Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Samsung HD Camcorer
Review: This camera was an excellent product for the price. The HD picture, touch screen ease, on camera editing, and built-in memory are all well worth the price. Figuring options out as you go (I'm not much of an instructions reader) was straightforward. Reviewing video either on the camera or on a HDTV was easy.
Warning: If you want to use your videos on a computer, the file type the videos save as (MP4) may not be compatible with Windows type players. You'll need to purchase/download a video converter program to change the file type to something your Media Player can read, MPG for example. Once you convert the file, you can edit or view your videos, burn them to DVD's, or post them on Facebook, etc. I used the Xilisoft Video Converter file.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Figured out the format issue...
Review: So, after hunting around for software that could play the video I finally found a good article posted on the net here:
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/2775.page
A poster says "Hey, some formats you can actually just change the file name to .mp2 and it'll open up on any player."
I thought he was joking, then I tried it and it actually works!
I couldn't open it up in WMP or Premier CS3 before. The only thing that would open it was Zune software. Well, VLC player would open it, but it would be VERY slow.
But as long as the right codecs are installed, renaming the file to a .mp2 extension allows me to open it in both WMP and edit it in Premiere. Although Premiere still jerks around, I probably just have to render it (which looks like it'll still take a long time btw). But, just playing back in WMP I can jump around like it is a regular video without any problems.
Hope this helps.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Decent camera for the money but...
Review: The camera takes excellent video in outside sunlight. I was very happy with a lot of the video I took. It did decent job when it was cloudy before a rain storm. But indoor florescent lighting must have turned on the auto gain because all the pictures were grainy.
The auto focus is horrible, the manual focus is too difficult to use.
I like the fact it has a standard definition mode and has S-video out.
It does have a mic in, but wish it had a headphone out.
Trying to navigate the touch screen while recording causes jumps in the video. Navigating the touch screen was not the greatest, but I could have lived with it.
The "out" ports were inside which I didn't think was a good design.
The video format is MP4, make sure you have a PC that can handle this compression. MP2 would have been nicer video compression and less of a resource hog.
My *biggest* problem was that nine out of ten times I turned it on it would tell me my SDHC card wasn't formated. I would turn it off and turn it back on and it was fine, I used two cards. If it didn't give me that error the camera would just lock up, I would have to remove the battery to get it to work again.
Overall I liked the camera and would have put up with the other disappointing features if I didn't have the format/lockup problems. I ended up returning it. I would recommend spending a little more money if you can.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: unbiased review
Review: I am very annoyed by all the negative reviews that are not the cameras fault but USER DEFAULT. That's not to say the camera is perfect but it comes close esspecially for the price $397.00!
I want to clear up some of the problems other people were having based on them just not reading directions or their tvs, pcs etc. having issues.
First of all you have to have a HD tv with a HDMI cable. It does not come with the HDMI cable! They can be very expensive and but if you have HDTV you should already have one to be able to view your cable, sattelite or bluray in HD so rest assured.
Hooking up the video camera to the HDMI cable was so easy... you just unplug your HDMI cable from whatever it is in (cable box, dvd player) and plug it into the port, put it on the right input & turn on the camera! voila! very simple and easy.
Like someone else reviewed they are VERY specific on the specifications the computer has to have in order to run the software it comes with! And even if your computer meets those standards if it is bogged down with lots of programs, pictures, games etc. it is not going to work correctly!
This is pretty easy to get around though you can edit your videos on the camera and just hook up your camera and burn it to a dvd (which you should already have on your computer if you have a dvd burner) that way you dont have to have the software on your computer if it is slower or doesnt meet the standards.
I do not reccomend this camera for anyone who wants to record in low light situations! It is not terrrible but it is not good. As far as recording in dark situations I would rate it a 5 out of 10. But I do not plan on using it in the dark much if ever so this isnt a issue for me. I do plan on tweeking the settings more though to get it to look better in low light but it might also just be easier to turn a light!
Another complaint is the zoom and focus. It is only 10x zoom... This is fine for everyday use but if you plan on using this for concerts or anything far away this may annoy you. Also I hate how it sometimes takes a little bit to focus this might be something I can get in there and fix with the advance settings and you can always edit that scene out which I have already done directly on the camera.
Now with the complaints out of the way I want to rave about the camera!
First the Clarity! It is unreal and even my husband was shocked. I couldnt belive the detail it could focus in on on our daughters Elmo stuffed animal... You could see the details of the fuzz and stiching it was amazing! It was raining when I got the camera and I sat inside and opened up the door and focues in on the rain dropping and for a distance it was crystal clear! I am going to try and upload still pictures of this to share on this review later.
I love the touch screen it isnt the kind where you barley touch it you actually have to tap it which I like because a overly sensitive touch screen can be very annoying and cause problems.
The size is perfect... it's very small but not annoyingly small. It comes with a soft pouch and it fits perfect in my purse and I look foward to being able to keep my digital & video camera in my purse when I leave the country in 2 months.
The swivel grip is a nice touch and we have already used it when taping our infant on the floor.
I reccomend this camera to anyone who has HD in their home and want something cheap & easy to use. It isnt anything professional and isnt perfect but it is very close and for $397.00 you cant beat that. I had the choice between this camera and a few other standard cameras for the same price... why not get the HD camera that is capable of standard recording and hd? It is also very trendy looking so for all you starbucks artsy people this will definitly impress your friends with it's cool design and touch screen.
I think for the $397.00 price tag this is the best camera you could get. If you want to shell out $1000 for a HD camera then go for it but if you cant afford that and were already looking to just get a normal camera for under $500 then this is the camera for you. I also wanted to add there are 3 recording resolutions HD, Standard and below standard... Standard looks almost as good as HD & below standard looks pretty darn good too! the only diference is you get more recording time on the 8gb drive and like 5 minutes more battery time.
I do plan on getting a 8 or 16gb SD card but only because I am going to the Bahamas and I want to make sure I can take lots of HD videos of the beach :-) I think the average person can get away with the 8gb hard drive and a 2-4 gb card. It does come with a card that tells you how much time you will get out of the hard drive in all the modes & how much time you will get with a 2, 4, 8 & 16gb sd card which I think is nice they included that information.
I am sure I will update this review as I use the camera more and hopefully get a good still image of my HD recordings to share with all of you.
I was worried about buying this camera because of the mixed reviews but I went through and read all of them and when I saw most of them were user default I figured this was the best option for the price and boy was I right!!
~Oh one more thing I gave it 5 stars based on the price. If I had payed full price I would have given it a 4
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Hard on Macs... but I love the camera.
Review: I love this camera, the picture, the size and all. But its definitely not too Mac friendly. If you get one DO NOT try to import using imovie, or you'll get a whole slew of problems (it'll try to convert the files to an AIC format, and then usually will crash). You can easily drag the files directly over from the camera though, onto your computer. And Quicktime handles the files really well, especially if you have Quicktime Pro.
The codec the camera shoots on is weird and hard for the computer, so if you want to edit, or even make a DVD of your video you'll need to convert the files (you can edit in Quicktime without converting... if just want simple edits). I work in TV production and have a whole slew of conversion tools, my favorite is Compressor, but you can also convert the files using Quicktime export...
Conversion takes a while, but when its done... you end up with really nice footage. I really love the camera. Was a little bugged by the fact it wouldn't just import using imovie (especially since it looks like it'll work when you try), but love the picture and everything else about the camera. The photo function takes great photo's, and they import just the same as any camera with iphoto. And hooked up to my HD screen, the picture is great. I have the little base station connected to my TV at all times so setting up takes less than 2 seconds. And using cards as a sort of DVD-medium between the computer and my TV has been nice.
Its a nasty process to get it too DVD or editing, but the codec it shoots too is relatively new, so I imagine it won't take much longer for an update to Mac owners that want to use imovie or Final Cut. After that... I absolutely love the camera.
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