Step aside Boxee, move over Apple TV, and you too Media Center, here comes Google TV! It’ll be very interesting to see if they can pull it off well. No other set top solution has managed to sucessfully integrate all online content, much less tie it in with cable content. At least not without a clunky solution that requires multiple boxes. We shall see!
And it only weighs 900lbs!
Before there was TiVo, there were VCRs. Before that, there were reel-to-reel VTRs. Generally considered to be the first home video recorder is the stunningly large Ampex Signature V combination reel to reel video recorder, console television and hifi system. Circa 1963, and would have set you back $30,000. By the way, this was in 1963 dollars! This gem weighed in at over 900 lbs! It also included a bulky camera too!
If you enjoy checking out this sort of thing, rewindmuseum.com is a fun website. As the website originates from across the pond, much of the gear covered was available only in europe. Well worth a visit either way.
I was actually looking into video stabilization apps, and stumbled across this. It’s a free plugin that yields an effect very similar to some of the “rotoscope” type animated films and commercials. While those films were much more labor intensive, this free plugin from NewBlueFX called “Cartoonr” achieves something very similar, and with little effort.
I did try this out myself in Vegas Pro 7, and by golly, it works pretty darn well. A number of presets are included with various looks, and settings to various parameters can be easily dialed around to your taste. Sure, it does slow down the render time. Surprisingly, not as much as I thought it would.
The Canon 5D MK II
First of all, I should apologize for that title. Secondly, who expected this odd situation where a DSLR might be one of the best video cameras on the market. At least in the lower end range of event video gear. By “lower end” I do mean cameras that sell below $5000. In comparison to current television production, 5K is a drop in the bucket. 30 to 50 thousand dollars is much more the range you’d expect to pay for a camera in your TV studio. Seems now, we have this very strange phenomenon, where a DSLR has stepped to the plate. In fact, the season finale, of one of the most popular television shows in history, is shot entirely with this camera.
And what camera you ask? The Canon 5D MKII. I should note here that I’m a Nikon fan, and have been for years. I have also owned several Canons, including the venerable AE1. I have also spent much more on dedicated video cameras that this. Most all from Sony, and the most recent was just over a year ago at about $3500. Make no mistake, it’s a fine camera. I’ve yet to see an answer to this phenomenon from Sony.
Now folks, life is not perfect, and this is no exception. Swish pans with this camera are to be avoided. Sound will require some attachments to be sure. The form factor isn’t ideal for the work that we do. At least it will take some adjustment. Again, sorry about the pun. I will say from what I have seen so far, the results are stunning. I hear it takes some pretty good snap shots as well. Please forgive once again. I think it’s reasonable to say that if you seek a new camera in the sub 5000K us$ range, perhaps you should look at the new 5D.
I should add here that the “run and gun” video cameras from Sony, Panasonic and Canon in this range are well worth a look. These cams still have some features that are designed for event video shooters, and they do a great job. I might not take the latest 5D on the next event shoot, but I will darn sure be working it in asap.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/194158/season_finale_of_house_filmed_with_canon_dslr.html
If you’re a fan of either of these folks, you’d probably enjoy this. Alec reveals a nugget of advice for actors to be. Love him, hate him, he’s a good actor. You might just get something out of this. Hopefully, you’ll be entertained a bit, and that’s good enough. Personally, I enjoy Adam’s podcast, and have enjoyed many a film of Mr. Baldwin.
The iPad
First of all, I should disclose that I own an iPhone and love it. I use PCs for desktop and laptop use. I admire the Apple hardware, but Windows based machines are just cheaper. Apple does indeed make some great products, and produce some of the the most fundamental benchmarks for industrial engineering. However, I was suprised that the iPad, (don’t get me started on the name) fell short in a couple if critical areas.
First of all, it’s one thing for a phone to be synced with a computer, but if the iPad is to compete with other “netbooks” and the like, this will not do! I have a very big love/hate relationship with iTunes. In addition, I cant wrap my head around the fact that Apple did not only fail to include a USB port, they also failed to include a SD card slot. They do have an adapter for SD cards, but who wants an ugly dongle dangling off of this elegant device?
An HDMI port would have been nice too. Probably not a fair feature to ask for, as I don’t think any Netbook has one. Not that I know of anyway. As for adding a camera, I’m not sure I agree with those who propose this. It not as if you’d have this thing in your pocket, and whip it out for a quick picture. It would however be great to pop the SD card right in after you arrive home from your trip, and view your photos.
The most surprising flaw to me, is that you have to own another computer. It must be synched up with iTunes. At least once that is. I just don’t get this at all, and see no good reason for it. I will wager this will change with a future update, and they just couldn’t make it happen now for some reason. This is one area where Netbooks have it whipped.
In spite of all this, I still want one!
This problem has driven me nearly crazy until I found the solution, and I’ll bet it’s done the same to many of you out there. You’ve just created a MP4 file with Sony Vegas, Premier Pro, or some other NLE, and it won’t play until the file downloads completely. Arggg! Why is it that other MP4 files will stream, and mine won’t?!?!
As it turns out, for some mind bending reason, a number of video editing apps do not output the correct Mp4 file header to allow the video to begin playing once the first few seconds have been buffered. I cannot fathom why this is. It’s certainly not the case with WMV (Windows Media) or MOV (Quicktime) files. In fact, Vegas has a checkbox for both file types that correctly encodes the file for streaming.
I finally ran across this great little app called “MP4 Faststart”, and it actually corrects the problem. It simply processes the file, and updates the header to allow a progressive download as the video plays. Amazingly, it’s free. Well actually, it’s donationware, and I think you’ll find it’s worthy of a few bucks to the developer, as it will save much head banging.
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.
The Apple iPad
I was actually quite surprised at all the criticism about the new iPad. Overall, I really do think this will be the tablet computer that finally works. It’s in many ways a scaled up iPod touch after all. It is however a more powerful device. This, and the large display, open up quite a few new possibilities.
Obviously, images and video will benefit from the large display. Those who have seen it in person say the image quality is quite striking. Most of you probably now know that Apple is entering the ebook business, and this will no doubt be a serious competitor to Kindle and the other readers out there. Oh sure, epaper is supposedly easier on the eyes, but even if this is true, the trade-off is pretty compelling.
I, like just about everyone it would seem, do have a few nits to pick. For one, I was really struck about the fact that the iPad omitted a camera. Not so much a forward facing one to take pictures with, but a rear facing camera for Skype. This would be a wonderful device for any sort of video chat for that matter. My guess is that this was a cost issue. I was pleasantly surprised at the relatively low price-point. Now some commentators have claimed that Apple used about $270 worth of parts, therefore they still have quite a fat profit. These folks unfortunately don’t understand the additional costs of putting such a device in your hand.
I was however a bit disappointed at the lack of a SD card slot. Apple of course has never had such a feature on an iPod, as they felt the included memory was sufficient. Besides, Steve hates unnecessary holes on his pretty devices! In this case, it’s quite a different issue. Not one of adding capacity, but a way to get your content into the device. The iPad is clearly intended to be something more than a great big iPod. It was designed to take the place of netbooks for one thing. While Apple would prefer you only add content via iTunes, or a desktop computer, I still have some issue with this. What a wonderful feature it would be to pull the card from your camera, then view and manipulate your photos on the iPad. You can still do this of course, but you will need a SD card adapter. The irony here is you’d need an ugly protruding dongle to upload your photos from your camera. This would be a great field tool for professional photographers. Sure, I doubt it will do RAW, but most finer cameras also can output a JPG version of the same shot for review. Unfortunately, you’d need that ugly dongle.
That said, I cannot lie. I can’t wait to have my very own iPad.
