I have a sony HandyCam and although it's not great, I can't get anything else right now. What I don't get is that It films in 480p yet the quality of all my videos are very blurry and horrible looking. If I film in 480p and I watch in 480p on my computer not streaming shouldn't the quality be crisp and decent?

I have no idea how cameras work, but I'm sure there's more to a camera than just its pixel output. My uncle used to be SUPER into cameras, and he once went on a rant to me about how everyone thinks the megapixels a camera shoots in (effectively the resolution, I guess?) is MUCH less important than everyone thinks it is. Said the quality of the lens and some other part were way more important, and that a lot of cameras with a high MP count could easily be beaten by other cameras that shot in lower resolution, because of the other parts involved. I think he even went so far as to say that a lot of cameras would be *better off* shooting in lower resolutions, because the high MP count makes the pictures look grainy if the rest of the camera isn't up to snuff?

Sorry I answered your question with a bunch of other questions about things I only half remember, lol.
Basically, though, I think there are a lot of reasons your camera's output could look like crap. Resolution isn't everything, apparently! XD
I mean, there are a lot of cheap cameras out there that shoot in 1080p, but there are also a lot of ridiculously expensive ones that shoot in the same resolution, right?

Three things to digital video encoding

1. Megapixels, which determine the ultimate dimensions of a picture by dots per square inch.
2. Lenses and filters, which is the core of what light comes in an out,
3. Reader chip (CCD/CMOS), which controls the sensitivity and complexity of data pickup.

Out of all of these, the digital medium's most important component is the reader chip. It controls all photosensitive elements, which leads directly into just how much detail there can be. The next is the lens as it is the viewport to the reader chip. If you have poor input from the lens, no technology in the world is going to make it look better. The only reason why this is placed below the reader chip is because not all cameras have interchangeable lenses. Then is the megapixel amount. The higher the number, the greater the dot pinch. Note that this does not mean quality! Simply increasing the number of dots it can take in does not mean much in terms of how something looks. Cameras that rise into the the upper 20MP range don't have the capability to visually reproduce a 20MP shot with quality. Instead, you get a blurry picture.

Your camera is an example of this.

They have a 480p camcorder? Never knew! It really depends on your TV but mostly on your camera, but 480p isn't really that great of a quality as in HD that is. 480p is the equivalent to a 720i.

Out of all of these, the digital medium's most important component is the reader chip. It controls all photosensitive elements, which leads directly into just how much detail there can be. The next is the lens as it is the viewport to the reader chip. If you have poor input from the lens, no technology in the world is going to make it look better. The only reason why this is placed below the reader chip is because not all cameras have interchangeable lenses. Then is the megapixel amount. The higher the number, the greater the dot pinch. Note that this does not mean quality! Simply increasing the number of dots it can take in does not mean much in terms of how something looks. Cameras that rise into the the upper 20MP range don't have the capability to visually reproduce a 20MP shot with quality. Instead, you get a blurry picture.

Your camera is an example of this.

But i don't zoom, it just bugs me how it's blurry. Then again, I had the light off accidently and boosted the saturation and light digitaly does that make it look blurry?


They have a 480p camcorder? Never knew! It really depends on your TV but mostly on your camera, but 480p isn't really that great of a quality as in HD that is. 480p is the equivalent to a 720i.

Yes, we got it in 2007 or 2008, most people can't afford to buy a new camera for quite a while. I know technology goes out of date fast but how many people can actually afford to buy new equipment every so many years? May'be if your a pro but hobbyist just can't. Unless it's say 200 -$300 only. 720i is, I think, HD.
I hate it that ours doesn't even film 720p, but it's got a heck of a zoom on it; It just has a lousy built-in lense. Is anybody on here lucky enough to have a nice camera with removable lenses? Most musicans spend their money on music right? So I assume that's why some of the best youtube musicans have terrible cameras. But some people (most are Japanese) have nice quality camera recordings of them playing. Not awesome, but simply clear.

I'm mainly conserned over the clearness of the video so it's not blurry or grainy (shutters).

Allow me to be more clear: Cheap cameras use CCD reader chips. What this means is that it requires a certain amount of time to take in light and capture it. I'm assuming you know that a camera's brightness and sharpness is determined by the quality of light that it captures. A CCD takes a long time to register the light and form the picture. This means that any movement will result in a blurry image. In addition, the cheaper quality means that it will commonly become overexposed or have 'spillage', which is the spreading of light into unrelated areas, also resulting in a blurry image.

Or you could just have junk on the nose of the lens.

Here's what I mean:

My video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRbAUauOIOU&feature=watch_response

compared to

A clear good quality but not incredible quality video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYV6LZCXySM

Here's what I mean:

My video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRbAUauOIOU&feature=watch_response

compared to

A clear good quality but not incredible quality video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYV6LZCXySM

Perhaps you missed the fact that the second video's source resolution is 720p downscaled to 360p. Also, it looks like the camera's going nuts trying to choose the right ISO. Try adding a bit more white light.

Ok, I'll see if adding more light makes it less grainy :)