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To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (27416)2/6/2005 7:20:58 PM
From: Sarmad Y. Hermiz  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 60323
 
Well, after looking into flash memory for video camcorders, I have 3 conclusions.

1- flash memory transfer speed is adequate for recording TV resolution camcorder images.

2- the exact same technical hurdles impede both disk drives and flash memory for camcorders. The issue seems to be CCD capture and transfer speeds.

3- As is intuitively obvious, 1 hour of good quality video takes 4 GB of flash.

At the moment, there is only one decent quality "record on flash - or microdrive" camcorder.

JVC Everio GZ-MC200

graphics.tomshardware.com

So, I apologize for denigrating flash memory video. The reason it is not designed into camcorders is not flash technology per se, but other issues.

I'm not sure which technology is on a faster price/capacity path. Flash or hard-drive. At the moment, a 5 GB 1" drive from seagate costs $150. The 4 GB flash memory is $340. That is not a huge difference, and very likely, when-ever the cost of high res camcorder CCD's comes down, both flash and hard-drive will share the market.

I guess it is time to invest in flash.

Sarmad



To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (27416)2/7/2005 12:58:34 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer  Respond to of 60323
 
Sarmad--re: VGA video. Seems to me that the relatively low VGA resolution for video is connected with the requirement for 30 fps, which would be necessary to get clear audio along with the video. Higher resolution video would require at least a larger buffer for temporarily storing the combined video and audio, and of course, a very fast write speed to the flash card.

Looking at some of the video being made available for cell phones (mainly short clips of news items, accompanied by audio commentary), I get the impression that these new camera phones are being designed to allow video streaming, and the cost of the technology limits video resolution.

Art