New Media

A response to my latest video on YouTube got my attention:

"Great ta [sic] see you once again. I was so looking forward to another of your video's [sic].

I am just wondering if you have thought of making your own? Rather then [sic] the well more professionally made ones, sometimes the simple at home with just you talking in my opinion can provide more people to understand and learn to educate themselves about people who have intersexed conditions."

This made me think, why the hell not? YouTube and such services have been shown to have an effect far beyond the 'old' media in many cases. It's a free-for-everyone, free-to-broadcast, no strings attached service. All you need is a video camera and you're in business. The loads of junk videos should be taken as granted :)

The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that this is the right way to go. Now all I need is a video camera of some kind to give it a whirl. Now, that might be a small issue... Let's see: I have a Canon PowerShot A550 which can record decent quality video with no external mic option for about 1 GB (motion JPEG)/1 minute. It's a bit clumsy to use for video, but it would work as long as the video doesn't have to be longer than a minute or so. Which is a tad short.

Another option I have is to use the best of the webcams currently I have in my possession, a Logitech Sphere. It's a 1.2 MP webcam with reasonable optics. Unfortunately it isn't in 100% working order, there are some glitches in the video, whether it's a hardware or driver error I don't know, but it causes coloured lines to appear in the video at random times. The Logitech drivers are also extremely picky, unreliable and at times downright hostile. It might work, but it'd hardly be perfect, plus I'd have to sync up audio with it. I am writing a (web)cam library at the moment which could do this, but it's still a not so desirable option.

Which leaves another option: obtaining an actual video camera. Something like the Canon Legria FS200: http://www.canon.nl/For_Home/Product_Finder/Camcorders/flash_memory/LEGRIA_FS200/index.asp?specs=1. This particular camera only records in 4:3 format while many others do 16:9. It does 1024 x 768 video resolution, which is fine. Most importantly it has an external microphone option, allowing me to get actual proper audio with it. This would come very close to the recording quality of my TV shows so far.

Only issue? Buying the FS200 new would cost one over 250 Euro. I do not currently have this kind of money. I would like a stand-alone video camera, though, as it would not confine me to always recording at my desk. I could move around, show other things, use different locations.

Perhaps I could get a similar camera for cheap or free used. Perhaps people may be willing to donate me the money for a video camera (donation drive time?). Let me know what your thoughts on this are. Suggestions for better/cheaper video cameras are welcome too.

At any rate I hope more people think this is a good idea. I would love to inform people about the issues people like me face, how certain things work. I would also love to learn video editing (from raw video), and I know at least a few people are curious as to how I sound when talking in English ;)


Maya