Question About Taking SD Videos on an HD Digital Camera

[Ro_Laren]

I was in a store called Brandsmart today looking at digital cameras. I want something with a high optical zoom (at least 10x), but something that can still take good videos and is less than $300. I found a Sony Cybershot DSC-H20, but it takes HD videos. Now, I don't have an HD TV so I could care less about taking HD videos. Plus HD videos take up more space on a memory stick so you get less bang for your buck.

The Salesman I was speaking to said no prob, you can still make SD movies with an HD camera. Is this true or was he just trying to make a sale? Is the same type of memory stick used for SD and HD movies?? Or do I just change something on the settings?

Here is the info on the camera I want:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...=-1&productId=8198552921665794519#accessories

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/sony-cyber-shot-dsc/4505-6501_7-33521241.html?tag=mncol;lst

 

[Mr. B]

In all likelihood you will be able to set the video resolution to VGA (640x480).

 

[Ro_Laren]

^ Can I do that?

And what does it mean when it says it moves 720p movies? What is 720p? Does p mean pixels?

 

[Small White Car]

That means the video is 1280x720 pixels.

Just do that. I'm guessing the salesman was right...you probably can set it to 640x480...but come on. What's your computer's resolution? You're telling me that 1280x720 is going to be too much? You'll probably be watching them there more than anywhere anyway.

(For reference, that's the size of Youtube's HD settings...limiting yourself to Youtube quality is not exactly the top of the quality scale...I see no reason to want to record at less than Youtube quality.)

I understand the memory thing, but flash cards are so cheap today compared to what they used to be. Get a larger card, record 720p, and be happy.

You'll be glad you did in the future.

EDIT: I found proof for you. It has 3 settings:
1) 1280x720 (high quality)
2) 1280x720 (lower quality)
3) 640x480

And just so you know, it looks like that "29 minute limit" is by clip, not the total recording time. So if you have a large enough card you can record multiple clips just as long as they're all under that length. Flash cards tend to be FAT32 formatted which means they can't have any files larger than 2 GB. But you can have lots of 1.99 GB files.

 

[Candlelight]

^ Can I do that?

And what does it mean when it says it moves 720p movies? What is 720p? Does p mean pixels?

No, p means Progessive, as opposed to Interlaced. 720 is lines of resolution, compared to PAL (576 lines) or NTSC (480 lines).