Let's Talk Squash - SUSPENDED

Paul_SW_London · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

Hello squash fans

I'd like to invest in a quality camcorder to place behind/above the court so I can watch my games afterwards.
I may extend it as a service to people who come for lessons. I know this is hardly new!!

Does anyone here video their matches?
What sort of camcorder do you use?

My guess is a good brand name that records staright to a large hard drive would be best?
What about a stand? Don't really want a huge tripod if I can avoid it. I've seen some great mini stands that can be put on a ledge (my club has wallbacks and you view from the top).

Thanks
Paul
_________________
England Squash Level 3 Coach.
UKRSA Club Stringer.
Based in and around SW London.

squashpunk · Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 7

Hi Paul.

Here follows a slightly nerdish breakdown to allow you to choose a suitable camera.

1. Tape vs hard drive (HDD)
Hard drive cameras are slightly more expensive at the moment. Quality in the compression of the image is pretty good these days. If you want to keep your footage you will need to archive your footage either to another hard drive or onto DVD or something, or risk your drive getting full or worse losing all the footage. With tape (best is miniDV) you just keep the tapes as your archive. Tapes will have a limited duration of 60min (90min LP) which may be a downside for you. If you go for HDD get as many GB of storage as possible so you don't need to archive out too often.

2. Standard definition (SD) vs High Definition
Standard definition is cheaper though HiDef cameras will certainly be a bonus for seeing the ball clearly when viewing via hdmi cable to a LCD TV and is a logical choice for the future. However if you can't make hidef DVDs (blueray) make sure the camera can play out a standard definition signal (even if you recorded HiDef) to make normal dvds or to view on normal TVs.

3. A cheap tripod is fine as the camera will be locked off. If you need to pan the camera, a tripod with a decent 'head' will be required for smoothness. Should you end up away from your court you may need the height to see over balconies or people so make sure it's useful if it can extend up to at least five feet.

4. Get spare battery(s) and try to get a long lasting one - some 'no brand' cheap ones on ebay will do the job well and are good value for money.

5. In my opinion go for the big brands - I find Sony's are always easy to use (but can be more expensive). You get what you pay for so try and find as high spec cam as you can for a bargain price.

6. When I said slightly nerdish I meant very.

Good Luck!
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squashed · Newbie Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 9

I can't suggest a specific brand or model but I can tell you an absolute must have... get yourself a wide angle lens. It doesn't matter how good your video camera is if you can only see one corner of the court.
It also reduces some of the positioning problems that you can get and it at least stops you trying to "follow" the play if you're holding the camera, which can be nauseating to watch.
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Paul_SW_London · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

Paul_SW_London · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

squashpunk · Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 7

Squashed is right, a wide angle adapter which generally screws into the font would be a useful addition.
You shouldn't need it unless you were close to the court and you would be able to tell when setting the shot up. If you had the chance to shoot through a window on the front wall the wide-angle is very helpfull.

As to availability, I bought a cheap canon miniDV which had one with it but in general you'd need to buy one. You could try to haggle one when you buy the camera, otherwise the rules are check the size of the thread that is around the lens of the camera and that the wide is compatible for that camera. Note many cheap wideangles are not 'zoom through' which means they work at the wide setting but if you try and zoom into stuff it may go out of focus.
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Paul_SW_London · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

For my club, I would perch the camera up top in the viewing area. There is a ledge which is literally in line with the back wall and so I may need a wide angle lens as suggested.

Also up for any tips on where to buy.
Personally I would walk into Dixon's or Curry's (I'm in the UK) so I can see the products before I buy. I know they can be cheaper on line but you don't get to play with them first.

Paul
_________________
England Squash Level 3 Coach.
UKRSA Club Stringer.
Based in and around SW London.

squashpunk · Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 7

The camera might have a wide enough picture in widescreen (16:9) mode...
Try and narrow down the ones you are interested in. Find prices online from reputable sites maybe using pricerunner or something which gives reviews on the sites. Check Currys/dixons/comet online too as sometimes they have special online prices that you can pick up in store. You can go to the store to play about with the cam, see how wide the shot is for example and armed with your prices you can try to haggle a price match or wide angle lens.
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jjsquash · Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:30 am Post subject:

I saw some of the player using the Sanyo Xacti to recording their match, the cam look slim and light, easy to carry, and after he get home, just insert the memory card to his notebook then it play it, no need to do anything at all

http://www.sanyo.de/products/digital_imaging/digital_movie/product.asp?lg=E&PID=15&product=HD1000#

squashpunk · Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 7

I've checked the data sheet on the camera mentioned above and it does seem quite impressive until you look at the storage capacity.

.......................................4GB SDCARD..............8GB SD CARD

Full-HD (1,920 x 1,080).........42 min 44 s..............1 h 25 min
HD-HR (1,280 x 720).............56 min 25 s .............1 h 53 min
TV-SHQ (640 x 480)........2 h 36 min......................5 h 14 min
Web-SHQ (320 x 240)......8 h 38 min....................17 h 21 min

It only gets interesting at TV-SHQ quality which is a lower res than miniDV and TV in general. A 40 or 60 GB hard drive (HDD) camera would store hours at HD quality which would be more accommodating if recording several coaching session or games in one day/evening.
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Adrian19 · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 230

Just get whatever camera you want with a wide angle lense!

squashpunk · Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 7

This could be a handy way of dumping stuff off onto dvd after a session....
https://www.sonystyle.co.uk/SonyStyle/catalog/setCurrentItem/(xcm=PCM_b2ccrmstandard&layout=15_116_61_50_117_121_2&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&bc_search=sfalse&next=seeItem&carea=459B7E9BC780006F000000002BC29B86&citem=459B7E9BC780006F000000002BC29B86464486ED1E9700C4020000002BC29B73)/.do

Incase link doesn't work or is removed, it's a Sony VRD-MC5 which is a handy portable dvd writer with a whole host of inputs for hny camera connection including HDD camera transfer....
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play.anywhere

Paul_SW_London · Prolific Contributor Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

Thanks for the tips chaps.

I had a quick look in Curry's (UK store for those based elsewhere).
A top of the range HD Sony camcorder which records to a 40GB hard disk was on sale for £650.

It looks a sweet piece of kit but way to much for what I want to pay.

I'll keep looking but am in no way in a rush to buy yet.
I'll also upload a video of our ball feeding machine once I get a camera Smile

Paul
_________________
England Squash Level 3 Coach.
UKRSA Club Stringer.
Based in and around SW London.