Entertainment

Digital Video: The HD tipping point is now

4volt — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:29:17 GMT

Over the last few years HD video has been getting constantly cheaper, easier and better. I bought a used HD camera in 2001 (JVC HDGR1) for about $2,000 that was one of the first cameras under $10,000 that could do HD, and that it does at 720P, with some other deficiencies.

For a while now cheap HD has been available, for instance last year I bought a $150 camera that could also do 720P, but the sensor was small and noisy, that and the audio quality made the footage unusable.

However now the latest versions of digital SLR cameras as starting to be released with un-crippled features, things that independent film makers have been desperate for. Thinks like:

Full 1080P at 30fps and 24fps at a decent bitrate
Interchangeable lenses
Large sensors that allow for a shallow depth of field
Full manual control
Great low-light sensitivity
Audio input

Recently Canon announced the t2i, the first sub-$1000 camera that has all of those things. I think this is the magical price point that almost any serious hobbyist can afford.

How will this affect the digital video market, and the indie film market?

I think the effect will be very similar to the digital (still) camera explosion that has been continuing. More people will have access to high quality recording, but that does not necessarily mean they will be any good at it.

For the people that are skilled, or willing to learn the skills to take good video, there’s a whole new world of possibilities opening up.

I know I’ll be ordering one of the t2i’s as after it’s released, if you want to help, send in a donation. I would greatly appreciate it.

Tekzilla

4volt — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:41:55 GMT

So one of the random things I did at CES was watch a filming of the show Tekzilla, it’s pretty popular and use to be on “real” tv. Check it out at: http://revision3.com/tekzilla/ces2010

We’re even in a couple shots. Woo!

CES Post-mortem picture extravaganza

4volt — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:19:02 GMT

This past week I was at CES doing market research, and I'm sure everyone reading any of the tech/gadget blogs have had a overload of CES related coverage. I’m not going to talk about any of the things that got major coverage, but here’s some general thoughts, and a couple things you probably didn’t see anywhere else.

3D TV is coming at you like a 900lb gorilla
Pretty much every TV/Monitor manufacturer has a 3D version of a product coming out, and with Blue-ray updating it’s standards to support 3D, I suspect we’ll see some TV’s and monitoring hitting the market very soon. In fact be prepared for a deluge of 3D stuff and marketing this year.
Lego Universe
Lego’s new game “Lego Universe” looks pretty cool, there stand also had big bins of lego minifig parts to build your own lego men. Pretty cool, but mostly I wanted to post pictures of the epic lego battle we had while waiting.
District 9 Props
Sony had some props from the District 9 movie, which I enjoyed toughly. It was cool to see some of the props up close.
Tekzilla Filming
We caught the Tekzilla filming at the NBC stand, and we’ll probably be seen somewhere in the background, I'll post up a link when the show is posted. http://revision3.com/tekzilla
Babes
It’s not CES without booth babes right? Here’s a few.
Star Trek
With the recent popularity of the new Star Trek movie, there was a few models and props, including a very strange Enterprise/Turntable mashup.

That is all.

Photos: Running a exposed hard drive, and then ruining it

4volt — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:31:11 GMT

Way back in 2002, I ran an experiment with a hard drive to see how durable the inside actually is, mostly curious to see how easy it is to ruin a drive.

In the 2nd above photo you can see the drive arm moving, all of these photos were taken while the drive was being used in a live system.

We removed the cover of a old IDE hard drive and proceeded to format and install windows. We didn’t make any attempt to protect the drive, and the office we worked in at the time was pretty dusty. The format and install did work with some errors, and eventually we got the computer to boot in safe mode. The computer worked but just barely, it was plain to see it wouldn’t last for long.

After that crude test, we decided to take it to the next level and pour water into the running drive, mostly just to see what would happen. We covered the live pc with plastic, and took some other electrical safety precautions.

We started with just a few drops on far side of the arm, the water more or less sprayed right off of the moving platter. Later I made a quick calculation and found that the edge of the platter at 5400rpm moves at an estimated 56 miles per hour (90kph).

After the water the drive arm moved wildly, and eventually went back to the edge. A few quick tests showed the hard drive had more or less failed at that point, but continued to spin and try to seek. Since most of the drive electronics are on the circuit board underneath, that’s not too surprising. Although if a drive fails catastrophically, usually they stop the spin. I’m sure it would be possible to retrieve the data if the drive heads were not damaged.

After the light dousing, we decided to pour the whole glass on the drive, and like before it more or less just splashed off the drive, but was exponentially cooler.

In the end it was just for fun, and it produced some interesting photos.

Engrish Glasses

4volt — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:39:05 GMT

I saw Coraline today in 3D and got these spiffy glasses. I’m impressed with the new 3D technology, but I'm more impressed with the engrish warring message that reads: “Not sung lasses-No UV / Sun Protection”. Clearly it was phonetically spelled by someone that doesn't know what the words sun glasses mean.

No sung lasses for you!

Jordan Clarke’s Vanilla Strawberry Video

4volt — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:28:14 GMT

The new Jordan Clarke release is worth a watch, I'm always a fan of his music videos. This one like all of the ones in his Vimeo profile is great. The variable speed, colors, and mirroring is neat.

Vanilla Strawberry from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.

Comic: XKCD's "Understanding Flow Charts" flow chart

4volt — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:19:52 GMT

There are two kind of people in the world, the kind that divide everyone into two groups, and those who don't.

Also there are the people that like flow chart jokes, and I am one of those. Perhaps it's the hours I've spent staring at them at work, but I do like them.

XKCD's most recent is quite enjoyable in a dry humor kind of way.

Found Street Art: Snow People

4volt — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:00:14 GMT

This is a unique and very cool non-destructive form of street art. I am very impressed.

From simonk on Flickr

Wulffmorgenthaler - December 15th

4volt — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:55:16 GMT

The irony of the fire truck on fire is not lost on Mr Irony.

Jordan Clarke's "get up and go"

4volt — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:33:30 GMT

Jordan Clarke's "get up and go" is a wonderful piece of fanciful video that uses human motion and color to achieve a sublime video experience. I highly recommend watching this video and checkout out his other work.

Broadcast 2000 "get up and go" Full from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.