HD VIDEO Help

[CustomRCmodels]

Hello Lou
So far I didn’t like the low-light capabilities of small or mini-HD cameras .
( they are probably some better ones out there by now )
Vivitar makes some inexpensive HD video cameras . ( less when $ 100 , - )
I have a Vivitar DVR870HD what does some surprisingly good videos ,
Even thought it is a cheap fixed focus camera .
I use that one mainly for drivers-view type videos .
Low light capabilities ( like indoors ) is not bad at all .
For the full High Quality HD recording I use a Canon Vixia HF200 which is like at the lower end of Canons HD video cameras ( around $ 400 - $ 500, - ) .
Which has better low-light capabilities .
If you check out my videos on Youtube , ( customrcmodels )
mainly the ones done in the tank-museum , drivers-view from a R/C tank or the trucking and crawling videos you can tell the differences .
I would not mess around with WMV files , compression is to high and to many different standards’ , expect if your camera produces WMV files ? which would be kind a odd , since HD is usually either a already compressed mp4 or like Canon uses a AVCHD file.
For uploading to Youtube you can use full quality videos , it takes a little longer to upload , but the play-back quality is much better if uploaded at full quality.
For editing I am using since years Pinnacle Systems Studio series of video editing software . Currently I am using Studio 12 , there is a newer version out there 14 or higher , but Version 12 does already full quality HD videos .
There are no free versions of that software , but you can find it sometimes cheap bundled with some hardware , like a video-capture board ( internal or external use via fire-wire or USB2 )
But be aware to edit a full HD video 1080P you need at least a dual-core 2.4Ghz or better computer . Videos in which I have a lot of trick-editing , I do them in just 720 to get a better performance out of my computer during the editing ( no dropped frames or such ).
I just got me a ipod 4th generation , which has 720P HD video capabilities , but didn’t had the time yet to check it out . That would be another nice option if you are looking for a small HD video-camera.
I could write a book on video-editing , but that would get a little out of hand now , Lol .