Tag Archives: butterfly

Another Film About YouTube, But I’m Not In It. So Skip It.

Another film about YouTube and its community. But I’m not in it. So skip it, and see “I Want My 3 Minutes Backinstead (see article and high-definition trailer).

Just kidding. Maybe. Butterflies is a movie about the YouTube people and community, and its trailer features Renetto… So, yeah, they’ve probably been working for years on it.

There’s your standard-issue MrSafety and WhatTheBuck quotes. Your basic LisaNova interview. DaveDays smiling about the mulah. I would have thought ShayCarl’s fame hit after post-production, but it didn’t stop him from sneaking his way into the stills. Shay, you’re the Michael Cain of YouTube.

But best of all, you get to see Xgobobeanx cry. Because comments can hurt. Funny how both films dealt with that issue. My favorite is still “I want to shit in your mouth.”

Hurt me in the comments section below. Hurt me!

Here’s the PopTub interview with Chuck Potter about “I Want My 3 Minutes Back.”

Best Video Cameras

Every few days someone asks me what video camera to buy. Unless I happen to be “in the market” I don’t track closely. But I do trust Consumer Reports, and just received an issue ranking the top camcorders.

Note: My guide to buying a video camera can be found here.

What Format: Mini DV, DVD, Hard Drive, Combination?

The Consumer Reports “best buy” is a Panasonic SDR-H18 but it’s $430 and is a hard-drive model. I prefer the MiniDV for two reasons — first you’re always near a store that sells those little digital 8 mm tapes if you run out of space. Second, if my computer and camera blows up, at least I have the tapes. That said, most equipment malfunctions are related to moving parts. I suppose a tape recorder has more than a hard drive. Still, I’ve been burned too many times by crashed hard drives and few tapes have let me down.

Sorry. Not sold on these models that burn DVDs. I suppose it’s easier, but some models (the Hitachi DZ-GX5020A) gets 18 minutes of the best quality. 18 minutes per DVD? Puleez.

Bottom Line

canon ZR800So for the typical amateur, I’d recommend sticking with a simple Mini-DV model. The three Consumer Reports winners are the Canon ZR800, the Panasonic PV-GS80 and the Sony DCR-HC28.

I like Canon. I use the Digital Rebel for still photos and the Canon HV20 for my videos. No problems with either of them. The Canon HV20 takes longer than I’d like to “boot up” and the audio is poor. But the images are quite nice for its $1,000 price. For most amateurs, however, a prosumer $1000 camera is total overkill (unless you want high definition and have plenty of money). Buttefly.

So I’d go with the Canon ZR800. It’s listed at Amazon.com for $209 even though Consumer Reports lists it as $255. I get a lot of my impulse buys from BestBuy, but they’re listing it at $254 (but watch the circulars if you don’t want to wait for shipping).

It’s not perfect. Read the C-Net report so you know of some limitations, and the Amazon user reviews are mixed. It got a mediocre review, but so did the Panasonic. I also use PCMag to compare cameras, but the Canon ZR800 wasn’t listed.