New Technology TV

As HDTV (High Definition Television) takes the country by storm, and buzz words such as Plasma, Liquid Crystal Display and the rainbow effect gain a foothold in discussions at water coolers and soccer practices, HD (High Definition) cameras, affordably priced for the average consumer are hitting the market. Home movies will never be the same, now that dear old dad can tape birthday parties and graduations in lucidly clear, 1080i Hi-Def. It seems just yesterday, that we were fussing with VHS tapes in giant cameras that looked like they belonged to the local CBS affiliate. Or we had mid-sized cameras that recorded on an 8 mm tape. Then came the camcorders that burned memories onto a disk, and then a mini DV… Now comes the astonishing ability to create digital high-definition video for less than 1,500 dollars! Sony has a Handycam Camcorder with a 2.7 inch swivel screen that not only can record video in striking HD; it can take still camera images at the same time. It records on two different media: the practical MiniDV cassette or flash memory that is removable.

The adaptable way to record in two dissimilar ways is a big selling point all by itself. The 2.7-inch screen is large enough without being obtrusive and swivels to the front so you shoot from many different angles. It has 270 degrees of swivel and a color viewfinder if the user does not want to use the screen. Optical zoom is so much more important than digital zoom and this camcorder has a ten times optical zoom and an 80 times digital. The heart of the Hi-Def is a CMOS image sensor with over two thousand pixels. CMOS is an acronym that stands for complementary metal oxide semiconductor. It is pronounced, “see-moss”. CMOS is a semiconductor that saves energy by “resting” between the times the transistors are turning off and on. Fairchild Semiconductor and RCA pioneered the exploration of this technology in the sixties. This camera has numerous technologically advanced features. The Carl Zeiss lens is of professional quality and will reduce glare. It switches easily from the HD mode to regular video and can play back the digital Hi-Def from the recorded MiniDV disks. It shoots in MPEG-2, and has a stabilization scheme, so you don’t have to worry too much about a little shaking. This camera shoots very well in low light, which is a great feature. Nothing is worse than getting back home to play HD video on your HDTV and finding that no one can see the subjects you were shooting. Perhaps coolest of all, for film buffs, this camera shoots video at 24 frames per second in Cinema mode, and it produces film-like images! It hooks up to your computer with a firewire (IEEE 1394) and only weighs 1.2 pounds. This is a camera you can carry almost anywhere. Hi-Def comes to the home movie!