Question by Diamond: Can SD memory cards film HD footage?
I am looking into buying a new camcorder because the audio on mine is crap (I have a canon ZR830, and it has terrible motor noise issues). I have taken filmmaking classes and researched online and people have mostly said to film on MiniDV tape, and I have agreed with them due to the fact that I don’t want to put all my footage (family videos etc.) on my computer. So I have decided to get a camcorder with built in memory. I really like Samsung’s SSD camcorder because of their durability and quality. I want the HMX-H100 because it is cheap, full HD, and uses an optical image stabilizer, which I have been led to believe is better than digital image stabilization, and is also easier o edit with. But unfortunately this camera has no internal storage so you have to use SD cards. This is not a problem because they are cheap, but I want to know if you can record full HD 1080p footage on them, I mean I thought they were SD? The reason I need a non-tape camera is because I will be at camps all summer and do not want to bring tape with me. Thanks.
Sorry I guess I wasn’t clear. The reason I don’t want a mini DV camcorder is because I want to just buy a whole bunch of really big memory cards, so I don’t have to be lugging around those huge mini DV tapes that only hold an hour and be constantly changing the tape.
Best answer:
Answer by Little Dog
Well… I am confused… You said, “people have mostly said to film on MiniDV tape, and I have agreed with them” and yet you aren’t getting a miniDV tape based camcorder. Um… OK.
When you are on vacation and the built-in memory fills, will you have a computer or some other external storage device to dump the video that’s filled the internal memory or is the plan to just stop recording – or delete video you have not transferred anywhere else? With removable memory, you still need to bring SOMETHING… whether is it more blank tapes or more SD memory cards, or something to dump the video to…
Read the camcorder manual… All the AVCHD camcorders using SD memory require Class 6 SD memory cards. These are not as cheap as the class 2 cards used in still cameras. They need to be fast because the need to keep up with the video data stream.
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/support.do?group=camerascamcorders&type=camcorders&subtype=highdefinition&model_nm=HMX-H100&language=&cate_type=all&mType=UM&dType=D&vType=&cttID=2237770&prd_ia_cd=04020600&disp_nm=HMX-H100&model_cd=HMX-H100N/XAA&menu=download&menu2=detail
Refer to page 30.
An SD flash memory card (in this case SDHC) is “Secure Digital High Capacity” and has nothing to do with High Definition video or Standard Definition video. Failure to use a fast class 6 SD card will likely result in dropped frames and reduced video quality.
And “easy to edit” is a relative term. High definition video is high definition video, no matter how you slice it. It uses up to 4 times more space on your computer hard drive. It is VERY RAM and CPU intensive. Go to page 131 of the manual… this records high definition to h.264 (MPEG4-AVC)… This is not easy to edit and your MovieMaker won’t be able to deal with it (if you want to stay in high definition, then Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere are the Windows/Vista suspects; iMovie ’08 or newer running on an Intel Mac or FinalCut running on an Intel Mac are required.
What do you think? Answer below!