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MINIATURE AUDIO-VIDEO MEMORY MACHINE
Former Technical Editor, Popular Photography Magazine
 Links
to Photo AlbumsA peek at the Future EYES and EARS of pocketable Camcorders and Computers What it is -- what it isn’t -- and what it WILL surely become What it IS -- A Reporters "Dream Machine" A Traveler’s Delight and the Future of Digital Camcorders -- All in a device about the size of a pack of cigarettes -- and it won’t cause Cancer!. Where else can you find a fit-in-your-shirt-pocket Digital Camera-Camcorder-Voice Recorder? And -- a device that is capable of producing LOTS of still pictures of quality adequate for use on a Web Site. And -- a useful, if limited -- archival video stream as a visual record of an interview or an event And Streaming Video for use on the Internet. And -- an adequate Sound Recorder of interviews up to an hour on 4 AA cells and a 32 MB Smart Memory Card. Much longer if you bring along more postage stamp sized 32 Meg Smart Memory Cards and batteries. All of the above is contained in a miniature marvel I consider to be the
first generation of the future. A new breed of Camcorders. Designated by Sharp
as an "Internet ViewCam," it automatically creates Streaming Video
using the Microsoft Media Player which is part of all the later Windows
systems. The format is called ASF (Automatic Streaming Video). Its files are
stored in about ¼ the space of a normal compressed AVI files. And the still
photos are stored in the new MPEG4 format for smaller file size. NOTE: The
image quality -- as we write this, of these two new compression formats,
greatly limits picture quality, But such algorithms are getting better every
day. And -- you’ll have pictures you might never have gotten without this
little pocket portable gem. Another way to talk about the size vs. quality
tradeoff is -- "Give a little in quality, and get a little camera that
you can always carry with you."
In the Beginning … The story of how I found it, and how I got hold of one for this article, is interesting in itself. At COMDEX my wife Cathy, who is also a computer person and writer, and I were passing the Sharp booth. Since we were gathering information on the latest digital cameras and camcorders for our website, www.netsurfernews.com, I asked if Sharp had a digital camera they could show us for possible inclusion in our show coverage. The person behind the counter said, "Well, we don’t have a digital
camera. but we have some kind of ‘Internet Viewcam’ at the other end of
the booth" So Cathy and I walked over to the counter and were startled by
a group of marvelously small and handy little cameras. "Are they still
cameras?" I asked. "Yes, and they also do streaming video for use on
the Internet." "How many minutes of video?" "An
hour." "AN HOUR???" "Yes, an hour using a stamp size, 32MB Smart Memory Card and a set of 4 alkaline AA cells." Well, that really got me interested, because as a reporter, it would be fantastic to have a way of recording both sound and pictures during an interview. And with the still picture capabilities of this camera -- one could also take record shots of the person being interviewed or the products they are talking about. I decided instantly that I wanted to get my hands on one of these little beauties and write it up if it worked AT ALL as it had been described. But no luck -- they had none to loan to the press. "Sad!" But we exchanged cards and I thought that when I got to New York for the New Year’s Ball Drop on Times Square, perhaps I could borrow one to shoot the Ball Dropping with crowds screaming.. So this story is a result of my having gotten to New York, borrowed one of the cameras, stood on Times Square for 6 ½ HOURS, in the cold, without any potty facilities for any of the 2 MILLION like minded die hards. And we did use the little Sharp to capture the noise and madness of the crowd at the midnight stroke of the Millennium, as well as for general picture taking and interviewing all over the country since then. Below we’ll tell you what this camera IS and what it ISN’T. But whatever its current limitations -- every time I show it to anyone and take their picture -- and show them the results -- on the spot -- people ask me where they can buy one. This little camera is a turn-on despite some serious current technical limitations. Its tiny size means you can always carry the camera with you and have it ready for instant shooting. What it is --
What it isn’t --
What it will be -- The beginning of the end of "large" Camcorders for consumers
In Short -- This device or its descendents will merge and meld with Palm Pilot-like hand held computers and become the EYES and EARS of computing cellphones and GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) devices, capable of two way wireless communication. This convergence is happening NOW and will be available within the next few years. Very FEW years. It’s all converging. It WILL converge. This is just the BEGINNING! The future is coming much faster than you might believe. And for those of us who love Videography -- as do -- it is going to be a Fantastic Future of Hugely capable Miniature Camcorder-like devices. This story is scheduled to appear in the June 2000 issue of Camcorder & Computer Video magazine.
=============================================================== SIDEBAR FOR SHARP ARTICLE
How the Sharp Internet Viewcam can "Win you friends And Influence people"
NOTE: While these suggestions will work with a few Digital Camcorders, such as the smallest from JVC and some of the more sophisticated small Sony models -- to my current knowledge, NONE of the others is as "pocket portable" as this tiny Sharp camera. Nor does any other offer the size, along with the random access instant search capability of this camera. Size 3 7/32 x 3 17/32 x 1 22/32 (Shirt pocket portable) Weight 8.5 oz
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Still Picture Of Times Square Ball drop
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