🎥 Capture Life's Best Moments with Sony!
The Sony Handycam HDR-CX380 is a versatile camcorder that delivers high-quality 1080p HD video recording, featuring an 8.9MP Exmor R CMOS sensor, extensive zoom capabilities, and a user-friendly touch screen, making it perfect for capturing life's unforgettable moments.
M**U
Best solution as source for HDMI capture for streaming, better than webcam or Sony alpha mirrorless
It turns out this was the best solution for clean HDMI out to capture card for streaming. I had to find a good streaming solution for working from home and I had a green background I need to Chroma Key out. The webcam solutions I tried from Logitech as well as built-in laptop cams weren't able to distinguish where I ended and the green background began - I always had a slight green halo around me. This improved somewhat as I lit the green screen brighter and brighter, but it didn’t stop me from searching for a better video solution. It took a while to find a capture solution in the form of USB 3.0 from Razer. I tried the mobile phone solution, but the latency was too large and the static FOV - which was also present in the webcams, was limiting. I did try a Sony Mirrorless camera solution, and on a whim, I ordered the CX-380 because I found it affordable on an ebay auction.It turns out the CX-380 has a default clean-HDMI out on it even though no website lists it as such - including Elgatos and atomos websites. The image itself is superior to what I was getting out of the Sony alpha mirrorless camera. The CX-380 has a varying FOV in the form of Optical Zoom. Sure I give up the ability to change lenses, but I don't need that. Plus the CX-380 is a lot easier to mount and manipulate.It boggles my mind that this turned out to be the best clean-HDMI out solution to a capture streaming card for me. No website really talks about it and no website lists any HDR-CX cameras in their possible cameras to use.I might have to make a video about this. This also leads me to believe that other models of handycams would also do the trick. Since it is not listed on any site whatsoever, I'm going to have to do the research myself. If I see a handycam with HDMI-out for a good price, I am going to have to order it and try it myself. I am getting 1080p at 60fps out of it now. It would have saved me a lot of time and buying a Sony alpha mirrorless if someone just said so somewhere and I found it.All the videos I saw about having to light the green screen independently to get a good result certainly did apply to the webcams and mirrorless camera I was using. But with the CX-380, I just need to light me, and the image is good enough to take the chroma key out without needing to light it. I have now got 3 spare softboxes that I'm not using that were used to light the green screen when I was using the Sony alpha and the webcams. Even without the front lighting, it does a really good job and looks sort of dramatic without it. All the stuff I read where camcorders do not do well in low light apparently aren't consistent with my experience with the CX-380. The CX-380 does a better job at maintaining focus when I move, low light, and produces an image able to be chroma keyed out with ease - all without needing to light the screen. Even OBS can handle the stream live while chroma keying out the background.Maybe all the videos I see on YouTube about this are a plot to sell more >$500 mirrorless cameras. However, in my experience, this ~$100 CX-380 does a much better job as a video source for streaming into an HDMI Capture card. If I find another camcorder that does just as good, I'll also post a review about that.
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