[GrumpyDad]

I plan to bring my shiney new digital movie / still camera with us this year and was wondering which brand of SD memory is the most reliable? It seems like there is a huge disparity in price between all the different brands of SD memory out there. What is everyone else using?

Thanks,
-harry

[MickeyMac]

Harry, I've not had any disappointment from using the major brands (Fuji, Canon, etc) but I also swear by ScanDisk.

[tinkerbell]

ooo I bought one before we went in August and I used both Kodak multimedia and Scandisk. there was no difference in either. I just looooovvvveeee this camera but then last night I see a commercial for one (video camera) that creates DVD's ..*whine* it takes no time for anything to be out of date!!!!
One thing .. MickeyMac advised me to really try out everything before our trip which I did ..so I found out ahead of time how beautiful the prints came out and which size I wanted the pictures ahead of time ..the larger the pixels of course the less one memory card will hold. I found that using Quality - Fine and Image size -1024x768 was just perfect for me.

oh and a word of warning .. while flash photography and video taping are not allowed in so many attractions .. I sorta got in trouble twice .. in POC I had the large view screen open and was told no lighting .. guess the view screen put out too much light :( and in Its Tough to Be a Bug I had to explain to the CM that yes it was a video camera but it also took *Still images* because she told me no video taping.

[GrumpyDad]

Thanks,

The Fuji's are on sale right now so I think I will grab a couple of those. Sure wish I still had a laptop to download them to at night.

Tink,

If you have a computer with a bit of umph to it you should be able to make DVDs from your digital movie camera. I am using a piece of software called Ulead VideoStudio. It allows me to download to the computer, manipulate the file, add a soundtrack if I want. Then you are supposed to be able to create a DVD that can be read on most DVD players. Well that's what the manual says anyhow. So far I've gotten the movies onto computer and edited, but have not yet cut a DVD. Figuring that part out is on my to do list:whistle: .

-harry

[tinkerbell]

Originally posted by GrumpyDad
Thanks,

The Fuji's are on sale right now so I think I will grab a couple of those. Sure wish I still had a laptop to download them to at night.

Tink,

If you have a computer with a bit of umph to it you should be able to make DVDs from your digital movie camera. I am using a piece of software called Ulead VideoStudio. It allows me to download to the computer, manipulate the file, add a soundtrack if I want. Then you are supposed to be able to create a DVD that can be read on most DVD players. Well that's what the manual says anyhow. So far I've gotten the movies onto computer and edited, but have not yet cut a DVD. Figuring that part out is on my to do list:whistle: .

-harry

but dont you need a DVD burner? I have a regular CD burner and program for making the VCD's (my friend in England Dixie just emailed me that she got the VCD of our camping trip) I also have two ways of making VCD's ..the easiest being my Terapin http://www.terapintech.com/fea_cdaudio.html recorder. The fancy way though I have MGI Videowave which lets me add in titles, credits and such, but does take a while to do.
This year our video from WDW went straight from the video camera to a VCD and whats really nice is being able to play them on the computer and the DVD player in the family room. I used the Terapin by hooking up the digital camera to it. I have to admit I love the terapin because I can also record tv shows on to a erasable CD and use the same CD over and over again.
ok back to the DVD you mentioned making .. my biggest problem with VCD's is the limited about of time/memory on the CD. but I have noticed the DVD writtable disc have more memory and time..so would you be able to use these or do you know yet. I am really interested in this because I have spent hours putting old video tape on to CD's in VCD format and while the CD's take up less room then VHS tapes it still takes more then one CD for more then 80 minutes of tape. Is that making sense .. I think I just confused myself *grin*

[MickeyMac]

Harry, do you have a DVD burner? I'm longing for a laptop with dvd burner (actually *dying* for the new apple 15" with superdrive!!) so I can play more with my videos. I use Quicktime though, but have heard great things about Ulead.

How about instead of getting a laptop, get a smaller hard drive 'wallet' to download them onto? Santa could be good to you this year... :D

Thats funny about the lighting issue, Tink! I never thought about how much light those LCD screens use! heheee! I turn mine off to save battery mostly, so never gave it a thought to how much it could interfere!

Just wanted to know - did the CM who 'yelled' at you in Bug's Life make you prove it was not video? :D

[tinkerbell]

Originally posted by MickeyMac

Just wanted to know - did the CM who 'yelled' at you in Bug's Life make you prove it was not video? :D

Oh yes I had to prove it was also a still image camera to her.
lol you posted about the DVD's I guess the same time I did. We are never happy with what we have are we ? I have thought of putting out the $500.00 for a regular DVD recorder / player ..and could get away with it because of DH's new expensive hobby *grin*

[MickeyMac]

Yes, I read that and cracked up... I keep telling DH that my computer is outdated, so I NNEEEDDD a new one... LOLOL! I wish he shared my technogeek hobby instead of a passion for home theatre... :dazed

[GrumpyDad]

Tink and MickeyMac,

I had to upgrade my PC to do blueprints for the local building department and kinda went whole-hog and got a nice dvd burner on it ( gotta love owning your own business ). I can do DVD +R discs which I understand to be the most compliant with the DVD players out there. They do hold a heck of a lot more then VCDs, but are a heck of a lot more expensive per disk. On the plus side, the resolution is MPEG2 and I believe VCDs are only MPEG1. Now I know I am not shooting the next "Gone With The Wind" or anything, but the demo I saw did seem to be a lot crisper on DVD then on VCD. However, what Tink is doing sounds awfully convienant!

I have an older version of VideoStudio and I think there is a bug in it as I just can't seem to get it to write out to DVD properly. I need to do some research, but unless I find something a lot better, I will be putting an upgrade on my Christmas list for this year.

Now should I manage to completely rehab and sell this next project house before the holidays, then maybe Santa would buy me a digital wallet, but I have a feeling even that would be pushing it:D .

-harry

[tinkerbell]

Originally posted by GrumpyDad
Tink and MickeyMac,

I had to upgrade my PC to do blueprints for the local building department and kinda went whole-hog and got a nice dvd burner on it ( gotta love owning your own business ). I can do DVD +R discs which I understand to be the most compliant with the DVD players out there. They do hold a heck of a lot more then VCDs, but are a heck of a lot more expensive per disk. On the plus side, the resolution is MPEG2 and I believe VCDs are only MPEG1. Now I know I am not shooting the next "Gone With The Wind" or anything, but the demo I saw did seem to be a lot crisper on DVD then on VCD. However, what Tink is doing sounds awfully convienant!

I have an older version of VideoStudio and I think there is a bug in it as I just can't seem to get it to write out to DVD properly. I need to do some research, but unless I find something a lot better, I will be putting an upgrade on my Christmas list for this year.

Now should I manage to completely rehab and sell this next project house before the holidays, then maybe Santa would buy me a digital wallet, but I have a feeling even that would be pushing it:D .

-harry

lol yep lucky you ..getting to add the DVD player for business . I hadnt noticed the actual cost of DVD R disc but it would make sense that they would be more expensive. I have to confess that my Terapin is a wonderful machine and is making our VCR's useless. It has fantastic resolution too, actually better then the computer made VCD's even using the zoom when replaying the VCD's are clear and crisp which was surprising. It would be wonderful if they made CD's that hold more because the only draw back is recording movies from the tv ( like HBO and pay-perview) that last over 80 minutes cant really be done because I lose parts putting in a second disc. But having a stack of VCD's compared to a wall of VHS tapes is wonderful !!! and so many of our old family video tapes were degrading .. our WDW 92 video tape is nearly impossible to watch in fact.