subject: Five Ways To Play And Store Your Hd Camcorder Videos On Your Tv [print this page] Christmas is approachingChristmas is approaching. A friend told me that she was thinking about getting her first digital camcorder for the family for Christmas, one that does HD videos. However, she didn't fully understand how to play the recorded HD home videos back on TV. Then I
recommended her the following five ways as the solution:
1) Use the camcorder to store the video and for video playback. This is not practical for hard disc drive camcorders. Expensive for flash memory - and flash memory is not a good long term archive. What's more, this method doesnt allow any editing of the video.
2) Use a digital tape based camcorder. This is actually the "best" solution. Import videos using firewire, edit and export the video back out to the digital tape. I sometimes do this to two tapes - one tape gets put away as the loing term archive, the other can be used by playing back with the camcorder, so that the high definition video can be viewed.
3) It is possible to use a DVD creator/DVD creator for mac to save the high definition video files onto single layer or double layer DVDs. They do not hold much space (4.7 and 8.5 gig, respectively) when compared to Blu ray blanks (that start at 25 gig), so the amount of videos that can be stored on single or double layer DVDs (if high definition) is a lot less.
4) Use a "media center" type device capable of dealing with high definition video. An example of this is Apple TV. Workflow would include importing the video, editing and then rendering the edited video to a high quality, high definition video format (h.264/AVC).
For sharing with others, if the file size, video lengthen and file type are appropriate (typically AVI or MOV files),then these can be uploaded to video sharing sites like youtube (secured if desired to limit the viewers) and 720p high definition is presented.
5) Use whatever computer happens to be available - that can deal with high definition video. Most HDTVs have a VGA port. So it is possible to connect a laptop to the HDTV's
VGA and audio connections and use it as the playback "deck" for the 720p rendered high definition video.
During the Christmas holiday, you may record a lot of wonderful family joyous moments, choose any one of the above solutions, then you can play or store your HD home videos on your TV. Have fun!
