Pro use/Home use...

With the HMC40, at the highest quality setting (21Mbps avg), you can get about 20 minutes on a 4GB card and almost 90 minutes on a 16GB card (any format - 1080i/1080p/720p). I think Cranky might be talking about times from a consumer AVCHD camcorder that tops out at 17Mbps. You can use lower bitrates with the HMC40, but only shooting 1080i.

Btw, I also like shooting to 4GB cards. It is very convenient for simply copying the contents straight to a single layer DVD.
 
Barry's HMC150 book has a table related to time on 32GB cards, so that would be an excellent resource.

I typically shoot 720 60P and get about 1h47m on a 16GB card. Of course, 1080 60P is far more information than 720 60P, so recording time would be significantly reduced; 1080 60i at lower quality settings will greatly increase recording time (upwards of 6 hours on a single 16GB card).
 
Mark Whalen said:
I typically shoot 720 60P and get about 1h47m on a 16GB card. Of course, 1080 60P is far more information than 720 60P, so recording time would be significantly reduced; 1080 60i at lower quality settings will greatly increase recording time (upwards of 6 hours on a single 16GB card).
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AVCHD does not support 1080p60. Recording time depends on bitrate only, and unlike DVCPROHD, with AVCHD bitrate does not depend on frame size or frame rate.
 
Brad Neal said:
Maybe I'll just to for the 32GB 30MB/s SanDisk.
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That "30MB/s" is read speed, not write speed, and I don't think they even mean sustained read speed at that.

What's vital is sustained write speed. For AVCHD cams, you need true class-4 (or better) performance. (Class-2 will not cut it for recording at the highest allowable AVCHD bitrates.) The spec for class-4 is the ability to sustain writing at 4MB/s. AVCHD, at the highest bitrate for recording (by spec), writes to the card at approx 3MB/s. As long as the card can do that, recording will be fine. Cards that can sustain faster writing speeds are fine too, but don't offer any advantage for recording, since the camera is not going to write data to the card any faster than 3MB/s anyways.

Faster read speeds can (depends on other things too though) offer faster transfer of recorded footage (to computer), but that has nothing to do with recording the footage in the first place.
 
the hmc40 won't even let you try to record high quality to a class 2 card, just gives an error message.

i like the idea of 4gb cards, but in reality, i need more than 20min per card.

BTW, i have an old 32mb, yes megabyte, SD card. it will record about 3 seconds of video at the lowest quality. We've come a long way.
 
Cranky said:
And when you lose it you will lose 180 minutes of video at once. Another reason why I prefer smaller cards and why I dislike HDD-based consumer camcorders.
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I have 2 HPX 500's and use 16 and 32 GB cards all of the time. In over 2 years of use, I have never lost a single card or the data therein. I would much rather put one card in and leave it, as opposed to swapping 2 and 4GB cards out all day and trying to keep track of those - especially those tiny SD cards. But hey - to each their own.:happy:

Thanks,
Brad
 
We've come a long way.
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I like to think what we had 10 years ago. If I could go back to the year 2000 and try to describe the HMC40 to everyone in the past, it would sound insane. Given that back then, even $10,000 wouldn't give you HD, let alone HD with all the features of the HMC40. The funny thing about this is that it's only 10 years ago...


Bob Diaz
 
10 years is forever in the world of video. Take the HMC40 back 20 years and the government would seize it (and whisk it away to some super secret lab in New Mexico), citing reasons of national security.
 
I don't want to get too far off track from the original post, but the changes in technology are starting to blur the line between "professional" and "high end home user" or student. Clearly, the high end home user isn't making any money, but the door now opens for those with talent to find a market, like event videos.

So we can see the possibility of a student using the HMC40 as a learning tool and having a better shot of picking up the skills needed for the field of video production. It's at the point where a person with talent have have a professional look to their video.



Bob Diaz
 
The "digital video revolution" in the late '90s and early 2000s worried me at first. As someone looking to start a business doing video production, going to school for it, etc, i was troubled by the fact that all of a sudden, anyone with a few hundred dollars could by a miniDV camera, a computer with firewire, and NLE software, and do the work themselves. i had people at the time (and since) tell me "why would i pay you hundreds or thousands of dollars when i can spend less on buying a camera than hiring you." Of course knowing how to use the camera (beyond pushing the red button) never really mattered to them, etc. Then came YouTube, the second desktop video explosion. Now that everyone's computers were flooded with content, the gap between professionally produced work and crap became apparent to most people. they could see that, yes, anyone CAN shoot video and edit it into something, but SHOULD they?

The tools are WAY better now than they were 10 years ago, but the principle remains the same: it not the tools, it's how you use them. What was pro gear 10 years ago wouldn't even cut it for hobby filmmaking these days, but the basic skills of filming and editing and sound recording are fundamentally the same as they've always been. Remember also, the more buttons and knobs and switches your gear has, the more you might actually need to know what they do. I look forward to seeing some really great work done by both pros and amateurs with the HMC40 and can't wait to see what the next cool new tools to make our jobs easier and our work look and sound even better will be.
 
BobDiaz said:
I like to think what we had 10 years ago. If I could go back to the year 2000 and try to describe the HMC40 to everyone in the past, it would sound insane. Given that back then, even $10,000 wouldn't give you HD, let alone HD with all the features of the HMC40. The funny thing about this is that it's only 10 years ago...


Bob Diaz
Click to expand...
In early 2000, I got my first computer, a Compaq Presario with a 500 MHz AMD CPU, 13 GB drive and 96 MB RAM. Back then, those were considered impressive specs! That was also the year I got my Sony VX2000 mini-DV cam for about $3,000. Back in 2000, it was inconceivable to be able to record HD video on solid state media with a $2,000 camcorder!
 
Back then they still used floppy disks. The moment video accepted IT workflow, the progress accelerated tenfold. I accept 500GB portable HDDs and want more and cheaper. Likewise, I accept a $2K camcorder and want a better and cheaper one :)
 
ShugPro Digital Studio said:
The "digital video revolution" in the late '90s and early 2000s worried me at first. As someone looking to start a business doing video production, going to school for it, etc, i was troubled by the fact that all of a sudden, anyone with a few hundred dollars could by a miniDV camera, a computer with firewire, and NLE software, and do the work themselves. i had people at the time (and since) tell me "why would i pay you hundreds or thousands of dollars when i can spend less on buying a camera than hiring you." Of course knowing how to use the camera (beyond pushing the red button) never really mattered to them, etc. Then came YouTube, the second desktop video explosion. Now that everyone's computers were flooded with content, the gap between professionally produced work and crap became apparent to most people. they could see that, yes, anyone CAN shoot video and edit it into something, but SHOULD they?

The tools are WAY better now than they were 10 years ago, but the principle remains the same: it not the tools, it's how you use them. What was pro gear 10 years ago wouldn't even cut it for hobby filmmaking these days, but the basic skills of filming and editing and sound recording are fundamentally the same as they've always been. Remember also, the more buttons and knobs and switches your gear has, the more you might actually need to know what they do. I look forward to seeing some really great work done by both pros and amateurs with the HMC40 and can't wait to see what the next cool new tools to make our jobs easier and our work look and sound even better will be.
Click to expand...
So true. I remember attending a student film festival at Columbia University, circa 1998. I recall two movies in particular. One movie was shot with a higher end (Betacam?) camera and I didn't think much of it. Another movie was shot with a lower end camera, but because it had a more interesting story, better acting and direction, I thought it was superior. As important as technological progress is, content and skill are still paramount!
 
Cranky said:
Back then they still used floppy disks. The moment video accepted IT workflow, the progress accelerated tenfold. I accept 500GB portable HDDs and want more and cheaper. Likewise, I accept a $2K camcorder and want a better and cheaper one :)
Click to expand...
My new computer in 2000 had a floppy drive, but came with a CD burner, which was exciting in those days. I was so psyched over being able to record a custom made CD and then play it back on a regular CD player. Looking back, it now seems quaint. It's funny how we can get excited over new technological innovations and then, when the novelty wears off, we can't wait for something better to become available. It's almost like being a drug addict looking to get a bigger high. :laugh:
 
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