Hands-on with Samsung's SC-HMX20C 1080p camcorder
By Darren Murph 
posted Jun 11th 2008 3:27PM
posted Jun 11th 2008 3:27PM
posted Jun 11th 2008 3:27PM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
broken link!
hmm, i was expecting some samples of the camera's output, *sadface*
how wonderful and expensive...geez
just click on the "READ" link not the "Click on over" one.
both links are quite lite if not void of substance
Wouldn't mind seeing a sample video taken with the camera...
Not into video cameras
- it still has that 'father videotaping the kids' stigma
really who goes through home videos
fathers with kids thankyouverymuch
Some people "film" things with the concept of them being viewed by more than just the "family", you know like film makers, but don't have the budget to bust out a RED camera, but want better than NTSC resolution.
P.S. Do you live in the dark ages.... youtube, vimeo, revver, imeem, ourstage, daily motion, break, viddler, blip, need I say more?
Uhh, you left out "adult" content.
Made in Indonesia? No thanks Sammy.
Showing a bit of first-world bigotry, aren't we, Tobias? Indonesia (like India, Malaysia and other homelands of your brown brothers) are turning out first-rate stuff. It's been a long time since I've see a "proudly made in the USA" sticker on something as good as the products coming out of SE Asia.
Indonesia is fine. Thanks Sammy
In my experience, cheaper electronics come from developing nations when being manufactured by the likes of Sony, Samsung, Panasonic...etc. They tend to have a cheaper grade plastic, and a cheaper feel overall. This is my personal hierarchy for quality:
1. Japan
2. S Korea
3. Taiwan
4. China
5. SE Asian nations
I have nothing against the people of those countries, it's just that they tend to produce cheaper electronics. I would guess it is due to the fact that the manufacturers have their more advanced (and costly) manufacturing facilities closer to home.
I also didn't include the US or Canada as hardly any consumer electronics are made there anymore.
Calling me a bigot for my critique of CE is over the line as well.
I would reverse Taiwan and S. Korean.
We have so many Samsung/LG monitors in the office broken before warranty expires couple of times but none of our cheap MAG or Acer monitor has any problem last over the warranty.
Not to mention the cell phone by Samsung doesn't last as long as my HTC or BenQ.
The only thing I would use from S. Korean is their memory.
Is this the same as the samsung vp-hmx20c? I just ordered a sony HDR-TG3E and i may be regreting it, Is this much better as it looks about the same size :s
Yes, that's the same camera. The european version i think (50p?)
"...and girls.."
WHERE?!
8 Gigs of space huh... What is that? Like 40 minutes of 1080p HD?
I'll wait until it reaches around 32 Gigs of storage... though the size is nice.
Sony's start at 40gb for HD camcorders. I agree either 8gb isn't enough for high quality HD or it'll take hours of highly compressed poor quality HD.
I can't believe they plaster "CMOS" on the thing. CMOS is inferior to CCD. Stamping "CMOS" on a camera is like having a badge on your car saying "only 4 cyclinders".
[citation needed]
Seriously, though, CMOS imaging technology has gotten a lot better. To simply say that CMOS is "inferior" to CCD is pretty simplistic. There are advantages to either. Here's an (old yet still a good starting point) article re: advantages/disadvantages of either… http://www.dalsa.com/shared/content/Photonics_Spectra_CCDvsCMOS_Litwiller.pdf
So it's an actual 1080p camcorder and not a 1080i wannabe? Niiice!
"1920x1080
Progressive HD"
That could only mean 1080p. Woohoo!
I don't think it really is 1080p. A lot of handycams can capture 1080p videos, but all of them records in 1080i an the end.
Does it have an optical viewfinder?
If not , then so what. The LCD isnt viewable outside on ANY camera Ive ever looked at. Why do they make them with LCD only.?
Just saw the new home HD camera from RED. its going to cost about 3000 but its a lot less than the big pro stuff. Sounds interesting.
ANY camera? I literally just took my JVC Everio outside in the direct, bright sunlight and I could compose my shot just fine.
Correct me if I'm wrong (or, if you've heard things I haven't… details on this camera still seem… flexible.) but last I heard, the RED Scarlet does not have an optical viewfinder either. In fact, I don't believe it has -any- sort of finder unless you buy the optional 4.3" LCD monitor for it. Don't get me wrong, I'm eagerly anticipating this camera myself, being used to shooting on JVC GY-HD100s that are more expensive, and shoot HDV. But as your argument against this Sammy is that it doesn't have an optical finder, I think bringing up the Scarlet is a bit misguided.
Can someone tell me whether or not this bad boy has a tripod mount on it? According to the Samsung site it does not, but that would just be utter stupidity.
Well, if the Samsung site says it doesn't have one, it probably doesn't. I'm sure they're pretty careful not to advertise incorrectly in a way that turns customers away because they think it's missing a feature it actually has. THAT would be pure stupidity.
One of the pictures shows a blurry bottom of the camera at an angle, and it sort of shows a vestigial tripod mount.
Having the Samsung website neglect to mention the tripod screw and having the Samsung website stating in fact that it indeed doesn't have one is two different things.
Touche.
Nice canon sd850 :)
The sammy looks good, but I saw component not hdmi?
The docking station has HDMI.
Are we sure that this thing is actually capturing 1080p and not just recording 1920x1080 interlaced and then outputting it as progressive? I think there's a JVC model out there currently that does this, making people think they're getting a real 1080p image.
Also, I read that this Sammy only records at 12Mbit/s at the maximum recording quality. Canon and Sony go up to 17Mbit/s, don't they? If that's the case, any benefit from having 1080p will be rendered useless by extra compression. Maybe this is because there's no HDD and you're going to be limited to SDHC cards?
There also isn't any sign that this thing uses AVCHD as the format, meaning editing software compatibility is going to be tough.
It'll probably sell though. I can see Joe Average walking into Best Buy and seeing the ubiquitous black and gold "Full HD 1920 x 1080" sticker and not even considering the Panasonic, Canon, or Sony because they're only 1080i (even though they're probably better). Ahh, marketing.
Isn't South Korea's cabinet threatening to resign unless US beef is banned from being imported. US beef is being accused of being poisoning the Korean population via a rumor spread via Internet gossip.
Seems like a one way street to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
They can't even get that under control. I suppose it's the price they pay for having lead the world in internet penetration. A plague of interconnected idiots.
It's sad that such a small minority of Koreans are the ones the world constantly hears from. Hardly anybody outside of Korea knows a thing about Yi So-yeon.
Get it while its grossly mis-priced @ $553 w/free shipping:
http://www.preferredphoto.com/viewproduct.aspx?ID=9850159