720p Video with a Point and Shoot

[REL1203]

I am in the market for a new Point and Shoot Digi Cam. It seems a popular trend now is 720p video from a Point and Shoint, and that is a feature that I do see has some value to me. Does any one have a full res video they can share with me that is in 720p?

Which cam do you guys recommend for a PnS that does 720p?

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm not sure that I understand your question. Are you just looking for some 720P video? Or are you looking for 720P video shot with a particular camera or type of camera?

[REL1203]

looking for some 720p video shot with some of the current point and shoots, namely most of the panasonic ones... I would love to see how it comes out in comparision with some 720p Vid Cams, plus, the 720p feature is what is really goign to get me to upgrade my crappy Canon Sureshot 550

[MarkBarbieri]

Sorry. I can't help you with that. The only 720p video I have came from a video camera.

[cmwade77]

One thing to keep in mind is that as a general rule you can not zoom in or out while taking video with a P&S (a couple of models will let you, but I know of no HD models that do). Really it is best to have a separate camera for video, that being said in a pinch I will use my digital camera for video and my video camera for still, i.e. when I don't have the other one available and need to do so for various reasons.

[seashoreCM]

Check the frame rate. Some "720p" still cameras do only 16 frames per second (equal to old fashioned 16mm home movies). You want at least 24 fps (equal to regular movies); 30 fps is better and that is still just half of what 720p TV broadcasts give.

Be sure you do not use "composite" video output from the camera. This downrezzes 720p to 480i and introduces other degradations as well. You might need computer post-processing to massage the non-composite video into a form that can be burned onto a DVD. You would need a Blu-Ray DVD burner to keep all 720p worth of resolution as regular DVD's are actually 480i.

[REL1203]

This is the one I am really looking at.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011Z44UA/ref=s9subs_c5_at1-2871_p?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1HXQRMTJCZV545G0A4VT&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240301&pf_rd_i=507846

It can do 720p at 30fps, only limiting thing is how much free memory you have on your memory card.

It also lets you use optical zoom when filming video

[webshark3]

All of these are 720P HD videos from my Aiptek A-HD (Except the "Sandy" video). You can download the original source files (h.264). The A-HD is technically a flash camcorder with 5MP stills, but I think the video in good light is very good, and can be compared to any P&S which does 720P at 30fps.

http://www.vimeo.com/user336861/videos

Edit: BTW, ignore the sound on most. The A-HD has horrid sound.