For editing, capture from tape creates few problems. But the rise of video-to-disc systems means most camera manufacturers record in codecs that that are highly compressed and not designed for editing.

Which means that a lot of times you could end up with video that doesn’t play so well in your Final Cut Pro and Avid editing systems.

So after coming across the article To Transcode and Not to Transcode? I started thinking that using Premier sounds pretty sweet.

For those of us not using Premier I recommend using Streamclip, which has a feature I find very handy – File>Show Stream Info (cmd, i) will give you all kinds of useful information for import, such as frame size, and kbps.

What is your workflow, do you transcode before editing? Will Premier capture a bigger market share because it’s so handy to edit using native file formats?

A few of her key points are:

• Keep the camera still. Try to use a tripod – or natural support – whenever possible
• Hold each shot for at least 10 seconds
• Shoot from different distances – wide to establish, medium gives more detail, and a close up
• Avoid zooms and pans
• Try to get in close and find quiet spot for best sound
• Avoid backlighting where possible

And special for those headed to music festivals this summer (Folk on the Rocks and Vancouver Folk Fest are next weekend!), check out the embed below to see how to shoot a video of a live music performance.

The evidence is compelling – check out this 1080p video shot at 6400 ASA (some scenes were shot at 3200 ASA) with a Canon 1D MKIV. No flash, no outside lighting – only available light. Prepare to be amazed by the quality (of the resolution, the actual plot doesn’t make much sense).

All this quality comes at a price – a $5,000+ price, but as the 1D MKIV is inevitably replaced by the next-best-thing, its cost will drop.

Both the Canon and Nikon’s D3S can shoot at ISO speeds of up to ISO 102,400 – less lighting = lighter camera bag.

D3S’s built-in microphone for monaural sound, or use an optional external microphone for stereo recording.

As well, the D3S allows videographers to attach an external microphone, which is important for getting good sound (viewers are more likely to forgive poor picture quality than poor sound quality).

These cameras are fantastic for on the move travel light photographer-videographers – a growing category in this jack-of-all-trades multi-media world.

3D for the masses!

Panasonic recently announced that it will ship its 3D camcorder AG-3DA1, this fall. If you have a spare $21,000, let me know how that goes (accessories not included).

At the other end of the scale we have the $400 (“not James Cameron approved”) pistol-grip pocket cam, the DXG camera.

Another interesting development in 3D was the Sky TV’s recent screening of the world’s first live major sporting event in 3D.

And YouTube has been making forays into the 3D format since late last year.

I am not ready to run out and buy a 3D camera yet, so instead I sent off for the best 3D deal around – 2 free 3D glasses from the National Film Board online store.

The glasses will take a while to arrive, as NFB is awaiting a new stock (due to popularity). But once they do arrive, I’ll be able to access NFB’s online 3D film collection.

The improvements in both 3D and augmented reality technologies means we can expect to have even deeper immersive information and entertainment experiences in the coming year.

Bring it on!

I have always enjoyed 3-D movies, so I read the latest Wired article, James Cameron’s New 3-D Epic Could Change Film Forever with great interest.

Cameron wanted to create the perfect 3D camera for Avatar.

Working with Sony, he developed a “lightweight, dual-lens, hi-def camera capable of shooting precisely calibrated 3-D images that won’t give viewers a headache,” according to the December issue of Wired.

Was it worth the 10 years and $250 million-$500 million (reports vary on the cost) it cost to make?”

I can’t say as I haven’t seen it yet.

But I can pass along this comment made recently by a co-worker, who flew from Yellowknife to Edmonton for the Imax 3-D opening: “Avatar: like one reviewer put it: ‘the 3D is so good it’s like your eyeballs are having sex.’”

And there is more good news on the horizon for 3-D movie lovers – the Globe and Mail ran a story today, 3-D’s next frontier: your living room that stated, “The televisions will be in Canadian stores within six months but will consumers put on their glasses and watch?”

Within six months, experts say, 3-D televisions will be in Canadian electronics stores, selling from $3,000 to $8,000. Sony expects that by 2012, 30 to 50 per cent of its TV sales will be 3-D. And in Britain, Sky Network is months away from launching the first 3-D channel.

Will you be lining up for the latest in video technology? As for myself, I look forward to the coming of interactive hologram stories, as depicted in Star Trek.

Engage!

Making the videos is easy in the Flash interface because you are guided through the process. Go to the menu: File>Import>Import Video. The first question is: where is your flv file located. If you want to test video locally, you can browse to the video on your desktop. But if you do this, you will need to go into the Component Inspector later before you publish your Flash movie, and change the file path to where the flv is on the server once you have uploaded your flv video.

Component inspector - change the file path to server here if you used local file.

So the best way is to avoid using local files and instead have your flv file already uploaded so you can point to the path.

Best to have FLV file online and select its path on import so you don't have to readjust later in Component Inspector.

You can still test locally by pressing Cmd, Return (Control>Test Movie), but once you publish you won’t be able to test the swf/html files created until they are uploaded.

This is the only tricky step. The rest is just picking options for your Flash skin: colour, under or over video, which controls do you want. Then test and publish (checking Publish Settings to make sure the file size will be OK for your audience.

Once you hit “Publish,” three files will be created: swf, skin swf, and the html code you will need to add to your page to run the Flash. Integrate the html into your page, and upload all three file (because the flv should already be up!)

That’s all there is to it!

It is fun, simple and perfectly gets the message across. The site uses a URL redirect into YouTube and all navigation is done within YouTube. Even the ‘contact’ option uses YouTube mail.

YouTube gives several interactive options.

(Thanks Adobe Edge and its Edge of Flash article for tipping me off to this site.)

The story cited a new report from social media research consultancy Trendstream and research firm Lightspeed, giving stats such as:

• In one week in January, 97 million Americans viewed a streaming clip online – as many as are tuning into any major broadcast network
• With 72 per cent of U.S. web users watching clips online, web video outstrips both blogging and social networking, and is now the leading “social-media platform”
• With 49 million active Web users – 32 per cent – uploading content in January 2009, users of all ages now generate far more content than traditional broadcasters and collectively contribute the majority of video content to the web

Meanwhile the world’s most popular video-sharing site, YouTube had a 1,700 per cent jump in mobile video uploads over the past six months.

YouTube has shown phenomenal growth over the past few years. In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Now, 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. In fact, as I write this blog “uploaded youtube” is a trending topic on Twitter.

In my hometown of Yellowknife I have seen the growth of online video. Here are a few businesses that prominently feature online video. Let me know what I am missing:

• CBC North – runs its full Northbeat news show as well as numerous shorter news videos
• Kellett Communications – offers full gamut of filmmaking and effects, strives to make communication interactive, weave it in and out of all media, especially online content
• Up Here – this magazine about the north posts photos animated Ken Burn’s style with music/voice over track such as this recent soundslide, which is hosted on Up Here’s Vimeo channel

You can check out the Yellowknife tab on my Netvibes page to see other Yellowknife videos on YouTube.

Had an issue starting off with sound-video falling out of synch. But generally I was happy with the video quality and mused on Twitter/Facebook, “all good in Vimeo land now and quality is so much better than YouTube.”

This drew the attention of video intake producer for CBC Vancouver Charlie Cho, who replied, “But is Vimeo better than YouTube HQ? Not in this random case:”

You Tube Click HQ button

video vs.

Vimeo

I would say that’s a tough call, but I am giving a slight edge to Vimeo for the crispness of its edges. That is assuming that both these videos were uploaded at the same file size.

YouTube allows files of 1GB in size and 10 minutes long, so it’s a better deal than Vimeo for a free account. Vimeo does not have a maximum file size for uploads, but having a 500MB max per week means the maximum file size is really 500MB. I was unable to find any ‘upgrade to pro’ feature for YouTube, let me know if you hear anything about that feature (or lack thereof).

Still, YouTube is tops in terms of users, and on this side-by-side comparison for video sharing sites.

I will continue to post to both YouTube and Vimeo for now … until the next best thing comes along. What is your preferred site for video?

Once the FLV file was inside Flash I added invisible buttons over the DVD navigation. These buttons all link to external sites – my YouTube and Flickr streams, and this blog. The “_blank” tag on the button links cause other tabs to open (the intended effect), but this also causes the Flash to become deselected, so then the buttons don’t have their sound/roll over effects again unless the Flash document is clicked on

That means I have to get going on the inside pages. Once I have these pages to link to, I will remove the “_blank” tags because my links will lead to internal sources.

My plan for these inside pages (which I will create in Dreamweaver) are to add:

• a video page, using my YouTube content as embeds
• a photojournalism portfolio in the big-photo style of Boston.com
• a new ‘About’ page, which will link back to this blog

WordPress site upgrades also needed

I will also continue to make changes to this site. A prominent RSS feed button would be nice (the text version gets a bit lost), and eventually a custom theme. I will be picking the brains of other bloggers at two upcoming conferences: WordCamp Whistler and 2009 Northern Voice.

Still mulling Twitter options. I like having the update feature since my tweets are mostly about technology, but if I get too busy to blog for a few days, then Twitter takes over. I would welcome suggestions