DSE

rm2avi works really well. www.rmconverter.com

For DVD, you don't need to compile anything. Again, I know you can edit much faster with a lower quality target result using the vidmix workflow, but....no compilation needs to happen. If you have say...8 minutes of ingest from the client's jump, you are locked into that 8 mins. You're editing on the fly using your cam or deck, and that works fine. Where the two workflows diverge is that you can capture directly to mpeg, and have a bunch of assets already created such as a fun intro to the jump sequence, and a fun outtro to the jump sequence, which is already done and in mp2 and ac3 format. You've captured as mp2/ac3, so there is no compiling, it's a straight burn. You could do a 15 minute DVD in less than 3 minutes on output. Again, you've still got to edit on ingest like you already are, so I don't know that a non-mixer workflow would save time, and if you don't have a computer/DVD burner, it's more expensive to use NLE anyway. One of the aspects of our regular business is training broadcasters about new technology and techniques to get content to air quickly. Getting stills, etc to air is critical for them in many situations. Granted, they're not turning loads as fast as chutes can be repacked, but it's not much different overall. 8 minutes is a very long time to them as well. I'm not debating whether one workflow is better or not, just interested in knowing why one workflow may or may not be preferential to some folks. Once again, thanks for the info.

I understand all of your points, they make great sense. One small disagreement, is that it doesn't take 8 to output with 8 of ingest. Burning a DVD takes considerably less time than realtime. Regardless, all of your other points are spot-on, I was just curious. Thanks for the explanation.

There is a guy named Jeff DeMaagd, he has a wide variety of stand-off products for bottom load cams for quick release, etc. http://dm-accessories.com Maybe he's got something. i use his products on my A1u rental cams. If he doesn't have what you need, he likely can mill it pretty quickly. he's a great guy, always interested in ideas.

just curious, why is it you guys are using vid mixers as opposed to NLE output? Speed isn't much different, and you can actually be faster, with a lot more options with an NLE, depending on whether you want fancy output, etc for client DVDs.

Understood re; number of jumps, safety, and skills. I'll have to figure it out from the viewpoint of not having a VF; the biggest obvious challenge is learning how to access and control the positions required to get the shots that I want. Whether it's skydiving, scuba diving, helicopters, planes, or stationary tripod, they all require specific shooting skills that cannot be "taught" but rather must be experienced over long periods of time coupled with careful pre-planning. I don't expect to be good for a couple hundred jumps. I don't expect to be "competent" for at least a couple of years or more. I don't know if I'll ever be "exceptional." But that is the goal.

Dang, if you know my nickname, I'm busted. Guess I'd better be on my best behaviour, huh?

I asked because I know some cams are capable of taking still shots, and wanted to make sure these were indeed framegrabs. Nah...I figured I'd start my relationships here at dropzone by lying to people about how I acquired the footage and that I substituted stills instead of screengrabs. I mean, heck...I got my Emmy's and Grammy's by fibbing about media aquisition. Once I get back home where there is a good internet connection, I'll post these as vid files rather than jpgs. Or if you need further evidence, I can put up a screengrab of the NLE with this footage on the timeline. BTW, stills from these cams are not 1920 x 1080. both have spatially enhanced still features. So the stills are a different resolution. In the A1u, stills are 2200 x 1440. Both images are jpgs DIRECTLY from the Sony Vegas timeline. But....whatever. Additionally, HDV (not HQ, there is no format called "HQ") is an already compressed format. In fact, ALL HD formats except the Sony HDCAM SR and Grass Valley Viperstream are compressed formats. Compressing HDV to 10Mbps is a half-quality hit, and still very broadcast-capable.

Well....given that I'm the guy that wrote the book on HDV...and am Sony's only official third-party trainer on the subject of HDV...I'd say I can back it up pretty thoroughly. It's understandable that you'd have questions when the Sony store can't answer your question, but...remember that they're college students at best. Rarely if at all trained. Granted, the HC3 isn't a broadcast cam, but I have one all the same, and shot an hour of vid with it just this morning. The cam *can't* be any different than anything else that has the HDV label on it, because the HDV specification forbids it to do so. Higher speed would also allow a higher bitrate, and the HDV spec forbids that, as well. If you'd like to view my books on HD or HDV, www.vasst.com or Amazon sell them, as well as the NAB bookstore (National Association of Broadcasters). Or you can call Sony Broadcast in NJ, and ask for the HDV team. They'll verify what I'm telling you. I know very little about jumping with cameras right now, but I do have a fairly deep knowledge of video, and specifically HDV, and FWIW, I've trained thousands of folks in how to set up, use, and edit with this format in virtually every NLE out there from Adobe/AVID to Sony Vegas. Damn, reading over this, I sound like I'm a lecturing a$$hole. Don't mean to...just that this is one subject that isn't subjective, and that I know quite well. Google my name, "Douglas Spotted Eagle +HDV" and see what cha' get.

These are framegrabs from both cams, as indicated in the filename of the shots. Both are my cams, had to spend a little time modifying a camera deck to accept the A1 and HC3. Then got one of the cameramen to shoot my fat ass as I was tandem under Jon Stewart for a couple of jumps. In other words, these shots are from two jumps, one with each cam. IMO, it's a barely useable camera on the ground (remember I'm a broadcast snob) but it's very apparent that in the air, for this selective purpose, it's a MUCH better cam than I'd originally thought. Took a while to get it set up just right, but once that's done, it worked just fine, as you can see. I'd love to shoot more, but can't afford more jumps til I get finished with jump school. Unless of course, you can talk Frank/Jon/Mary at Skydive Hawaii that they should give me some free jumps because I'm a nice guy).

See the pix I posted in another (new) thread. It's a lot better than I'd have expected. On the ground, there is a huge difference that any untrained eye can observe. On a helmet moving at super high speed, pretty hard to see a significant diff between the two. Therefore, I'll say it's totally appropriate if you don't care about audio much. Took a few tries to get it set up just right, but once done, this was a much better cam than I anticipated it would be. Go for it!

I'd highly recommend the Canopus ADVC 50 or 150 (Another Damn Video Converter) or the ADS DV Bridge for converting analog to digital. Is your cam out analog only? If not, you'll want to use the Firewire output on your cam whenever possible. Significant difference in quality and it allows the image to remain in the digital domain.

This is an absurd statement on the part of the store employee. HDV in 1080i is 25Mbps, period. Same bitrate as DV. In other words, there is no difference in speed or length, or anything else. I have an HC3, shoot with it, and it's just like any other HDV camcorder (JVC HD100, Z1U, Canon XLH1, etc) 60 mins is 60 mins. Only time that's different is if you shoot DVCAM mode, which the HC3 does not offer. This cause the cam to go to 40 min capability, not 60. Either way, in DV or HDV mode, ALL HDV cams shoot 60 mins. Bit rate is a constant. Go back and tell the clerk he's full of crap. It *is* true that HDV when converted to intermediate takes up more disk space on a hard drive, figure about 40GB per hour vs 13 GB per hour. But that's not relevant to the tape storage capacity. [edit]http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&productId=1002547 this link clearly shows the 60 minute record ability in HD mode.

Keeping the lens inside the bag with a gelpack will help, but the bigger issue is when your lens is hot prior to flight, and then going into cooler clouds/air/etc. The antifog tools are great as far as they can be. Bear in mind that the lesser expensive W/A lenses are simply not built to manage the kind of abuse (in terms of rapid temp/moisture change) that skydiving presents. Even on our very high end HDCAM systems with 40k lenses, etc, we try to maintain a constant temp as best we can prior to shooting, and it's particularly important when shooting cold like Iditarod, etc.

Don't attempt to run your cables longer than 6 feet if you want to maintain quality. Use Svid if you need to run longer than 6 feet, and only run Svid (also known as "Y/C") less than 12 feet. If you need longer runs, you'll have to move to a much, much more expensive protocol to assure clean video and audio over longer runs. You're better off having a short vid cable and longer firewire cable.

i have two similar shots, different jumps, so they look different, of course. http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/training/a1U.jpg http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/training/hc3_full.jpg HC3 is slightly less saturated in the original image. Unfortunately, I can't get a highspeed connect here in Hawaii, so I had to compress these to jpg rather than using the original png files generated by the NLE. However, they're pretty comparable to the png, so should give you an idea. The lack of mic input and headphone output on the HC3 probably won't bother most shooters, but worth noting. Very impressive little cam if you set it up correctly, and can push the color in post a bit.

They put in a MUCH smaller HAD imager, so the images are significantly softer from the start. The stabilizer is a lesser grade stabilizer, and poor stabilization coupled with MPEG isn't a good thing. I'd highly recommend buying from a place that allows for a return. I've not jumped with one, obviously. But have ridden an ATV with one at medium speeds, and the image was all but unusable. Find an HC1 if you can. You also might check out the new Sanyo HD1. I've not shot with it, it's MPEG 4, but by all appearances, shooting at 1080 and downconverting to 720p is beautiful.

Keep the cam in a cooler environment before you go up. This will help. If the fog is inbetween the glass on a WA lens, then you've got a gas leak, and the lens should be replaced. It also could be an indicator of moisture that has gotten in the lens. Both are bad. Try putting lens in warm sun for a day, then use gaffers tape to cover any seam in the lens. Were it me, I'd gaff the lens to lens coupling as well. Condensation can only be prevented by keeping the lens cooler before you fly up. Leaving a cam rig on the seat of a warm car before flying to cold air at 13k is a recipe for fog, especially if it's really cold higher up. Be sure both lenses are dry before flighting them.

Not so. BD (Blu-Ray) and HD-DVD will not be like the VHS/Betamax wars for several reasons. First, it's all about longevity, which is why virtually every studio signed on with BD. BD already has a max layer space of 200 GB with 70ms seek times. HD DVD can't remotely approach that. HD-DVD would have completely gone away had Bill Gates not gotten pissed off at the BD consortium and Sony. But...at NAB this year and at CES this year, it was abysmally clear that Toshiba is determined to garner as much of the market as they could. But few studios are releasing content. It's true they got out first, but remember that Betamax came out long bfore VHS. It's not who gets there first, it's who has the most toys. The adult industry has siezed on BD as well, and that alone spells death for HD-DVD in the long term. BD is slower coming to market, but as Pioneer, Panasonic, and other majors have indicated, it's what they're betting on. However, one potential problem is that if BD and HD-DVD don't get out soon, we're going to see non-DRM discs in the form of DivX or NeroDigital come out, and they'll play on super-cheap Emerson/Apex/etc set top boxes.

Nice place to learn indeed.

Lens flare is an artistic form of a refraction. Refractions is light bouncing from glass to glass in the lens, and when the angle is right, the distortion caused by refraction becomes a flare. People like flares, but don't often recognize refraction for what it is. Are you running any filters on your CCD cam glass? ie; polarizer, Sky2, etc? That can reduce or even kill smear, and of course, coated optics can help deal with smear, and then there are DSP processes that can kill smear too.

smears? or refracts? CMOS, by its design, shouldn't have vertical smear. CCD, due to timing, does. Anything with a lens can refract tho. If you'd like to post a pic of what you're referring to as smear, I might have an idea as to how to help you avoid it, if it's refraction. If it's smear, it would be the first time I've seen CMOS have vertical wipe smear. Technically, it's not supposed to. http://www.vasst.com/HDV/a1UvsZ1U.jpg shows an example of the difference.

Like most newbies, I'm saddled with an unbridled enthusiasm for this sport. I've been training skydivers in camera use/video editing for years, and decided it's time to learn to skydive so I too, can eventually shoot some awesome video, but that'll obviously come much later. Did my first 3 tandem/instructional jumps at Skydive Hawaii, and ready for my first AFF tomorrow. While I'm learning in Hawaii, my home DZ is Tooele, Utah, so hope to someday meet some of you somewhere. I've been lurking around here for a while now. Hopefully I'll eventually have some useful input.

this error is exactly related to a full boot drive. -34 dskFulErr Disk full is what it should be reporting in entirety. Move some files to a second drive or partition to be able to burn.

There are actually nearly 50 differences between the Z1 and the FX, most are electronic and DSP. For skydiving, you'd definitely want the BlackStretch for depth of color/deeper gamma. You can somewhat approximate this in post, but not quite. Additionally, it can shoot 50i or 60i, which is critical for film or 24p matching. JAG, NCIS, and 24 are all using the Z1 at 50i to match HDCAM output. A1 has some benefits over Z1 for jumping; it has CMOS vs CCD. The bene is that CMOS has no smear on highlight surfaces, where CCD always displays vertical smear. If you catch the sun, highlights from rigging, helmet, water, etc, then the A1 will not smear or flare those areas. JimmyTavino, thanks for the kind wishes. I'm very much looking forward to more jumps, owning my own rig, and being able to expand my options as a professional shooter/editor. I'll have more jump-related info later today about the A1, I'm loaning mine to a cameraman at the local DZ to shoot me and a few other jumps today. I'll edit and post footage once I've got it.