The Samsung Omnia HD is heavily anticipated in the S60 community, mainly due to its ability to record in 720p resolution, which is usually accepted as ‘HD’ (High-Definition). Most of us assumed Nokia would be the first to bring this, with their Nseries lineup. I’ve never quite understood the need for HD video capture, mainly because I’ve never had much experience with it (and I would imagine that most of you haven’t, either). This past week, I was sent a Sony Webbie HD video camera, thanks to Sony and Technorati.com, which records in 720p, and I was anxious to check it out, and get some real experience with HD video.
After a few days of testing, including managing the files, attempting to edit them, and uploading them to share on the web, I believe I’ve gotten a better idea as to why Nokia hasn’t pushed into this arena just quite yet.
First off, HD video is big. Even with the camera set at 720p (it does up to 1080p), a 2 minute video clip is 60.2MB, which is rather large. At that rate, the standard Mobile With The Guru episode, which usually tracks around 6-8min, would be 240MB+! Granted, we’re starting to see more storage available to our phones, with 16GB microSD cards and the upcoming Nokia N97, which has 32GB built-in storage, and 32GB microSDs on the way, but 240MB for 6-8min of video is still quite large.
For me, editing is an important factor. I don’t need to do any massive edits, really, nothing like a professional studio, like most consumers, I like the ability to add titles/subtitles, maybe a fun little intro/outro, and probably cut out certain portions of the video. With both Ulead Video Studio 11 and Sony Vegas Platinum 9 loaded up on my Dell XPS M1330, I’m struggling to edit this stuff. It’s just, well, it’s huge files, which means alot of processing power required to edit them. Most consumers aren’t going to have either of those video editing applications available. Sure, Mac users have iMovie ’09, but what about the vast majority of PC owners who use Windows?
Last, I’m a social guy, and I like sharing my content (obviously). I want to be able to upload this video to somewhere, so that I can embed it on my blog (personal or even here on Symbian-Guru.com). Unfortunately, it seems the various video hosting sites haven’t quite caught up to the trend in these cheap HD cameras like the Sony Webbie HD or the Flip MinoHD.
For starters, Nokia’s Share on Ovi limits single files to 100MB, which means most of my videos won’t be able to go up on there without some reformatting. I’ve uploaded a sample to YouTube, but even their HD looks crappy, and takes forever to upload and process. Vimeo is another popular option, but their free accounts limit you to 1 HD video per week, with a max file size of 500MB. Facebook video is yet another option, but that has limited sharing capabilities, and their uploading process is horrid. If I’m missing any, please do let me know, as I’d love to try them out.
Most of what I’ve found is that I end up losing the HD quality of the video once it goes online, which leads me to ask a single question. If I’m going to lose all that HD quality when I edit and then upload anyways, why not just keep recording in VGA, which is smaller, easier to edit, and more convenient to upload? And if I’m going to get an HD camera like the Sony Webbie HD, but set it to record in VGA quality, then why wouldn’t I just keep using my phone, like the N79, which records at VGA resolution, too?
I’ve got plenty more footage to capture with this Sony Webbie HD, and will continue to search out solutions to the hassle with HD, but I wanted to know what you think? Are these unrealistic expectations (editing/uploading) that most consumers won’t need, or am I simply missing some seemingly obvious benefit?
