Steve'sDigicams

gekkonidae · Feb 1, 2008, 10:37 PM

I currently have an MPVR and A-HD that I use for helmet camera footage and would like something better that has a similar footprint, records compressed to SD memory and of course has a video input jack. Price does not matter. Thanks!

foxdirtrider · Feb 1, 2008, 10:58 PM

As far as I can tell, it does not exist. (yet)

I have used the A-HD, Mini DV, and analog Hi8mm camcorders. For me, the old analog hi-8 has the best picture quality by far. My riding is mostly woods, the recorded image has a very detailed background that is constantly moving. This is a worst case scenario for any mpeg compression codec. Very little to nothing is the same from frame to frame, so you end up with a lot of compression artifacts - blockiness in the picture and loss of fine detail.

An ideal digital recorder would correctly deal with the interlaced video input signal by assembling the altenating 1/2 fields (60 per second) into a 30fps progressive picture and then record this signal at a high bit rate (low compression) at something close to 480x320 to get the best picture. Nothing on the market does that.

I like the A-HD beacuse it is small and lightweight, but the picture quality will vary depending on the complexity of the image you send it. It is a good low cost digital camcorder for the job.

sgspirit · Feb 1, 2008, 11:03 PM

The quality of the recorded footage I've taken with Digilife hybrids with video-in ports was limited only by the quality of the remote camera. When I've recorded onto them from a VCR or tv, I was impressed that the recorded footage looked vastly better than the cameras take with their own lenses/sensors.

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Feb 1, 2008, 10:37 PM	#1
gekkonidae Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 15	I currently have an MPVR and A-HD that I use for helmet camera footage and would like something better that has a similar footprint, records compressed to SD memory and of course has a video input jack. Price does not matter. Thanks!

Feb 1, 2008, 10:58 PM	#2
foxdirtrider Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 83	As far as I can tell, it does not exist. (yet) I have used the A-HD, Mini DV, and analog Hi8mm camcorders. For me, the old analog hi-8 has the best picture quality by far. My riding is mostly woods, the recorded image has a very detailed background that is constantly moving. This is a worst case scenario for any mpeg compression codec. Very little to nothing is the same from frame to frame, so you end up with a lot of compression artifacts - blockiness in the picture and loss of fine detail. An ideal digital recorder would correctly deal with the interlaced video input signal by assembling the altenating 1/2 fields (60 per second) into a 30fps progressive picture and then record this signal at a high bit rate (low compression) at something close to 480x320 to get the best picture. Nothing on the market does that. I like the A-HD beacuse it is small and lightweight, but the picture quality will vary depending on the complexity of the image you send it. It is a good low cost digital camcorder for the job.

Feb 1, 2008, 11:03 PM	#3
sgspirit Moderator Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 887	The quality of the recorded footage I've taken with Digilife hybrids with video-in ports was limited only by the quality of the remote camera. When I've recorded onto them from a VCR or tv, I was impressed that the recorded footage looked vastly better than the cameras take with their own lenses/sensors.