Digital Video Forum

Digital Video Forum Discuss camcorders, HD video, HD DSLRs, video editing, DV software, and video techniques. Your DV forum moderator is Skyman.
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  1. #1
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    What is the best D.V. Camera for capturing live action sporting events?

    I am a technology coordinator for a school district. One of our coaches brought a broken digital video camera to me and asked if I could research the best replacement. The following considerations to be taken into account:

    1. Relatively inexpensive. Maybe $300-$600. (We are talking about a public education institution)

    2. Prefer to ditch tapes and go fully digital, either a hard drive, SD card, or hybrid.

    3. Must produce decent quality to burn to DVD. The coaches burn copies to swap with coaches at other schools and also use for their own review. These are also used for producing videos for college scouts.

    The camera that was brought to me was a Canon Elura 60. The tape mechanism was broken and I tried to salvage the camera by recording directly to SD card, which you can do with this camera. It is a 1.3 megapixel camera and shoots in 320x240 with an .avi output file format. It was basically impossible to get a usable DVD end product with this so I am pointing them in the direction of a new camera, leading to my above questions. I am a computer tech and am not well versed in digital video photography. However, to everyone at the school district, I am the "tech guy" and pretty much the "go to" on anything that plugs into a wall or uses any form of electricity! :idea:

    I did a little research online and have honed in on a couple of candidates. The Canon Vixia HG20 or the JVC Everio GZ-MG330. The main problem I am having, even in reading the reviews, is getting a clear understanding of how well these will capture live action and how that will translate to a burned DVD in the end. Is there something better than these within this price range? Any assistance somebody could give me on this is greatly appreciated as I would hate to have them buy something they can't use.

  2. #2
    Moderator Skyman's Avatar
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    Re: What is the best D.V. Camera for capturing live action sporting events?

    most reputable brand cameras will capture action ok. the trick will be how fast the autofocus response is, and there really isn't a measure for this, so unless a salesman lets you have a play with a couple of models you really can't compare. some of these cameras will have a sports mode, but that changes the shutterspeed of the camera not the way it focuses. Depending on the sports it will be used for a longer zoom will help, as will a tripod. As for the process of getting the footage to DVD well you first need to "Capture" the footage to your computer, you will then need some editing software to trim off the bits you don't want. Finally you will need some dvd burning software to get your finished videos to dvd. Some editing applications come with built in DVD exporting facilities, but something like nero or roxio works quite well just the same. Incidentally I would suggest you re think the whole tape situation, basically because tape based video is higher quality - the resons for this are explained in detail in the mini DV vs DVD thread. Let me know how you go. I am currently the tech guy for a place that administers over 40 schools, but I have worked in a couple of schools, both with good budgets and with basically no budget. I also understand how teachers expect you to often just make the thing work for me, you are the tech guy after all :-)

  3. #3
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    Re: What is the best D.V. Camera for capturing live action sporting events?

    Good afternoon! First I wanted to thank you for your response. It was very helpful. I actually made the recommendation that, within the $300-$500 price point, straight digital can't really perform the job and that tape is still the way to go. Once I did the homework on the differences I definitely agreed with you. That said, rather than do that, over the holiday break they went out and bought a Hitachi DZ-BD10HA. This thing records to a 32GB internal hard drive, or to mini Blu-Ray, or to SDHC card (class 4 or higher). I think they paid around $700 or $800 for this camera. So, rather than take the advice within the price point, they just jumped the price point up.

    I got to play with it yesterday and today. I tested some live action sports and low light conditions on both the hard drive and the mini blu-ray disc, which is re-writeable. The camera came with some authoring software which is made specifically for this camera. It is not a super robust program, but it is perfect for a point and shooter that wants to do some basic editing and get their video onto DVD.

    The test footage burned to DVD was outstanding! This was shot in HD so I guess that could be expected. I was expecting some choppy effects or some artifacts and there was so little as to really not be detectable to the casual user. If someone is reading this based on a hit of the camera make/model, I'll have to say that at first glance this is a wonderful point and shoot for the average user (family videos, etc.). They will be taping two games tonight and I will conduct some short training tomorrow on the DVD authoring, but don't anticipate any problems as the software is very simple. There are a couple of considerations with this camera. Shooting HD with a lot of action eats up battery and a lot of storage space. This doesn't have much impact on us as the camera will be plugged in when used and the 32GB hard drive will be plenty for a school sports event. The battery can run as short as 1 hour depending on the use. With the internal hard drive and 1 mini blu-ray disc, shot in HD, you can get approx. 5-6 hours of video. I could see where a family on vacation could run out of storage and be scrambling to find a way to free up storage or find a place that sells the mini blu-rays. That said, as long as you are prepared for these few limitations, this is an excellent camera. This after 2 days, so longevity can obviously not be commented on.

    In the interest of saying "thank you" and supporting your forum with some hopefully useful info I submit this post. Keep up the good work and thanks for all you are doing!

  4. #4
    Moderator Skyman's Avatar
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    Re: What is the best D.V. Camera for capturing live action sporting events?

    Thanks for the response. If you have the time i suggest you post a review of the camera on our reviews page. real user experience is invaluable when deciding which camera to buy, especially when it comes to sorting out the jargon that most salesmen throw at you.

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