INTRODUCTION

In most of the world, camcorders or video camera-recorders have been a familiar

sightfornearly20years.Peopletakethemeverywhere:toschoolplays,sportsevents,
family reunions and even births! When you go to a popular tourist spot, you are
surroundedbythem.CamcordershavereallytakenholdintheUnitedStates,Japanand
many other countries around the world because they are an extremely useful piece of
technology. Video cameras are now readily available as consumer items, and that
they'resoeasytouse.Here,we'lllookinsidetheseextremelypopulardevicestofindout
whatexactlyisgoingon.Andexploretraditionalanalogcamcordersandalsolookatthe
technologyusedindigitalcamcorders.

THEBASICS

Atypicalanalogcamcordercontainstwobasicparts:
1. A camera section, consisting of a CCD, lens and motors to handle the zoom,
focusandaperture
2.AVCRsection,inwhichatypicalTVVCRisshrunkdowntofitinamuchsmaller
space.
The camera component's function is to receive visual information and interpret it as an
electronic video signal. The VCR component is exactly like the VCR .It receives an
electronicvideosignalandrecordsitonvideotapeasmagneticpatterns.
Digital camcorders have all these same elements, but have an added component that
takes the analog information the camera gathers and translates it to bytes of data.
Insteadofstoringthevideosignalasacontinuoustrackofmagneticpatterns,itrecords
thepictureandsoundas1sand0s.Digitalcamcordersaresopopularbecauseyoucan
copy1sand0sveryeasilywithoutlosinganyoftheinformationyou'verecorded.Analog
information, on the other hand, "fades" with each copy -- the copying process doesn't
reproducetheoriginalsignalexactly.Videoinformationindigitalformcanalsobeloaded
ontocomputer,whereyoucaneditit,copyit,e-mailitandmanipulateit.
Thesetwosectionsareshowninthefollowingtwopages.

ControlPanel&VCRUnit

Mechanism

Camerasection
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Zoom&FocusingMechanism

InfraredautofocusingmechanismFocusing&Zoomingmotors

CCD
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THECCD
The CCD is the heart of the camcorder. It is a semi conductor device that converts
visualinformationintoelectricalsignal.Acharge-coupleddevice(CCD),measureslight
with a half-inch (about 1 cm) panel of 300,000 to 500,000 tiny light-sensitive diodes
calledphotosites.
Eachphotositemeasurestheamountoflight(photons)thathitsaparticularpoint,and
translates this information into electrons (electrical charges): A brighter image is
representedbyahigherelectricalcharge,andadarkerimageisrepresentedbyalower
electricalcharge.Justasanartistsketchesascenebycontrastingdarkareaswithlight
areas, a CCD creates a video picture by recording light intensity. During playback, this
information directs the intensity of a television's electron beam as it passes over the
screen.
Tocreateacolorimage,acamcorderhastodetectnotonlythetotallightlevels,butalso
the levels of each color of light. Since you can produce the full spectrum of colors by
combining the three colors red, green and blue, a camcorder actually only needs to
measurethelevelsofthesethreecolorstobeabletoreproduceafull-colorpicture.

THREECOLOURS
In some high-end camcorders, a beam splitter separates a signal into three different
versionsofthesameimage--oneshowingthelevelofredlight,oneshowingthelevel
ofgreenlightandoneshowingthelevelofbluelight.Eachoftheseimagesiscaptured
byitsownchip--thechipsoperateasdescribedabove,buteachmeasurestheintensity
of only one color of light. The camera then overlays these three images and the
intensities of the different primary colors blend to produce a full-color image. A
camcorderthatusesthismethodisoftenreferredtoasathree-chipcamcorder.

Theoriginal(left)imageissplitinabeamsplitter

This simple method produces a rich, high-resolution picture. CCDs are expensive and
eat lots of power, however, so using three of them adds considerably to the
manufacturing costs of a camcorder. Most camcorders get by with only one CCD by
fitting permanent color filters to individual photo sites. A certain percentage of photo
sites measures only levels of red light, another percentage measures only green light
and the rest of the photo sites measure only blue light. The color designations are
spreadoutinasortofgrid(theBayerfilteraboveisacommonconfiguration),sothatthe
videocameracomputercangetasenseofthecolorlevelsinallpartsofthescreen.This
methodrequiresthecomputertointerpolatethetruecoloroflightarrivingateachphoto
sitebyanalyzingtheinformationreceivedbytheotherphotositesinthevicinity.

THEAUTOFOCUSINGTECHNIQUE

ThefirststepinrecordingavideoimageistofocuslightontotheCCD,usingalens
Togetacameratorecordaclearpictureofanobjectinfrontofit,youneedtobeableto
adjust the focus of the lens -- that is, move the lens so it aims the light beams coming
from that object precisely on the CCD. So, just like film cameras, camcorders let you
moveyour lens in andout to focus light. Of course, mostpeopleneed to movearound
withtheir
Camcorders,shootingmanydifferentthingsatdifferentdistances,andconstantly
refocusingareextremelydifficult.
This is why all camcorders come with an auto focus device, usually an infrared
beamthatbouncesoffobjectsinthecenteroftheframeandcomesbacktoasensoron
thecamcorder.
TOfindthedistancetotheobject,theprocessorcalculateshowlongittakesthe
beam to bounce and return, multiplies this time by the speed of light, and divides the
productbytwo(becauseittraveledthedistancetwice--totheobjectandbackagain).
The camcorder has a small motor that moves the lens, focusing it on objects at this
distance.Thisworksprettywellmostofthetime,butsometimesyouhavetooverrideit-
-youmaywanttofocusonsomethinginthesideoftheframe,forexample,buttheauto
focusispickingupwhat'srightinfrontofthecamcorder.

PASSIVEAUTOFOCUSING
Passive auto focus, commonly found on single-lens reflex (SLR) auto focus cameras,
determines the distance to the subject by computer analysis of the image itself. The
cameraactuallylooksatthesceneanddrivesthelensbackandforthsearchingforthe
bestfocus.
A typical auto focus sensor is a charge-coupled device (CCD) that provides input to
algorithmsthatcomputethecontrastoftheactualpictureelements.TheCCDistypically
a single strip of 100 or 200 pixels. Light from the scene hits this strip and the
microprocessor looks at the values from each pixel. The following images help you
understandwhatthecamerasees:
Themicroprocessorinthecameralooksatthestripofpixelsandlooksatthedifference
inintensityamongtheadjacentpixels.Ifthesceneisoutoffocus,adjacentpixelshave
very similar intensities. The microprocessor moves the lens, looks at the CCD's pixels
again and sees if the difference in intensity between adjacent pixels improved or got
worse. The microprocessor then searches for the point where there is maximum
intensitydifferencebetweenadjacentpixels--that'sthepointofbestfocus.Lookatthe
difference in the pixels in the two red boxes above: In the upper box, the difference in
intensity between adjacent pixels is very slight, while in the bottom box it is much
greater. That is what the microprocessor is looking for as it drives the lens back and
forth.
Passiveautofocusmusthavelightandimagecontrastinordertodoitsjob.Theimage
needs to have some detail in it that provides contrast. If you try to take a picture of a
blankwalloralargeobjectofuniformcolor,thecameracannotcompareadjacentpixels
soitcannotfocus.
There is no distance-to-subject limitation with passive auto focus like there is with the
infrared beam of an active auto focus system. Passive auto focus also works fine
throughawindow,sincethesystem"sees"thesubjectthroughthewindowjustlikeyou
do.
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ZOOMTECHNIQUE
Camcorders are also equipped with a zoom lens. In any sort of camera, you can
magnifyascenebyincreasingthefocallengthofthelens(thedistancebetweenthelens
andthefilmorCCD).Anopticalzoomlensisasinglelensunitthatletsyouchangethis
focallength,soyoucanmovefromonemagnificationtoaclosermagnification.Azoom
range tells you the maximum and minimum magnification. To make the zoom function
easier to use, most camcorders have an attached motor that adjusts the zoom lens in
response to a simple toggle control on the grip. One advantage of this is that you can
operatethezoomeasily,withoutusingyourfreehand.Theotheradvantageisthatthe
motoradjuststhelensatasteadyspeed,makingzoomsmorefluid.Thedisadvantageof
usingthegripcontrolisthatthemotordrainsbatterypower.
Somecamcordersalsohavesomethingcalledadigitalzoom.Thisdoesn'tinvolve
thecamera'slensesatall;itsimplyzoomsinonpartofthetotalpicturecapturedbythe
CCD,magnifyingthepixels.Digitalzoomsstabilizemagnifiedpicturesalittlebetterthan
optical zooms, but you sacrifice resolution quality because you end up using only a
portionoftheavailablephotositesontheCCD.Thelossofresolutionmakestheimage
fuzzy.
One of the great things about a camcorder is that it can adjust automatically for
different levels of light. It's very obvious to the CCD when an image is over- or under-
exposedbecausethereisn'tmuchvariationinthechargescollectedoneachphotosite.
Thecamcordermonitorsthephotositechargesandadjuststhecamera'siristoletmore
or less light through the lenses. The camcorder computer always works to maintain a
good contrast between dark and light, so that images don't appear too dark or too
washedout.
Analog camcorders record video and audio signals as an analog track on video
tape. Thismeans that every time you make a copy of a tape, it loses some image and
audio quality. Analog formats lack a number of the impressive features you'll find in
digital camcorders. The main difference between the available analog formats is what
kindofvideotapethecamcorderusesandtheresolution.
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DIGITALDATARECORDING

InaCD(andanyotherdigitalrecordingtechnology),thegoalistocreatearecording
withveryhighfidelity(veryhighsimilaritybetweentheoriginalsignalandthereproduced
signal)andperfectreproduction(therecordingsoundsthesameeverysingletimeyou
playitnomatterhowmanytimesyouplayit).
Toaccomplishthesetwogoals,digitalrecordingconvertstheanalogwaveintoastream
ofnumbersandrecordsthenumbersinsteadofthewave.Theconversionisdonebya
devicecalledananalog-to-digitalconverter(ADC).Toplayback,thestreamofnumbers
isconvertedbacktoananalogwavebyadigital-to-analogconverter(DAC).Theanalog
waveproducedbytheDACisamplifiedandistheoutput
The analog wave produced by the DAC will be the same every time, as long as the
numbers are not corrupted. The analog wave produced by the DAC will also be very
similar to the original analog wave if the analog-to-digital converter sampled at a high
rateandproducedaccuratenumbers.
You can understand why CDs have such high fidelity if you understand the analog-to-
digital conversion process better. Let's say you have a sound wave, and you wish to
sample it with an ADC. Here is a typical wave (assume here that each tick on the
horizontalaxisrepresentsone-thousandthofasecond):

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When sample the wave with an analog-to-digital converter, have a control over two
variables:
Thesamplingrate-Controlshowmanysamplesaretakenpersecond
The sampling precision - Controls how many different gradations (quantization
levels)arepossiblewhentakingthesample
Inthefollowingfigure,let'sassumethatthesamplingrateis1,000persecondandthe
precisionis10

The green rectangles represent samples. Every one-thousandth of a second, the ADC
looksatthewaveandpickstheclosestnumberbetween0and9.Thenumberchosenis
shownalongthebottomofthefigure.Thesenumbersareadigitalrepresentationofthe
originalwave.WhentheDACrecreatesthewavefromthesenumbers,yougettheblue
lineshowninthefollowingfigure:

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Youcanseethatthebluelinelostquiteabitofthedetailoriginallyfoundintheredline,
andthatmeansthefidelityofthereproducedwaveisnotverygood.Thisisthesampling
error.Youreducesamplingerrorbyincreasingboththesamplingrateandtheprecision.
Inthefollowingfigure,boththerateandtheprecisionhavebeenimprovedbyafactorof
2(20gradationsatarateof2,000samplespersecond):

You can see that as the rateandprecision increase, the fidelity (the similaritybetween
the original wave and the DAC's output) improves. In the case of CD, fidelity is an
important goal, so the sampling rate is 44,100 samples per second and the number of
gradationsis65,536.Atthislevel,theoutputoftheDACsocloselymatchestheoriginal
waveformthatthesoundisessentially"perfect"tomost

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.StandardVHS
StandardVHScamerasusethesametypeofvideotapesasaregularVCR.One
obvious advantage of this is that after you've recorded something, you can pop
the tape out and play it on most VCRs. Because of their widespread use, VHS
tapesarealotlessexpensivethanthetapesusedinotherformats;theyalsogive
you a longer recording time. The chief disadvantage of standard VHS format is
that the size of the tapes necessitates a larger, more cumbersome camcorder
design.Theyhavearesolutionofabout230to250horizontallines,whichisthe
lowendofwhat'snowavailable.
VHS-C:
VHS-C camcorders record on standard VHS tape that is housed in a more
compact cassette. You can play VHS-C cassettes in a standard VCR, but you
needanadaptordevicethatrunsthetapethroughafull-sizecassette.Basically,
though,VHS-CformatoffersthesamecompatibilityasstandardVHSformat.The
smaller tape size allows for more compact designs, making VHS-C camcorders
more portable. But the reduced tape size also means VHS-C tapes have a
shorterrunningtimethanstandardVHScameras.Inshortplaymode;thetapes
canhold30to45minutesofvideo.Theycanhold60to90minutesofmaterialif
you record in extended play mode, but this sacrifices image and sound quality
considerably.
SuperVHS:
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Super VHS camcorders are about the same size as standard VHS cameras,
because they use the same size tapes. The only difference between the two
formatsisthatsuperVHStaperecordsanimagewith380to400horizontallines,
amuchhigherresolutionimagethanstandardVHStape.Youcannotplaysuper
VHStapesonastandardVCR,but,aswithallformats,thecamcorderitselfisa
VCR and can be hooked up directly to your television or to your VCR to dub
standardVHScopies.

SuperVHS-C:
Basically,superVHS-CistosuperVHSasVHS-CistostandardVHS:It'sjustamore
Compactversionthatusesasmallersizecassette.
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8mm:
These camcorders use small 8mm tapes (about the size of an audio cassette).
The chief advantage of this format is that manufacturers can produce more
compactcamcorders,sometimessmallenoughtofitinacoatpocket.Theformat
offers about the same resolution as standard VHS, with slightly better sound
quality. Like standard VHS tapes, 8mm tapes hold about two hours of footage,
buttheyaremoreexpensive.Towatch8mmtapesonyourtelevision,youhave
toattachyourcamcorderanduseitasaVCR.
Hi-8:
Hi-8 camcorders are very similar to 8mm camcorders, but there are several
importantdifferences.Forone,Hi-8camcordershaveamuchhigherresolution--
about400lines.Also,Hi-8tapesaremoreexpensivethanordinary8mmtapes.

DigitalFormats
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Digital camcorders differ from analog camcorders in a few very important ways. They
recordinformationdigitally,asbytes,whichmeantheimagecanbereproducedwithout
losinganyimageoraudioquality.Digitalvideocanalsobedownloadedtoacomputer,
whereyoucanedititorpostitontheWeb.Anotherdistinctionisthatdigitalvideohasa
much better resolution than analog video, typically 500 lines. There are two consumer
digitalformatsinwidespreaduse:
MiniDV:
MiniDVcamcordersrecordoncompactcassettes,whicharefairlyexpensiveand
holdabout60to90minutesoffootage.Thevideohasanimpressive500linesof
resolution, however, and can be easily transferred to a personal computer. DV
camcorderscanbeextremelylightweightandcompact--manyareaboutthesize
of a paperback novel. Another interesting feature is the ability to capture still
pictures,justasadigitalcameradoes.
Sony has recently introduced MicroMV, a format that works the same basic way as
MiniDVbutrecordsonmuchsmallertapes

Digital8:
Digital8 camcorders (produced by Sony exclusively) are very similar to regular
DVcamcorders,buttheyusestandardHi-8mmtapes,whicharelessexpensive.
Thesetapesholdupto60minutesoffootage,whichcanbecopiedwithoutany
lossinquality.JustaswithDVcamcorders,youcanconnectDigital8camcorders
toyourcomputertodownloadyourmoviesforeditingorInternetuse.
Digital8camerasaregenerallyabitlargerthanDVcamcorders--aboutthesize
ofstandard8mmmodels.
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DVD:
DVDcamcordersarestillrelativelyrare,ascomparedtoMiniDVmodels,buttheir
numbers are growing steadily. Instead of recording magnetic signals on tape,
these camcorders burn video information directly onto small discs. The main
advantage of this format is that each recording session is recorded as an
individualtrack,justliketheindividualsongtracksonaCD.Insteadofrewinding
and fast-forwarding through tape, you can jump immediately to each section of
video. Other than that, DVD camcorders are pretty close to MiniDV models in
performance. The picture is a little better on DVD models, however, and DVDs
canstoremorefootage.Dependingonthecamcorder'ssettings,adisccanhold
30minutestotwohoursofvideo.
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The newer DVD camcorders support two DVD formats: DVD-R and DVD-RAM.
Both are three-quarters the size of DVD movie discs and are encased in plastic
cartridges(atleastwhileinthecamcorder).TheadvantageofDVD-Rcamcorder
discsisthattheyworkinmostset-topDVDplayers.Thedrawbackisthatyoucan
onlyrecordtoeachdisconce,whichmeansyouneedtobuynewdiscsregularly.
YoucanrecordoverDVD-RAMdiscsagainandagain,butyoucan'tplaythemin
ordinaryDVDplayers.LikeMiniDVtapes,youhavetoeitheruseyourcamcorder
asaplayerforyourTVorcopyyourmovietoanotherformat.

Memory card: There are now some digital camcorders that record directly onto
solid-statememorycards,suchasFlashmemorycards,MemorySticksandSD
cards.

Thesedays,youcangetadigitalcamcorderfor$600andpickupsometapesforunder
$10. Digital video editing programs simplify the editing process to the point where you
canmasteritinanafternoon.
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Even low-end analog camcorders have so many helpful features that anybody can get
decent footage with a little practice, and you can create quality movies with more in-
depth studying. The technology that was once the exclusive domain of television
professionalsisnowavailableashobbyequipment.Whetheryousimplywanttorecord
birthdaypartiesandrecitalsoryouhopetoproduceambitiousvideoprojects,thenewest
camcorderscertainlyhavealottooffer.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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I express my sincere and grateful thanks to my institution MODEL POLYTECHNIC

COLLEGE, KALLIASSERI, and also express my sincere thanks and deep sense of
gratitudetoPrincipalMrs.JAYA.V.L.

Ihaveextremepleasureinacknowledgingtheserviceandco-operationrendered
by Mr. K. Suresh Babu, who have supported me a lot to perform best in my seminar. I
take immense pleasure in thanking Mr. Rajesh Babu and Mr. Satheesan. K.K for their
valuablesuggestionsandco-operationinthecompletionofthisseminar.Itisimpossible
to point out or classify the assistance provided by each and every one. However small
assistance, it is the feeling that matter and not the values. With out their help it would
havebeenimpossibletotakethisdreamreality.

Last but not least I would like to convey thanks to my parents and classmates for
theirvaluablehelpsandsupportforthecompletionofthiswork.

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