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Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#51

Post by account42 »

donatj wrote: post #2

Like most head scratchers, it’s EU taxes. The import taxes are higher on video cameras than still cameras, so they artificially limit the length of videos you can record to avoid being classified as a video camera. > Video camera recorders are subject to import duty of 4.9% or 14%, still image cameras are duty free. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2016-00127... (Update: included better link)

> The Commission is not aware of technical limitations to those devices developed by the industry to evade import duties.

Maybe they should read Hacker News.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#52

Post by petodo »

EU tax for videocameras vs still cameras

Though I wonder who needs to record more than 30 minutes in one take? Seems like extremely niche scenario even with videocameras.

I remember Ukraine or Russia had for many years even crazier tax on cars which were improted partially disassembled and then assembled locally to avoid much higher import tax on completely assembled car, but can't find it now. Seems it was scratched after they joined WTO,m before there was like 30% import tax on cars.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#53

Post by Throwaway78389 »

oxfordmale wrote: post #20
bradwood wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finally. The first _good_ reason for Brexit.

Because you really want to record movies longer than 30 minutes on your phone? Not even sure if the UK has changed this already.

I really want technology to be as good as it gets, not as good as tax/tariff law allows.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#54

Post by weberer »

pjc50 wrote: post #32
weberer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>At that time, many people in Britain opposed income tax, on principle, because the disclosure of personal income represented an unacceptable governmental intrusion into private matters, and a potential threat to personal liberty. I didn't know the British used to be so cool.

Bricking up your windows to own the Liberals. (You can still see this on old buildings, some were never restored to use as windows)

You have it completely backwards. They were the liberals.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#55

Post by Swenrekcah »

bluGill wrote: post #50
Swenrekcah wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t know about that. Brexit only created yet another tax/regulatory domain that companies have to negotiate.

There are so many different ones already that one more doesn't matter very much. If you are a poor country getting rid of them matters, but UK is rich/important enough that plenty of companies will find it worthwhile to navigate and so they don't loose much. Poor countries are a small market and so if it hard to navigate companies will give up as there are not enough rich people there to be worth the effort, and so b…

Ok but for large companies regulations are very rarely munch of an inconvenience anyway, with a very few exceptions (many of those are in fact EU regulations that actually benefit the consumer). They have the manpower to deal with it and often the pull to influence regulation.

Generally it’s individuals and small to medium sized companies both inside and outside the UK that are negatively affected by Brexit.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#56

Post by [deleted] »

michaelt wrote: post #49
randomdata wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may explain why it is exactly 30 minutes, but, despite some counterexamples, that we don't see more product differentiation enabling the consumer to choose between a camera with the limit and an "upgraded" model (i.e. the same camera with the limit disabled) suggests that underlying that the manufacturer recognizes that the consumer would rather buy under-specced hardware that can't handle much more than 30 minu…

In general for things like memory management and thermal management, if a handheld device is going to hit its limits, it'll do so well before the 30 minute mark. Either your thermal solution can remove the heat of your CPU going at full power, or it can't. And if it can't it'll hit the limits in 5 minutes not 30 minutes, unless it's a huge water-cooling system or something like that. The main exception here is batter…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#57

Post by toast0 »

randomdata wrote: post #43
jfindley wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. The 30 minute limitation applies on even very high end DSLRs, but in practice this doesn't matter, because this isn't quite how DSLRs are used for video work. In practice, video is done by using the HDMI output of the camera which will spit out continous 4k output without the 30 min limit, and without all the issues of needing to flush this to CFe/SD/XQD cards. You then caputre it on either a laptop or st…

A number of high end (still-centric) cameras are known for overheating problems during recording, even before the 30 minute mark is reached.

Using HDMI output and avoiding the compression and storage codecs probably helps with heat.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#58

Post by randomdata »

toast0 wrote: post #57
randomdata wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A number of high end (still-centric) cameras are known for overheating problems during recording, even before the 30 minute mark is reached.

Using HDMI output and avoiding the compression and storage codecs probably helps with heat.

No doubt, but it remains that if there was a suitable market for the same camera + no record limit, even if at a premium to compensate for taxes + extra work, vendors would take notice and put in the necessary effort to engineer their devices to compensate for the heat. Without a suitable market, though, why bother? Design them only to the point that they can record for ~30 minutes and the market says that's good enough.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#59

Post by staticman2 »

The question is based on a misconception. Here's what my particular camera can do, the Fujifilm X-T5, from dpreview.com:

"Fujifilm says the camera can shoot 6.2K/30 video for 90 minutes or 4K/60p for 60 minutes at 25°C (77°F); these numbers drop significantly at higher temperatures, and there's no option to add a fan to compensate."

Here's what the next more expensive, slightly bigger camera can do the Fujifilm X-h2, from Cameralabs.com

"Also inherited from the X-H2S is unlimited internal recording, sailing past the previous half hour limit and also without overheating issues in my tests. I made five separate recordings, each starting with a full battery, and was able to record between 100 and 120 minutes in any format from 1080 to 8k before the battery expired. In each case at the end of the recording, the camera had become very warm behind the screen, but showed no warning of overheating. Battery power was the limiting factor in these tests.

All my tests were made at room temperature in the UK, but if you’re filming under hotter conditions and experiencing overheating, you can extend your recording times by fitting an optional fan accessory. As seen here on the S version, this simply screws into the back of the body when the screen’s folded out – not particularly elegant, but it will extend your times."

It seems to me it's clearly an issue of heat management in a small form factor since an optional fan accessory extends the film length in the higher end camera.

Re: Ask HN: Why do cameras stop recording after 30 minutes?

#60

Post by staticman2 »

lyu07282 wrote: post #47
post_break wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the camera outputs clean HDMI, yes.

I was wondering if that too would switch off after 30 minutes

It's a heat management issue, I recall from a review of a new Fujifilm device that with an external recorder Fujifilm devices can go unlimited.
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