[Muse]

My new K-x came a few days ago and yesterday I took my first shots including 3 very short AVI clips. Everything was set to the defaults, hadn't changed anything. The videos were less than a minute and the sound was far in advance of the video. It was ridiculous. I used the only memory card I had, a Kingston 2GB SD card. Is it the card's fault?

I've never used CrystalDiskMark before and don't know how to interpret test results, however I tested the card with CrystalDiskMark 3.0 today (I actually have two of these cards). I formatted the other card today and then tested it and got these results running with 100MB and 3 passes:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 19.329 MB/s
Sequential Write : 11.066 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 19.122 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 1.923 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 3.160 MB/s [ 771.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.018 MB/s [ 4.3 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 3.286 MB/s [ 802.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.019 MB/s [ 4.6 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [E: 0.0% (0.0/1875.7 MB)] (x3)
Date : 2010/07/29 8:00:03
OS : Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP2 [6.0 Build 6002] (x86)

My test JPGs were indoors, decent lighting and the camera set to AUTO PICT. The first shot was OK, from about 2.5 feet, the 2nd 3rd and 4th got progressively more blurry and then the 5th was very sharp. The 4th shot was incredibly blurry, the subject a fact and the background was blurry too. The data shows it was shot at 1/80 second, so I'm wondering if this is the much discussed blur issue at lower shutter speeds.

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Last edited by Muse; 07-29-2010 at 01:21 PM.

[Wheatfield]

More than likely it's your media player at fault.

[Muse]

More than likely it's your media player at fault.

In both cases it was Windows Media Player. You think it was that?

[Adam]

Moved to the video forum.

Adam
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[Muse]

Moved to the video forum.

OK, thanks.

[rawr]

I used the only memory card I had, a Kingston 2GB SD card. Is it the card's fault?

...The data shows it was shot at 1/80 second, so I'm wondering if this is the much discussed blur issue at lower shutter speeds.

First, yes, your card is struggling to keep up with all the data the K-x is sending to it. Get a better/faster SDHC card like a Sandisk Ultra or Extreme. Then see if you have any video or other problems. And don't get a no-name brand at this stage - at least have one good reliable Sandisk card in your initial kit.

And second, as to blur, you've taken 4 pictures, and now you think you have the blur issue? 1/80 is a slow shutter speed. Blur is to be expected. The camera can't make blur go away. Improve your shooting - ie camera holding, shutter-pressing and exposure judging - technique, take a lot more photos, and then see if there are any issues after you take 200+ shots and have more experience with the camera.

[RolloR]

i highly suspect it's the media player's fault.

either it's your computer hardware or software.

have you tried playing the file in another computer?

[Muse]

i highly suspect it's the media player's fault.

either it's your computer hardware or software.

have you tried playing the file in another computer?

Yes, I tried two other computers, one a laptop, the other my desktop. I determined a few things:

1. The first laptop, the one with the card reader, played the AVI files in Windows Media Player. Horrible sound/video synch problem. Also, erratic play.

2. The other laptop had similar issues.

3. I tried playing the AVI's right from the USB card reader (old and cheap) in my desktop, and WMP crashed immediately. I went "Open with" and was offered WMP (WMP crashed, so I guess I need to upgrade that or give up using it!) and VLC Media Player, which I'd installed for some HDTV recordings I had. I got messages for each of the 3 short AVI's that they were "broken" (I saw flashes of something about an index problem, maybe something else too) and was asked if I wanted to fix them. I said "Yes" and when I played them off a HD instead of the slow card reader, everything was working and synchronized! So, I guess the AVI's were broken because of the slowness of the 2GB Kingston SD card I was using in the camera.

I ordered a PQI 8GB class 10 SDHC card early this morning (3-4AM!), having spotted a very good coupon at FatWallet (Even with tax, it was $18.65, free shipping). So, my first SDHC card won't be a Sandisk. I suppose it really is a good idea as you say to get one high end card as a reference when I experience issues so I can rule out card issues, at least to some extent. I think I'll also have to get another card reader. Three of my four computers can't read SD or SDHC cards without a USB reader. I have no reason to believe that the 6+ year old card reader I'm using now will even work with SDHC cards! I know nothing whatsoever about the ins and outs of buying a USB card reader, so any hints are appreciated. I guess I can and will continue to haunt the photography forums and read reviews at Amazon and Newegg and find out that way.

[rawr]

Those card reader issues sound familiar. IIRC a while ago someone here was having similar problems, both with external card readers and one built-in to his computer.

There's nothing to know about card readers. Just buy a new Sandisk card reader (there are several models - mine has a groovy little stand) and you will be right. Once again you see my theme - get good quality accessories if you want to reduce your likely troubles with handling camera data. Anything that needs to handle your data, don't skimp.

[jogiba]

Get a good Sandisk SDHC card like the Ultra 15mb/sec and Sandisk ImageMate® Multi-Card USB 2.0 Reader then use Quicktime to play the videos.

[Muse]

Get a good Sandisk SDHC card like the Ultra 15mb/sec and Sandisk ImageMate® Multi-Card USB 2.0 Reader then use Quicktime to play the videos.

Is that card class 4? What I've been seeing in the threads is that the manufacturer of the card may be more important than the published class rating, but my impression is that at least class 6 is advisable if you're going to be shooting video with the K-x. I'd like good video and good burst mode support from the card. As I said in post #8 in this thread I ordered a I ordered a PQI 8GB class 10 SDHC card yesterday. With a code from Fat Wallet it was cheap. I may regret that purchase. In any case, I think I should do as suggested here and get at least one highly regarded card for comparison for when issues arise. Or just to have really good performance!

[RonHendriks1966]

I think you should first run up your codecs at your PC. You will need a good PC/laptop to run the HD movie. Record a movie in VGA and see if it has the same problem. Or load a movie up to youtube, if the sounds is good there, you know it's not your K-x.

Free-Codecs.com : Download K-Lite Codec Pack 6.2.0 FULL, K-Lite Codec Pack 6.2.0 STANDARD, K-Lite Codec Pack 6.2.0 BASIC : K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools

[jogiba]

Is that card class 4? What I've been seeing in the threads is that the manufacturer of the card may be more important than the published class rating, but my impression is that at least class 6 is advisable if you're going to be shooting video with the K-x. I'd like good video and good burst mode support from the card. As I said in post #8 in this thread I ordered a I ordered a PQI 8GB class 10 SDHC card yesterday. With a code from Fat Wallet it was cheap. I may regret that purchase. In any case, I think I should do as suggested here and get at least one highly regarded card for comparison for when issues arise. Or just to have really good performance!

Yes that is a Class 4 and I use a 32GB Ultra Class 4 in my Panasonic HDC-TM700 3MOS 1080p60 camcorder without any problems. I do use a 16GB Sandisk Extreme 30mb/sec in my Pentax K-7 but I think the Ultra should also work in it.

[rawr]

I use 8GB Sandisk Ultras on the K-x, and they work OK for video. Extremes would work even better, so if video is important to you, go with those.