Kodak Zi6 for HD video recording?

F

fbueller

Member
Just curious if anyone has used the Kodak Zi6 for attempting HD video recording in the parks. It's relatively cheap and the reviews are good, although low light (as usual) seems weak.

I've been looking for a relatively cheap HD video recorder, I like to set my current SD camera up in a picturesque location and set it on a mini tripod to record for 10 minutes. This creates a 'window' in the park that's really cool as a screen saver type background video. I have a stash of these, and they're cool to fall asleep to. Kind of like your own bedroom in the parks.

But now I wanna go HD, so that's why I'm asking about the Zi6. There's also an Aiptek I know of, dunno about other options. Any other ideas?
 
Pre-ordered this from Kodak and owned it for a week before I returned it. I don't understand the positive reviews, I kept getting dropped frames all the time whether using the small internal memory or a HCSD card.  I really was excited to get it, and wanted to like it, but the dropped frames thing really bothered me.
 
Just a little bump, I didn't even know these things existed...  Interesting though...

I recently picked up a Canon HV30 and it's supposed to have fairly good low light quality at 24p, however I haven't tried anything just yet...  The price difference is pretty big though.  Many consumer grade camcorders really stink in low light situation though, so you're probably looking for cream of the crap.
 
you can see the low light in my fireworks videos .. it's superb for a consumer grade camera .. it's hard to squeeze larger imagers into such a small body ... budgetwise I'd go for a canon fx7 or larger without hasitation .. but they are so bulky that they would be a pain to carry
 
I don't wanna get a traditional camcorder shape, I prefer a small, compact HD capable one. This is one of those things that in 3 years will be at any Rite-Aid for $75, but being on the bleeding edge has its problems :)

kajs - I haven't heard of the dropped frame issue with the Zi6 anywhere online. Are you sure you didn't have a defective unit? If it drops frames, it's useless. Ugh.
 
It depends on what can you refer by "cheap". I use a Sony HDR-SR10 and it was $1000, when I bought it this year. I think its a great camera, sepecially on day-light. In darkness its a bit noisy(black dots on the video), but its very cool. If you can tell that cheap.  ;D
 
Pardon me being really dumb but, if you record using a HD camera, does it make any difference when making a DVD and watching on a cathode-ray tube TV?
I may be mixing HD cameras and HD TVs here (of which I have neither).
I'm presuming that, by copying to a standard DVD (as opposed to Blue ray and the like) that the quality would be downgraded to standard DVD level?
I have to make convincing arguments at my age ;D
 
And now for your question, Im quite sure that when I bought the camera 3 months ago, and I did normal DVD with some stuff I recorded, it does change the quality to Standard Level. You can also make a test, I dont know your camera's quality.
Good luck, Ill have to keep working to get a new one!  :mad: :p
 
eyore said:
Pardon me being really dumb but, if you record using a HD camera, does it make any difference when making a DVD and watching on a cathode-ray tube TV?
I may be mixing HD cameras and HD TVs here (of which I have neither).
I'm presuming that, by copying to a standard DVD (as opposed to Blue ray and the like) that the quality would be downgraded to standard DVD level?
I have to make convincing arguments at my age ;D
Click to expand...

in principal there is no difference between downscaled HD and native SD ... if it's that what you mean .. I guess  ::) ;D
 
Right, that's what I thought. At the moment, I don't have an HD TV nor a PS3 nor any Blueray player (and a camcorder that's digital but not HD) so, at the moment, I wouldn't be able to see any increase in quality.
I'll have to work on the "ah, but when we get a HD TV, think how good they'll look" routine ;D
I'm sure I read somewhere that HD recorded to DVD (normal done with Nero) results in an SD disc.
Oh dear, I'm getting old........................, all this new technology :p
 
Remember that shooting for today is a HUGE mistake. You always want to record for tomorrow. Even if you have no interest in hi-def, I assure you that within 5 years that's all that you'll want (even at the low end) and you'll have to reshoot everything. I just got a 60" hi def, and anything short of 720p (and even that is a bit iffy) looks awful. Watching my old videos on there is really difficult, and it makes me want to start in on hi-def filming asap, although as usual I'm ahead of the tech curve.

Moral of the story - if you can afford shooting higher, ALWAYS do. You'll thank yourself for it later.
 
That's good advice because, looking back over the 16 years of videos a DLRP (three camcorders - VHS-C, Hi8 and digital) there is a marked improvement each time and each of them look a lot better when transferred to DVD from the master tapes (although the best dark ride videos are with my VHS-C with fantastic light grasp - in fact I still have one for that purpose although I forgot it this year). It's a real concern which ones to take now as the Hi8 has a better night vision thing than the (same make - Sony) digital.
Things really do seem to be moving too fast for me now (he says, winding up his computer) ;D
 
dolbyman said:
eyore said:
Pardon me being really dumb but, if you record using a HD camera, does it make any difference when making a DVD and watching on a cathode-ray tube TV?
I may be mixing HD cameras and HD TVs here (of which I have neither).
I'm presuming that, by copying to a standard DVD (as opposed to Blue ray and the like) that the quality would be downgraded to standard DVD level?
I have to make convincing arguments at my age ;D
Click to expand...

in principal there is no difference between downscaled HD and native SD ... if it's that what you mean .. I guess  ::) ;D
Click to expand...
Well, standard DVD is 720x480 (NTSC) and I think 720x576 for PAL.  If your source is less than that, you would be upscaling it to DVD.  Since HD is much higher than that, you would be downscaling it to DVD quality.  In general I would probably rather watch HD content (even on a SD TV) than SD content.

Currently I have a HD DishTV receiver hooked up to a SD (13") TV.  Looks a lot better than the old Comcast signal that used to come into the house.  Of course though, the same signal looks much better on my 57" widescreen, but that won't fit in the bedroom!

MiniDV I think is at DVD spec usually, Hi8 supports I think 400 lines (vs the 480 for DVD) and VHS is in the range of 320.
 
57" widescreen :eek: :eek: :eek:
I'd have to buy the house next door to get that in!
Still, I can dream :D
The best I can fit in is 26" or, at a squeeze, maybe 32" if I move some really heavy antique furniture over an inch or two. ;D
Having to have a coffee now after finding out that, in the UK, HD recorders are slightly expensive (10x the cost of a basic DVD recorder) and discs are over 40x the cost - in fact a blank costs more than one that's been released with a movie on it already!.
Hopefully, as with DVD players, the prices will soon start to come down.
 
I think for the most part, consumers are really "stuck" with commercial HD releases.  While I now have the capability of creating HD content, it's too expensive for me to think about producing HD content for anything other than display on a computer.
 
Give it time. That's what I said when CD rewriters first appeared. ;D
Of course, as soon as I go to Blue-Ray, they'll decide on the other version as the standard.
I only just missed that with VHS Vs Betamax and went with the VHS against all the professional advice from the store :p
 
Well, I broke down and got a Zi6 for really cheap ($100). Been playing with it all day, and so far it's pretty nice. I don't see any of the tearing issues someone reported earlier (bad unit?). In low light it adjusts the frame rate down to compensate, but for my purposes of a still 'window' recording that doesn't really matter.

It doesn't take crystal clear sharp 720p by any means, but on my 60" DLP there is a significant improvement over any VGA quality video. It's nice not seeing pixelation at this size. In its price range, I think it can't be beat for some simple videos. On-ride, probably not so much (I'll test that just for kicks anyways at WDW). But outdoors, especially daytime at the parks? Looking really sweeeeet. If you're a daytime parade recorder, you'll love it. I'm not, though, I hate parades :)

 
Sure it is. Mini tripod (such as a Gorillapod) + trash can top (or other flat surface) + Zi6 = virtual Magic Kingdom on your big screen.  ;)
 
Men?
Oh no, you mean the characters aren't real :eek: :eek:
You'll be saying there's no Santa Claus next :eek:
 
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