Let me first start out by saying that if you haven’t yet heard, Videomaker is finally drawing on their more than 25 years of experience in video production and producing some new intensive workshops on topics ranging from Advanced Shooting to Green Screen and Special Effects. This is good news for people who are looking to quickly learn about many specific topics in video. If you haven’t seen it yet, the list of workshops can be found here.

While putting together these workshops, and to serve our attendees and readers as best we could, we decided to back up many of the points we cover in each teaching session with short examples from professional films, television, and documentaries. We figured what better way to learn than to study from examples of professional work? At the same time, we decided to future-proof ourselves and take as many of these clips as possible from Blu-Ray sources for a full 1080P experience. While that sounded great in theory, in actuality, it was tougher to accomplish than winning the World Cup. Sure, there were a ton of great tools out there that could rip a disc to an MKV or an AVI which could play back on a computer, but the problem we ran into was that our editing software did not support either format well and the AVIs usually had broken indexes. Additionally,when importing into our editing software it either wouldn’t import at all into our project, or the audio would be about as out of sync as a bad dancer.

Since MKVs are just containers for H.264 video and DTS or AC3 audio, our first thought was to just strip the container from the video and audio and then rejoin the two tracks together, saving us time by not having to re-encode. Much to our chagrin, we found it incredibly difficult (not to mention time consuming) to demux the file into audio and video sources and then remux, or combine, them into an H.264 file. In fact, because the H.264 stream was so high from these MKV sources, most muxing software wouldn’t even allow us to combine the video and audio at all, and there was no codec that could read the native .h264 file besides. Even if the audio source was DTS, our video editing program couldn’t read it. This process put us back to square one more times than even the most avid mathematician would care to count and eventually became so frustrating that we decided to scrap the idea all together.

Now a short word on the legalities of copying DVDs is in order at this point. Basically, in order to comply with U.S. law, any clips a person takes must be used in a way that stimulates creativity for the enrichment of the general public and not to just “supersede the objects” of the original for reasons of personal profit. Also, the clips need to be fairly short in length (i.e. ~30 seconds or less) and not harm any profits that the distributors and/or producers of the film would have made otherwise. Essentially, you shouldn’t be giving a free screening of films to others. This is more or less the rules that fair use follows. Of course, if you are using this software to back up your DVDs or Blu-Rays for personal use, that would also be lawful under current law until you begin to distribute it to others or use it for profit. However, it is always advisable to check out current law first before doing any of these activities to make sure you don’t get into any legal trouble. Wikipedia has some great articles on the legalities of ripping DVD discs and Videomaker has put together a great list of articles on how to stay legal as well so check them out.

That being said, our solution was to watch the disc in it’s entirety on our Blu-Ray players. Note the timecode, and then go back into the movie and use a great piece of software called Pavtube to rip the clips into an .mpg format that worked natively inside of our editing software. The clips turned out beautifully since there were so many options for raising the bit rates, dimensions, and frame rates of the video, and took very little time. The program also had just about every format imaginable to convert to and allowed users to type in timecode to mark in and out points in the video, which saved a ton of time and effort. It was also possible to copy the entire disc this way, but just expect it to take a lot longer depending on the length of the film. Now it should be said that on my Mac, it was possible to use MactheRipper and MPEG Streamclip to do the same thing, but I really liked decoding and converting my video using the same program on the PC. I’m not going to lie, I wish I could say that the Pavtube software was free, but for only 50 dollars, this program was well worth the headaches it saved when copying discs for editing. While I’m sure there are other software solutions out there that can do the same thing as the software we found, we were just hoping that we could save you the headache of downloading some of those shady programs that may not work the way you imagined!

Just recently, a team at the University of Tokyo found that using titanium oxide could allow optical disks to store 5,000 gigabytes of information. Honestly, that’s astounding. At the same time, a lot of people’s minds began buzzing with the implications. With these discs, Hollywood studios could release entire television series such as Lost and 24 plus bonus content all on one disc. Video games could finally fit huge engines and graphics all on one disk. Finally, studios could include super high resolution video on their discs so that people could see the movie in its fully rendered glory. However, let’s stop for a moment to take a quick poll. How many of you even own a Blu-ray player? If more than one of you out of 10 raised your hand, congratulate yourselves on being ahead of the curve. Though a majority of people still get their movies and television series delivered to them by optical media, it seems as if new media such as Blu-ray simply can’t pick up steam. A Harris poll taken last year showed that only 7 percent of Americans owned a Blu-ray player. Even though Blu-ray offers more than twice the resolution of standard definition DVDs and a higher quality sound, Americans still aren’t sold on the idea. Of course, this begs the question: why?

Popular reasons include the extra price of Blu-ray discs and that some people are happy with things just the way they are. However, there seems to be an even bigger reason behind all of this. Let’s take one last poll. How many of you watch movies or television online? If more than half of you raised your hand, then you would fall in line with research recently done by shopping site Retrevo. The study found that 51% of people in all age groups watched at least some of their television online. With these facts, the question becomes this: when the internet offers both free and cheap high quality video content all without having to leave your La-Z-Boy, why would anyone want to invest in a Blu-ray player or a Blu-ray disc? The answer might be that for most people there are no better alternatives for watching high-definition content on their internet-free TVs. However, with products such as the Apple TV, the new Google TV, Roku, and of course, the HD rich cable set top boxes, it is evident that hardware manufacturers and cable providers are betting that pretty soon, you won’t have an excuse not to.

The only real problem I can foresee with Internet TV is the fact that bandwidth is notoriously spotty with many internet providers. Also, no software or hardware provider has yet mastered the user experience with Internet TV. Often, they’ll make the experience too much like the internet itself (and no one wants to type on a keyboard), or they’ll make it too much like a TV which is very limited in its function. However, one day when a company finally gets the balance of TV and internet just right, Internet TV could be the biggest revolution since cable.

Gateway announced its newest line of notebooks: the NV Series. The NV Series has a sleek, ergonomic design and includes models for budget-conscious students and families, to systems packed with the latest technology for video editing and casual gaming, including…

- Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processors as well as AMD Athlon and AMD Turion processors.

- Up to 4GB of DDR3 memory that is upgradeable to 8GB.

- The notebooks also feature media card readers that accept popular media cards (Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and xD) as well as large-capacity hard drives ranging from 320GB to 640GB of capacity, enabling customers to easily and quickly access, download, store and share their digital media content.

- The MyBackup function gives consumers a way to quickly and easily back-up all important files to another location such as a USB drive, external hard disk drive, or another hard drive partition.

Since all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the NV line is sure to include plenty of entertainment capabilities, such as…

- High Definition Ultrabright LCD widescreen 16:9 display. The NV5 15.6-inch display models boast a 1366×768 resolution, and the Gateway NV7 1600×900 resolution; great for HD movies and video.

- Blu-ray players for top-of-the-line movie-viewing (select models), as well as DVD and CD recording

- An integrated HD webcam with 1280×1025 resolution

- ATI Mobility Radeon HD graphics for PC gaming

- Seamless social networking capabilities, like the integrated “social networking” button which allows customers to access their social networks, including Facebook, YouTube and Flickr, with a single touch of a button.

The Gateway NV Series will be available in a variety of configurations with the MSRP starting at $529.99. The first model to be available will be the Gateway NV59C09u, with additional models in the line becoming available in the coming weeks.

Model Number: Gateway NV59C09u; MSRP: $799.99

• Intel Core i3-330M Processor (2.13GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache) 2

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

• 15.6″ HD Widescreen Ultrabright TFT LCD Display

• Mobile Intel HM55 Express Chipset

• 4096MB DDR3 Dual-Channel 1066MHz Memory Packaging and Documentation

• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD

• 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

• 4X Blu-ray Disc/DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive

• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED

• 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)

• High-Def Webcam (1280 x 1024)

• Two Stereo Speakers

• Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader

• One HDMI port and three USB 2.0 Ports

• Multi-Gesture Touchpad

• Dedicated Numeric Keypad 3

• 6-cell Li-Ion (4400 mAh) Battery; up to 4.5-hours of battery life(2)

• Notebook weight: 5.72 lbs

• Two Year Warranty

Looking at the title of this blog, you might be thinking since when did the one time host of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” become an expert on all things video?  Believe me, I’d be thinking the same thing. However, instead of interviewing Regis Philbin (whose knowledge on all things behind the camera is more than suspect), we had the privilege of interviewing someone who definitely knows what he’s talking about when it comes to computers and archiving: Regis Mencer, owner of Cerise Computers.

Regis has been making computers since before his company was started back in 2003. Since 2003, Cerise (pronounced Seh-reese) has been making computers that specialize in high end performance for both editors and photographers. Evidence of this can be seen by just taking a quick glance at their website where they have computers with specs so crazy that you might have to put yourself in a straightjacket in order to believe it. They have options for the latest graphics cards, solid state drives, and even for up to 96 GB of RAM!

Read the rest of this entry »

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) recently announced the finalization and release of their Blu-ray 3-D specifications. What does this mean for you? The technology is now in place for you to have a full 3-D experience in the convenience of your own home. The 3-D specification delivers two full HD 1080p resolution images to each eye. The result is a 3-D-encoded movie that will most likely take up about 50 percent more space than the previous disks that were encoded in 2-D.

Regarding compatibility, the specification is display agnostic, meaning that Blu-ray 3-D products will deliver the 3-D image to any compatible 3-D display, regardless of whether that display uses LCD, plasma or other technologies. It also appears that some Blu-ray players, including the PS3, will be upgradeable to support 3-D. If that’s not cool enough, the 3-D discs will have a 2-D mode for your existing player. It also looks like the new 3-D players will be able to play 2-D content for full backwards compatibility.

Victor Matsuda, chairman of BDA Global Promotions Committee, believes 3-D content will be a hit with the home entertainment industry. “Movie goers have shown an overwhelming preference for 3-D when presented with the option to see a theatrical release in either 3-D or 2-D,” said Matsuda, “We believe this demand for 3-D content will carry over into the home now that we have, in Blu-ray Disc, a medium that can deliver a quality Full HD 3-D experience to the living room.”

The 3-D specifications boasts new features that provide a new experience for users. It enables DVD software to use 3-D graphic menus for navigation and will allow for 3-D subtitles positioned in 3-D space.

Expect to see more details become available as CES approaches.

JVC just unveiled it’s latest Blu-ray player, the JVC XV-BP11. Now you can have Blu-ray playback at an affordable sub $200 price. Read on for more details.

JVC today announced the availability of a new entry-level Blu-ray player. The new JVC XV-BP11 is a truly versatile high definition player, offering playback of high definition Blu-ray discs, plus playback of the AVCHD format, the high definition format widely used for HD camcorders, including the JVC HD Everio line.  New XV-BP11 player offers AVCHD file playback.

The new JVC XV-BP11 Blu-ray player is available immediately for $199.95.

Reprinted from a JVC press release.