Our school is looking to buy a new camera to record football games from a pressbox. Anyone have any advice. If possible please include an approximate cost of your suggestion. Also if there are any that we should stay away from I would appreciate that info too. Thanks.

Of the video cameras Consumer Reports tested the Canon Vixia HF S21 rated tops, price $1,400. The JVC Everio GZ-HM550 was rated a best buy, price $750. I usually go with the best buy stuff myself.

Buy a digital camera and make sure you have a good video production software to go with it. No need for video tapes.

Purchasing a camera for football isn't as simple as grabbing any 'ol camera available... there are lots of things to consider.

 

1) Price

2) Storage (miniDV Tape, Hard Disk, Flash Memory, DVD)

3) Ease of moving content from camera to DVD (and potentially to computer)

4) Quality

 

1) Price - Budgets will vary widely for each and ever school. I think there are essentially 3 grades of pricing:

 

a) low budget consumer grade (under $500.00)

b) medium budget - pro-consumer grade ($900-$1400)

c) pro level cameras (above $1500)

 

2) Storage - you need to weigh where your game film's ultimate destiny will be.

 

a) DVD - if all you ever need is a DVD of your game, then a DVD camera should be considered. Then when the game is complete, you're DVD is pretty much ready to copy in a duplicator. So game copies can be ready within 10-20 minutes of the game ending.

 

b) DVD and Computer - You need to weigh and understand your computer program's ingestion needs... Not everyone is inputting game film into a computer program to be broken down by each play... If not, then you can ignore this consideration. However, if you are executing this procedure for your team, you need to understand the input mechanisms supported by your football analysis program (miniDV tape over a Firewire connection is very prevalent... but is rapidly becoming old school).

 

c) Hard Disk and/or Flash Memory - this is the direction where things are headed... so you will future-proof yourself somewhat if you go here now... but things are still being ironed out in regard to computer interfacing... so beware of those obstacles.

 

3) Ease of moving content - this topic is somewhat mentioned above, but can also be addressed using a portable DVD recorder to generate your first "master" game DVD. The down side to using a non-DVD camera is that it will take you the exact time you filmed a game (in the 35-50 minute ballpark, depending on how you film) to get your first "master" DVD. Inputting into a computer, then authoring a DVD can double this time sometimes... but there are faster ways... but they're sometimes not so obvious.

 

4) Quality - We're in an HighDefinition world now... but many colleges have not made the switch to HD yet either (inlcuding UK.. I just visited to checkout their setup a few weeks ago). But more importantly is the lens quality on the camera and the "optical" zoom capability. More zoom is better, and don't be fooled by "digital" zoom numbers (where pixels are duplicated instead of using "good" optics). If you do go the HD route, you'll still need to burn non-HD DVDs which is possible using a mini-recorder.

 

Here's some links to BHPhoto.com for some various equipment to consider:

 

Here’s a SONY DVD camera link (for $299.00):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/597141-REG/Sony_DCRDVD650_DCR_DVD650_DVD_Handycam_Camcorder.html

 

Here's a Sony HD camera (Lfor $1199.00 - LCA is using one of these this year):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/671536-REG/Sony_HDR_CX550V_HDR_CX550V_64GB_HD_Handycam.html#reviews

 

And here's a portable DVD burner you can use with a power inverter in your CAR to burn a game "master" DVD as you drive home from the game ($168.00):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/631186-REG/Sony_VRDMC6_DVDirect_MC6_Multi_Function_DVD.html

Buy a digital camera and make sure you have a good video production software to go with it. No need for video tapes.

 

What is a good video production software?

What is a good video production software?

 

Can you clarify what you mean by "production" software? What do you want to do with it? Are you referring to football game breakdown software (like XOS Thunder, Digital Scout, etc.)... or are you looking for football highlights video production software (like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier, etc.)... Or are you just looking for something to produce DVDs (like Nero, Adobe, Encore, etc.)?

Make sure you use a tripod, don't let me record. I posted how I forgot to turn it on on my sons first kick.

 

We have a Vivatar. Under $300.00 and easy to work, if you turn it on. Radio Shack..Don't over extend your self.

We are filming our first football season with our new Panasonic AG-HMC40s (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/625605-REG/Panasonic_AG_HMC40PJU.html) and have been very pleased. It is very pricey, but the picture has been amazing so far. It films directly onto SD cards, and we can have our entire game on a computer in 10 minutes. We master our DVDs at the game, recording and pausing between plays as we go along. This means within 5 minutes after the game is over I can hand a coach a DVD. That's been one of the things we've been complimented on most, because oftentimes you may be closer to the team you're trading with at the game than you would be once you get back home.

 

In my opinion you should no longer purchase a camera that films on any sort of tape. I wore myself out cleaning the tape heads, and it got to be a bit of a pain trying to capture them when the heads got dirty. Plus, I hated having to wait in realtime for the tape to capture.

It films directly onto SD cards, and we can have our entire game on a computer in 10 minutes. We master our DVDs at the game, recording and pausing between plays as we go along. This means within 5 minutes after the game is over I can hand a coach a DVD.

I'm curious... what process do you use to record to DVD? Is your camera fed into a DVD burner directly? If so, is this a 2 person operation (camera operator... and DVD burner operator)?

 

Or do you consume the entire SD card post game? Just curious what process you use (I'm assuming you're shooting AVCHD with that camera?) to convert the AVCHD to DVD in 5-10 minutes?

 

In my opinion you should no longer purchase a camera that films on any sort of tape.

I couldn't agree with you more... haven't touched a miniDV tape in the past 2 years.

I'm curious... what process do you use to record to DVD? Is your camera fed into a DVD burner directly? If so, is this a 2 person operation (camera operator... and DVD burner operator)?

 

Or do you consume the entire SD card post game? Just curious what process you use (I'm assuming you're shooting AVCHD with that camera?) to convert the AVCHD to DVD in 5-10 minutes?

 

 

I couldn't agree with you more... haven't touched a miniDV tape in the past 2 years.

 

 

AV cord run directly to the DVD Recorder. I start and stop the camera itself every play, and pause and unpause the DVD recorder between every play. At the end of the game, finalize the DVD (which is the 5 minutes part), and hand the result to the coach.

 

I do it all myself. I've run as many as three recorders at the same time using composite splitters (one for each team and one for airing on television that I recorded for the entire game). I am shooting using AVCHD, typically filming in 720/60p so that the slo-mos look better. We use 32GB SD cards, which are about 3 hrs. 18 minutes worth, and can usually film almost 4 games on them.

I do it all myself. I've run as many as three recorders at the same time using composite splitters

I stand in awe and salute you! That's impressive! I still manage to fat-finger the one-and-only camera record button I have to press on each play with a double-dump on occasion which ends up missing a play... at least 2-3 times a season. I couldn't imagine trying to do two things at once... Warren Central needs to double your pay! :thumb:

I upgraded this year to a Sony HDR-XR100 ($550 Best Buy for newer model HDR-XR150), and also use a Sony VRD-MC6, a little standalone dvd burner. For my semi-pro team we record in AVCHD and I can burn those on my desktop at home on dual-layer dvd's, HS games may fit on a single layer dvd since just 12 min quarters instead of 15. For the high school (formerly Manual now Fern Creek) we film in standard def and I use the VRD-MC6 to burn. Last Friday I plugged the camcorder and burner into my power inverter in the truck, started burning in Manual stadium's parking area and before I got to Fern Creek had a finished dvd. We don't use AVCHD at Fern Creek for speed reasons, I can get a standard def dvd done in 20-25 minutes and then start copying it in the tower. Also none of the coaches I talked to had bluray players or PS3s so they couldn't use the AVCHD anyway.

For the Bulls about a third of the team gets AVCHD, the rest standard. I burn all the Bulls stuff at home on my desktop using the Sony PMB software that came with the camcorder. It automatically makes each play a chapter and is easy to use, quality is great.

 

Also consider tripods, remote control for the tripod, and even an on-camera lcd monitor. I use a Sony VCT-60av tripod, about $70 and the remote handle controls the zoom and start and stop, and I have the 7" LCD monitor from LCD4Video http://cgi.ebay.com/7-On-Camera-LCD-Monitor-Kit-LCD4Video-/380264242055?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588983db87

 

With this set-up my video guy is watching the game on the monitor, using the tripod handle to control zoom, start, stop while panning, it makes for a much smoother video

Edited August 31, 201016 yr by Pete W
more info

Also be sure to get a quality case, I use a pelican hard case with cut out foam.

Edited August 31, 201016 yr by Ram
Rule 13

Here's a pic from LCD4Video showing a 7" monitor, tripod with a Sony remote handle attached, and has an older Sony direct-to-dvd burner below

Thanks for all the advice it has been very helpful. I knew less about this than I thought I did. Did you all know that there are even reviews of camcorders on youtube? I'll let you all know what we end up getting and how it performs.