Anyone know about video cameras etc

[johnelliott]

I've got a Sony Digital 8 camera and when I connect it to the computer by USB the biggest picture I can get is 320x240 which is quite small on the computer screen. The camera and computer both have firewire sockets, would I get a bigger picture using this or do I need a newer camera- if so, any recommendations? I don't really need portability, I'm happy to use it connected to a computer all the time

John

 

[CHJ]

I've got a Sony Digital 8 camera and when I connect it to the computer by USB the biggest picture I can get is 320x240 which is quite small on the computer screen. The camera and computer both have firewire sockets, would I get a bigger picture using this or do I need a newer camera- if so, any recommendations? I don't really need portability, I'm happy to use it connected to a computer all the time

John

John, method of connection to the computer makes no difference to picture size, just speed of communication between the two, and you may be pushed to see that dependent on the spec. of your computer anyway.

Are you saving your pictures to tape or memory stick.
Tape stored pictures will be smaller as they are at video resolution.

Any difference in pixel resolution is down to the camera and its software.
Do you not have an option menu that allows selection of pixel resolution for stills?

Usually you can choose to have more pixels in a still picture (increase in picture size and detail recorded) at the expense of storing fewer pictures on the memory card.

Basically what is the maximum pixel count that your camera will save? Mine goes up to 1600 X 1200 on memory stick with a file size between 650-1000Kb dependant on picture subject.

 

[johnelliott]

Chas, the camera will do stills but on video, which is what I need , it's 320x240 which is the highest option available. It's uses digital 8 tapes which are the same as Hi8 tapes .

The resolution is supposed to be, effectively, 350Kpix

John

 

[CHJ]

Then I am afraid that is as good as it gets.

Can you not display them with something like IrfanView or Office Picture Manager or other image display software and enlarge them on screen. or if they have enough detail resize the file size for display purposes.

Mine (Sony DCR-TRV 60E) when taking stills in Video Mode for inclusion in a video edit saves them at 640X480.

 

[johnelliott]

Chas, the camera will do stills but on video, which is what I need , it's 320x240 which is the highest option available. It's uses digital 8 tapes which are the same as Hi8 tapes .

The resolution is supposed to be, effectively, 350Kpix

John

I realise I said that wrong. What I meant was, the camera will takes stills, but I don't want stills, I want video, and I was hoping to get a bigger picture when displayed on a computer
Sorry
John

 

[CHJ]

The only option as I see it is to use capture software that allows enlarging of the video overlay but as of this moment none of the ones I have will play ball on this count I'm afraid.

You could try changing your monitor resolution to something like 640 X 480 or 800 X 600 whilst viewing the video of course.

 

[llangatwgnedd]

I also have a Sony Digi 8.
What software are you using John?
I use Studio 9+ at the moment and that only allows me to view in that resolution for preview and editing.
Once edited it will burn on to disc the full resolution of what that camera is capable of ( Through Firewire cable).
Hope that helps

 

[johnelliott]

I also have a Sony Digi 8.
What software are you using John?
I use Studio 9+ at the moment and that only allows me to view in that resolution for preview and editing.
Once edited it will burn on to disc the full resolution of what that camera is capable of ( Through Firewire cable).
Hope that helps

I think you might be on to something there, SD. I have started experimenting with Pixela 1.0 which came with the camera, Intervideo winDVD creatoer 2 and Windows Movie Maker both of which came with the computer (2 months old). I haven't tried burning a DVD yet as I don't actually own any burnable DVD's (still a bit behind the technology curve here). I will buy a firewire cable and some burnable dvd's today and see how I get on.
All three of the editing programmes showed the small pictures, it was only MovieMaker that gave me a choice, and I may well have been misled into thinking that these (thumbnail equivalents?) are the best I can get. None of them, as far as I can tell, actually have anything in the Help stuff about this.

John

 

[RogerS]

John

Maybe a case of grannie's eggs but I got caught out. Check your laptop can actually burn DVD's and also make sure that you buy the right DVDs compatible with your DVD writer.

Also not sure whether there are slightly different ways of burning a DVD if it is intended to be played in video type DVD player (ie like the ones you get from the video shop) or in a computer (ie like a big data disk)

 

[Adam]

I've got a Sony Digital 8 camera and when I connect it to the computer by USB the biggest picture I can get is 320x240 which is quite small on the computer screen. The camera and computer both have firewire sockets, would I get a bigger picture using this or do I need a newer camera- if so, any recommendations? I don't really need portability, I'm happy to use it connected to a computer all the time

John

John, when you save to the tape, you get a much higher resolution than when you save to the memory stick. I also have a Sony Digital 8, and when I first started using it, was using the memory stick as I "thought" it'd be easier as you could download using USB. My mate came round as said "uh oh", need to be using the tape to get proper resolution. I've since changed to using firewire. Just reread you question - I'm not sure thats what you asked.... I thought the camera had two record settings for memory stick? 320 and 640? I ran mine at 640, which obviously doubles the size. Not sure where in the settings it would be. Can you post the model of your camera?

Thanks,

Adam

 

[mr]

Depending on what you want to do with the final output ...
Are you able to alter the capture resolution of whatever software you are using to transfer the video with. For example if you increase the capture resolution to 768x575, you will get PAL format video which when output to a tv screen will play full screen. 320 x 240 is often the default for AVI format etc, it may well be that you can change that setting in the capture end of your system rather than looking for a setting to change at the input stage (camera).
Mike