Saturday, May 18, 2013

What is the best mini camcorder/recording method for college lectures?

Q. Some type of small HD camera that has pretty good battery life as well as memory. Also if there is a feature where the camcorder could be attached to a desk or something while I take notes. The cheaper the better but my options are open.

A. With 1080p video, 5-megapixel still image capture, and more features than we've seen in any other pocket video camera, the Zi8 follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, earning our Editors' Choice.


would a flip video camera work well for college lectures?
Q. the professor talks too fast, and i cannot take good notes. he also uses a powerpoint presentation, and he moves this too fast as well. do you think the flip camera thing would work well? they are pretty cheap now too.

A. you'd have to get permission to record the professor first or you can get in a lot of trouble.


What kind of camera to use for math lecturing?
Q. I am planning to solve math problems on a piece of paper, record it and post it to the web for my students to view. What kind of camera should I buy?

A. It would cost in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could equal the video Quality of a $300 MiniDV tape camcorder.

Consumer level HD camcorders have 3 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes - all times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event i have aver been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event on video.

With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 second or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.

You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack. You need a firewire (IEEE1394) card ($25 to 30) for the computer and a firewire cable (less than 10) to be able to transfer video to your computer.





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