DSE

Don't expect it, not from anything like the A1 or HC3. The reason the Z can do this, is because it has room on the power module for dual clocks and regulators. One runs at 50Hz and the other at 60Hz. Someday, we might see something that runs at 48Hz, 50Hz, and 60Hz. Canon has this as a purchaseable option for the XLH1, but outside of that...(and it's a HUGE camera)

Tyrion, The only cam that does both formats currently (that I'm aware of) is the Sony Z1A, and that's a tad big for most camera ops. Can only be mounted on top, no side. It shoots HDV and DV, plus DVCAM in both PAL and NTSC. Be aware that in HD, there is no PAL or NTSC, just frame rate diffs, resolution is identical in both framerates. PAL is 25fps, and cycles at 50Hz, and NTSC is 29.97fps, and cycles at 60Hz. Today, most NLE's don't care about the format and framerate; the problem is in the output. You can convert PAL to NTSC in standard def easily, but going from NTSC to PAL means you're taking a fairly significant hit in resolution. Doesn't really answer your question too well, but hopefully helps you understand the diff in PAL and NTSC. If you're in the Sydney or Melbourne areas, I'll be there in a couple months doing training on HD and shooting extreme sports. PM me for more info if you'd like.

Duh...I gotta second and third the Recode option. It's a great tool for this, particularly their latest version. It will generate the file for you, that Pinnacle 9 will be able to read. Nero is a good toolkit to have on hand anyway.

I sincerely hope you're tongue in cheek. The TSA has about as much to do with what's happening in Iraq as what's happening at Ma Fischer's Day School in Podunk, TX. The TSA is merely another rent in the fabric of what once made America a great country. Fascism has reared its head in America, and appears to only be worsening. Follow the growth and "administration" of Adolf Hitler in the early years (preWWII), it's very similar to King George. Homeland Security is exactly the same as the SS, only Germans were too blind and accepting to see it. The common phrase of the time was "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear." Sound familiar? Seriously, read your history, you'll find this was a common radio broadcast theme in its day. The biggest difference between Hitler, Mussolini, and the current administration is the current administration doesn't have the support of a whole lot of former or high ranking military. From 1920 to 1930, Hitler purveyed the "superiority of Germany." Hmmm....Sound familiar? We're Americans, we're superior, and we're inspired by God's divine right....According to our president, anyway. The only thing worse than a thief, is a thief with a badge. The only thing worse than a thief with a badge is the administration that put such a thief in place and allows him to stay there. I'll tell ya, if anyone really believes that the TSA folks are saving us from anything...I've got a lead parachute to sell ya. You can find significantly more creativity and intelligence at McDonalds on a weekend than you'll find in the most high-ranking levels of Homeland Security.

So, this weekend while on travel, I purchased a Sony HC3 camcorder as I needed a second cam at this event. Decided to pack the HC3 and power supply/battery away with my Z1 in the flight case, and put the empty box in my suitcase. On arrival home, I found the box had been stolen from my suitcase. This means I lost warranty card, component cables, USB cable, and a couple other small items related to the camera. Losing the remote is probably the biggest deal. Just remember that because they're wearing badges doesn't mean they don't steal. There is a reason baggage losses and thefts have skyrocketed since the TSA was created and activated. It's really a license to steal. I'm sure we'll soon see another bust of TSA workers colluding to steal like we've seen in Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, LA, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta (where I flew out of), Detroit, LaGuardia, Newark, and other majors. Be sure your gear is insured against airline theft, cuz trust me, the TSA/Homeland Security doesn't pay you back. We're STILL waiting to be paid for on a GL1 camcorder destroyed by them 3 years ago. We only get letters explaining why it's taking so long. It's impossible for me to comprehend that there are morons that have the ignorant audacity to support the TSA/Homeland Security. So far I've yet to hear one verified story of what bad they've prevented vs a whole lot of nasty inconveniences and embarassments they've caused. Like when they tried to hand-carry a paraplegic through security in SLC, and dropped him on the floor, adding injury to his insult. "Oh, but they're so important to our safety..." Yeah, right. Paying bare minimum wage to people who in mass numbers haven't even graduated high school and can't get jobs anywhere else isn't a deterrent to anything except assuring that many of us will continue to lose our possessions.

We rent the Xdream, and everyone who uses them loves them. The footage we get from them looks outstanding. Can't say I'm a fan of much than Kenko does, but bear in mind, my experiences with them are all ground-based.

This my view also, you just said it more eloquently. I prefer goggles and helmet which are mine, not scratched nor sweat-stained by someone else. Same with owning altimeter, I know mine works and a fair part of my safety is tied to this device. Jumpsuit...all 3 DZ's I've taken instruction at have advised me to wait, and so wait, I've done.

You can import the .vob file directly, if I remember right. Pinnacle 9 was never stable for me so I gave up on it a long time ago. Most apps will import the .vob file directly tho. If worse comes to worse, just play the DVD on a player and capture the analog out the same way you capture VHS.

I've only been to 5 DZ's in my jumps, so what the hell do I know? But...Debbie, Jack, Lance, Heather, and the part time staff are awesome, and always willing to answer questions. Jack is scary smart about all things skydiving. After driving to another DZ north of there, I found no one wanted to be friendly, helpful, and only wanted my bux. SkydiveUtah said "Hello" the second I walked in the door, and even though they had several tandems readying, they took the time to talk while multi-tasking. Heather was phenomenal. When I returned the next day (didn't jump the first time there because all loads were filled up to sunset) Debbie came up and gave me a hug, saying "welcome back, sorry yesterday was too full" and proceeded to quiz me on safety stuff, and then checked out my gear before she'd put me on the manifest. They don't have a pool, showers, or hotel next door, and apparently have worked out the difficulties with McNasty next door, this is just a great place. I took my daughter there for her first tandem jump and Lance treated her like a queen. They seem to be very busy with classes, and have their calendar online so you can see when they've got tandems. Only complaint is I wish they had more room for fun jumps on weekends, seems like the 4 tandems they can take on weekends fill the loads fast.

I'm thinking there is a way to customize this, but since it's the holiday weekend, I can't reach the guys in San Diego to find out. I've got mine with me tho, anyone know of a good DZ in the Duluth, GA area? (here for a graduation) Anyway, I'll play with it more tonight after the Mrs goes to bed, and see if I can come up with ideas. We've been jumping both of ours like crazy after I've seen what it will do. Just wish it had an audio package, then it would be the ideal small rental/crash cam.

FWIW, my order of purchases is that I bought a helmet and goggles, already had an AltiII from paragliding. I also bought new boots because my old boots were falling apart after 8 years of paraglides. I haven't purchased anything else yet, although I've got the DZO looking out for a used rig that will fit my requirements. Jumpsuit, pants, whatever will have to wait til I have jump numbers high enough to have an idea of exactly what I need. Til then, I use the generic jumpsuits the DZ has available. I don't know if I want to do RW work or not, so may not even look that direction until after I've done more of it. So far, I'm not interested, but if I was, I'd still be waiting til I had enough numbers to make an informed decision. It's tough not having all my own gear, and while I can afford to buy pretty well whatever I want, it's not the smart thing to do, because I'd likely end up buying stuff I either don't need, or will outgrow somewhat quickly. Your instructor and DZO are likely the best people to talk with since they know your jump skills and can best help you suit your needs pertaining to those skills. my nickel's worth, anyway...

I was informed that FAA requires someone to be 18, don't know if that's accurate, but the main reason behind it is that under 18, you can't sign a contract. Parents can't sign a waiver for their children, either. At least 4 DZ's I've been to in the past month have had this rule. Kind of a drag, IMO, but understandable in todays litigious society.

I thought you had to do night jumps to get your C? Maybe I'm reading the SIM wrong?

Just under a month for my A license (I hope) I hit my 25th jump today and have fullfilled all the flight requirements, and take the written tomorrow. but, you need an active DZ, and need to be prepared to take time away from work, I'd guess. Fortunately it's summer, and our DZ can fly until about 8:30 without being post-sunset. Start jumping at 4/4:30, can usually get in 4-5 jumps before dark. Weekends are made for 10-12 jumps.

Sony, like virtually all Asian manufacturers, determines their sales numbers before tooling up. So, they figure they can sell say, 250K units, that's what they build, and then move on. Usually, they're pretty close in estimates, but sometimes, like the HC1 and PC1000, they're way off, and sell more units faster than they're prepared for.

While there aren't any boxes for the HC3 or A1U, given that the entire world is quickly moving towards HD, you might consider one of these. I'd originally had a bad opinion of the HC3 as a jump cam, but after now having around 30 jumps on one (on a friend, not me) I can say I'm very impressed. The HC3 is quite small, smooth surfaces, and I'm sure someone (Bonehead?) will make a box for it. For ground work it somewhat suffers, having no mic input or headphone out, but outside of that, it's impressive overall. Additionally, the short focal length of 5.1mm makes it fairly ideal with a lesser wide angle.

Are you sure they're "complaining?"

FWIW, it's not *just* CCD failure, but rather CCD failure that exhibits one of 6 specific behaviors. This is related to bad CCDs Sony bought from a 3rd party vendor. If you get into the professional video forums, you'll find thousands of posts about this over the past 2 years. Sony is liable for the lifecycle plus 2 years on these cams, which means up to October 31 of 2007. The downside (IMO) is that Sony wasn't required to accept cameras that were manufactured in this time period, to inspect for potential failures. So, if your camera pukes after November 1, 2007, you're screwed. On the other side of the coin, we have several rental VX and PD series cams that meet this list, an d haven't seen any that exhibit the problems.

I'm just the opposite. The more jumps, the more likely I am to sleep well. It exhausts me to have that much adrenaline in my system. That said, I've also been a rodeo rider, motorcycle freak, cliff jumper, and other adrenaline charged sport freak too. After the jump, if I sit for too long, I'm sleepy, so the best thing to do is to get back on the plane ASAP.

Bah...I used bad search terms. Thanks for setting me straight.

I haven't tried taking my rig onto a commercial airline yet, but I fly a lot. My hope is to carry my rig to Australia to jump later this year. What caveats should I be aware of when carrying my rig on, or should I simply check it in a bag and hope nothing is damaged? Any other tips would be appreciated.

could be there are differences, but bear in mind as well that the Rebel isn't likely nearly as well mounted/protected as the iPod/MP3 player will be. Folks don't strap their digital cameras to their arm or waist and jog with it like they do with the iPod. The guys at Skydive Hawaii tell me they've jumped their iPods at least 1000 times each, so there is some strong evidence there that the tolerances indicated in other posts are definitely off. Also, removeable microdrives likely don't have the overall strength in the housing that the drives in the iPods/Rio's have. I've never taken my iPod apart, but have taken 3 Rio's apart, and they're very well built compared to the removable microdrives I've got for my computer.

you're over-thinking this, IMO. I just exited student status a couple days ago, but still feel a pang of anxiety every time I walk to the door. But it's just that; anxiety. I don't know how your exit dive will go, but in my case, I poised at the door grasping my ankles, no count, instructor tipped me out as my unstable exit. I did two somersaults and arched. It was the most fun dive I've had yet, and so the next day, on my first dive as a novice, I exited almost the same way. It's exhilarating. The more you keep talking about how frightened you are, the more you convince yourself you're frightened. Stop doing that. Either you want to fly or you don't. If you do, work on positive mental conditioning, not negative mental conditioning. Simply sit on the edge of your bed at night and picture yourself walking up to the exit and gracefully entering the sky in which you love to fly. Enjoy the ride, enjoy the exit, enjoy the freefall, and picture that beautiful stand-up landing under smooth winds, blue skies, and successful finish to your student program.

I liked the work as an artistic effort; I felt the story is lost in the editing though. You'll see my comments on the page. One suggestion if you're really wanting to get into editing, or become a better editor; Read Walter Murch. That'll take you places.

Agreed. The point is, the threads linked in previous posts suggested that the gear would fly apart once the cushion of air was removed from the disk, and it would happen virtually immediately. Engineers from Nnovia (former Seagate team) and design engineers from Sony both say this isn't so. It's not a big thing to me to be concerned one way or another, but given that we regularly use HDD systems above 12,000 feet in subzero weather for World Cup, America Cup, and other events. We've yet to have one failure, which is why we use HDD vs tape. Tape can't handle the cold. We've purchased a few XDCAM HD systems that use BluRay, but unfortunately, those can't be jumped without a special harness rig. We'll likely modify our Dalsa Origin rig to fit the XDCAM, which should perform very well. Intial tests with helicopters have shown great result. I realize I'm OT here in discussing other formats, but overall, I can't accept previous claims of drives blowing apart above 10k. While manufacturers may suggest one thing, and certain specifics may support those suggestions, actual use, whether once or a dozen times, suggests the tolerances are greater than suggested. Does that make it "OK" to jump with HDD-based systems? Obviously not. I'm putting a cam on a cameraman, plus carrying one in my pocket to test in a non-controlled environment for purposes of convincing myself of what I believed I'd find. Which is that the drives won't fail above 10k as suggested in several other threads. Firestore claims they're putting FS4 devices on the exterior of non-pressurized aircraft in a military observance area with Z1 camcorders on them. Obviously, they don't fail. I don't know what altitude they're flying at, but I'm quite certain it's above 15k. 4 HDD-based devices, one flash device, all running all day at the same altitude being at least 30%past suggested tolerances and zero failures suggests that suggested tolerances are not accurate. Not trying to start an argument; I'm probably from Missouri at some point in my life, because my sign is the excla-bang.