An Alternative to My Program

One thing I love is hearing about how others are approaching the same problem I'm having and seeing how they are fixing it.

An anonymous commenter pointed me to AVIDemux and how it was being used to fix the same issues I was trying to fix with my program. (Sorry, Mr. Anonymous, your comment got lost somewhere and I wasn't able to publish it!)

I think that's great. I didn't build my program (which still doesn't have a proper name!) to compete with anything anyone else is doing. I just wanted something that worked for me. Then, when I blogged about it (on my journaling blog, which I didn't think anyone read!) I suddenly got hundreds of people asking me for help! So I put it out there. If you find it useful, great! If you find something else useful, tell me about it! I'll write it up here! Or better yet, YOU write it up and I'll post it.

But I'm getting off topic. We're talking about AVIDemux.

Mr. Anonymous, if you're out there, I'm glad it works for you, but I can't get it to work. I've tried every possible combination of encoder and format and I can't seem to get a file that does anything. The program is just too complex and too buggy to be as simple a fix as mine.

That being said, from the looks of it, if one can get it to work, AVIDemux does have tons more options for tweaking your video than mine does. As it should. Mine is a simple converter, AVIDemux is an editor.

Also, it looks promising as a solution for Macs, which my program is not.

So, Mr. Anonymous, if you are out there, please respond to this post and let me know how you got it to work. I'd love to be able to write about it, but it's impossible to talk about something that does nothing.

UPDATE: I was able to get AVIDemux to output an MP4 file that was pretty good. It kind of knocks it out of the league as a converter, like mine. But using the deinterlace and resize options, the output did look as good as what comes from my program. The only issue at that point is you still have to use something else to convert it to a format that Windows Movie Maker likes. I haven't explored all the options to see if there is something in there worth keeping it for.

If ANYONE can get this to work on Windows and produce something that can be edited by Windows Movie Maker, let me know.

I dropped it today

I was using my camcorder to tape my kids helping my wife build a storage shed. I had forgotten to clear the memory card from a previous project and the card got full. At least I think that's what happened. The camera shut itself off and wouldn't come back on.

So I put the camera in my pocket. I was also taking still shots, so I was wondering around with my still camera. I sat down in a lawn chair and my camcorder FELL OUT OF MY POCKET AND HIT A ROCK!!! It fell about two feet and I thought for sure it was a goner.

But guess what? Other than a couple of sand-grain sized nicks in the red finish, it's unharmed! I plugged it in, turned it on, and it's working fine. There's no cracks or scratches in the lens and it's A-Okay.

Now I am not suggesting you press your luck and go around abusing your Samsung SC-MX20, but it's good to know it can take an accidental hit.

Is Samsung's Newer any better than the Older?

I saw this the other day on Samsung's newest HD camera. By the looks of it, our SC-MX20 is still a better camera. Adding an HD imaging chip doesn't make the picture better, especially if your design is flawed.

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

I think we might still have the better deal, especially when the problems are very easily fixed.

Tutorial - Rendering SC-MX20 video in HD for Youtube - Freeware

I saw other tutorials on YouTube, but many of them told you to download pirated software. And even then, it was something complex and hard to use.

Here's my version. Fast, Free, Easy, and did I mention Free? Not to mention legal.

It's not HD, but so what?

I've said before that I love my Samsung SC-MX20. I must, given that I spend so much time writing this blog to help those of us who have one.

But I've heard a lot of complaints. One of the biggest is "it's not an HD camera! Why did you waste your money! Buy an HD!"

There are a lot of HD camera's out there now, including a couple by Samsung, the Flip, and many others. But how many of these really produce a quality HD picture? How good is the color and image quality compared to the Samsung SC-MX20? Not many. And even if it is HD, what difference does that make if all you are doing is taping monk shots to post on YouTube? Hardly any.

If you are looking to make professional quality videos, like something you'd see in a movie theater, then the Samsung SC-MX20 is not for you. Most camera's aren't for you, including most HD camera's you can afford. You really shouldn't expect professional quality video from a camera you can buy at Best Buy or Wal-Mart.

I didn't start this blog to advertise the SC-MX20. I don't work for Samsung, or anyone related to them. I bought what I thought was a good camera only to find it had issues. In fact, I probably won't buy another Samsung, they just aren't that good at making cameras. But I have it now, and I've figured out how to fix some of the issues and I'm sharing the fixes with you.

If you don't like the picture you get with this camera, there's not much I can do to help you. And I'm not going to argue with you. It's not that great of a camera. But it is a good camera for recording your average middle class family memories. That's what I use it for and with the fixes that I've come up with along the way, I'm happy with it.

So, in that sense, I'm happy to help you too. If you're looking to get a perfect picture from this camera, I can't help you, but if you are willing to settle for a good picture that is suitable for saving your family memories, then that's what I'm here for.

Ask me. What can I help you with?

Question of the week.

So this question has come up as a hit on my site more than any other in the last few days and I thought since so many people are looking for an answer, I'd give them one.

Question: How can I use the Samsung SC-MX20 as a live web cam?

Answer: You can't.

Thank you for playing and have a nice day.

OK. Let's be specific. While the Samsung SC-MX20 would make an awesome web cam, it just wasn't designed to be one. When you plug the camera into the computer, it shuts off every function except the card reader, effectively turning it into an external drive. There is simply no way around it short of jail-breaking the firmware and I don't know if that is possible at all.

There is one way that it might be done, but I haven't tried it and I'm just theorizing: Using the AV out port on your camera and the cord that came with it for that port, you can plug the camera into a computer equipped with video-in functionality. Then, if the computer is configured correctly, you can use the video in as your web cam.

Yes, that's pretty vague. How do you know if your computer has video-in functionality? Well, did you install a piece of hardware that has it? No? Then you don't. It's not something computers are equipped with off the shelf.

Even then, I'm not sure it's possible. I don't know if the AV out will work on a "live" system. I have never tested it on my computer, but I think it only works to play your videos not play the live image.

The Samsung SC-MX20 is simply not designed for that use. And there' s no reason it should be. There are some excellent web cams out there for a whole heck of a lot cheaper than the mx20. The designers focused on making a good digital camcorder. And while they might have fallen short in some areas, I think they were right in keeping the functionality to it's single purpose.

Waterfall

Tried to use the waterfall setting on the camera. I thought it looked pretty good until I tried to edit it. Movie Maker seems to hurt it a lot. The color wasn't so good on the original, though. Everything was brown, even the water, so I can't blame the camera or Movie Maker too much, it was just a bad shot.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

I have been tracking the traffic to and from this blog since it's inception. I'm really surprised at the number of people who come directly here. Maybe some of you have even set it as your home page! That's kind of cool.

Since I am devoting my time to helping others here, I'm going to reach out to you. What kinds of things have you found helpful on this blog? What other topics would you like to see covered? What issues are you having with your camera and videos? Would you like to share you completed projects here? Would any of you like to do a guest post for me?

To tell you a little bit about me, I am disabled and often pain and discomfort prevents me from blogging regularly. I would love to do more here, but circumstances do not allow me to get too rambunctious. I'd love to hear what you all are doing with your Samsung SC-MX20 and your thoughts and feelings about it.

Feel free to contact me by either posting a comment below or email me here. (I don't like giving out my email because of the mountains of spam I get, so treat it with care.)

In my next post I am hoping to put together an article addressing questions that have come up on Google and other searches that I haven't covered yet. If you have one, please drop it to me and I'll be sure it gets in the blog. (Whether I can answer it or not is another question!)

Peace.

New version of my program

I just finished an update to my converter/repair program. (I still need a good name, any ideas?) The old version has been removed and the new version is the only one available for download. You may get it here:



The new version is a little smarter than the old one. It remembers the settings you used before and keeps them for the next time you run it.


I've also added some options that are editable. You can now choose to either add a word or phrase added to the video files' names (to the front of the names or the back) OR you can choose to rename the files as they are converted.


There may be a few bugs, still. I work on this when I am able, which is not very often, so I cannot promise that I have built everything 100% correctly.

Unfortunately, I am unable to fix the Not Responding message. I did add a message that warns you about it, but since the engine of the program is a background process, all we can do is wait it out and just know that even though it says Not Responding, that applies to the interface and not to the whole program.

As always, this program is free and open source. I have not published the source code, but if you would like it, let me know. I need to figure out how to pass along the code, but when I do, you can have it.

Remember, use at your own risk. I have done my best to make sure the program is stable and safe, but I am using a free programming tool built by Microsoft, so I cannot vouch for what they might place in there.

What can you do to make your videos look good?

This blog is devoted to the issues with the Samsung SC-MX20 and there are many. I do endorse this camera over others in the same price range for the fact that in spite of it's issues, it's still a really good camera (once you figure out how to get around the issues) and others in this price range and below suffer from poorer quality or poorly designed hardware or both.

But there are better cameras out there. Much better cameras. And if you are comparing the image quality you get with THIS camera to THOSE cameras, you will be sorely disappointed. But fear not, part of my mission is to help those of you stuck in this price range to get the most out of this camera.

Three levels

Your Samsung SC-MX20 has three levels of user control that affect the color, contrast, brightness and sharpness of your videos. These levels are not labeled as such in the user manual, but you will get the drift of what I am talking about as I explain them.

First, for the beginner or young user there is the EasyQ level. This mode of the Samsung SC-MX20 is activated by pressing the EasyQ button on the left hand side of the camera (in the space where the view screen folds into. Once in this mode, the camera takes complete control over all the settings on the camera, allowing the user to just point and shoot, but offers not flexibility in adjusting the settings.

In most cases, EasyQ mode will give you pretty fair results. If you are not too picky about color balance and sharpness and just want to "get the shot", this mode is great. It also allows you to hand this camera to someone and say "just shoot" and you don't have to worry about them messing with any settings - because they are locked out.

Now if you want a little more control over how your videos look, there are the iScene modes. At this level you have a little more control without having to worry about how a particular setting works.

There are several of these and I am not going to list them all, but you can consult the user manual or just play with them. These modes adjust the settings to best match the scene they describe. For example there is a beach mode that is intended for you to use in extremely bright situations, walking on the beach or in the desert. The camera then sets all it's settings to take the best picture (in the designer's opinion) in that situation, compensating for the bright sunlight, the reflection off the and and making your subject, presumably a person or an animal, stand out.

Again, these modes to a really good job of getting you the shot that you want. They do a better job of managing the color than the EasyQ mode, but still don't give you full control over all the settings. Think of these as pre-sets (which they truly are) that allow you to quickly choose the environment without having to fiddle with the controls yourself.

Now, if you really want to get all arty and professional, then this camera allows you to do that too. Let's call this the "power user" level.

At this level there are really only three controls available to you. Unlike "professional" cameras that have a lot of settings, the Samsung SC-MX20 was not built for that professional user. But you can work within these three settings to get the picture and color quality that you want. I highly suggest you take the time to learn about them and work with them because this is the best way to get the best results from this camera without a lot of tedious post-processing.

Three controls do all the work

The controls you have available to you are White Balance, Exposure, and Shutter. Now, I am not a camera or photography expert, so don't ask me how these controls relate to F-Stop or ISO or Aperture or Lemon Meringue pie. If you check various online Wikis you might be able to figure it out. But like designers of this camera I am going to keep things simple. As I've said before, this is a Dad's camera, not designed for the professional, but even so you can get good results.

Let's start with the easiest setting. White Balance. White balance is what most affects the colors in your videos.

The idea behind this setting is that you "tell" the camera what white should be. There are some presets that allow you to choose the lighting condition. These are pretty good. Just flip through them until the image on the screen looks as close to what you are seeing in real life. Tungsten works best for home settings, like birthday parties, florescent is better for school plays and such, and there are various settings for outdoor situations.

If you are a true power user, you can even choose what white should be. Choose the manual setting, point the camera at something that is white, and press enter. Be warned, however. While you may know that whatever you are pointing at is white, it may not be "truly" white in the given lighting conditions. However, if you tell the camera that it's white, it will make that shade look pure white in the finished video. Say, for example you point it at a white door, but in the given lighting that's a little shady, the door is actually a shade of gray. In the finished video it will be white, but the color of everything else in the shot will be adjusted color wise as well. Get it? So use this setting wisely.

The next setting is Exposure. This is how much light you are letting into the camera. It's kind of like the brightness setting on your TV, the higher you turn it up, the brighter the picture gets, but if you turn it up too high the colors all blend and you lose quality.

You will most want to play with this setting in very brightly lit situations. It will be easy to lose your subject if the exposure is too high. Also there are times you may want to capture an image that is more dimly lit than something else in range. You can make the dim object brighter while making the brighter object too bright to steal the scene.

The final setting is Shutter. This is how fast the shutter moves to capture each frame. This is not frames per second (which, as far as I can tell, on the Samsung SC-MX20 is set at a constant 30 frames per second) rather it is what fraction of a second the shutter is open to capture each frame.

To be honest, this setting is the most confusing for me. The speed of your shutter also affects how much light is getting into the camera, so you will have to adjust your exposure accordingly. Shutter speed most affects the sharpness of your video. Faster moving subjects will need a higher shutter speed. For example, if you are taping a golf swing, you will want a very high shutter speed, otherwise all you will capture is a blur.

I haven't found a good use for this is "normal" video conditions, but the option is there for you to play with.

There is one more setting that I did not include in these three and that is focus. Everyone knows what focus is. Most cameras, including this one, have a really good auto focus system. However, if you need to focus on something that the auto focus is not getting just right, this option is available to you.

In conclusion let me just say that I have found that the best way to capture a scene that most closely approximates what I am seeing with the naked eye is to use these three settings to make what I see on the view screen match reality. No digital camera is going to give you perfect life-like quality, but you can get pretty close with the Samsung SC-MX20 if you are patient enough.