Camcorder articles from August 1997

Camcorder archives from August 1997

7 top camcorders of '97.(Evaluation)(Cover Story)
August 1, 1997... That, of course, is not to be. Only a relative few are ever really successful in the marketplace. And fewer still achieve the performance required to make them exceptional units. The real question that you, the consumer, have to ask is...

Holding steady: new tripod features make them more convenient, more valuable.(tripods for camcorders)
August 1, 1997... Over the last year or so my brother Dan and I have been to dozens of national parks with our camcorder setup. No, we aren't trying to get video of ourselves in front of the scenery. We have been working on a soon-to-be-released DVD-ROM...

The secrets of post production.(video tape editing)
August 1, 1997... How to Stuff Eight Hours Of Rough Footage Into A One-Hour Presentation Here's the problem in a nutshell: We've got eight hours of exciting raw footage and we want to have roughly one hour of finished video. How many times does eight go into...

Switching to manual: video shots that call for you to make the decisions.
August 1, 1997... Is your camcorder fancy or simple? Does it have manual controls to let you take charge? Have you ever touched these buttons? All of today's modern camcorders come with extraordinarily effective automatic functions and modes. For most...

Inside the digital VCR: pluses and minuses of a deck designed to play DVC tapes.(Sony DHR-1000 digital video tape player)(Evaluation)
August 1, 1997... The Sony consumer-grade digital DVC VCR has finally come ashore Stateside. This is the deck that plays tapes shot on the new Digital Video Cassette (DVC) tape. En route, the Copy-Guard protection system has been incorporated, so...

Still video camera without memory problems: FUJIFILM's DS-7 has the new solid-state floppy disk card.(Evaluation)
August 1, 1997... FUJIFILM's DS-7 Has The New Solid-State Floppy Disk Card In Camcorder & ComputerVideo's continuing evaluation of Digital Still-Video cameras, let's turn our attention to a "middle-class" model, the FUJIFILM DS-7. This camera represents a...

In focus: make depth of field work for you.(videography)
August 1, 1997... Depth-of-field focusing is something we use every day, but few of us realize it. When driving a car down a narrow side street, what keeps you from banging the right side of the car into parked autos? When reaching out to press a...

Listening with a camcorder: taping speeches may be the start of a professional career.
August 1, 1997... Taping Speech Makers May Be The Start Of A Professional Career It happens every day, and if people know you're a camcorder enthusiast, it'll happen to you sooner or later. No, I'm not talking about your battery going dead. I'm talking...

Sharp VL-E66U.(camcorder)(Evaluation)
August 1, 1997... The Sharp series of Viewcams has always been designed for easy use. The E in the VL-E66U model must stand for Easiest of them all. This particular unit, and its sister camcorder the VL-E77U, are probably the least endowed and most inexpensive...

Panasonic PV-L557.(camcorder)(Evaluation)
August 1, 1997... Panasonic's PV-L557 VHS-C camcorder continues in the performance tradition of fine Palmcorder units. A major refinement in the new PV-L557 is a swing-out color LCD panel for monitoring while shooting or playing back. As with its previous...

Be part of the video biz; these two enthusiasts have done it ... so can you.
August 1, 1997... So you want to make money with video, eh? Well, the roads are many and of course there are some bumps along the way. But if you plan your route and keep an eye out for shortcuts and detours, reaching your destination is entirely possible. Your...

Two on the Aisle: they're on public-access TV, taking their camcorder to Broadway shows.(cable television show covering New York area theatrical productions)
August 1, 1997... They're On Public-Access TV, Taking Their Camcorder To Broadway Shows So you've seen Entertainment Tonight, Siskel and Ebert, and all the other programs covering the entertainment industry. You're saying to yourself, "Gee, I could do that!"...

The new FireWire cards: the missing links to true digital video editing.
August 1, 1997... The new FireWire cards are arriving, at last! "FireWire," you say? Are you talking about some razzle-dazzle for the Fourth of July? Is that like a firefly? Nope, it has to do with that magic buzzword, digital. Those of us involved in...

The colors of sound: computers let you see what your mike hears.(recording and editing video sound tracks)
August 1, 1997... Audio is an integral component in any video production, from the live sound that takes place when recording an event, to audio that is added later (such as narration, music or sound effects.). Often the audience "hears the video," meaning that...