goobersnuftda

The absoulte best thing to get for your desktop is one of these: $29.99 with 3.5 floppy drive Takes up no extra space at all and is so smooth and slick to get data through. If you are on a cheaper budget: $9.99 another $9.99

I have a Raid0 setup and the disk access is smoking fast. The CPU does the rendering though. Works the best when you have to scrub through a +2 GB uncompressed video file. Fast. I have a 3rd HD I use for extra backup incase the stripe blows up. Always backup unless you can afford to lose it. BTW, Premiere Pro v2.0 is out and WOW are the requirements to edit HD video steep. Dual processors and Raid0 pretty much required but if you have a GPU capable video card, it does some of the video rendering and takes the load off of the CPU. [url "http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/systemreqs.html"]CLICK HERE[url]

The issue was just with Adobes bad computer coding for Premiere. Even the free windoze movie maker that comes in XP had no issues with that at all. Pinnacle, Vegas and all the rest of them have no problem importing under AMD dual processor systems just Adobe products. That was one reason why it was so hard to nail down the problem because it was CPU/application specific.

Another note on hardware.....STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM DELL !!!! I'm sure many people are dying to buy their new $400 computer with monitor & printer but that stuff is crap. Find a local, well established computer dealer and buy your stuff piece by piece. That is how DELL makes money. Put all sorts of sub standard crap in a box and charge full price for it. Should have 500W P/S but put in 350W. Should have a real MB but has proprietary one with build in video card that SHARES ram with the MB. Crazy crap like that. And for you fruit dwelling Apple people, I have something for you: Apple Parody PS, I cut my teeth on an Apple ][e and Apple //C. Times have changed and I grew up since then. Yea I know my windoze system is full of holes but at least I have 35,000 gas stations to fill up at instead of the mighty Apple 4 :)

One little quirk that drove me crazy on my computer. Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800 processor 4 GB ram 1 TB HD (x4 250 GB, first 2 Raid Array....smokin fast) Adobe Premiere is a bit behind the times for new systems like that. When it came time to import video from my miniDV camera, ERRORS galore. Drove me crazy. The issue is that Premiere can not handle the import of video with 2 processors at the same time. CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up task manager then right click on PREMIERE and change the AFFINITY from CPU-0 and CPU-1 just down to one processor. Once the video is imported, turn both processors back ON and you are back up to 100% speed agin. I can't tell you how important pumping your money into the CPU is. Render times are smokin fast. Buy the best processor you can then and only then, move down the line to other peripherals. I love my little box of joy......oh yea, love the wife too (order changes from time to time depending on current situation :)

I have a 3 Meg movie clip for you CLICK HERE Find the link MAC PARODY and right click to save to your hard drive.

Hey there Ian Harrop. Awesome link you posted. It tickled me pink to read it :) QuoteCheck out this link as a reference to Westjet and their policy. http://tinyurl.com/6xbzg

You do realise that the forum you posted in is GENERAL SKYDIVING DISCUSSIONS If you go back to the main menu and scroll down a bit further, there is a specific forum for BASE jumping THE BASE ZONE For all sorts of BASE activites, not skydiving.

If you are going to be paying $1,000 for a PC-1000 then you are getting hosed. B&H Photo $860

For those men that believe that there can never be "too much power", the newest Binford model is ready to go: Phase One-P45 39 Mega Pixle resolution, about 1 shot/second, 117 Meg/picture file size....whooo hooo baby... This camera is UGLY. The only shot I have been able to find on this camera is a shot of the rear of the camera. Makes me wonder why they are hiding the front of the camera. I dont know the price of it but if it is going to be that pricey, it better make coffee and pack my rig as well.

And the crazyness donesn't stop. All you need is money. New model: Wolverine 60 GB Color Display w/MP3 + Video Play your videos, view your pictures, play your MP3s and a built in 7 card reader. After buying all these toys, there is no $$$ left over to skydive.

Click on the features tab: Wolverene 40 GB I'm going on a couple of trips soon, one of them being a skydiving trip. A 8 MP camera will take 3 MB file sizes at full resolution so I think 13,000 pictures for storage should do me. Shooting in RAW would be 17 MB/picture so I think I will back off on that

Battery, cheap fix. E-bay

Instead of buying a bunch of these: Extreme III 1GB CF card Why not buy one of these one touch portable storage units: Wolverene 40GB You could shoot all day in RAW until the cows come home.

Is this what you are looking for? http://tinyurl.com/b64sz

That is when you look at the passangers on the plane and say....."what? You mean they didnt give YOU your parachute?"

The best story (actually the worst) for checking in your rig came about 6 months ago from our National Editor for our Skydiving magazine here in Canada. She went on a trip somewhere in the US and when she returned, her rig was a mess. Somewhere between when the bag was checked in (US) and picking it up in Canada, it was completle opened and inspected. She waited at the normal baggage carrosel and her suitcase never came around. Finally she was directed to another place where the over sized/problem luggage was sent. The whole mess of container and parachutes was on the floor, opened and lying on the floor. Once someone inspected it, it didn't quite fit back into the luggage as before. It was taken off this special carocel and left on the floor to pick up. Right after about 300 people walked all over the place with their own luggage on their way out. Major hub, Toronto. I have also heard stories of the TSA using bolt cutters and cutting the laterial of a harness. Hard cable housings that look pretty much like electrical housings with a little something inside. Could be an electrical wire, better look inside and see :(

I plan on buying some camera equipment from B&H Photo and I have been watching the prices. Christmas eve and the price of what I am looking at just dropped by $30 as the callander moved ahead one day. Sure that isn't a lot but its changing and Christmas isn't over yet. I am in no rush for the equipment but has anyone noticed any great sales AFTER the Christmas rush is over?

I posted this before in another thread: 2 in one camera. Digital video and 5 MP still camera. Still very new technology and the drawback with this unit is that you can not use both at the same time. Sony has a huge following because of their proven track record and reliability. I dont know much about Samsung so I can't comment on the rigors that skydiving has on this equipment. http://tinyurl.com/dw3lo

I have traveled to a few places and have a hard set of rules I stand by. Always bring your rig as cary on but be smart about it. Go out and buy the regulation carry on luggage for $40. Something with the telescoping handle and the wheels. Some airports are very long and your 25 lb. rig will get very heavy. This regulation lugage does not attract unwanted attention and the airport personell/staff know what regulation luggage looks like and knows it will fit in the aircraft. Once past TSA security, the airline people are still on the lookout for large gear bags or luggage that looks large and might not fit into the overhead compartment. No airline will insure your luggage for $4,000 and if they were to lose your rig as check in, your entire skydiving trip is screwed. If they lose my normal lugage, I don't care all that much. I can always buy T shirts, shorts and toothpaste when I get there but at least I can still skydive and the $$$ I have spend on airline tickets, lodging etc. will not be waisted. Go here and print this out for the TSA rules as it pertains to parachutes and carry on: http://tinyurl.com/bazf7 If you lost your Cypres card, go here and choose AIRTRAVEL: http://tinyurl.com/7lywx

Turn your AUTO FOCUS OFF. What you camera sees is an object called the slider coming right at it and it is getting larger. If it is going to be the predominate image, it better focus on it. Ooh, wait, your camera decides that 1 second into focusing, the slider isn't that important and focuses on something else. I'm eding some video now and I have one jumper that this happens to every time he looks up.

Compare the cameras side by side: http://tinyurl.com/87vpz A good unbias review from CNET on the 5D: http://tinyurl.com/b9yog

I have a DVD rewinder I would love to sell you :) Here is the cheapest new miniDV tape rewinder I have found. It is also from a very reputable on line retailer. http://tinyurl.com/a2a6y The bigger issue you obvisouly have is that your camera is starting to go. If you can't rewind, how do you do and END SEARCH for the tape or even review the tape for playback during the day?

The best way to absolutlye HATE something you LOVE is to turn it into your job.

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