Merry Christmas and HiYa!

Merry Christmas! And welcome to any new readers out there. I'm noticing an increase in hits, so that can only mean that some of you out there got a Samsung SC-MX20 as a gift and now you're trying to figure this con-sarn-ed thing.

So welcome, and don't be frustrated. I've written many posts to help you. Check the label cloud on the right hand side for the quickest help. If you can't find what you want, PLEASE ask! Please! Seriously. I won't call you stupid or anything like that. I just want to help. I'm not an expert, I don't work for Samsung, and I'm not a professional videographer or anything like that. I'm just a guy who bought a faulty camera and I was too cheap to return it and get a more expensive one.

Here's some common questions I've seen and some quicky answers:

What kind of memory card do I need?

You need an SDHC. The brand doesn't matter, as long as it's SDHC and not just SD. I have a SanDisk that I bought with the camera that works great.

How do I activate the internal memory?

If you camera is not a model SC-MX20"C","CH","E","EL", or "ER", then it doesn't have internal memory, you have to have a memory card. Let me state that again, only models SC-MX20"C","CH","E","EL", or "ER" have internal memory, not every SC-MX20 does. Most camera's sold at Wal-Mart or Best Buy in the United States don't have internal memory and you will have to buy a memory card as mentioned above. If you DO have one of the models mentioned, consult page 37 of your manual for directions on selecting internal storage.

Can my camera use such and such or so and so lens?

I don't understand this question personally. In my opinion, this is not the type of camera you'd want to use a telephoto or fish-eye lens or any other type, but I guess some people do. If you need to use a lens you need one that has a 30mm thread size. That is a non-standard size, so finding one is another story, but if you need a lens, there it is: 30mm thread size. I think there might be adapter rings out there, too.

My camera won't charge.

There are several things that might be going on here: Check to be sure the battery is seated properly - push it all the way in. Check to be sure your charger is plugged all the way in - your camera should have an amber light on the back when it's charging. If you bought a battery that is not Samsung brand, it won't work. Wait, what? That's right. Samsung requires you to use proprietary batteries, so if you got a spare one from Wal-Mart, it won't work. But a fully charged battery will last 3 hours, so why do you need a second one?

Those are the most common searches on Google that have led to this blog. Do you have another? Write it in the comment section!

The Samsung SC-MX20's Three Big Problems and a One Stop Fix

I got the Samsung SC-MX20 for Father's day this year. I had done a little research and had come to the conclusion that this was the best camera for the money we were able to spend. Being a Father of a large family, having a video camera is important, especially when grandmas and other extended family live far away.

So I read the reviews, checked the websites, then went to Wal-Mart and plunked down the money on a brand new Samsung SC-MX20 and a memory card to go with it.

Unfortunately, my research didn't prepare me for the issues that I would have. I was disappointed at first, but I was impressed with the SC-MX20's ease of use, breathtakingly long battery life and just general good looks. (I got the red one, it looks like Iron Man's camera!) But right out of the box there are three big issues that no one bothered to mention.

So, if you just bought the camera and are facing one of these frustrations with Samsung's SC-MX20, then hold tight, I have a fix for you.

Issue 1: Video doesn't work right away with Windows Movie Maker

The Samsung SC-MX20 comes bundled with Cyberlink Media Show. This is an issue in and of itself, but I have covered that in other blog posts. (Conclusion, use the disk as a coaster.) But I have seen many many comments saying the videos from the camera don't work with Windows Movie Maker.

This isn't really a bug, it was a choice by the camera makers. The format used is MP4, which you probably know better as Quick Time. It is a really good format that doesn't cause much distortion.

However, when you plug in your Samsung SC-MX20 and move your files to your computer and try to drop them into Windows Movie Maker, they won't work. For whatever reason (probably because it's Microsoft) they did not allow native support for MP4 files.

So, before you can use the MP4 files from your camera, you will have to convert them to a format that Windows Movie Maker likes. There are many ways to do this. Do a Google for "convert MP4 to Windows Movie Maker" and you will get thousands of hits. I have a personal favorite, but I can't honestly say that one method is better than any other.

However, there are other issues with the videos that come from this camera, and I do have an all-in-one solution, so keep reading.


Issue 2: Videos filmed in wide screen (16:9) format do not play that way on my computer


This is a bug, but one that is easy to overcome. Here's the issue: When filming with the wide screen option on the camera selected, your videos look good on the camera, but when you copy them to your computer and play them with Quick Time, they are squashed and stretched. (To make matters more confusing, if you do use the Cyberlink MediaShow program, they look fine, but then when you save them from there, they are still squashed and stretched.)

So what happened? I don't fully understand the issue myself, but my understanding is that the format has a "flag" that needs to be set in order for your computer to play it in the right format. The designers of the firmware for the Samsung SC-MX20, for some reason, forgot to have the camera set this "flag", leaving your videos squashed and stretched.

So how to fix it? Well, again, there are many ways to do it. As in the previous issue, you can use just about any converter program to re-format your video. But, again, I do have an all-in-one fix coming up. Keep reading!

Issue 3: What's with all these lines? It looks terrible!

When filming in wide-screen format, the Samsung SC-MX20 uses a method called "interlacing" to keep the file size manageable or something. I don't fully understand it, but for whatever reason, it's what they decided to do. As a result, even if you have it appear in wide-screen (see previous issue), it is full of lines.

Again, this isn't necessarily a bug, but in the day and age of high-definition displays, interlacing is not only unnecessary, it's ugly. I don't know why they chose this method for the videos, but it's easy to fix.

Which brings us to what you've been waiting for. How does one deal with all these issues without having to convert, re-convert, and generally degrade the image quality of the videos from the Samsung SC-MX20?

The Answer:

(Click on icon to download)

I created this all-in-one Repairer/Converter for you. It's takes the videos from your Samsung SC-MX20 and fixes all your problems. The best part is, it does it all in one shot!

I have written up a how-to on this post, so go there for details on how to use it. (The newest version of The Answer has an option to re-render your videos in hi-def format too! It's doesn't make your videos hi-def, but it stretches them to that size making them more friendly for that format.)

Hope this helps you! If you have other issues or have any great tips or tricks or samples you want to share, please, leave me a comment.

Still here

Sorry I've been quiet lately, but I honestly haven't had a thought of what to write about. I haven't used my camera in a while, so all the issues that I might have had with it haven't come to my attention.

The Samsung SC-MX20 is still out there for sale and I suppose others will be getting one for Christmas, either to use themselves to film holiday festivities, or ON Christmas as a present. Either way, this blog is here for you guys, the users. It's a community, not just one guy, me, talking about my problems. If you would like to write a post, let me know. If there is a topic you would like covered but can't write it yourself, let me know. If you have a problem that I haven't mentioned here, or I have mentioned and you would like better discussed, let me know. Use the comment machine to talk to me!