Registered: Mar 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

HandCam - Underclock? Round II

I've been bitten by the bug and swooped up a HandCam this morning. After tackling the Conduit problems in XP (Find Fix in This Thread) I've finally begun to snap pictures and noticed much like the EyeModule, it too has a healthy appetite.

I've already given a go at Underclocking all three HandCam references in AfterBurner3.0 and hope to see less battery drain when snapping shots. Right off the bat, you can see the performance hit the viewfinder takes unlike the EM's. The HC's view slows to a crawl at roughly 1-3fps which can be expected for only running at 10mhz. Video capture I'm afraid is pointless at these speeds, however my desktop can't even play the video back as smooth as it plays on my VDX, so I doubt I'll use that feature anyway.

Got three sets of batteries ready, two nmh, and one alkali. If I can achieve two days of usage per set, I'll be a happy camper

Registered: Mar 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

Tried it and well, the results aren't as promsing as the EM1's when underclocking to 10mhz while snapping shots.

The main hurdle is the viewfinder and the much longer time it takes to get your subject in focus. Once the viewfinder is in focus, not even the gremlin inside the Handcam knows when the actual "2nd" image is focused. I timed the second shot, and it's somwhere between 1.5 and 2 seconds, but when underclocked that margin becomes wider.

I decided I like doing videos now, simply because I can. That said, I can't underclock as it makes video capture impossible.

Battery drain overall isn't as bad as the EM1, so I reckon leaving my trusty VDX at 16mhz will do just fine.

Oh, I did figure out how to get the video to play back correctly on my pc. I just reencode it to mpg with a higher fps to speed it up. Works nicely and now I can share it with friends since even toasters are mpg ready by default...