[BLU/Officers] BLU camcorder

[abreauj at gmail.com (John Abreau)]

I found a review on CNET that says it uses a low-resolution sensor,
and that the unit feels flimsy. The review concludes that you can't
get true HD quality for less than $500.

In the Youtube comparison I found, the Sony showed a quality comparable
to the Zi-8 when lighting was good, and much better quality under
low-light.

If we return the Sony, the next question is how much are we willing
to spend on a better camcorder? Most of the models that turn up
in my searches are over $1,000, and that seems a bit steep for our
resources.


On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 1:33 PM, John Abreau <abreauj at gmail.com> wrote:
> It already shipped. I'll try to set up conditions similar to a BLU meeting
> to test the video quality.
>
>> Technologically, it seems to be the worst of both worlds, because its
>> sensor is SD resolution and it upconverts to HD, so you have huge files
>> at low quality.
>
> Can you point me to these reviews? The ones I've seen were mostly positive,
> with a few negative reviews that sounded like the reviewer didn't know how
> to operate a camera in the first place.
>
> I just did another search, and I didn't find any mention of the Sony
> upconverting from Standard Definition. The only mentions of SD I find
> are that it records onto a Secure Digital flash card.
>
> I found a side-by-side comparison on Youtube of the Kodak Zi-8 vs the
> Sony HDR-C110 (the model that the 210 replaced when it was released
> earlier this year), and the video quality of the Sony looked every bit as
> good as the Kodak, and better in a low-light test.
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 11:20 AM, Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org> wrote:
>> Cancel the order if you can.
>> If not, check it out when you get it, and if it does not meet with your
>> expectations, return it.
>>
>> On 06/06/2012 11:54 PM, John Abreau wrote:
>>> Sorry, I thought nobody cared to respond. I ordered it earlier today.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 11:28 PM, David Kramer <david at thekramers.net> wrote:
>>>> On 06/04/2012 06:05 PM, John Abreau wrote:
>>>>> Hi, guys.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Kodak Zi-8 mini camcorder is not working right. Even at its best,
>>>>> it did a poor job
>>>>> of recording in low-light conditions, and for the past two meetings
>>>>> that I recorded
>>>>> wit it, the video was extremely blurry to the point of being
>>>>> completely useless.
>>>>> I made several attempts to clean the lens, to no effect.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm considering purchasing a new camcorder. I did a search for
>>>>> low-cost HD camcorders
>>>>> that work well in low-light conditions, and I found that the Sony
>>>>> HDR-CX210 showed
>>>>> a lot of positive reviews. Amazon is currently selling the HDR-CX210
>>>>> for $327.94, and
>>>>> The balance in our checking account is currently 1,979.45, so it seems
>>>>> reasonably
>>>>> affordable.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like to hear your thoughts before I decide whether to go ahead and purchase
>>>>> the HDR-CX210.
>>>> I'm sorry I have meetings Tuesday and Thursday this week so I don't have
>>>> time to do a ton of research, but a quick search turned up ?mediocre
>>>> reviews calling it flimsy.
>>>>
>>>> Technologically, it seems to be the worst of both worlds, because its
>>>> sensor is SD resolution and it upconverts to HD, so you have huge files
>>>> at low quality.
>>>>
>>>> I'll try to do more research this weekend, if you can wait that long.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Officers mailing list
>>>> Officers at blu.org
>>>> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/officers
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
>> Boston Linux and Unix
>> PGP key id:3BC1EB90
>> PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66 ?C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Officers mailing list
>> Officers at blu.org
>> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/officers
>>
>
>
>
> --
> John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
> OLD GnuPG KeyID: D5C7B5D9 / Email: abreauj at gmail.com
> OLD GnuPG FP: 72 FB 39 4F 3C 3B D6 5B E0 C8 5A 6E F1 2C BE 99
> 2011 PGP KeyID: 32A492D8 / Email: abreauj at gmail.com
> 2011 PGP FP: 7834 AEC2 EFA3 565C A4B6 ?9BA4 0ACB AD85 32A4 92D8



-- 
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
OLD GnuPG KeyID: D5C7B5D9 / Email: abreauj at gmail.com
OLD GnuPG FP: 72 FB 39 4F 3C 3B D6 5B E0 C8 5A 6E F1 2C BE 99
2011 PGP KeyID: 32A492D8 / Email: abreauj at gmail.com
2011 PGP FP: 7834 AEC2 EFA3 565C A4B6 ?9BA4 0ACB AD85 32A4 92D8