Crave

Flummoxed by film scanning, finding white balance where there is none, and they only come out at night (to shoot).

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EPISODE 66

You think your job is hard? I had to narrow down three potential deals for today. Three!

Woot.com's refurbished 10.1-inch Acer netbook for $229.99 (plus $5 shipping) was a strong contender, but I know lots of you visit Woot already--and many more of you are sick of Netbooks. (Awesome, awesome deal, though.)

Then I considered the refurbished 2GB Sansa Clip MP3 player: $19.99 shipped at Buy.com. Mighty sweet.

Ultimately, I settled on the Creative Labs Vado pocket camcorder, which Dell has for $39.99 shipped.

Although this isn't the newer HD model, it's perfectly good for shooting YouTube-ready, VGA-quality video. And it can hold up to 60 minutes of it at the high-quality setting or 2 hours at "SP."

I love these little camcorders, which are easy to toss in a pocket, glove box, or wherever for capturing life's little moments.

CNET had mostly good things to say about the Vado, which is noteworthy for its built-in USB connector, onboard software, and one-touch uploading to YouTube.

This is a new unit, not a refurb, so it comes with a full one-year warranty. It regularly sells for at least $85, so $40 shipped is hard to beat. Great gift item!

Dell deals often expire or sell out without warning, so if this sounds good to you, act fast. (And if it does sell out, well, you've got the aforementioned runners-up. See? I'm always thinking ahead. Well, starting now, I am.)

For those waiting to see what Flip Video will have for the holiday season, the company is about to ship an upgraded, "premium" version of its MinoHD pocket camcorder for $229.99.

In a nod to Apple, the new model is called the MinoHD, second-generation, and features a brushed metal body, double the internal memory (8GB vs. 4GB), a larger, 2-inch LCD, and an HDMI connection, though no cable is included.

Flip's designers have also rounded off the corners of the unit (it does look sleeker) and tweaked the FlipShare software package to include direct uploads to Facebook (MySpace and YouTube links were already available) and a new Movie Magic mode that takes your clips and automatically arranges them into a "movie."

Other than that, nothing else has changed. Like its older sibling, this model offers 720p video capture and two hours of battery life from its integrated lithium-ion battery. Flip Video has yet to add the electronic image stabilization or macro mode found on Kodak's Zi8, which also features 1080p capture.

The new MinoHD is available in silver or you can get a custom finish at no extra charge if you order the unit from the Flip website. Meanwhile, the original MinoHD ($199.99) remains on sale along with the standard-def Mino ($149.99).

We've been playing around with the new model for a couple of days and it's definitely nicer, though we can't say it's a huge upgrade. If the difference in price was really only $30, we'd say go for this guy, but we're seeing the original MinoHD discounted to around $170 online, which may create a buying dilemma.

Read the CNET review of the Flip MinoHD (second generation).

Comments?

Back to basics about bit depth and the great whiteout contest.

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EPISODE 65

Sony's little pain in the wallet.

(Credit: Sony Electronics)

Last week I posted a review of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1, but this post is not really about my review. It's about two user reviews (written by users I doubt have actually used the camera). One calls my review flawed, while the other praises the camera and then gives it a half-star rating out of five stars. Why? Sony's use of Memory Stick media for storage.

According to the first user review, the reason my review was "flawed" was because I didn't mention the use of Memory Stick media as a con and a reason not to buy the camera. I'm sorry, but I don't see what the big freakin' deal is with buying a Memory Stick. Yeah, it would be swell if I didn't have to pay $30 for an 8GB Memory Stick Pro Duo and instead could get a generic 8GB SDHC card for $18. But, honestly, Sony's use of proprietary media, I/O ports, and miscellaneous other technologies shouldn't be news to anyone--it's been doing it for forever. In the case of Memory Stick, since 1998. Get over it already.

The other review complains that there are only two manufacturers of Memory Stick media--Sony and SanDisk--and when the user used a SanDisk card, the WX1 popped up a message saying it may not record. Problem is, I did and do all my testing using the SanDisk card mentioned and never got an error or any other kind of message. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I'm willing to bet there's something else going on.

Regardless, cutting a rating down to half a star strictly because you don't like buying a proprietary memory card makes no sense. It doesn't help readers or potential buyers.

There are benefits to a closed system--just ask anyone using an Apple computer. And, well, licensing fees keep a lot of companies in business. Does it suck that you are forced to buy a Memory Stick? If you already have SD cards for other products, then yes, sure. But, frankly, no one made you buy Sony products, and hey, at least be grateful it's not an xD card.

Getting the raw end of the contest deal, looking for some Fringe-Be-Gone, and seeing geometrically.

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EPISODE 64

According to VholdR, a waterproof case should be available for the ContourHD before the holidays.

(Credit: VholdR)

It figures that the day after we decide to give the VholdR ContourHD wearable camcorder our coveted Editors' Choice award, that VholdR would go and announce something better. This, dear readers, is what we like to call a "good problem."

The cleverly named ContourHD1080p takes the standard ContourHD's 720p HD resolution and bumps it up to--you guessed it--1080p. All of the features that we loved in the original will still be there in the new unit, including the rotating wide-angle lens assembly, the rechargeable lithium ion battery, and the dual frickin' laser beams.

What's new is a plethora of additional recording modes. In addition to the original 720p/30 frames per second HD and 480p/60fps SD modes, the ContourHD1080p adds:

• Full HD - 1080p (1,920x1,080 pixels) at 30fps
• Tall HD - 960p (1,280x960 pixels) at 30fps
• Action HD - 720p (1,280x720 pixels) at 60fps

Additionally, with the use of the included Easy Edit software, you can set the contrast (high, medium, or low), metering (center, average, or spot), and exposure (-4 to +4). Its microphone sensitivity can be adjusted as well, which should help to reduce some of the wind noise that we found when testing the standard ContourHD.

So, should you wait for this new model instead of picking up the current ContourHD?

Well, that depends. According to VholdR, the ContourHD1080p is aimed professional videographers, while the standard HD is for enthusiasts. Yet, the ContourHD1080p weighs in at an MSRP of $329.99, only $40 more than the 720p model. However, introducing more options for exposure and metering could confuse casual users and take away from the simple point and shoot nature that so endeared us to the standard ContourHD. We'll wait and see how the controls pan out before making final judgment.

In the meantime, check out a video of the ContourHD1080p in action after the jump.

Check out our full review of the ContourHD wearable camcorder.

(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)

The ContourHD by VholdR is a tube-style camcorder designed to be worn as a helmet camera for recording extreme activities. But this is Car Tech and I'm a car guy, so I mostly tested the camera using the optional suction cup windshield mount. After reviewing the footage, I'm rather impressed.

The ContourHD features an attractive design, but a limited feature set. Unlike its competition from GoPro and Oregon Scientific, the ContourHD isn't submersible and doesn't feature a still-photography mode or a viewfinder, optical or digital.

But what the ContourHD lacks in bullet-pointed features, it makes up for with fantastic performance. It is one of the few helmet cams on the market to record in 720p high definition. Its idiot-proof two-button interface makes this camera the easiest of the bunch to use on the go, even while wearing gloves. With a pair of integrated laser sights, the camera is easy to adjust and aim while attached to your head, your bike, or your car, eliminating the need for a viewfinder. Quite frankly, I wish more devices came with lasers. They just make life easier.

Check out our full review of the ContourHD wearable camcorder.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8: New features tour--screenshots

View the full gallery

Time again for Adobe's annual update of its consumer photo- and video-editing applications, Photoshop Elements (Windows | Mac) and Premiere Elements (Windows only). We're up to version 8 now, and while there's no killer must-have new capability--unless you consider automatic sync across multiple computers--the two products still provide solid mass appeal for their respective markets.

As in the past, you can buy the pair together for $149.99, which is a far more attractive buy for video-editing shoppers than Photoshoppers, and in fact the combination makes quite a nice bundle for home videographers. Independently, they're $99.99 each. Tack "Plus" to the name of the product for another $40 and you get an extra 20GB on the otherwise free Photoshop.com membership (along with ongoing new template and tutorial content), which will then cost you $50 annually to renew.

The latter becomes key if you plan to take advantage of one of the nicer new features, the ability to sync your videos, photos, music, projects, and PDF files across multiple systems using Photoshop.com as the hub. (In case you missed it, Photoshop.com rolled out video support last month in preparation for this release of Pre.) While Adobe doesn't make a Plus membership a requirement for doing so, you'll very quickly max out your free 2GB without it.

After allowing the product to languish for a while, with 8 Adobe brings the Mac version of Photoshop Elements up to parity with the Windows version and with the buzzy new features in iPhoto, including face recognition and geotagging/mapping. Unlike iPhoto, however, there's no direct upload to Facebook, though it supports a broader number of services, including Kodak EasyShare Gallery and Smugmug. Annoyingly, those choices are buried as More Options on the Share pane (likely because the interface decision was based on the technology used--implemented via an API rather than core program code--rather than where the user will look for them).

Like most current facial recognition implementations, Adobe's is only moderately accurate. For instance, in many photos it correctly identifies one person, but didn't detect others and thought inanimate objects were faces. The batch detection and labeling where you confirm different faces in groups of selected images is better, but still a little clunky.