Audio Mixing and Videotape Rescue
Audio Mixing and Videotape Rescue
eNews News!
It's time to put the final touches on those New Years projects! That means that we're going to need to mix some audio, and adjust some levels. It can affect the outcome of how our audience views our video, which is why Mixing for Mood is this week's Hot Video Tip! Plus, an exclusive story to eNews looks at the best practices for backing up projects safely.
In week's edition of Tips & Tricks, focuses on editing tools used to help make green screen effects easier and more precise in three different software programs!
Hot Video Tips: Audio Mixing for Mood
By Hal Robertson
Imagine your favorite movie or TV show without the music. It just doesn't work, does it?
What would a Batman movie be without the dark, brooding score? Where would Napoleon Dynamite be without its quirky soundtrack? The selection, timing and mixing of music are critical to the success of your project. They set the mood for current events and can even signal events to come. So it's worth focusing some time and effort on the sound mix. It doesn't matter whether you have a big budget or no budget, you can create equally powerful mixes using common tools and software you already own...Continue
Test Bench: MAGIX Videotape Rescue Package
By Tom Skowronski
The Analog Bridge
For most of us over the age of 20, memories of VCR recording are still stuck in the back of our brains. Over the years, we've all found some embarrassing childhood memories under a couch on some dusty videotape. The birthday with that invincible piñata. The trip to the theme park when your brother fell off the ferris wheel. The soccer games where your brother would beat up the ref. We could go on, but two things are certain: the death of VHS is imminent, and some of those tapes are worth saving!...Continue
More New Product Reviews
- DoubleSight DS-1900S Dual-Monitor LCD
- Panasonic HDC-HS100
- Imagine Products' ShotPut Pro Video Offloading Software
- NVIDIA Quadro CX Video Card
Feature: Backing Up - Best Practices
By Morgan Paar
Your project's done. How do you archive it? Helpful notes for someone who has to open the project after you're gone.
Archiving media and other assets has always been an important issue. But, as video moves away from magnetic tape (e.g., Mini DV tapes) toward solid-state Flash memory (e.g., Panasonic's P2), optical storage (e.g., Sony's PD), hard-drive storage and other media (can we even call it video anymore, now that it is no longer tape-based?), the need to archive has become not only more important but, in many ways, more difficult.
There is little doubt, at least outside the walls of videotape manufacturing companies, that videotape is going the way of floppy disks. I'm pretty sure the generation being born today will someday ask their parents, "What is that stuff they call videotape in those old 2000 movies?" Flash memory, optical storage and hard-drive storage are quickly replacing the linear acquisition format we have been using for the last 58 years...Continue
Movie and Video Production Planning
Movie and Video Production Planning
VideoMaker.com
Plan the shoot, shoot the plan, edit the planned shoot.
That's the mantra we introduced in last month's piece on production planning. We rejoin the discussion now with the amazing new idea that when production starts you should shoot what you planned to shoot.
Talk about obvious!
Not so fast. If that deceptively simple rule were routinely followed, Hollywood epics would never overrun their schedules and amateur productions would never look embarrassing (assuming they didn't crash and burn before completion). So let's review reasons for staying on-plan, gremlins that attack production plans, and ways to protect yourself against disasters, both serial and parallel.
The underlying concept is that crucial decisions are made in pre-production planning that will affect everything that follows, all the way through to the end of post production. A good planner keeps that long timeline in mind, the way a good chess player thinks many moves ahead.
Stick to the Plan
Sticking to a plan no matter what seems sort of, well retentive; but there are several reasons for resisting changes or at least studying them very carefully before making them.
First, remember the law of unintended consequences. Even small productions are complicated organisms with many interdependent parts. If you decide to shoot, say, scene 22 instead of scheduled scene 14, the cast, location, and time of day might be fine -- but what about the actor's distinctive Grateful Dead shirt, which got all muddy in scene 13 but has to be clean again for scene 22? Thinking fast, you run it through a Laundromat during lunch break. Uh-huh, but when you go to scene 14 later that shirt has to be dirty again -- with exactly the same stain pattern as before it was washed.
So things start to domino. Cleverly, you have the actor play scene 14 without the shirt, adding a line like, "Boy, I hope I can get that shirt clean; it's an heirloom." Right away, you've handed the editor two problems. Since the action is continuous across scenes 13 and 14, the character has no off-screen time in which to take off the shirt. Major jump cut. Also, the added line tells viewers that the shirt's valuable, which is totally irrelevant to the story and distracting from the point of the scene.
You're already thinking of fifty things at once, under time and money pressure to move, move, move! If you must make alterations, take the time you need to think them through. The second moral is that post production is very demanding. Once you wrap production, it's expensive and often impossible to re-open the shoot for vital pieces that are missing or mis-matched to other pieces.
Entire Article Here
What's Face Detection?
What's Face Detection?
eNews News!
Many of the newer video cameras are following the still-camera features by offering face recognition technology. But how exactly does this technology work? This issue's Basic Training has a primer on this new technology along with some food for thought on those times when it might hinder your work and how you can work around it.
Plus... You're hearing about it all over the news... the end of Analog Broadcast is coming, is it really as frightening as the Y2K scare? Our "Digits Over the Air" feature explains what the change means to TV viewers and, more importantly, how it can affect video producers.
Hot Video Tip: About Face!
By Kyle Cassidy
Many video cameras now seem to include face detection capabilities. But what exactly is face detection? Our primer explains how it works and how it might stump you, too.
The story of face recognition technology begins back in 2005, when Nikon released the Coolpix 5900, a mid-range point-and-shoot still camera with what it called a Face Priority mode. The camera would use built-in algorithms to examine a scene and identify human faces. It would then adjust contrast, color balance and exposure to "properly" expose the faces...Continue
Test Bench: Canon VIXIA HG21 HD Camcorder
By Tom Skowronski
Load Up Your Canon!
Canon's new VIXIA HG21 is a high-definition hard-disk-drive powerhouse, with 120GB of hard-drive space and a ton of exclusive Canon-only features. Prosumers rejoice: the HG21 is the perfect fit for family events, weddings and entry-level professional videography. At $1,300, the HG21 is a welcome addition to the HDD library...Continue
More New Product Reviews
Feature: Digits Over the Air
By Charles Fulton
The transition to digital over-the-air TV is nearly complete. So what does that mean for videographers?
While most of our discussions of television are generally about either criticizing the medium as a whole or trying to get distribution for our own productions, the technical aspects of television distribution generally never enter into the equation. However, we are at an interesting technical crossroads as the digital television transition nears its conclusion (and as some stations have been on the air in digital longer than 10 years at this point). As such, the fork in the road for this discussion goes in two different directions: what it means for the TV viewer and what this means for videographers.
To the TV Viewer
While we've been noticing that the average digital TV channel has at least one subchannel (e.g., an auxiliary service provided in addition to the main channel), the irony is that, after the transition is complete, there will actually be less spectrum available for television channels. The 1948 bandplan for TV eliminated channel 1 and reserved channel 37 for radio astronomy, leaving a total of 81 channels available. The first channels hacked off were 70-83, which went away in the 1980s to make way for cellular phones, leaving 67 channels available. Now, elimination of channels 52-69 for public safety radio leaves a scant 49 channels available. And, to compound the bandwidth impact, a group of consulting engineers calling themselves the Broadcast Maximization Committee proposes reallocating all AM stations to channels 5 and 6.
This is not to say that there will be no analog signals at all after February 17, 2009. Class A, low-power and translator stations may remain analog after that magical date. It's only full-power stations that must be digital after that date. However, some Class A, low-power and translator stations have applied with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to "flash-cut," to go from transmitting their current analog signals to transmitting digital signals instead...Continue
Foobar2000, if you were wondering, is a very light-weight music player. It's incredibly flexible thanks to its modular design and fully-featured developer kit. There are mods and plug-ins for Foobar that make it one of the most useful music players: if you're the kind of music buff that likes downloading 'quadrophonic gold remastered' albums in AC3 format from Torrent sites, then Foobar is the music player for you. If you have a large MP3 (or FLAC, AAC, MP4...) music collection and simply want to listen to it, Foobar is also the one for you.
There's all the usual functionality there too, like ripping CDs or fixing ID3 tags. My personal favourite is the keyboard shortcuts that you can set to work globally -- so even if you're playing a game like World of Warcraft, you can skip and pause your music using a finger-breaking keyboard shortcut. Handy. There's also a neat Windows 7 shell integration plugin, if you're fortunate enough to be using Foobar2000 AND Windows 7!
If you're one of those old boring types that's still using the antiquated WinAmp, or you're using the slow-and-disgustingly-bloated iTunes, give Foobar2000 a go -- you'll be surprised at just how good it is.
Official download (torrent) / MajorGeeks direct download (seems link was broken -- fixed now)
Foobar2000 v1.0 Beta -- holy crap, it's finally here! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Photo, Web services, Social Software
Facebook ditched the old-school Java uploader they'd been using since 2005, and built a plug-in from scratch with newer tools. Aside from looking better and running a lot more smoothly, the new uploader can also run in the background, so you don't have to stop browsing while you wait for your pics to upload. The first time you try to upload photos after turning on the prototype, you'll be prompted to install the Facebook plugin. It doesn't take long, and it's well worth the extra 30 seconds to get a better, faster photo uploader.
[via ReadWriteWeb]
Facebook is trying out a new photo upload tool, and it doesn't suck! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: News, Google, Mobile
Google has launched a new mobile version of Google News, designed specifically for current-gen smartphones: the iPhone, Palm's WebOS phones (the Pre and Pixi, so far) and Android phones.Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian already had their own Google News page, so its only fair for the new kids on the mobile block to get in on the action, too.
Google's pretty vague about the changes in the official blog post, but it looks like they've just managed to do more with the same amount of screen real estate. Navigating between sections is easier with the new layout, and you can now customize your Google News the same way you've been able to in a full desktop browser.
Android, Palm, and iPhone users get new Google News page originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Macintosh, Office, Productivity
The good: that fiddling-reduction thing really works. You can make your text larger or smaller, and choose between three fonts, but that's it. It keeps you away from the controls and focused on your words. Also good: there are 7 different musical selections, and the option to turn the music off altogether (which I recommend you exercise). The default background is quite attractive, but you can switch to basic white if you don't like it.
The bad: your only options for saving your Ommwriter docs are plain .txt or Ommwriter's own format. I suppose that's in keeping with the word-centric theme of the app, but sometimes a .doc comes in handy if you're sharing with an Office-devoted friend or colleague. Also - and this is clearly a matter of taste - the whole zen schtick feels a bit hokey to me. I'm all for removing distractions, and Ommwriter succeeds in that regard (except, perhaps, when it comes to the music) but I prefer the plain black screen and more robust formatting capabilities of WriteRoom.
Ommwriter: a Mac writing app that helps you concentrate originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Games, Time-Wasters
Toss The Turtle is the epitome -- the end of the line -- the ULTIMATE 'fire a canon ball as far as you can' game, a genre that you might remember from the (really) olden days. The basic premise is obvious: you gotta toss the turtle as far as you can.
But oh boy is it more complicated and involved and awesome than simply firing a canon. This could be significantly more than a 10-minute-time-waster, I assure you.
Continue reading Waste some time and toss the turtle
Waste some time and toss the turtle originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Office, Web services, Adobe, BlackBerry, iPhone, Mobile
Adobe's Acrobat.com service is getting a big update tonight, followed closely by a new mobile app for iPhone and BlackBerry. The name "Acrobat" goes hand-in-hand with the PDF file format, and Acrobat.com allows you to convert documents to PDF and save, store and view PDF files. It also features some other applications, including the Adobe BuzzWord word processor, a web meeting service called ConnectNow, and storage space for docs, spreadsheets and images.The new features include searching by filename (I'm still wrapping my head around how they didn't have this before), but not searching within documents. That feature is reportedly coming soon. Your files are also now displayed in a file organizer that lists everything you have stored on Adobe's webspace - I think this includes saved stuff from other web apps, including presentations.
The mobile app is reportedly going to be a pretty basic mobile front-end for Acrobat.com, with the ability to upload documents and send faxes (what's a "fax?") from your phone. It will come in both free and paid flavors, and the free version will allow a limited number of uploads and faxes per month.
[via CNET]
Acrobat.com gets revamped and gets a mobile app originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64
When Auslogics mentioned they've got a new version of their Disk Defrag tool available for download, I figured why not take it for a spin? My drive could use the TLC, after all. The app is available with an installer or as a portable app and is free for home use.
One small feature worth a mention is that Disk Defrag supports Windows 7's superbar progress indicator. You can choose to defragment your entire drive or target specific files or folders. It's also got a number of other smart features, like free space consolidation and intelligent system file placement. Disk Defrag can also be set to run automatically when your system is idle.The installable version can also clean up your temp files prior to defragging, minimize to the system tray, run scheduled jobs, and integrate into your right-click context menu.
Tidying up my drive's 130Gb+ of disorganization took about 25 minutes. Disk Defrag also includes a new optimization feature which Auslogics recommends running once a week. It takes quite a bit longer, but if it helps keep your drive healthy and running at peak performance it's time well spent.
Auslogics Disk Defrag buffs up, adds disk optimization in v3 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: News, Mozilla, Browsers
As you can see in the header image, Firefox and IE recently crossed paths. The chart shows data gathered from nine countries - Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine - from January 1, 2007 to the present. Internet Explorer continues its downward slide, Firefox has now claimed almost 50% of the browser share in Central Europe.
So go ahead, EU, complain all you want about Microsoft unfairly using their influence to ensure everyone's PC is running IE. It's obviously not hurting Firefox (or Opera, for that matter).
Maybe users really are smart enough to find and install their own browser? Who'da thunk it.
[via Mozilla]
Firefox Army clashes with IE in Central Europe, wins browser share crown originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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They've been awfully quiet the last couple of years, except for the recent PS3 price reduction and slow drip-feed of good games. But it seems, after the appointment of a new CEO back in 2006, the results of some internal reshuffling might finally be coming to fruition!There's no name for the new software reported on by BusinessWeek. There's also very few details of the functionality Sony's iTunes-killer will actually utilize to draw people away from Apple's soft, white allure and into their black, serious grasp.
BusinessWeek suggests that the software will try to differentiate itself from iTunes by including Picasa- and YouTube-like functionality, allowing users to upload videos and photos from their (Sony?) cameras. Other than that... who knows what Sony has up their sleeves?
Sony are huge however -- multi-national robber-baron 'XBox' huge -- with an additional vast library of music and movies. They also have a large installed base of PlayStation owners (that's fast increasing!) It wouldn't be a surprise to see some kind of 'PlayStation App Store' included in Sony's new software.
We shall see!
[via BusinessWeek]
Finally, serious competition for iTunes...from Sony! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Social Software, iPhone
Trillian, the excellent all-purpose chat app we've loved for years on the PC, just made the leap to the iPhone.There are a lot of things to love about this pocket-sized version of Trillian, including its great-looking interface and its support for several different chat services. You'll need to sign up for a free Astra account if you don't already have one, but it's nice that Trilian's existing desktop users can just plug and play with no account setup required.
Little perks of Trillian on the iPhone include push notifications (yay!) and the ability to send photos. Managing contacts is also pretty easy. In fact, Trillian's the first iPhone chat app I've seen that has a straightforward way of moving contacts between groups.
I do have a couple of minor bones to pick with Trillian, though. First, no landscape keyboard? Seriously? IM is a typing-intensive activity, and the iPhone's small portrait keyboard doesn't cut it for fast and furious chats.
Second: it takes two clicks to close your current chat (the "more" button and then "end conversation"). Can't we just get a close button? These are minor issues with what's otherwise a great app, and a decent value at $4.99, especially if you use more than one chat service at a time.
[via CNET]
Trillian brings impressive multi-network chat to the iPhone originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Social Software
It's also ready to add some sizzle to your Windows 7 taskbar with jumplist and Aero Peek goodness. Read on after the break!
Continue reading Fishbowl is a kick-ass Facebook client for Windows 7
Fishbowl is a kick-ass Facebook client for Windows 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Games, Mozilla, Browsers
It seems the age of humdrum, crippled browsers on consoles might finally be coming to an end! Though the details are very slim, with the only source being an unnamed insider very close to Sony, it is exciting news indeed if it turns out to true.Games consoles have always had feeble browser offerings, with PS3's default browser generally considered one of the worst and most unreliable. Porting Firefox to the PS3 would make a lot of sense, especially if Sony intend to inroads against the competing XBox Live service. Or perhaps they need a proper web browser for their newly-announced iTunes-killer...?
Obviously this is very much a rumour, but it would make a lot of sense -- and it will probably appear quite soon, considering how hard Sony are pushing for a larger slice of the console market at the moment.
I wonder if Flash and the ability to stream videos from sites like <strike>YouPo</strike> YouTube will be included....
[via CNET]
Proper web browsing on a console: Firefox coming to the Sony PS3? originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: OS Updates, Google, Ask DLS
As you'd expect from a "browser OS," Google pretty much admits that Chrome OS isn't really intended for offline use. They see devices running Chrome as a compliment to the existing systems in your home or office. Local storage? That's not really part of the big picture either. Everything you save heads straight for the cloud.
And Google's staunch "no third party apps" stance means that no, you won't be running Firefox on Chrome OS. Google doesn't want other apps playing in their sandbox, it would seem.
Personally, it looks like I'll enjoy playing with Chrome OS but I can't see myself relying on it for day-to-day computing. I'd prefer to at least run a lightweight but fuller-featured linux distribution like xPud or Crunchbang where I have more flexibility.
Ask DLS: Now that you've seen Chrome OS do you still care? originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Internet, Video, Google, Web
Google has given users the ability to caption their YouTube videos for a while now. But that can be a cumbersome, time-intensive process and most of the millions of videos hosted on YouTube are uncaptioned. That could change soon, as Google is beginning to roll out a new automatic captioning system that will analyze speech in videos and create machine-generated captions.This means that users who are hard of hearing will have an easier time using YouTube. And because Google can translate text into 51 different languages, it means that you'll have a much easier time understanding those German and Japanese videos you're so fond of watching.
The technology for the machine-based captions is the same as the tech that allows Google Voice to automatically transcribe your voicemail messages and send them to you as emails. That is to say, it's not perfect, and we can expect to see a fair number of mistakes in YouTube captions for the foreseeable future. But this is an excellent start at making web video significantly more accessible.
Automatic captions are only available on a handful of YouTube channels right now, including Google, YouTube, PBS, National Geographic, MIT, and UCLA. A wider release is scheduled soon, with auto-caps expected on English videos by the end of the week.
Google introduces machine-generated captions for YouTube videos originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Filed under: Fun, Games, iPhone
The object of Minim is to match up various numbered molecules until you clear the board. When you combine two of the same number, they form a single molecule that's one number greater. Eventually, you'll wind up with just one left, and you've won the level. The thing is, Minim is a lot more fun when you can use the iPhone's gestures to rotate the game board to see what you're working with. Using the mouse in the web version was fine, but the sense of manipulating the puzzle with your fingers adds an extra element of awesome. Check out the trailer after the jump to see how it works.
Minim isn't fast-paced (although you do get time bonuses for quickly solving puzzles), so it's ideal for mobile play on the bus, in the subway, or at your desk. It's cool, we won't tell your boss. The game comes with 50 basic levels, and there appear to be another 40 mystery levels, if you make it that far. For 2 bucks, you're getting your money's worth if you're a puzzle fan.
Continue reading Minim (now on iPhone): the game so nice we've reviewed it thrice
Minim (now on iPhone): the game so nice we've reviewed it thrice originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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