Pixelrrific

A great article I just ran across on Boingboing, about the Real Networks DVD case.  If you aren’t aware of this blog with the funny name, you should be.  They produce some great content.  This is such a well written article on the subject of the RealDVD application.  In short, RealDVD would have allowed you to extract the contents of a DVD you already paid for, legally, and put the contents on your computer, or your iPod.  Unfortunately, they lost the court case.  Now, only criminals will have this privilege.

When RealNetworks Settled on DVD Copying, We All Lost – Boing Boing.

Adobe Flash

The iPad reminded me of the strange confusion around Adobe Flash.  Many were surprised that the iPad will not support flash.  I can’t say that I was surprised at all.  As many readers might know, the iPhone does not support flash.  There actually only a few smartphones that do support flash, and only do so to a limited extent.  Apple in particular, has a ax to grind with Adobe, as the flash player seems to occasionally cause system crashes in OSX.  Apple feels this is a problem with Adobe’s code.

There is however some confusion about a couple of important aspects of Flash.  What first comes to mind is the eye candy websites that use flash to animate all sorts of buttons and effects.  Some elegantly so, and others to a ridiculous extent.  Flash (and Shockwave) has been used to create many animated presentations, and applications and games as well.  There is however an almost completely separate function supported by flash player, and that is video playback.

Originally, the flash player was designed to play a particular video file format known as FLV.  This is a video file format specific to the Flash player.  For years, this has been the method of choice for delivering video on the web.  Youtube, and many similar sites, used this method for years.  It of course required that you have Adobe Flash player installed on your computer.  Most of you out there know all too well the prompt from your web browser, asking that you install the Flash Plugin.

There were many competitors over the years for alternate methods of online video delivery.  Windows Media, Apple Quicktime, Real Media, and so on.  A refreshingly new trend has however been afoot these past years, and that is the MP4 file format.  Also known as Mpeg4, this actually represents a bit of a convergence.  An odd thing indeed, when so many incompatible file formats and applications plague all things computerized these days.  Not only does Apple support Mp4, it’s actually the chosen video format of the iPhone, and iPod touch.  This was no doubt a factor that influenced the move towards mp4 video delivery that Youtube now embraces.

Where does Flash come in?  As it turns out, as of version 9, Adobe flash player supports playback of mp4 files via a web page.  The great thing about this is no additional plug-in is required to play the video.  That is, if you have flash player installed, and of course that your device supports flash.  While I do have some background in web development, I’m hardly a programmer.  I wonder why that mp4 video playback via the flash player can’t be supported alone, and simply disable all of the other Flash functionality?  Seems to me, this just throws the baby out with the bathwater.

KI PRO - AJA Video

I would love to own this, and I bet every one of you would agree.  At least if we could afford it.  Now, I have no doubt that AJA gear is worth every penny.  They have a reputation that no doubt has taken years to earn.  You can also bet that this is as durable and reliable as any similar device.

The fact of the matter is, their ain’t many similar devices out there.  Certainly not near this price.  If all you need is a portable standard def recorder, they can be had for next to nothing.  Looking for something with a HDMI input?  That’ll cost you!  While I would never expect a device like the Ki-PRO to sell for a fraction of its price, I wonder why there are no lower priced HD recorders.  Specifically, a portable recorder that can record from an HDMI input.  One clue is that you can add a card to capture HDV or SD video to your computer via Firewire (IEEE 1394) for about $15.  Want to add an HDMI input to yer `puter?  It’ll cost you about $400 for a Blackmagic capture card.  Again, I don’t doubt the value and quality of Blackmagic products.  I just wonder what makes HDMI stuff so expensive.

I’ll bet I’m not the first videographer who as been asked this question.  It’s insulting on a few levels. It conveys the idea that you can’t possibly be making a living doing your job.  It also implys that you do something your client sees as play.  Yet they have not a clue how to handle even a simple edit job. 

This question comes from envy and ignorance.  Your client wishes they had a job like yours.  Asking this question indicates they have no idea how to reach that goal.

Pansonic P2 Cards

Many in the industry agree that the AG-HPX170 is an outstanding camera.  I noticed a local vendor has a rebate program that had me entertaining the thought of this cam once again.  After all, tapeless capture is definitely the future.  Perhaps however, this is not yet so for me.

A 32GB P2 card currently goes for around $600 or so.  This is about 20 times some of the other flash media.  Not a fair comparison perhaps, as these card are radically faster in transfer speed, more durable, can me written to more times, and so on.  $600 is pocket change in the film and television industry.  It’s still a pretty good chunk for the event video business.

I’d really love to hear if anyone is using these cams for event video coverage.  It occurs to me that you’d either (ideally) own a number of P2 cards, or constantly be dumping video to hard drives.  You’ll then probably want to back that drive up to some other media just to be safe, as you’ll have to soon wipe those P2 cards with your next event.  As for myself, I still kinda like the idea that I can shelve the tapes until I’m ready for them.

If you’re familiar with this camera, you might also know of Sony’s EX1.  A pretty attractive camera in a similar price ballpark.  It however can use Expresscard drives.  While they don’t have the specs of P2 cards, they can certainly be pretty fast.  This and at about 1/6th of the price too.  Hard to overlook for a budget shooter.