Quick Focus

User Groups



Existing Groups

The Quinte Videography Club

561 Victoria Ave.

Belleville, ON K8N 2G6

Canada

Contact: W. McCormick

Phone: 613-966-4517

E-mail: bill.mccormick@sympatico.ca

Meetings: First Wednesday, 7 p.m., Room P-24, Loyalist College



Cecil Amiga Users Group

P.O. Box 39

Rising Sun, MD 21911-0039

Contact: Jerimy L. Campbell

Phone: 410-658-4739

E-mail: JC@dol.net

Meetings: First Tuesdays, 7 p.m., Goodies Inc.



Group Creativity

65 Broadway

East Hampton, NY 11937

Contact: David Shepard

Phone: 516-329-2067

Meetings: Various times and locations in NYC



Seeking Group or Will Organize



Pam Solomon, Educational Svcs. Ctr.

4700 S. Yosemite St.

Englewood, CO 80111



Shirley Erickson

1041 N. Victoria Way

Salt Lake City, UT 84116



Louie F. Calderon

8371 Reims Ave.

Stockton, CA 95209

209-477-1079



User Groups: let us know you’re out there. For inclusion in our listing,
submit your request to "User Groups," c/o Videomaker, P.O.
Box 4591, Chico, CA 95927. Seeking a User Group? For a list of existing
user groups and/or video enthusiasts seeking or willing to organize a group
in your area, send an SASE to the same address.



User Group Home Pages

Expand your user group’s horizons by posting your home page on the Videomaker
site. For information, send e-mail to dtaylor@videomaker.com



Send for a Free User Group Startup Kit

Videomaker
‘s user group startup kit contains
everything you need to start and run a successful user group: how to find
members, publicize meetings and conduct screenings; sample newsletter, newspaper
ad and meeting agenda; discounts off Videomaker merchandise and more. Call
Customer Service at 530-891-8410, ext. 242.





Web Watch

Reel Time

http://realtimefilm.com


An Internet film festival, held last November, is showcasing
the work of independent and experimental producers and promoting the Internet
medium as a forum for the exhibition of short videos. The hosts pre-screened
each video and selected finalists to post on the site, where judges and
"audience" members voted for their favorites. The voting is over
but the films may still be viewed with a RealVideo player (downloadable
from the site).





Entry Deadlines

The Fourth Brainwash Movies Festival is looking for original videos less
than 13 minutes in length. Festival organizers will send a collection of
the best entries to programmers at major television channels, including
Bravo, BBC and MTV London for possible broadcast. Send VHS submissions,
with a $15 entry fee, to Shelby Toland, P.O. Box 881911, San Francisco,
CA 94188. Entries must be postmarked by May 1, 1998. Call 415-273-1545 for
more information.



The Rod Serling School of Fine Arts Video Competition is open to students
from kindergarten through twelfth grade and who are residents of New York
State. VHS entries may be any length up to five minutes. The entry deadline
is April 20. For an entry form, write to Lawrence Kassan, Rod Serling School
of Fine Arts Video Festival Competition, Binghampton City Schools, 31 Main
St., Binghampton, NY 13905 or call 607-762-8202.




Quick Focus

Videomaker Expo Launches New Products in Burbank

January’s Videomaker Expo broke previous attendance records as
videographers packed the Burbank Hilton Convention Center in California
to attend keynote speeches, manufacturers’ exhibits, seminars, panel discussions
and social events.

Matt York kicked off the Expo with a keynote speech in which he talked about
the solitary nature of video production and urged attendees to take advantage
of Videomaker‘s user-group support network.

Eric Kloor, president of DraCo Systems, Inc., delivered a keynote address
on Saturday to a standing-room-only crowd eager to hear about the evolution
of a new category of video editing system–the turnkey nonlinear package.

Attendees were treated to previews of several new products. Canopus launched
the DVM1 DV capture board; Datavideo premiered a video capture card for
laptop computers, the Video Producer MD-1000; and Sonic Desktop showed off
SmartSound for Multimedia at a hospitality event.

Truevision announced a turnkey nonlinear editing workstation at the Expo.
The company has joined forces with IBM and Avid to configure IBM’s IntelliStation
M Pro Windows NT computer, Avid’s MCXpress NT nonlinear editing software
and a Targa 1000 capture card. The workstation lists for $8,500 or leases
for $250 per month. Videonics demonstrated a prototype MXPro and Play showed
off Trinity’s features.

Edirol (a Roland Corp. subsidiary) received Videomaker‘s Best of
Show award for the V5 Video Mix/Title Processor and the A6 Digital Multi
Audio Station which Edirol debuted at the Expo.

Several manufacturers joined in three panel discussions–Camcorders/VCRs,
Linear Editing and Nonlinear Editing–to debate the state of the consumer
video industry. Audience members packed the theater to hear from representatives
of Canon, Panasonic, Sony, FutureVideo, Pinnacle Systems, Videonics, Datavideo
Technologies, TV One Multimedia, Adobe Systems, Fast, DraCo Systems, Ulead,
DPS, Medea and Truevision.

The Videomaker Expo moves to the other coast in September where it
will set up at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Sony Increases Resolution, Adds Infrared

Extended video resolution, tagged "XR,"
was announced by Sony for its 1998 Handycam line. Instead of the 240 lines
of horizontal resolution delivered by VHS, two new 8mm camcorders will provide
up to 280 lines, and five Hi8 models will jump to 440 lines through video
inputs in low contrast situations. The company says the improvement is achieved
by expanding the luminance bandwidth an additional 0.5MHz.

Sony is also equipping all of its new Hi8 Handycams with NightShot, a built-in
infrared transmitter system that, according to the company, enables the
camcorder to capture images in total darkness. Images shot up to 10 feet
away with no visible light will appear as monochrome images in playback
mode. An optional infrared light is available to extend the NightShot range
to 100 feet.

Canon Introduces New DV Camcorder

An ultra-compact model named ZR is joining the Canon family of DV camcorders.
Although it’s similar in size and weight to other manufacturers’ passport-sized
camcorders, the ZR looks more like a traditional still camera. The Mini
DV camcorder sports FireWire, Control L, S-video and composite video jacks;
manual focus, exposure and white balance; SP and LP recording modes; and
a 2.5" LCD monitor. The ZR includes a unique Finder unit that attaches
to the screen, converting it into an eyecup viewfinder. Canon expects to
put ZR camcorders on store shelves in April at a list price of $1899.

Leased Access Court Battle Looms

The FCC and the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) are meeting
in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to defend
the agency’s current leased access regulations. The case is being brought
by ValueVision, a home-shopping leased access network, and is supported
by low-power TV stations, consumer groups and public interest organizations.

In 1992, Congress mandated that the FCC establish maximum rates for independent
programmers seeking to air their programs by leasing time from cable operators.
Unfortunately, the maximum rates have been too high for most programmers.
Just a year ago, the agency re-crafted the rules to allow for a new formula
which operators use to determine the maximum fee they can charge leased
access programmers. The FCC estimates this "average implicit fee"
lessees pay should equal about $.35 per subscriber. In contrast, cable operators
pay national networks like CNN and MTV a fee to carry their channels.

ValueVision wants the Court to void the leased access rules and to require
the FCC to produce lower rates within 120 days.

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