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BGonline.org Forums
Few more questions ...
Posted By: Bill Riles In Response To: Few more questions ... (Mislav Radica)
Date: Thursday, 27 March 2008, at 1:49 p.m.
I have the Sony DCR-SR42 with 30 gb hard drive. I did not buy a wide angle lens but have found the standard lens fine for my needs. I have a NP-FH40 battery and a NP-FP50 battery (one came with the camera and I bought one extra -- not sure which is which). I set my camera on a tripod at a height of approximately one meter above the board and locate it at one side edge of the board. I rotate the camera so it is shooting effectively sideways so the longer dimension is along the length of the board, this also enables me to put a flip scorecard on the opposite side edge of the board and all is within the frame range of vision. The flip scorecard is quite helpful in the picture.
I have not really changed any of the default settings on the camera as it has worked well for me without changing anything. I have changed between HP, LP, and SP and noticed little difference in quality as it relates to being able to read the dice -- so I set to get maximum recording time.
My batteries are each good for perhaps only 90 minutes but I have a plug in Sony recharger (BC-TRP). A battery will recharge faster than it runs down. So, I always try to sit nearby an electrical outlet (or know where one is closeby). When the first battery gets low, I replace the first battery with the second and begin recharging the first battery. I've never had a problem and have never had to run the camera directly from an AC outlet during a tournament. I know several of the spare batteries are considerably larger and have 3 hour or better capacity.
Sometimes I take my computer along to a tourney and download the files in the evening, but I occasionally I don't -- and I've never run out of hard drive space in a weekend of playing. Again, I'm typically recording at SP for maximum recording time.
I've also not taken any additional steps to try to cut down on battery usage during recording. I leave the monitor screen on and rotated so I can easily view it. Thus, I can see if the board is shifted or if someone jars the table that everything is still in the screen. I can also quickly glance occasionally to note the amount of battery life remaining.
I have played against one top player who has started recording his matches on a JVC Hard Drive HandyCam. He calls out every roll so he has an audio record of the rolls too. I can only assume his video quality is such that he must have to do this. I found it disconcerting as his opponent to listen to every roll being called out though. I have a couple of other friends with JVC cameras who do not have to call out the rolls.
Good luck in your tournament this weekend and with your recording experience. I've found I can manually enter a match into Snowie in about the same amount of time as it takes to play the match. I put two reduced windows (one Snowie and one the recording) side by side on the screen and can generally keep up except during easy bearoff sequences which sometimes get very fast and then I have to pause the recording occasionally and catch up with Snowie.
If I can answer any additional questions or share any more of my recording experience please ask.
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