Notes On Video

No Canon 7D Firmware update in sight According to Jared Adams at Cinema5D the firmware update rumored seems a ways away: After speaking with Nolan from Canon USA I can safely say that there is no firmware update for the Canon EOS 7D as of yet for USA model cameras. According to the canon rep, there may be differences in the firmware versions 1.0.7, 1.0.8, and 1.0.9 based on language updates alone. But this cannot be confirmed, as he is only able to speak for U.S.A. model cameras. Note that there may be two reports mixed up here; someone reported that they received a camera with 1.0.9 firmware (most U.S. models seem to have 1.0.7) and a Philip Bloom reported that he had heard that Canon was working on a firmware update that had something to do with 720p. JVC Picsio, another opinion The JVC Picsio has only been out for a few days, and already there's a negative review on Amazon for it: JVC PICSIO GC-FM1A The image was grainy and shaky (even though stabilization was on) [...] I'...

Is it just a year ago that I was madly speculating whether Apple would release Bluray hardware/software support? Why yes, it is! I even went so far as to say: If they don’t announce something October 14th I’m going to have to write Steve Jobs a carefully worded letter! And since then? Zzzzzzzzzzz. A few months ago, the rumors started up again, suggesting Apple might put something into upcoming iMac updates, but now those rumors have been crushed . Oh well :( In the mean time, a couple of interesting Apple patents : Appleinsider reports : " Apple has investigated a method to make imperfections in compressed video files less visible to the human eye, a new patent application revealed this week shows. " And MacWorld says : " Apple filed a patent application entitled Synchronization of Media State Across Multiple Devices, which appears to combine local iPod and iPhone synchronization with MobileMe and cloud-computing services. " All good stuff, but it doesn't qu...

I went to a joint meeting of the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group and the Boston Avid Users Group last night. It was held at Rule Broadcast Systems , who I think paid for the free pizza, chocolate chip cookies and soda. Full disclosure : If you're in the greater Boston area and you're interested in video editing, you should definitely make an effort to catch a meeting. They have had some interesting meetings lately. The featured speaker was colorist Alex Bickel of Outside Editorial, Soho NY. I’ll write more about that in a later post. Anyway, a couple of interesting things. Before the meeting I was talking to a guy about the Canon 7D and the new Nikon D3s and he was saying how he was using a small pocket Panasonic Lumix camera (similar to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS25 though I’m not 100% certain it was that model) and shooting sequences of still images and then turning them into video, and getting quite impressive results. He showed me a nice night-driving scene on his iPhone....

The Federal Trade Commission has revised guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials. This has provoked some reaction because of it's impact on bloggers . Most importantly: A post from a blogger who receives cash or "in-kind payment" regarding a product (review) is considered an endorsement. While I'm generally in favor of full disclosure, I am concerned that the guidelines seem to treat bloggers differently to "traditional media" i.e. it appears that if a blogger is given a free book to review they have to disclose that, while traditional media would not be expected to . I don't see the difference. In fact, I can think of some journalists who I really think should do some disclosing: I'd love to see a full disclosure from Walt Mossberg of the value of software/hardware/meals/trips/t-shirts he's received from the companies he writes about. In the mean time, here at NotesOnVideo I will be filling out the Federal Trade Commission's Bl...

I hadn’t even heard of iFrame before this morning, and then yesterday Apple released an update to iMovie that added support for the iFrame format, and today Sanyo has announced two cameras that support iFrame: the VPC-HD2000A and the VPC-FH1A . There’s a support document on Apple’s site iMovie ’09: About the iFrame Video format . But it's hardly that informative: The iFrame Video format is designed by Apple to speed up importing and editing by keeping the content in its native recorded format while editing. Based on industry standard technologies such as H.264 and AAC audio, iFrame produces small file sizes and simplifies the process of working with Video recorded with your camera. And then adds to select: "960x540 30fps" Now the 960x540 size isn't exactly new to iMovie; it's the default "Large" video resolution that iMovie uses when you import video (iMovie converts all imported video into a format it prefers.) The step forward appears to be that App...

Flip has released the Flip MinoHD Camcorder 2nd Generation, , which doubles the storage to 80GB, has a larger two-inch screen and a mini-HDMI port. 8GB = 2 hours of video. It sells for $299, while the original is $199. The Nikon D3S is out, and dpreview has a preview. A video by Vincent Munier really shows the low light capabilities of the camera. It's supposed to support up to ISO 102,400 (wow!) BUT the video is only 720p24. Now 720p isn’t that shabby, and a few years ago it would have been amazing to have a camera that supported that, but it’s also not 1080p. Ultimately, the $5,199.95 means it’s not a camera I will be considering!

I appreciate the efforts of anyone that offers up a review of a product I’m interested in. As long as they aren’t shills for the company, different points of view can nearly always add additional light on the subject (and let’s face it, everyone comes to things with their own biases, so there’s no independent, unbiased report on anything.) So I really like that camcorderinfo.com does reviews of camcorders - they are one of the few sites that does a reasonable and regular job of it, and I even wish they did more. That said, I am often puzzled by some of their results and comparisons. It’s not the big picture stuff, but little details that get me confused. And some of the explanation of how they test and compare cameras leaves me puzzled. I can’t help thinking that unless you’re a broadcast engineer, you’re probably confused too. As one tiny example, their latest review of the JVC Picsio has a " Close-Up Color Comparisons " table. They do include the disclaimer: We can tell you...

JVC Picsio Camcorder.info has posted a review of the JVC Picsio . At first glance, the Picsio is just another Flip clone, trying to carve a piece out of the ultracompact camcorder marker. Beneath the surface, the Picsio provides some impressive quality video that is, unfortunately, accompanied by a body design that lacks durability and reliability. I like Engadget , but they often get the horse before the cart, or get outraged about something before knowing all the details. Today they posted about JVC’s Picsio pocket camcorder, headlining the post JVC’s Picsio pocket camcorder does fake 1080p for a real $200. Their complaint? It's advertised "1080p" resolution is 1440 x 1080 at 30 fps But 1440 x 1080 is the same format of 1080 HD as used in HDV camcorders (it uses non-square pixels to get 1920x1080.) Canon loyalty Rebate Canon USA has a $50 off coupon if you buy a Canon EOS camera between October 12 and December 31, provided you own a prior Canon Camera. Buy a regular ...

I went to a demo of Adobe Story last week. Story is a beta/pre-release from Adobe Labs. It looks like it's an outgrowth of Buzzword , the online word processing application developed using Adobe Flex , that Adobe purchased a while back. So what is Story ? At the moment, it's described as a scriptwriting/collaboration tool. Signup to use it and you log into a web app that lets you import/create and edit scripts in classic Film Script format. It has a number of nice features; as you type, it prompts for the different script elements using a little pop-up menu. Each part of a script is listed in an outline next to the script. You can quickly navigate by clicking on an outline item. Even better, little colored dots indicate the presence of a character in the scene. Story organizes things into Projects, which can contain Scripts, Character Bio's and Links. Perhaps more interesting, you can share a Project by entering an email address and indicating the access rights of the pe...

I didn't see Coraline the movie in the theaters, but I just watched the DVD last night, and found it very enjoyable. You can watch it in 3D too using the red/green glasses that are included. It takes a little getting used to; but after a minute or two it was working okay for me; but didn't work for my movie companion. We ended up switching back to the "regular" movie. Either way you watch it, it's a good story that is very well animated. If you're interested in stop-motion, then definitely get this movie. And after you watch it the first time, watch it again with the director's commentary on. It's a great insight into how they went about translating the book to the screen, and the joys - and trials - of making a stop motion movie. Some of the discussion about voices and casting I found particularly interesting. You can also find a slideshow on the making of the movie at the LA Times .

Yesterday I was looking at the Canon BG-E7 Battery Grip for Canon 7D Digital SLR Camera on Amazon, and reading through the page discovered some interesting technical details: Curiously, today it has been changed to: Yellow Ink Tank for the S800 photo printer and other select Canon printers Weird...