Camera for recording Videos for YouTube, Kodak Zi8 Digital video Camera

The Kodak Zi8 Digital Camcorder is my first HD and portable video camera which I use for YouTube computer hardware tutorial videos at youtube.com/johnsonyip1, and for recording digital video cameras. I mostly record and upload files in 480P widescreen which is like DVD quality video, and has a smaller video file for uploading to YouTube, and won't take hours to upload a HD 720P to 1080P video. However, if you have fast upload speeds, you can record and upload 1080P video which you recored with the Kodak Zi8 which can record in 720P, 720P 60 frame per seconds, and 1080P video. You can also use your own SD memory cards, so you can use a 2GB SD card, 8GB or 16GB SD card depending on your video quality and length of video. The microphone quality of the audio the Zi8 records is pretty good for a portable camera since it is clear and picks up my voice well.

The Kodak Zi8 also has a removable battery, so you can use more then one battery to power the Zi8 which means you can swap out a empty battery, and insert a full battery to continue recording videos. Charging the battery is pretty easy. All you need to do is plug in the power adapter to the wall power into the camera and it charges. The battery life is also pretty good. It lasts a few hours before it needs charging.

One of the best features of the Kodak Zi8 is it has a built-in USB port which means once you connect the Zi8 to your PC or laptop, you can upload your video to YouTube at once, or use a video editing software like Windows Live Movie Maker, iMovie, etc to edit the Mov file which is the video file format the Zi8 uses.

Basic Guide to record video onto a computer's hard drive

The simplest way to record video onto your computer's hard drive is to use a digital camcorder which uses a hard drive, or SD flash memory since the file is already on the camcorder's drive, so all you have to do is plug in your camcorder to your computer with a USB cable, or take out the SD card to copy the video file on to your computer's hard drive, and the video is ready to be watched on your PC.

Flip HD portable camcorders, or other types of portable camcorders can also record video pretty well for Youtube and online video sites, but they has less features like long-range zoom which the bigger and more expensive camcorders have. However, if you just need a camera for recording short video clips under 120 minutes and of simple things then the Flip camcorders can be good enough for your needs. Some digital cameras also have a video mode. But from my experience with inexpensive digital cameras, the video quality is usually poor because the audio and video are very bad. Plus, the frame rate is not very good, so digital cameras are not very good for sporting events, and recording fast moving video. Digital Cameras are also bulky for the good quality ones, and they are not very comfortable for a long time since they don't have an hand band like real camcorders, or they don't fit your hand very well compared to portable HD camcorders.