A Little Video Testing

This morning I decided to walk a few blocks with new Canon camcorder in tow. I wanted to do a bit of testing under real conditions. It is warmer today and there is a promise of sun by afternoon. I went before noon, so the camera had to deal with bright but overcast conditions. That certainly could occur during vacations, so the day worked out to be suitable testing situation.

I walked down Carnarvon Street to the New Westminster SkyTrain Station. I had to pick up something at the dollar shop. Then, I returned to the apartment by walking back on Columbia. In all, I had a 7:25 minute test. I shot at 60fps in mp4 and spliced the 49 files together using a free program called MP4Joiner.

When I started uploading the 2GB file, YouTube warned about possible audio-sync problems. It seems as though YouTube only handles native 30fps video. This left me to wonder if I should try shooting at that framerate instead. It'd be nice to have the extra information in local files but I envision most viewing via the YouTube site; so, perhaps it is overkill to use the highest possible setting on the camera. At 16GB per hour the super-HD files will take a very long time to upload as well.

In fact, the original estimate showed my walk down the street and back would take nearly 5 hours to upload. It seems as though the estimates always err on the side of caution, but 16GB/hour footage is a lot of data to move around.



I ran a short 30-second test for any audio sync problems using the full 60fps setting. I knew that I could upload it while the larger file is in progress. Apparently it works all right. Still, is it worth shooting at the full 60fps on vacations? I'm not quite sure of what I'll do. One thing is for sure, when the 7:25 minute walk finally uploads, later this afternoon, I'll insert it right here as well.