"Just D" wrote in message
...
All,

Any positive feedback after using Canon VIXIA HF S100 Flash Memory High
Definition Camcorder or how it is called in Europe? Its price is getting
down, it's around $900 now, I just made one company drop $200 from the
price because of the competitors. But I'm still not sure if it makes sense
to buy it. On one hand - it's the very best in this class, it's HD, it's
using SDHC and a 32GB card gives almost 3 hours of HD video. On the other
hands it's not perfect, the matrix is small, artefacts should be visible,
the color contours are significant, there is no a viewfinder, only a
panel, although it's bright, it's not that convenient, especially after
using GL2 for several years. The most significant PROs for me are HD,
using SDHC with the random access to read/write so that I can delete some
fragment and get this space back immediately, it also should be very
convenient and fast if I need to copy the content to the computer and edit
it. I will not need to wait for the same amount of time that was used for
recroding, everything depends on the SDHC speed, nothing else. So, people,
what is your opinion, maybe experience of using this camcorder?

Just D.




You are falling for marketing hype!
In another post you detail you have a DV camcorder. Keep that until all
the "Hi-Def" crap settles and an acceptable standard is achieved.
"Hi-Def": Ask anyone who bought a HD flatscreen large TV in recent years.
Standard definition on such displays is dreadful. (And SD is still what most
of us view)
And Hi-Def material is plaqued by smearing and pixel drop.
Your IP reveals you are stateside in Arizona, look up why Walmart refused
to stock anymore Plasma's/LCD because of the problems, hence the intro
of HDMI v1.3, which was only in past 20 months. But that only solves audio
sync problems.
Audio via HDMI is the worst format for a digital Hi-Def audio stream, see
Miller
audio research tests for the awful jitter measurements. But suckers fell for
the marketing hype and purchased "Hi-Def" recievers, ask them - does the
on-board decoding sound better then off-board via HDMI - Yes it does. Send
an audio stream via HDMI and jitter is rampant!
It is still not resolved, OEM's are marketing new flatscreens that claim
200khz
or higher, intelligent backlighting and a whole heap of other techno guff,
as
they accept that current "Hi-Def" is too problematic and far from
satisfactory.
But the masses fell for the hype, now the "Hi-Def" spin passes into other
areas, such as hand-held domestic camcorders.....
Do you have any grasp of the actual differing compression techniques,
how will you be viewing your new camcorder captured HD footage, on your
PC? If so it won't look any different then a youtube flash clip, and
certainly
won't better your DV camcorder. The best such HD camcorders can manage
is 720p using H264 compression, will you be using your PC to edit to Blu-Ray
and playback on an upscaling (1080p) blu-ray player? It will look crap.
Regardless of format and marketing claims for "Hi-Def", there is more to it
then resolution, compression technique etc etc. There is also compatibility
issues, playback hardware and importantly it is just a handheld device,
do you really think you will discern Hi-Definition imaging with such a
devices
lens, the lighting and ambiance?
Stick with your DV camcorder.
Learn about the basics of home video.
Find out about the hardware and software and minimum requirements.
Use the internet to find out how disatisfied most are, apart from the dumb
who fall for the marketing.