A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Yesterday's entry prompted me to think about making a video clip of part of a Canadian citizenship ceremony. Finding the clip seemed appropriate as Canada Day is fast approaching on July 1st.



After residing as a new immigrant in Canada for four years, one could apply for citizenship. There was a small test one had to study for in order to pass. Then, eventually, an appointment appeared in the mailbox giving the time and location.

In March of 2000, Jay went to Surrey, BC for his ceremony. This old, 2:47 camcorder clip was taken near the end of it. The official paperwork had already been given out. The new citizens had returned to their seats to sing the national anthem. The judge also reads through a list of the countries from where the people had come.

Labels: camcorder, Canada, Canada Day, Immigrating to Canada, Q2_2008, Surrey, YouTube

On Saturday evening I brought the new camcorder to a get-together with friends. So, far I'm pretty impressed with the Panasonic HDC-SD9. The video quality can be quite stunning in bright light; however, it doesn't so very well in low-light conditions. Unfortunately that's a very common type of family-style video. I think our very first Sony camcorder in the 1980's did the best job of any subsequent cameras of being able to shoot excellent night scenes.

The ability to just pop out the SD card and directly insert into the PS3 is useful. The software that copies to a computer is also fairly easy to use even if it lacks a lot of necessary features. Over all, giving up tape has been a pleasant experience.

Its small size and ease of use means that this camera will probably get a lot more exercise than anything I've owned in the past. I have to be aware of this and think in terms of small video clips nowadays too. To help reflect this change in thinking, I have introduced the term camcorder as a blogging label. Viola, I get an instant new page to reflect current and past entries.



Even a clip which is less than 20 seconds can be interesting. This is simply a SkyTrain entering the east end of the tunnel into Columbia Station in downtown New Westminster.

Labels: camcorder, New Westminster, Q2_2008, review, SkyTrain

I've subscribed for the weekly sales newsletter from my computer shop. I follow the falling prices this way even when I'm not looking to purchase anything.

I am following SD prices because of this month's purchase of a high-definition Panasonic camcorder. It's a model that only uses flash memory, so I picked up two 8GB SDHC cards to use with it. In the highest resolution about one hour of AVCHD video can be stored on one.

I did note quite a reasonable deal on the item to the right. The price is about $68 for 16GB. One of these would hold a full, two hours. Not having to swap off to a laptop computer would be useful on a long vacation. I'm in no rush though so I'll wait for the price to fall further or hold off until 32 GB chips are available.

Just to keep things in perspective, when I came back from working in the Middle East, in 1996, I shipped back a computer with a whopping 1.6GB hard drive. At the time the hard drives in many computers were still measured in megabytes. Today, the majority of mp3 players can hold more data than that PC!

Labels: camcorder, computers, flash memory, hard disk, Q2_2008, technology

Labels: camcorder, New Westminster, parade, Q2_2008

I'm still a reluctant masher-upper. I fear when I post something here that links to another site. What happens if their site goes down? What happens if the whole shebang goes the way of the dinosaurs?

I was happy with Flickr the way it was. I didn't want it to turn into a You Tube. However, they seem to be using a different paradigm. A user can add clips of up to 90 seconds only. Rather than being a production, it might simply be thought of as a photograph that moves.



I added a few regular photos from last week's trip to the Grand Canyon. I had to see how easy it is to use and whether this video option holds any promise. Maybe it'll positively affect the materials I can offer at my eJournal and images in the future. The quality is adequate but even this 12-second clip took a long time to upload.

Labels: camcorder, Desert Southwest, Flickr, Q2_2008, YouTube

I've been playing with the Panasonic HDC-SD9 a bit. The new camcorder is better than the old Sony. I should say the last old Sony. I am trying to remember if this device is my fourth.

I got the first when when I working in Bahrain in about 1991. It was enormous compared to the newest one. It was analog and recorded to 8-mm tape. The Panasonic, on the other hand, writes 1920x1080 high-definition video and 5.1 audio onto an SD card.

We bought it right before getting on the airplane on last week's trip, so we had packed video no. 3 as well. Without so much as a glance at the guide Jay took the whole vacation video on the new one. There are still some things to get used to. Yet, the outside clips' colour and resolution looks great on our 42-inch LCD.

The thing that's nice is how I can pop the SD memory into the computer and write the contents to a standard DVD. The disc will work in any player that is AVCHD compatible. I can even insert the memory directly into the SD slot on my PlayStation 3 and watch instantly.

It doesn't matter how simple a camcorder is to use, if one doesn't actually use it. I am promising myself to get more clips onto You Tube. For example, although it's been sitting there for a long time, I was surprised to see that over 1,100 people had seen the following clip from 1993. This was recorded in Nepal. It is 2:24 minutes at the Pashupatinath Hindu Temple. I did add a still picture of that time in the blog back on January 17, 2004.

Labels: camcorder, flash memory, Nepal, PS3, Q2_2008, technology, YouTube

Today was a transition. After eating breakfast I started correcting the final examinations which my students took yesterday. I finished up at around noon. I was then able to turn in the course marks, failure reports, and attendance online. How wonderful that is!

After that, I had the whole afternoon to start thinking about getting stuff into a bag. We're off tomorrow morning on the first part of our a short, week long journey to a little of the southwest desert. First, we put things into the truck and head for the closest border. Although we don't depart from the Bellingham airport until 3:00 in the afternoon, we want to go early. Crossing the border in this day and age can take up to an hour even during non-rush parts of the day. I am seriously considering picking up a new camcorder as the model I want is around $200 cheaper in the US. We also might be able to fill up on food at the Old Country Buffet so we won't be hungry when we land in Phoenix, Arizona at around 6:00 pm. The rental car should be waiting at the Mesa airport. We'll jump in it and head towards the Grand Canyon that evening. I don't know how far north we'll get before deciding to get a room. It doesn't really matter as we'll be on vacation. I am so looking forward to a one-week, road-trip. On the highway, it's very easy to play it by ear. ' Gotta burn up some gas while there's still some to consume.

Labels: camcorder, Desert Southwest, flying, Q2_2008, road trip, travel planning

I never make a big purchases without due diligence. I always do lots of homework and never succumb to spur of the moment buying. For example, I've known that I want to move to a high-definition camcorder for quite a few months now. I have that keen sense of timing knowing when to pay a little more for state of the art without breaking the bank. If a consumer buys too early, as well as spending too much money, one ends up with electronics goods that are quickly outdated. As well, I generally have a maximum amount which I'm willing to pay for a particular object. It is somewhat related to the amount of joy I think I'll derive from it.



I think the time is right for getting a moderately expensive new camcorder. I know that I want to go with one that only uses flash memory. It must be true 1080P though. I am fairly sure the Panasonic HDC-SD9 is my choice. The images above were from actual screen captures today. These are the same device as found on the websites of BestBuy US and BestBuy Canada. Why do Canadians always seem to get soaked?

Labels: camcorder, complaints, Q2_2008, technology

Sometimes, getting back into the groove gets me tired. After an afternoon with a new class, I barely have the energy to do the necessary errands, much less write an inspiring blog entry. Still having not skipped a day in so many years, I am obligated to post something.

As eventually I hope my eJournal and images will contain my complete history, I can use these times to include things from the past. I've done that a few times this week already but I can easily do it again. For example, on YouTube I have three, 1-minute clips from UAE days. I posted one here almost a year ago. This the last of the series. We were on a student-initiated outing to Ras Al-Khaimah on a weekend. We had already spent a fair part of the day at a camp. This was shot during four-wheeling time. We ran into this older guy up in the mountains. I would need a translation nowadays to recall many of the details but it's easy to see that they were getting him to introduce himself for the video camera of the early 1990's.

Labels: blogging, camcorder, Dubai, Q2_2008, YouTube

I once purchased a boxed copy of Pinnacle Studio V9 so I could edit camcorder tapes. I think I only managed one project with it. That software just didn't seem to work like I do. I don't mind occasionally wasting money on computer software as I really have bought very little over the past two decades. The total cost has been very little if compared to the money I've dumped into hardware since the mid-1980's.

I defaulted to another video editing program. I got a free working evaluation copy of Ulead MovieFactory V3.0 that came with a LG DVD drive once. I used it for the tools as well as putting together video. I liked it so much I bought an online version 5.0 of it in 2006. Since then, I've managed to create a number discs with vacation videos. I like how the basic interface works. It functions well in 16x9 mode with the captured files from our old Sony camcorder.



Today, I decided I could upgrade the software. It's now owned by Corel Corporation. The price of MovieFactory 6.0 Plus was heavily discounted as I had the product key from the previous version. It was all seamlessly selected, paid for, downloaded, and installed after lunch. The program and bonus disk weighed in at over 800 megabytes, but .. hey .. that's why we have broadband, right? Now I'm already to eventually burn on Blu-ray or HD-DVD whichever wins as a computer storage solution.

Now I've got a new problem though. It'd be damn nice to work with files from true High-Def. video source. It's okay; I only work in order to buy trips and toys for myself.

Labels: camcorder, HDTV, Q1_2008, software

Last May, we went to Los Angeles for the first time. It was interesting and I'm glad we went, Yet if given the choice between spending a week in NYC or LA, I'd say we would opt for the former. Still, there are nice advantages to having the huge western neighbour just down the coast.



Rather than the glitz of Hollywood, we're using Long Beach as our jump-on point for next month's Mexican cruise. Contrary to popular wisdom, it is possible to get around the LA area on transit. In fact, as we're flying down plenty early, we plan on getting from LAX to the Long Beach Carnival terminal by transit. I am so thankful for Google Earth so we can nearly try it out in advance ... virtually.

Labels: camcorder, Google Earth, Los Angeles, Q1_2008, travel planning, YouTube

Dreaming not required. Batteries not included.

Labels: balcony, camcorder, Christmas, Fraser River, Q4_2007, YouTube

In some world cities man-made structures have become synonymous with the location. Making a list would be relatively easy. In London it'd probably be Big Ben. Paris has the Eiffel Tower. What would Rome be without the Coliseum? New York boasts the Statue of Liberty as well as the Empire State Building.

What about Vienna, Austria? There's the Gloriette at Schönbrunn which was blogged in my eJournal and images. There's also this.



This video was taken in the Riesenrad, a Ferris wheel built in 1897. It's 200 feet in diameter and was damaged in World War II. It has become one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions. We were in in Europe during October of this year.

Labels: camcorder, Eurotrip 2007, Q4_2007, Vienna, YouTube

In order to check out my new Intel Quad processor, I needed to find a CPU intensive task. Since I'm not a game player at all, I spent a little time working with video files. I burnt the video tape of our central European trip to DVD.

While in the folder on my external drive, I discovered a clip from an old analog tape from 1991. I was working in Bahrain at the time. I was a civilian contractor for General Dynamics and taught English to members of the Bahrain Defense Force. This was recorded during the first Gulf War. I now call it The Gulf War: Classic.

Labels: Bahrain, camcorder, Q4_2007, YouTube

It happens every time we're about to go on a vacation; that's the time we dust off the old Sony camcorder. It sits in the cupboard except for when we're going off of a journey. We always run around at the last minute asking whether there are any blank tapes.

Today was no exception, even though we're not leaving until Thursday for Germany. I guess that shows we're slightly more organized than usual. I'm not convinced though.

As it happens we don't have any blank tape, I wondered whether it'd be okay to shoot over old video. As long as I can verify that the original is safely on DVD, then it should be all right. I found a tape with a trip to NYC taken in the spring of 2005. All the footage is all on disk, so that's one tape that will be reused. Just so you'll know that I checked, here's a YouTube clip.

Everybody who visits New York City probably goes up the Empire State Building. Although its 102 floors are greater than the 101 of Taipei 101, the building isn't nearly as tall. All will be dwarfed by Burj Dubai's projected 162 floors slated for completion in 2009.

Of course the slightly-sickening, zooming and dodging camera work is Jay's responsibility . . .

Labels: camcorder, New York City, Q3_2007, travel planning, YouTube

We went to Turkey on several occasions. When living in Bahrain it was a close destination served by both Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines.

My video clip of a family making flat bread is on YouTube. It was taken from the back balcony of a little, family-owned guesthouse in the city of Pamukkale. That is not a place known for it bread-making. Rather, it is famous because of the limestone hot springs. Still being able to witness real people is as much of a reason for travel as the sites one visits, don't you think?

I held off mashing-up my first YouTube clip until earlier this spring, and I'm no less hesitant today. I like the idea of my eJournal and images being able to stand alone. I'm old enough to know that things come and go. Broken links to important material will be the scourge of future historians! Alas, most of the kids actually involved in Web 2.0 are probably young enough to still have that mistaken feeling of invincibility.

Labels: camcorder, Q3_2007, Turkey, YouTube

I really didn't know what to put here today. The day was brilliant and our day off pleasant. I spotted a new icon in the draft version of Blogger.com. I wanted to see what'd happen if I uploaded a video clip. I rather hastily put in a DVD disc from our Eurotrip in the fall of 2005. I cut a chunk and then pressed to upload the 44 MB clip. While the file is being transferred, I'm typing this text. Where's it going, he wonders? I clicked right past those warning things what one is supposed to read when working with software. You know what I mean don't you? I am talking about the agreements that one quickly scrolls to the bottom of, and then presses I AGREE button. Maybe those would've told me that it now belongs to Google Corp. I guess that's okay with me. They can have it, just as long as you can see it too. This is from a section of tape shot in Paris. It's only Montmartre during the day and a bit of the Champs Elysee at dusk.


After waiting half of forever, I decided that my file, although destined for Google Video, would never complete. Therefore, I mashed this up with YouTube.

Labels: blogging, camcorder, Eurotrip 2005, Google, Paris, Q3_2007, YouTube

Our city's Hyack Festival Parade was today. Now it's billed as The Largest International Parade in Western Canada.

There were something in the neighbourhood of 136 entries this year. That made it several hours long. As usual the 'Seafair Pirates' pulled up the rear exploding their cannon in shock waves that made poodles tremble in fear.

While the parade was en route though, I was thinking how people, similar to crows, like shiny objects. The local students did a fine job but there is certainly something 'showy' about the visitors. Many high school marching bands were up from the US. This video shows a group of Californian students.

With all the flash, I couldn't help but think of the music from the musical Chicago. Then, with a strange twist of fate, a few minutes ago, I watched the song mentioned in the title in HD. The 2002 movie version is on NBC tonight!

Labels: camcorder, Hayack, HDTV, movie musical, movies, New Westminster, parade, Q2_2007, YouTube

The fireworks were easy to watch from the balcony last night. It really doesn't feel like it this morning, but this weekend is considered the beginning of the summer season here. To celebrate, we are in the middle of a three-day weekend as tomorrow is Victoria Day.

In fact, both this and next weekend are a time of special events in our little city. New Westminster's Hyack Festival has begin and will continue through the end of next weekend which coincides with the Memorial Day weekend in the USA. In fact, a highlight, the International Parade, will take place on the 26th. In that event, many local and British Columbia high school marching bands as well as many from US states participate. The parade is on the local festival circuit. Floats and beauty queens arrive as representatives from summer events such as the Apple Blossom Parade in Wenatchee or the Puyallup parade in Washington State.

I certainly endorse the whole concept of summer! It is a nice feeling to see trees full of green leaves, people wearing fewer clothes, and dusk arriving well after eight at night!

Labels: balcony, camcorder, fireworks, Fraser River, Hayack, New Westminster, Q2_2007, YouTube

Although this top photo is fourteen years old, it has existed in scanned form for a year and a half. It has been quietly sitting on Flickr.

In the photo Jay is talking with a monk when we climbed Swayambhu.

We only spent a short, winter vacation in Nepal; however, this blog already boasts a fair number of references to the trip. We, of course, flew into Kathmandu. After spending some time there we took an express bus about 200 kilometers to the city Pokhara. After that, we visited the birthplace of the Buddha near Bhairahawa.

This media content comes right from the Kathmandu valley though. Initially, I was determined not to get carried away inserting YouTube clips here. Yet, as I've been converting old 8mm camcorder video, I keep wanting to reference some of the recently uploaded clips. This reminds me of the days I first became enamoured with Flickr's photo-sharing site. I'm a little late to the YouTube party, but at least they let me in!

I think a little background is needed for this photo and clip. It comes from www.multinepal.com, a site which mentions the whole valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Swayambhunath, one of the most important cultural and historical place of Kingdom of Nepal and listed as one of the World Heritage Sites from 1978, is located about 2 km. to the West of Kathmandu. The vehicular access is available up to the saddle between Swayambhu and Manjushri hills. Stone steps lead to Swayambhu and Manjushri hill tops. the Swayambhu hill top is known for massive Buddhist stupa, Haratimata temple and a number of other temples and monastries. The Manjushri hill contains well known Manjushri Gumba and the image of Saraswati goddess. A peripheral road exists at the base of the hill."

Labels: camcorder, mountains, Nepal, Q2_2007, temple, YouTube

Today's weather looks as if it should have occurred at the end of February even though it's two months past that. I don't mind. I have today off and the dark wet day is perfect for sitting inside. I am in the process of copying more old 8mm camcorder tapes to DVD.

Changing the media is important if I want to make it accessible. If video is on a jumble of 2-hour tapes sitting in a drawer they are seldom, if ever, viewed. After getting them on a disc that can be easily dropped into the DVD player, I'm more likely to show visitors. Additionally, it's much better to have data in file format for the following reasons:

One need not get out the aging camcorder with the hassles of setting up in order to share the footage. The DVD player is always ready.

On DVD it's possible to record in 10-minute chapters which, along with FF and REV, allows for quick scanning for specific material.

Portability is ensured as just about everybody has a DVD player and the lightweight discs ship easily through the post.

The files are also easy to edit on an ordinary computer.

It's the last reason that is most appealing to me today. Just as the scanner allowed me to showcase photos from my past on this blog, digital video files now allow me to do the same with both movement and sound. For example, I will let you look at a fifty-second clip from more than sixteen years ago.

These were students from my first teaching year in the United Arab Emirates. I taught at the Higher Colleges of Technology and these nationals were in the Foundations program that year. They arranged for a class trip. I believe it was to a hobby family farm in southern Sharjah. We spent a whole day some of which we 4-wheeled through the mountains and wadis.

Labels: camcorder, Dubai, Q2_2007, YouTube

There can be a blush of excitement after scanning an old photo. One realizes that the actual paper artifact has been granted an entirely new digital life. It cannot fade further. Multiple copies can exist. It can even be easily passed around via email or a web page. I most recently added a blog entry along these lines a month ago.

Similarly, after languishing on 8mm video tape in a drawer for sixteen years, I helped this video capture from Thailand make its escape. That country was a common vacation destination for colleagues in the Gulf. In fact, we went up to visit another teacher, Mr. Don Richardson. This particular clip was made in old Chaing Mai. We were on break when living in Bahrain. Later that summer, I finished my work there and took up teaching duties in Dubai.

This grainy, 2 1/2-minute clip does not accurately show the environment. It does, however, show personal events that until recently were difficult to access and impossible to share.

Labels: Bahrain, camcorder, Don, Q2_2007, Thailand, YouTube

There are some places on earth that are considered a must for seasoned travellers. There simply have to be the obligatory photos taken while standing and smiling in front of some important sites. For example, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the harbour in Hong Kong, and the Acropolis in Greece probably make the list.

After a quick blog search, I discovered I have only once mentioned staring at India's Taj Mahal, and even that reference in October of 2003 was a fair time ago. So, I just cut this one minute and twenty second clip to post here. The quality might not be stunning from a 1994 Sony camcorder, but it does show we were there.

Labels: camcorder, India, Q2_2007, YouTube

On September 3rd of last year, Jay and I were in Sri Lanka on vacation. We'd done lots of island-wide travelling in 2004 but still found there were places we wanted to see during this one-month stay. One such place is near the town of Maho.

You may read about that day right here in this blog.

After last Sunday's successful inclusion of a video clip in my eJournal and images, I've thrown all caution to the wind and have decided to try a real mash-up. First, I had to figure out how to export a clip from a previously-created vacation DVD. Choosing a clip which can be under 100 megabytes is as tough as finding a virgin working in a whorehouse. I successfully exported a clip using my copy of Movie Factory. Then, I uploaded the file to YouTube. Finally, I've linked it to the viewer below, so you can take a peek.


Although it was family outing by van, only Jay, his younger sister,
and I saw the view from the very top. Why is it that inspiring places
so often require a lot of hard work to get to?

Labels: camcorder, Q2_2007, YouTube

Yesterday, I gave my computer's DVD writers a real work out. I spent most of the day working on both professional and personal projects.

CREATING FOR INSTRUCTIONAL PURPOSES

I spent the better part of the morning designing a class set of discs that I'll hand out to the students. Sometimes technology changes outside our classes but we continue doing things the same old way. I've decided that each student has access either to a home DVD player or one on their computer. It is only logical that I make use of this resource.

I have run across some excellent TV programming that can be utilized with my Communication students. First, I record the shows off the Bell ExpressVu satellite onto my PVR. Then, at my leisure, I copy the segments I want to my computer via a capture card. Lastly, when I've got a sufficient amount of video material, I use software to create menus for easy access to the video segments.

Next term, I will lend every student a DVD copy. I'll assign specific content as homework. I can either create a worksheet or we can have a discussion of the content during the proceeding class. It's quite hard to discuss the assembly of a technical device or product without visual references. A DVD is not quite as fun as a class field trip but a hell of a lot more interesting than a grammar worksheet.


CREATING FOR PERSONAL PURPOSES

In the late afternoon, in anticipation of next month's trip to Sri Lanka, I worked to copy 2.5 DV tapes to DVDs. Even though only two years have passed, everyone will enjoy seeing what we shot in 2004. I usually spend a lot of time thinking about still photography, but honestly video is much more amazing.

It's relatively easy to copy digital tape to a DVD and include a nice-looking menu. The memories that video can carry are absolutely intense. The screen looks so clear and colourful compared to old analog television. Plus, you get all the movement and a complete soundscape. You can see how someone walks and catch gestures that are impossible in the capture of a single moment in a regular photograph. Once on disc the results become very accessible too. Why edit anything out? With a remote in your hand, it's a cinch to zoom through a boring part at 32X.

I must get the video camera out of the closet much more often.

Labels: camcorder, computers, Q3_2006, television

As a follow up to yesterday's entry, I rolled another three tapes through an old 8mm analog camcorder and onto my hard disk via a capture card. I selected a trio of tapes from 1991. It was a spring vacation from Bahrain. We first flew into Sri Lanka and spent a few days with the family; subsequently, we went on to Thailand. We, of course, landed in Bangkok. Next, we made our way up to Changmai. We met colleague Don Richardson there. We also made it south to see both Pattaya and Phuket.

It was interesting pulling up these images on my computer and television screens. Although a far cry from HDTV, they are more than sufficient to bring back forgotten memories. Movement and sound add a lot. Why doesn't my present digital camcorder ever leave the drawer, I wonder? I couldn't help but notice how much thinner I was fifteen years ago. Jay's the same size, he just had a lot of hair then. Small conversations were interesting. For example, I mentioned to a tourist that we were beginning to notice the black clouds from the Kuwaiti oil fires, down on our little island of residence. Those were the days of Gulf War I.

Getting this information burnt to DVDs is a long and boring process. It becomes so much more accessible when it is the new format though. I didn't even want to cut out the long sequences we shot when we were new to shooting video. With the remote that comes with the DVD player, it is very easy to rush through boring patches at 16X or greater.

The creative side of me thought about using editing software to remove mistakes and add music and transitions. Yet the archivist in me contends that capturing exactly what was on the tapes is a purer rendition of history.

Labels: camcorder, Don, Q2_2006, Thailand

I grew up analog. My first wrist watch was a Timex with hands.

The first video tape I ever saw was 1/2" reel-to-reel B&W in high school.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon converting an hour and a half of 8mm analog camcorder tape to DVD. (There are hours and hours left.) This particular trip was a summer spent touring India.

During retirement, I'll probably be able to dump all archived video, text, and images to IP-accessible, personal data storage. Will a copy of the blog reside there too?

Labels: analog, camcorder, Q2_2006

Posted by: Dennis S Hurd / 6:12 AM 0 comments

We returned to Minuwangoda this morning. Bobbie, Lal's youngest sister came too. We travelled again by van and happened, by chance, to see another of Lal's sisters and friend and dropped them off in Borella. There were 17 children in his family! Lal is lavish and bought string hoppers for dinner; I think he ordered 400!

The GPS worked well as a means of measurement on the highway. It was exactly 42K from house to house. The fast speed we managed on the major highway was about 50 KPH. I had copied over some old analog tapes of pervious visits to Sri Lanka on my new digital camcorder. It was fun for everyone to watch how different we looked in 1991. Jay's dad likes to tip one back and was waiting for Lal and I to arrive!

We were again promptly in bed at 10:00 so we'll be able to get an early start on our departure to Kandy tomorrow morning.

Labels: camcorder, GPS, Q3_2004, Sri Lanka 2004

You know how new, computer printers seem like real bargains until you go to buy an ink cartridge? Then, you end up paying at least one third of the initial cost for that stinking, little reservoir of ink.

Years ago, I had heard that it would cost over 100K to buy a Toyota Corolla if one tried to purchase it piece by piece. It seems as if manufacturers really sock it to 'ya when buying parts.

Now, I've another example to add to this phenomena: Not wanting to be without a spare, camcorder battery when on vacation, I thought it'd be necessary to buy an extra one. It is lithium, but very small. You can see the actual size by comparing it to a quarter in my photo. The Sony NP-FP50 battery cost $89 before taxes!

Labels: camcorder, Q3_2004

I got out old video tapes in order to convert them to digital format. Next month, I want to bring along video taken in Sri Lanka in 1991. Jay's family will enjoy seeing how we all used to look. It is rather interesting to see motion and sound personally captured years ago. I swear that first camcorder must've weighed in at about 8 lbs. And speaking of weight ...


In order to blog something from that era, I scanned this photo
to include. Yikes ... that shirt wouldn't make it half way around
me now! Perhaps I've been a bit in error in my aversion to all
things Aktins!

Labels: camcorder, Q3_2004, Sri Lanka, weight loss

I was working to convert an old camcorder tape to a digital computer file. I was editting, adding titles, and getting rid of poorly-shot scenes. The final production is about 45 minutes in length.

I saved the video as a 2 gigabyte MPEG file.

Imagine, standard floppy disks hold just 1.4 megabytes of data. How much would 1400 floppy disks cost?

In 2000, we flew into Ft. Lauderdale but drove down to Key West and up to Orlando. (Here's a captured image when we were in the Kennedy Space Center.)

Labels: camcorder, Q2_2004, road trip

I have been playing with a/v equipment since my Super-8 film camera in 7th grade.

No, I take that back; my parents provided me with a reel-to-real tape recorder when I was much younger. I loved running around recording people and sounds. I sat by the television during the landing on the moon in 1969 with it.

In seventh grade however, I spliced together a number of three-minute film reels and then recorded a cassette audio track with voice and music. It was the whole summer of various times we went camping in the NH White Mountains. About 22 years after making Waterville Valley 72, I tried to run it in front of an old camcorder and made an unbelievably blurry copy which may still be around here somewhere on a VHS tape. Later in the late 80's, I put camcorder video together with radio. That was when Joel Thomas first bought a camcorder. I even used a Sony tape editing machine when I worked at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai.

It doesn't matter. Technology has finally caught up and surpassed me. In fact, I'm in the dust and it's all because of computers. The combination of a digital camcorder and Pinnacle Studio 9 is a dream. I've only scratched the surface but just burned an eight-minute DVD. Last night, we got a few clips of fireworks over the Fraser from the balcony. And today, I just walked down Columbia Street and to the New Westminster Quay. It was sunny and is Fraser Festival weekend so lots of people were out.



Today's DVD work has titles, and synthetic-muzak tracks were a breeze to drop in. The video is automatically cut into segments when being captured. I just needed to drop the chosen ones on a storyboard. It's simplicity is deceiving as I can imagine spending hours 'tweaking' a scene that nobody, except me, would notice!

I'm both amazed and amazing!

Labels: camcorder, Q2_2004, Quay, software, technology

I could probably have managed without it. I might have been able to stick with simple software to edit camcorder video. Yet, I figured that if I were going to throw this much effort into a new learning curve, then it should be towards software that's more universally known. I ditched the freebee Ulead and bought Pinnacle Studio, Version 9.

The things we expect computers to do nowadays have surely grown. I remember the big argument as to whether word processing needed to be WYSIWYG. In those days I had cast aside Wordstar commands but had memorized all the WordPerfect keystrokes. Now, thankfully, I haven't a clue as to the command for Reveal Codes. Years after that, I learnt ANSI and later RIPscript graphics for BBSing. It wasn't many years until HTML superseded both.

I had an original CGA card, so when it first became possible to edit simple photos on a PC, it all seemed like magic. Now, I get to choose from hundreds of transitions between digital video scenes. Should I add a sound effect to the surround-sound track? There is so much included in this software package that it certainly provides the tools needed to create stunning DVD's.

The question is ... will I really use them?

Labels: camcorder, Hardware, Q2_2004, software

I got one on the weekend but played with it for the first time today. How far things have come since my last analog camcorder! The new one is so cute and portable. Perhaps, this will provide the impetus to actually carry the device around and shoot some video!

Burning events onto DVDs will be easy (but surely not using the software that came from Sony).

Click here ----> Read About It

Labels: camcorder, Hardware, Q2_2004

On Wednesday, I was talking about the discomfort in lugging around a heavy camcorder. However, I don't look too upset in this picture taken in Java, Indonesia. We spent a summer travelling from Jakarta down to Bali and back. The Borobodur Temple is an amazing ancient Buddhist site.

Labels: camcorder, Indonesia, Q1_2004, temple

I used to think my old camcorders were so amazing. How neat to have a whole TV studio in one's possession.

Yet my current dinosaur is so bulkly that it makes actually taking it along on a trip a huge burden. It seldom leaves the shelf.

The collection of old 8-mm tapes were not easy to keep organized. I've tried to run some of them through my capture card in order to burn the stuff on DVD's. After watching satellite TV for a few years and all movies in commerical DVD format, I realize the video output from those tapes sucks!

Now I want a new digital video camera. How come I always have a whole list of items to buy that are over Cnd $1000.00?

dvspot review: Sony DCR-HC40

Labels: camcorder, Q1_2004

Images were once just smashed pigments on cave walls. Then, they existed because of paper and chemicals. Now, I find the transition to computer files very interesting. The evolution completely changes the very spirit of what an image is.

The image to the right might be a bit blurry, but it sat on 8mm camcorder tape for more than a dozen years. Recently, I pulled it off through my computer's capture card. Next, it was manipulated and saved on the PC. A final step means that it now exists as a jpg file on a web server. It could in theory be viewed on hundreds (or a near infinite number) of computer screens simultaneously. The same copy, then, could be saved to remote hard disks or even printed out!

I wonder if Ben was able to cut that celery with a butter knife? I'll have to go back to the tape to find out ...

Labels: camcorder, Q1_2004

I have started using my capture card to convert years of analog camcorder tapes to mpg files. This is the first step in eventually creating DVD's.

Tape forces one into 'linear thinking'. Trying to find a specific event on tape is a mess as one generally has to fast-forward through lots of tape in order to get to the desired part. DVD menuing will make that a thing of the past as one captures into 'clips'. Each clip can appear on the DVD menu. It will take just moments to locate and play the correct scene.

Remember trying to carefully drop the 'needle' into the 'empty space' on a vinyl LP?

Labels: analog, camcorder, Q1_2004

We are finally getting a dedicated digital camera (so far have been content with Still function on Digital camcorder)., but which one? We were all excited about the new Sony T1 and about to hand over the dosh when we checked on the file size of the mpegs. It records 3 sizes of mpeg - thumbnail, 640x480 and a huge VX fine quality. The 640x480 needed 2.8MB for 7 seconds on play - not great for email attachments, which is what we want to do. We will probably have to go for the 3.2 megapixel cybershot instead as it does 320x240 which is a reasonable size. We already haev a JVC camcorder that does its own JLip files - 220K for about 15 secs of film for email attachments, but the viewing size is small (like a thumbnail). We were hoping to have something about the size of the standard email joke mpeg..... How do we do this? Is there anyway to further compress mpegs from 640 to 320 size when needed??

Why is nothing simple? What camera do you use - I like the quality of the pics on your blog!

Please help. oh techno guru....
Sally

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Yo Sally,
How great to hear from you! This response will be on the house as international consulting rates are astronomical! Actually, I don't have any revelations for you but go with the highest quality camera as possible. You can easy downgrade video and images with the use of software. (It's much easier to fall than it is to climb.) I'll just give you some free, Microsoft links that will probably take a fortnight to download from the Emirates.

Are you running XP? Are you the even slightly interested in arranging clips and creating titles? Soon I must buy a video capture card to grab the analog from old camcorder tapes. Those sounds and images deserve to sit on DVD media. One advantage of going with the following easy program is that it provides a variety of output options. You could output as tiny, squeezed files for emailing or eventual output to a DVD burner.

Windows Movie Maker 2 Download

If you're simply interested in converting your files, then you might find the encoder useful. It can be used for audio only, or video. I will use this program to create streaming versions of music files. (What song title will match THIS topic, Dennis wonders out loud.)

Windows Media Encoder 9 Series Download

My Olympus is 4 megapixel. I honestly think that is the minimum you should buy if you will ever wish to have your files sent to a photo-finisher for enlargements. I always shoot in hi-res and save to the hard disk. Another must have for digital camera owners is an XP PowerTool called the Image Resizer. This program lets you turn any photo resolution into these formats: 1) small (640 X 480) 2) medium (800 X 600) and 3) large (1024 X 768). You will be able to find it on the following page:

Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP

This tool does a good job 'downverting' to a 640 X 480 image, but unfortunately, my blog requires 512 X 384, so I need to resize further. That's why I feel the photos here look quite fuzzy.

Do let's hear from you more often. The kids must be nearly ready to drive, aren't they? : -)

For now,
Dennis

Labels: camcorder, Dubai, Q1_2004, software

Tim is here doing some video editing. He's making a tape for his mom and sister in MN. He is switching from a camcorder tape to VHS. It's pretty obvious that he wandered around Vancouver for hours. He actually strapped the camera to his body on a bike trip to work at UBC from the West End. What a documentary it will be!

Labels: camcorder, Q4_2003 (Page 1), Tim