Samsung's SC-HMX20C 1080p camcorder hands-on
By Darren Murph 
posted Jun 11th 2008 3:08PM
posted Jun 11th 2008 3:08PM
Update: Yeah, we're testing it out and will have video and a review up shortly. For those wondering, it should be filtering out to stores now for around $850.
Does it really need to say "HD" everywhere on the camera? I think they're overdoing it.
Hopefully those are just the normal stickers that most electronics come with and can be removed if you wish.
But without them putting it all over the device, How would I know that I'm holding/operating an HD camera? :-)
I never realized that two stickers and one printed label constituted "everywhere on the camera". =P Looks like they could have shoved one on the screen as well, just in case you forget.
@biomi
Hopefully there are not like the 1080P HD sticker on my Samsung DLP, that damn thing is the size of an index card and does not peel off easily. I haven't looked into scraping it off or using a goof off like residue remover because of the glossy black housing. Only thing worse then a huge factory sticker is a dull spot right smack dab on the front of the device where a factory sticker was forcibly removed.
Does that front sticker come off?
http://www.engadgethd.com/photos/samsungs-sc-hmx20c-1080p-camcorder-hands-on/856829/
What's the MSRP/street price on this beauty?
I was digging around to see if it's supported under OS X as a USB storage device. The video is H.264 so I thought it would be set.
Then I see page 128 of the user manual ( http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.com/downloadfile/ContentsFile.aspx?CDSite=us&CttFileID=1923481&CDCttType=UM&ModelType=C&ModelName=SC-HMX20C&VPath=UM/200805/20080514172437796_SC-HMX20C_ENG_IB_0403.pdf ), which states the following:
Symptom: The comptuer does not recognize your HD camcorder
Solution: You can not use the HD camcorder with a Macintosh
What the hell? Guess my 800 dollars will go elsewhere.
Full specs here for the Windows users:
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=camerascamcorders&type=camcorders&subtype=highdefinition&model_cd=SC-HMX20C/XAA&fullspec=F
Get those awkward stickers off easily with a hairdryer (not on full setting obviously!) It'll loosen the sticky stuff and the label should peel right off nicely! Even works for car badges!
what do you get when you combine nascar style sponsor placement and
modern a/v equipment? this!
http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3755.asp
i think i counted 40 logos. try to beat me - i dare you. look it
even beats a real nascar
http://image57.webshots.com/157/8/3/74/500480374mOPBHi_fs.jpg
sooo... how about some samples ;)
Can someone tell me whether or not this bad boy has a tripod mount on it? According to the Samsung site it does not, but that would just be utter stupidity.
I was at the samsung showroom and they have it mounted on a tripod.
A roll of duct tape is included in the box with every unit.
and the winner for all consumer electronics that isnt computers............
Sammmyyyyyyyy
yeah!
and that computer market is comin if they release the OLED lappy soon enough
i love my sammy home theater, tv, cell phone, and im sur ei am gonna love this(if i win the lottery to get enough money to pay for it)
Are you sure this is a 1080p camera and not 1080i? Pretty much ALL consumer camcorders are 1080i you see.
Looks to me like there is a nice pretty "progressive" label on that sucker.
So I would suppose that means "P"rogressive.
Yes, most consumer camcorders (and even prosumer) are 1080i. But if you take a peek at the stickers, you see, you'll notice it says on the top-left "1920x1080 Progressive HD" and on the bottom-right it says "Full HD".
the manual says it records in 1080p30 and 1080i60
The manual says it records in 1080p30 and 1080i60
Unlike the Canon Vixia series (HV30, etc), this does not seem to have lens threads for addition of lenses, filters, etc.
Look at the stickers that everyone is talking about, it says 1920 x 1080 progressive HD. I would hope that means 1080p and not 1080i and 720P is the progressive part.
What they don't tell you is that this bitch probably captures at 1080i or les and just upconverts it. no better than your TV does with 1080i content. The cosumer camera industry is so misleading its unbeleivable. And either way, even if it did capture 1080p, the codec its using prolly sucks balls. who cares about resolution when you're only capturing 8mbits/s? Hell, DVDs do 6... Point being, this shit is was overhyped despite actually outputting in 1080p. We should just start slapping upconverters on everything and call them HD!
Yep, I remember when this thing was announced, it was pretty obvious that it captures in 1080i/30, just like all other HD camcorders, but upconverts when connected to a display via HDMI. Big whoopie do--you'll still be editing in 1080i, so no net improvement. I'm still waiting for one that's CAPTURING in 1080p/24 or /30 or /60. Not that 1080p/30 or 1080p/60 could be put on Blu-ray right now, though...
Come to think of it, maybe that's why they're so reluctant to release true progressive capture camcorders targeted at consumers?
the manual says it can record in 1080p30
So it sucks based on what you think it has as opposed to what it says it has?
The marketing term "Full HD" on consumer camcorders currently refers to the DISPLAY RESOLUTION, not to the capture resolution or to whether progressive or interlaced. The display resolution may or may not be the same as the recording resolution, and the actual capture resolution may be something different again. Consumers may want "Full HD" to mean capturing 1920x1080p, but no manufacturer restricts its use to only that! So, always take that marketing term with a pinch of salt as it's almost meaningless...
Anyway, video quality is the important thing in a camcorder, not the display resolution. Once you're above HDV, the biggest quality factors are arguably sensor size, optics and bit-rate. Don't be misled by display resolution after the camcorder's software has HEAVILY processed and manipulated the raw data. And all processing involves lots of neighbour pixel interpolation - even when the capture resolution and recording resolution are the same...
HD Lens? As opposed to the kind of lens that limits the number of pixels that can be captured through it ...
Only 8Gb of memory? how meny hours of recording this memory will take in full HD 1080p mode?
Uncompressed 1080p with 24-bit color, you're looking at around 175MB/sec bandwidth. This would fill up the 8GB drive in 45 seconds. Of course, it's certainly not uncompressed...
"At Full HD, 8GB will last you as long as the battery does - about 85 minutes."
Any idea on price?
Scott A Graber
What camera did you use to take these shots? It seems to be a Canon from the reflections....
How the eff beans can you take 52 pictures of the damn thing in your hand and not a single picture of what it can do, hook that crap up and take a pic of some footage damnit >
Very nice. Any chance of some short HD video samples for direct download?
6.4 megapixel cmos sensor, yet 8 megapixel still photos? There must be a reasonable explanation. interpolation? upscaling?
The still and video use completely different sensors and electronics. . .the Canon XHA1 has 3 1.67 MP CCD sensors, but they make movies with that video camera.
No thanks, I'll stick with my brand new HD Canon Vixia HF10 - - built in 16GB + SDHC cards....loving it.
The camera has been reviewed (with video-caps and sample video) over at bcchardware.com - metalink: http://xrl.us/bk837
You can find an uncompressed video file in the comments section at the end of the review.
Cool, thanks for posting that real review. It took them quite awhile to get to it, but it does sound like 1080p recording is an option, although they didn't specify the frame rate. Blu-ray only supports 1080p at 24 fps, so I hope that was an optional frame rate!
No, 1080p24 is not an option on this camcorder. You'll have to do that post-production.
Their top of the line and it doesn't even have a viewfinder? Lame.
When you do your review, can you test a few things:
1) How is the EIS stabilizer compared to the OIS stabilizer of the Canon HF10
2) How is the responsiveness of the auto-focus as compared to the Canon HF10.
3) In general how does it compare to the Canon HF10?
I'd also like to see how well this camcorder does in low light situations.
The couple of things I like about this camera:
1) I like the fact that the file format that this camcorder records in is MP4 as opposed to the Canon HF10 which records in MTS (what is that?)
2) The touch screen focus where you can change the focal point from the center to a different point. Check out this video:
http://www.vimeo.com/1100613
I noticed it says NTSC below the LCD screen. Doesn't HDTV use the digital ATSC standard?
It might shoot both... my canon hv10 can switch from HD to 720x480. It would be sorta worthless if it didn't!
I bought this one. (in Korea)
Someone said, HMX20C is not working with Mac PC.
but I think it works very well with Mac PC.
Some recorded movies ( 1080 30p, 480p ) can be played on my Mac smoothly. but 1080 60i movie can not be played ....
but I found to play 1080i movies on Mac.....
Visit apple.com , download and install codec - avc1decorder (free !!!!!!!).
Then you can play all recorded movies on your Mac.
Ahhh... My Mac is iMac -2.8Ghz model.
Enjoy HD movie world with HMX20.............I really love it~!!
Jubin,
When you plug the USB cable into your Mac, does it show up as an external drive just like any other USB drive?
Thanks!
You can get this on the cheap! Take a look!
http://www.pricehead.com/searchlist.asp?page=1&search=Samsung+HMX20C+8GB&ADE=2&GORAW=Samsung+HMX20C+8GB&GOKEY=Samsung+HMX20C+8GB&GOMTC=Standard&GOCAT=Video
Racimora,
Be careful with that place! Broadway Photo earns a paltry 1.5 out of 10 stars in ResellerRatings.com! If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is!