hosts all of the media content for the house and backs up files on our workstations. We have 4 Mac Minis, 3 of which are hooked up to TVs, and play music, videos, and show photos. In addition I have a Mac workstation and a couple of laptops. The idea, is that any media player in the house should be able to access and play the content from this central location.
Out 1st jump was to get a Sanyo Xacti standard definition water proof camera. We got it for a family vacation to the beach. We had very similar requirements and it performed all of these well. We shot video, transferred the video to our laptop while on vacation, and reviewed the videos and the end of every day. Which turned out to be big fun. When we got home we were able to move the files to the file server and play the content on the big screen in our den. This is perfect. If we had done this with a standard tape based camera, we may have looked at the video every night on the 3" screen, but once home, the tape would have ended up with the rest.
A little about file formats
In my mind this is the key to a useful system. I wanted the file format to be as portable as possible. I also wanted to be able to play the files either with a native or with a free multi-platform player. The best solution I could think of is mp4 or H.264. This lets us use either Quicktime or VLC to play the files.
We have been using the Sanyo for almost a year now and have been happy with the results. Is the quality great, not really. But as we actually look at the video on occasion, it wins over a higher quality video locked up on a tape.
The search for HD
Like I said we have been looking for a high def camera for some time. I have been carrying a SD card around taking random samples from video cameras at Fry's and Best Buy. The camera that was leading the pack for the longest time was the Canon Vixia series. But ultimately I could never get the file to play cleanly in Quicktime or VLC. Canon, Panasonic, JVC, and Sony all use the AVCHD codex to store the content. Unfortunately this a closed codec and isn't implemented in a standard way even among the primary vendors here. The only free player I could get to play these files was VLC. More on this in a moment.
Video formats (480, 720p, 1080i)
The Sanyo that we have is a 480p camera. The content can be played back by any standard player, and is stored non-interlaced. This means that when played back in a player there are no artifacts from movement, at least do to interlace.
There are very few 720p cameras. In the consumer space most cameras are 1080i. For the longest time I believed that I could not play the AVCHD codec, but as it turns out, my hardware is simply not powerful enough to play these massive files. I only discovered this testing VLC on Jeanette's laptop. It was able to play the 1080i AVCHD file, unless if was the full HD format. The problem with most of the files I was testing turned out to be mostly do to the higher end CPU requirement.
Even knowing this there are additional issues with the 1080i format for our use. Remember, I am not interested in spending long hours editing, and then exporting a new version of the clips. The Canon files are all stored in 1080i. Even when I am able to play these files there are horrid interlace artifacts. I can turn on de-interlacers in the player, but this also become tedeous. I can also convert the files to some other format and de-interlace, but then I am back to processing each and every file.
So we settled on the 720p format for a few reasons. First the video quality is significantly better quality then standard definition (480). Secondly and more important all of my existing hardware can play the files with no issue. On my 2ghz mac mini this takes about 80% of both cores to play.
We ended up deciding that we either wanted a 720p camera or a 1080 camera that could record 720.
Now back to the Samsung
I actually purchased the Canon HF-200. We used it for about a week and discovered much about format and codecs. I became very frustrated because I only had one machine that could play the files, VLC was the only player that could deal with the AVCHD codec, and every file was interlaced so exhibited interlace artifacts.
We were about to get another Sanyo even though the online reviews were bad, when I came across the Samsung HMX-H104BN/XAA at Fry's. The Samsung had a couple of key features that made it our pic.
- Procudes standard mp4 files
- Records in 480, 720p, and 1080i
The Samsung H104, H105, and H106 are all the same with the exception of the size of the internal SSD. It is 16, 32, and 64 GB respectively. As I use SD cards to transfer content, the internal storage isn't required at all for me, so.. I purchased the 104.
We have had the unit just a few days, so I will update this as we live with the camera. So far it performs all functions as we wanted. We can shoot video, put the SD card into the reader, transfer the files to the file server and play them anywhere in the house. An additional advantage I discovered the other day is that Facebook and Youtube do not support the AVCHD format today. So if you want to post your videos, you have to convert them to something useful like mp4. Not so with the Samsung. I simply picked the file and uploaded it. Facebook posted the video just fine.
The quality is far and above what we were using before. Is it a large multi CCD with good glass quality? Not Really. But for our family and our uses, it seems to be filling our needs just fine. I can not stress enough how much the codec has made a difference to us. I have a friend who has a Canon for over a year, and they still have not found a good solution to managing and playing back his video.
I lot of people will say things like, "you can burn a blue ray and play them." I say blah! I have moved past managing physical media. I do not want disks, and getting up and surfering content. I want to use XBMC from the comfort of my couch, pick the clip from the ski vacation so we can all see mommy shushing down the slopes. By the way, XBMC plays mp4s fine. In my opinion the MTS files are an abomination.
I realize that this review has no technical information. No measures of resolution, Gama correction, pull down algorithms etc. This is not my intent, and honestly I don't have the knowledge, skill, equipment, or time for that kind of testing. I thought it would be useful for others to know how I arrived at my purchases and if it is useful for our family.
Summary
I would recommend the Samsung H10X to anyone who wants an easy to use camera, with good video quality, and easy playback. If you want to spend your time editing, making movies, and processing content, the Samsung can still do that, but there are likley better cameras out there. Based on what I've ready, you are likely to end up with a larger tape based MPEG-2 based set up anyway.
