Need some video advise

[Hook]

Ok so I'm getting one of these
Tascam DR-v1 $97.99

or the Zoom Q2HD $109.95


Price is limiting me to these 2 choices it seems. The Tascam shoots video at 720p (?) but had a mic/line in & the camera & mics rotate 180 degrees. Runs on 3 AA's.
The Zoom shoots at 1040p (better I guess) but doesn't have a mic in & the camera & mics are fixed, 2AA's.
There are probably other differences & I would love any opinions or thoughts about them. I realize the video quality isn't brilliant for either but I think it will be fine for my purposes.
I also need a free or cheap video editor that will let me do multiple windows (brady bunch style, you know) if anyone has any ideas.
Thanks!
Rock On!

[Oldrottenhead]

i'm sure the zoom q2hd was the one facemask used.

[cuthbert]

Depends on what you're looking for, I think.

The Tascam has a smaller frame size (720 px wide), but that's still considered HD. It seems more flexible in that you can use a mic/line in, and important (to me) would be that it seems to have a zoom control lever on it, making it more video camera-like.

The Zoom may have slightly better video quality (1080 px wide), but it looks like nearly everything is menu-driven.

Can you try them both out before buying? I'd go with the one you like best when all the factors (video quality, controls, ease of use, etc.) are weighed.

[64Guitars]

i'm sure the zoom q2hd was the one facemask used.

Not quite. Facemask had the Zoom Q3HD which I think is discontinued. I don't know much about them but this video shows the differences.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5IasdTG6Ew

[Hook]

Yea, I saw that video earlier. Thanks 64. If I could get a Q3HD for $100 I might, that has the mic in but less gain control. I'm kinda interested in the zoom 3 microphone ball, you get the stereo sound plus a uni directional, that's cool. I think though the rotating camera & mics is a better feature. My question I guess is, am I going to notice 720 vs 1080? I tend to think not but I don't know. I can actually get the Tascam for $89.50 + $5 shipping, so being the cheapskate I usually am, I think it's done.
I wish I could try them out but I don't think that's in the cards. I really didn't like zooms menus for the H4N so that seems like a big warning, thanks for the heads up Cuth!
I have a few ideas & tried to execute them with my phone but ran out of space & can't exactly film myself using the phone...boy that sounds exciting!!
Think I'm sold on the tascam but would still love any opinions.
Rock On!

[64Guitars]

My question I guess is, am I going to notice 720 vs 1080? I tend to think not but I don't know.

It depends what you're viewing it on. I doubt if you'll notice any difference on a computer screen, but you might notice the difference on a 60" TV, for example.

The difference is in the number of pixels. 1080p has a resolution of 1920×1080 which is 2,073,600 pixels, while 720p is 1280×720 which is 921,600 pixels. So 1080p has more than twice as many pixels as 720p. But, as I said, you probably won't notice it on a small screen. So I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you want to watch your videos on a large-screen TV.

[Hilary]

I had a Zoom for videoing gigs, on Rob's recommendation, and hated it. I think if all you want to do is video music based stuff and then load it up to Youtube, it's fine though. I think I must have dropped it and now have a permanent green line across the screen. Probably one of the worse things I've purchased in relation to price vs use. The Zoom definitely had a poor picture quality too, which was noticeable.

[Hook]

Thanks for adding that Hilary, what do you use now?

So I'm still researching & deciding and I'm trying to understand card capacity.
Here http://tascam.com/product/dr-v1hd/specifications/#rec_time/ it seems to say that the tascam with a 32 gig micro sd card I'll only get a maximum of 16 min. of video??

here http://zoom.co.jp/products/q2hd/ it says  the zoom gets 40min. with a 2gb  & 40 hours with a 128gb.
that seems to be a significant difference. Am I understanding this correctly??
Thanks,
 Rock On!

[Hook]

Perhaps on the Tascam page those are Hours:Minutes not minutes:seconds??

[Hilary]

I've got an old Sony Handycam which I use - no problems.

Oh yes the Zoom was always running out of battery and had a weird file code that wasn't recognised by Windows MovieMaker. It also had an auto sound level which would adjust to weird stuff like applause and then not readjust.