Samsung SC-D382 MiniDV Camcorder

I just bought this camera & it works on my MacBook.
You need a firewire cable 2 import your movie into
iMovie 06 & everything is fine. For the money it
is OK. I do stop action animation so that is why I bought it.
(I have not tried it yet in iMovie 08, so I don't know if it
imports into that.) You can download iMovie 06 4 free if you
have iMovie 08 from the Apple site.

I love the size of the product...small compact...great price! I highly recommend 4 everyday videotaping.

Cheers 2 the reviewer that got this camera 2 work on Linux. I could not get it 2 work with iMovie & Samsung support told me why.

This was the cheapest camera available at the time & when it arrived it seemed as though it fit the bill. The zoom was good & the picture in the camera was about what I would expect. It could do better in Low Light compared 2 other camcorders that I have had. It searched focus a lot & did not do very well with color & was very grainy but again - I did not expect much.

However, there were a few glaring problems - the video output of the camera when you plug it into the TV was greenish 4 low light but acceptable 4 brightly light subjects.

But the worst, it does not seem 2 use industry standards 4 DV out & will not work with Apple iMovie. A piece of my transcript with the Samsung rep:

{me}:I know what codecs are, but which one does this camera need? what is it's video format?
{support}: It uses AVI format & when the files are using AVI format it can be run & viewable .
{me}: hmmm. ok
{me}: any idea how I could use it with a Mac?
{support}: I am sorry 2 inform you that our cameras are not compatiable with mac & you can use it with other operating system, & our engineers are working on it 2 make it compatiable.
{me}: ok thanks.

Also there is a 16x9 record mode (by default) but (after some discussion):
{support}: You can set the 16:9 mode only in camera mode.
{me}: ok - so 16x9 playback does not exist?
{support}: It will be exist only in camera mode.
{me}: ok

back 2 the store with this one.

I'm covering this camcorder in more detail on youtube with user "rofthorax", that's my account.

I purchased this 4 about 179 dollars from Sams Club, & have had nothing but fun with it ever since. I've only had it 4 five days, but in this time I've connected via Firewire 2 my PC with an old Firewire IEEE 1394 card that had been collecting dust 4 almost a decade. Purchased a Firewire cable from Radio Shack, & have had a flawless integration between this camcorder & Ubuntu Linux (Free OS) Kino video editor(FreeVideo Capture & Editor utility, comparable 2 Movie Maker on XP). I was expecting 2 have a lot of trouble & looking around 4 drivers, but it worked the first time without a hitch.

Some of the things I can do with this camera & Kino:
1. capture video 2 DV on the computer via firewire at ~3MB/sec, good enough 4 video editing.
2. control the DV cam via firewire with Kino, fast forward, rewind, step reverse/forward, shuttle controls, stop, pause, etc..
3. Even when I'm playing videos I've captured 2 the computer, on the computer, the video playback is shown on the DV Camera's LCD screen (not quite as flawless, a bit of skip, but not bad considering I wasn't expecting this kind of integration).
4. Can use Samsung SC-D382 camera 2 record video 2 the computer's hard drive via firewire, by-passing the tape.

I can't tell you how exciting that is.. Especially 2 do it on Ubuntu, I've been boycotting Microsoft products after having problems with a laptop that prevented me from obtaining drivers 4 XP.. I switched 2 Ubuntu, & have be desperate 4 video editing capabilities 4 months, & have finally found a work flow 4 doing it.

Samsung SC-D382 -> Kino -> Blender ..

Blender's sequence editor is capable of processing DV directly, & the sequence editor plugins are written in C, easily compileable with GCC in Ubuntu. Also Blender was the program used 2 make the animation "Big Buck Bunny", a completely open sourced movie that utilizes blender.

Anyhow, I've been able 2 do quality video work using Kino 2 captrue video from the SC-D382 & using blender 2 edit & render it 2 a format I can upload 2 youtube.. I've been able 2 dump hour long videos onto youtube using compressed OGG files ("oggconvert"), so now with this DV camera, I can do quality 16-bit audio with full-res NTSC video, not HD, but what do you expect 2 get 4 180 dollars? Besides HD is a resource hog, & NTSC is sufficient 4 downsampling 2 Youtube.

The video is interlaced, so I have 2 find a way 2 merge the fields into 30fps full frame non-interlaced somehow.. Downsampling interlaced video produces larger files than downsampling non-interlaced video.

An hour of video from this camcorder produces about 10GB file, so if you are on XP, make sure you have a NTFS drive 2 store to, FAT32 can't use files larger than 4GB. Linux has plenty of file systems, JFS & XFS are ones that are commonly used 4 video work. I'm using EXT3 currently, because I'm working in "/var/tmp". I haven't experienced any dropped frames..

As 4 the Camcorder, the only problem I have is the joystick on the LCD preview screen is a bit tough 2 operate, but you should be able 2 figure-out the camera without a manual.. The Manual looks like it was made 4 an Idiot.. So if you are one, best use the manual. I was up & working with this one in 5 minutes.. The Firewire was plug-and-play.

Only stumbling block is I had 2 run Kino as root 2 get it 2 talk 2 the Camera, but that was like 3 minutes on google searching 4 help & a small leap of faith.

The camera permits you 2 change white balance & perform some effects in record mode.. You have stop recording 2 switch Digital Image Stabilization mode off & on. Zoom exceeds my 10x zoom Olympus SP-510UZ, & permits me 2 zoom & auto-focus & do all the things a video camera should, while recording. My Olympus doesn't permit me 2 zoom while recording Audio (don't ask me why, Olympus is probably trying 2 protect their camcorder line from their digital camera line, Olympus even reduced the audio quality 2 8Khz with 8-bit sound, which really sucks).

I was thinking about getting the 18x Optical Zoom version of my digital camera, & was torn between getting that 4 260 dollars, anbd getting a DV Camera.. And I'm sooooo glad I went with this..

Note, Tapes are best 4 archival! DVD's are easily destroyed, tapes have greater surface area & greater longevity than DVD's (which have been said 2 have a 5 2 20 year lifespan, depending on the manufacturer). Best 2 get Tape based camcorder than DVD or Hard Disk.. Hard Disks can crash & DVD's are easily ruined. The draw back 2 tapes is ease of access, its linear, & 2 transfer 2 the computer requires a re-recording.. But you could easily waste that much time performing a video render from a non-linear video editor like Adobe Premiere on Windows or Kino/Blender on Ubuntu. What's one more hour? You think you are that busy? Besides on Windows you could waste more time in other ways.. I've not missed windows one bit, switching 2 Ubuntu.. When stuff is supported on linux, it works flawlessly & without compromise, but
finding the software is the big toughy.

The Camcorder, has two modes, record & play. It's easily turned on &
off, menu button on top left, always accessible, video effects modes like "art (polarization), mirror, mosaic, sepia, negative", pre-set color balance & the typical white balance mode. 12-bit & 16-bit audio modes, mono & stereo audio (not sure if the mic is a stereo mic). Tapes carry about an hour. Twice the storage of a dual layer mini-dvd, & about the same size.. Rewriteable tapes, zero quality loss between uses, it seems.. White LED fore-lite, 4 lighting a night recording.. Your battery will last about 30 minutes if you use the LED Light.. If you don't, the battery will 4 an hour. Button 2 toggle extra on-screen details, record button accessible on LCD screen & on back of camcorder, accessible by thumb.. Button on top permits you 2 take pictures. Zoom is controllable by LCD flip-out pivotable screen & standard toggle on the top of the camera. Comes with AC Adapter, L-ion battery is charged when not in use.. Can be used without battery.. Can be used as a camera 4 recording 2 computer, via firewire, without a tape (or battery).

Plug behind battery looks like an HDMI plug, but not sure..

Zoom in on your subjects without moving an inch. The easy-to-use Samsung SC-D382 MiniDV camcorder has a powerful 34x optical zoom that makes sure you capture even the farthest of objects, without any loss in quality. A 680K pixel CCD produces crystal-clear, remarkably detailed images in high-resolution. Plus, images are clear & stunning with the digital image stabilizer. It eliminates blur caused by unsteady hands. Your homemade movies have never looked this good.

Compatible with Windows 2000 & above AC Adaptor/Charger Battery Pack Remote Control Dimensions - 2.4 x 3.7 x 4.4 Weight - 0.75 lb