Charanjit Chana

Over the weekend I ordered the Toshiba Camelio H29 camera and it arrived yesterday. The quality is great in good light and not so amazing in low light, but at £165 I don't really expect a HD camera with every bell and whistle.

It is a little dissapointing that it wasn't slightly better, but it's small, plastic and full HD so there's not much to complain about!

Check out my YouTube playlist which I'll update with more HD content soon!

I've been looking for a decent HD camcorder since January after seeing a number of offerings from both Toshiba and Samsung. Samsung's DMX-R10 looked like it was going to win the battle, but with a US release date for early May, I have yet to see a European date and that pushes me too close to the honeymoon to allow me to wait for it.

My next choice, up until this morning, was the Toshiba Camileo P30 which is a small form, full HD (1080p) pistol grip camcorder that was well priced for it's feature set. However, some reviews have put me off and I am now looking at the Toshiba H20 instead. A more traditional looking camcorder that has a similar ability, but the following example on YouTube has really put this at the top of my list.

If possible, please watch these videos in HD!

(Toshiba Camileo H20)

After a bit more research, the P30 wasn't far behind, but the quality difference is enough to make me stump up the extra cash:

(Toshiba Camileo P30)

Not sure when I'll be getting either as I have to sort some finances out, but hopefully I'll be posting some test footage soon!

One thing I've spoken to friends about most when discussing HD is grain. Transformers is an awful example of HD in my opinion. With large portions of the film filmed in low light, grain is evident throughout. I have been assured by both friends and in forums that this is normal. Batman Begins proves otherwise.

The film was glorious. Colours looked amazing and the level of detail was superb. I know that my TV still needs to be fine tuned, so I can only imagine how good things will look once this is done.

I actually purchased the limited edition Batman Begins and Dark Knight combo box and will be watching part the second one later this week. I really can't wait!

I wrote about Casio's EX-F1 hi-speed, hi-def camera. I would love to have the ability to record in super-slow motion, and with one of the cameras in the Exilim range, that would be a very real possiblity.



This new camera, the EX-FH20, looks to be more compact and maybe more of a little brother than an upgrade, but it still packs a punch with up to 1,000 fps and HD quality video.

Along with a Blu-ray player, this could very well be the only piece of gadget pr0n to make it on to my wanted list!

I have been looking for an input device for sometime now. With Blu-ray now the 'winner' in the 'war', I've primarily looked for a Blu-ray device, but a few films that I want are still only available on HD DVD.

I suddenly remembered an email I sent out to friends which showed them an USB HD DVD drive for under £20. I didn't really take notice because I was so set looking for a Blu-ray drive, but once it hit me, I went on the hunt for that email.

The HD DVD drive in question is Microsoft's one for the XBox 360. It has a USB interface and, from my research, is a Toshiba drive. A few people have already hooked one up to their Macs and made some progress with it. I'm hopeful that the versions of Apple's DVD Player and VLC I have are both up to date and have some sort of support for playing HD DVDs as I ordered Batman Begins at the same time as I ordered the drive!



I do feel somewhat odd plugging a Microsoft branded product into my MacBook, but I had previously plugged a Mighty Mouse into a PC successfully, so I can only hope that this new pairing is half as good.

If worst comes to worst, I should be able to at least read the disk and rip the contents. Any DRM might be a problem, but again, I should be able to get around this. Once I have the content, VLC should be able to handle it in it's usual support everything way!

I am hopeful that even if neither player is able to handle the discs directly that an application will arrive for OS X soon. It would be far more convenient and I wouldn't mind putting my hands in my pockets to get it.

Since my MacBook has a DVI output, sound won't be transfered to my hi-def TV, so I'll need to figure out a new audio setup too, but for the £30 I paid for the drive, movie and delivery, I'm more than happy to use my MacBook's built in speakers for testing purposes with the intent to upgrade/sort out the setup at home.

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I have previously toyed with my MacBook's HD capabilities, but I struggled to find a way to wake my closed MacBook from sleep mode. My MacBook is often woken accidentally from sleep mode when I'm using Front Row on my mac Mini, so I knew it was possible, I just didn't know how to do it on purpose!

Having Googled my problem, I just couldn't find an answer, but then it hit me! Your MacBoook just has to be plugged into the mains. Once it's plugged in, awakening isn't a problem at all.



Being plugged into the mains and connecting to an external display means you can use Front Row with nothing more than your remote. This makes playing videos, movies, trailers, video podcasts and even DVDs very easy. You'll need an external keyboard and mouse to use it for any other reason (BBC iPlayer, YouTube etc...), but what better excuse is there for buying a wireless keyboard and mighty mouse!?