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Flip Videos work great for this; I'm surprised no one else has mentioned them. Gary Schrock wrote: > FWIW, we just use a standard Sony miniDV camera. Personally, I kind > of wish the thing would die so we could get one that's hard drive > based instead of miniDV, because transferring from tape to the > computer is a 1:1 time based operation. With miniDV set on the longer > record time, a standard tape yields 90 minutes of recording, which > generally has been fine for the job talks we have. > > These days in general we just set the camera up on a tripod in the > back of the room, with a view that generally includes the podium and > the screen, and leave is set that way for the talk. Although if you > get someone that likes to walk around a lot, you might get parts of > the tape where they're off screen :). If a group wants more than > this, I generally ask them to supply a grad student that can operate > the camera (after all, they're generally at these talks). These video > cameras are pretty easy to operate, so it doesn't take more than a > minute or so to cover how to deal with it. But in general, our people > seem to be satisfied with the static view (I finally convinced the > powers that be that is didn't make sense to be paying me to sit in > these, although depending on the exact area of specialty of the > presenter, I could find it anywhere from interesting, to completely > lost and I haven't a clue). > > The results I'd definitely say are merely adequate, not great. Even > without an external mic, I find that it picks up the speaker > adequately, but that might also depend on the size of your room. But > for the purpose of someone to review the talk if they missed it, it's > good enough. > > Also, we haven't had anyone complain about being recorded for such > purposes. The impression I've gotten is that this is actually > becoming fairly routine, although that could vary based on the > department that's doing this. > > But basically, any decently reviewed camcorder with a tripod is > probably going to be adequate. Possibly with some form of external > mic. I'd definitely recommend going with a hard drive based on > though, because otherwise you'll need a computer with a firewire card > on it that can be tied up for the same length of time as the talk. > Maybe I can arrange someone to accidentally drop ours. > > Gary >