The Name Game - Vegas Edit

Sometimes you or a corporation hope that by changing a name it will make a difference. 

And sometimes it doesn't. 

In July, I wrote about how the consumer level of video editing software was being discontinued.

And, honestly things happen. Businesses make changes. It was no longer cost effective for them to continue to support a product that they acquired from Sony. 

What folks objected to was inferring that the proposed upgrade still called Movie Studio was to a similar product. It wasn't. 

They were not exactly clear or transparent out it. 

Time marches on. 

So I get an email.

For a product called Vegas Edit. Never heard of it before.

I go take a look.

Vegas Edit is actually Vegas Pro 19.

Ok, kinda being transparent. 

Better than not at all being transparent.

Is it 2021 consumer friendly? Meaning it can help you make vertical, TickTok, YouTube shorts type videos?  One of the questions that I would have is how much of a learning curve is involved?

Don't know. 

When I get a chance, and it might take a while, I'll check out some of the video reviews of the software.

Tip a Glass to Vegas Movie Studio - RIP

One of the long time greats of video editing is being retired. The consumer level Vegas Movie Studio line of video editing products is cancelled. 

That product line is history.

For those that have Vegas Movie Studio and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum there are options.

• Continue to use what you have. The program still works and will for a while longer.
• Move up to Vegas Pro, which is being continued at the moment.
• Move over to the Magix line of video editing products.
• Find another video editing software.

Doctor Zen gives a complete breakdown of the change of what is going on.

What the heck happened?

Most this this is unconfirmed. Talk about being in the weeds looking for a ball.

Tech Dive also has a video about the situation.

The company that works on updating the Vegas line of products decided to stop supporting Vegas Movie Studio software. They want to concentrate on Vegas Pro. That software is going to be continuing and will be supported.

The parent company is Magix. They have a line of video editing software known in Europe as Movie Maker Pro or Video Deluxe.

Magix or the Vegas programmers should have been straight up honest and told folks that Vegas Movie Studio and Studio Premium are being discontinued. 

And, 

If you would like to check out our other line of video editing software we have an entry level product called Movie Edit Pro.

If they would have done that, few people would have kicked up a fuss about it.

But that isn't what they did...

They re-named their European consumer friendly editing software as Movie Studio 18.

If a user paid for the upgrade and discovered that it was another product, Magix won't give a refund.

Unless the user lives in the European Union.

I don't know what they call it in the EU, but around these parts that is known as a bait and switch. Not good business practice and illegal as hell.

The way it is being done is the skank part.

I'm a current customer of Magix. I use some of their other software. Honestly, I think this is a marketing plan that went so bad, so fast.

If they make a change or correction, I'll post about it.

You can still get support. You can visit the Vegas Creatives Support Group.

Again, you don't have to do anything at the moment. Your software will work. You can also upgrade to Vegas Pro, it has similar features and interface. 

Otherwise, it is Taps for an oldie but a good piece of software.

Brief Description of Audio and Video Hosting Services

So you want to make money doing a podcast or via YouTube. And you notice that you are supposed to do something but you are not quite sure what to do.

For those that just like to skim, here you go...

Long winded version...

You go to a podcast forum or watch videos to find the answer to question 1 - what do I need to do?

Then you ask question 2 - what is a good audio or video hosting company? 

Not a bad question. It is legit respectable one.

What often happens is that people give the answer according to their personal experience.

Sometimes with actual knowledge of other services. More often just repeating what others have said.

Then there are those with incentives - the helpful person provides an affiliate link to the services. This is known as a kickback. If they don't disclose it, it is an un-ethical kickback.

I think that long before the hosting questions folks should ask:

• Who are you and why do you want to do this? 
• What do you want to do?
• What is your skill or tech level?
• What is your budget?
• What are your expectations and hope to get out of this?

Very few people want to think about that kind of stuff. They get a little bit of info and just asked the question about hosting.

But if you know the above answers, it could help you choose your media hosting company. 

I'll try to be a simple as possible.  I think it is important to know what the process is before you make a decision about choosing a hosting service. 

Because there is some high tone flimflam mischief going on. 

Some by opportunists. Some by major corporations. 

Free isn't always free and there are people who want to convince you to rob yourself for their benefit.

I think you should avoid that. One way to do that is understanding the media hosting process. 

Step 1 - You make a recording. 

You want other people  to view or listen to your recording. You will need a service to host your media file. Is this an absolute statement?

No.

There are people that trust no person or any business with their content. These folks host their media files on their own servers that they maintain and protect. They write their own RSS feeds. 

There are other people that figure out how to game the system. Doing things they should not be doing. And are smart enough not to brag about it.

You are not them. You need a media hosting company. Your web or blog hosting company probably will insist upon it. They don't want to host your media files. Or charge you extra and that is only to host your media files. 

Keep reading.

Step 2 - RSS and Distribution

You've uploaded the media file to the hosting service. You have also provided essential information about the file, like the name, type of show, cover art and descriptions of the content.

An RSS feed is generated by your hosting company. Think of it as a roadmap of the route identifying where your media file can be located. The RSS feed will be sent to podcast and media distribution companies.

These companies will make a space at their site to display your media file on a specific page with the cover art, description and all of your prior and future episodes.

Step 3 - Information if you please...

The other services most reputable services provide you as the creator is information about who is consuming your content, when are they listening or watching or even when they are bugging out. If you have a 30 minute show and they are tuning out by minute five, that can be very helpful to know.

Other distribution services allow their users to make comments about what they like and don't like about the show. They can rate it. They can gush over it. 

Or in the case of YouTube comments, things can head south very quickly.

Step 4 - Additional Services

For the consumer the distribution company can provide other shows that are similar that the consumer would enjoy. Or make it easier to find and play the content.

For creators, some distribution companies can provide their own statists on usage. You hosting company would be able to draw information from all of the companies that are using the RSS feed. 

If you want more of the technical or want to know more about RSS feeds then you can't go wrong by checking out the 2016 version on Transom.org

Playing a Hunch - Conducting a Test

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Yahoo Videoblogging Group History Archive

The current owners of Yahoo have closed the Yahoo groups and deleted the content of pioneers from multiple disciplines. It has happen before and it will happen again.

Long before Vimeo, long before YouTube there were people figuring out how to post video on the early days of the internet.

Some were artists.

Some were tech heads.

A lot of folks had porn as their motivation; meaning there were dozens of postage stamp clips of pre-existing content that found their way into content communities. So I have been told.

And then there were these folks; The Yahoo Videoblogging Group.

However, this time the text content was saved for those that will want to know.

There was news content. There was humor. Documentation of life and more.

All of it funded by individuals and those people that are always willing to go out on a limb.

So, yeah. We did it for Johnny.

Memories.

When The DV World Was New

In 2003 I saw my first non-tape digital camcorder at a DV convention in Los Angeles. My brain is fuzzy on it but it was an attempt to reach out to industrial and corporate videopeople.

They made a token effort to reach out to "those Internet folks". Many of the exhibitors were not interested in talking to people from the new disruptive wave. The exhibitors were there to make sales to their traditional markets. They had no use for the computer people.

I walked around, got as much swag as I could to justify my admission fee.

Then I saw this:

It was one of the first digital video camcorders. There were two guys running around in white lab coats talking up a storm in either a British or Australian accent. I couldn't tell you which because I was drawn like a bee to honey about that camera.

Running off an 2GB SD card and recording AVI (I think) video. Could have been Motion JPEG. It might have recorded 320x240 video.

It was affordable. $199 in cold hard cash or credit card. Accessible. Golly gee did I want to buy it right then and there. Which meant that I didn't. Not enough cash and I had limited options on uploading and posting videos.

I knew it was a game changer. I knew other camcorders were coming that would be better. I did not known that it would start to pave a path that transformed an industry. Digital video created new opportunities for creatives and non-Hollywood type innovators.

That is the thing about the future. Sometimes you can see a wee bit ahead but you'll never know until you step into the void.

Twelve years later I own different kinds of devices. The most recent being a Pivothead eyewear recorder. Everything old is new again.

Smartphones have replaced dedicated digital recorders. Action cams like the GoPro are transforming movie making and gaming.

Corporate media is busy locking down new talent and production companies to get rooted in the future yet to come.

And hotels are trying to keep you from using personal Wi-Fi and smartphone usage in their buildings.

What has this got to do with video?

Well, if this industry gets the right to block personal Wi-Fi usage then other companies will follow. Some of those companies could be people in the broadcast television industry looking to suppress any form of innovation they don't understand.

Or police departments wanting to stop people recording and uploading video of certain activities.

Or a religious group that thinks you should not have a voice to express your views and actively stops transmission.

How shall we go forward?

Other Posts of Interest

• Equipment
• Legal
• Ramblings
• Video Advocacy
• VidGeeky
• Home Page for Mobile Users

Heads Up for Seattle VloggerFair 2014

If you are going to be near the Seattle, Washington area on August 16, 2014 you might want to try to snag a ticket to VloggerFair 2014.



Grove on the above video for a sense of the event; sounds like it is a mash-up of a barcamp meets Vloggers of note. It is very affordable at $49 and who doesn't like to mingle with vloggers?

It is a bit of a late notice because I just found out about it via Twitter. Which is why I think those who want to go that live near the northern California, Oregon and Seattle areas have the best shot of attending at this late date.

Other Posts of Interests

• VidGeeky
• Social Media
• Home Page for Mobile Users

Videobbloging 10 Years Later 5by5 Interview

It is the 10th anniversary of video on the Internet and the videoblogging group. The Yahoo Groups interface was clunky but a group of people from all over the world got together and figured out how to place video on the Internet.

And unlike what passes for social interactions these days we actually listened to each other, supported, disagreed with facts and met up at various functions. Not saying we were angels I felt it was a safe place. Many people did.

So no, you don't have to damn and cuss someone back to the 9 generation because you disagree with a statement. I digress. It is a peeve.

This is an interview by Jen Simmons with Jay Dedmon, Ryan Hodson and Micheal Verdi. If you are having trouble playing the audio or would like to read the transcript you can visit Jen's The Web Ahead page.





Now I don't want to be misunderstood. There was video on the Internet before the videoblogging group. But it wasn't remotely easy to do. We are talking postage stamp sized videos. I remember video from the hoochi-coochie sites and from tech sites like the original Code Monkey and Help.com

Back in the day, people were trying to transfer analog content from VHS and Hi-8 to the web. You needed a converter. Which there wasn't one on the consumer level until the 2000s. Sometimes that was done using software but it was still tricky.

A lot of things had to be figured out.

And just when that had been figured out came the digital camcorders and memory card storage appeared on the scene. Boom, change again. Then Smartphones recording video. Kaboom, disruptions again.

Now Google glass and the knockoffs.

Other Posts of Interest

• Pathfinders Posts of Interest
• Equipment Posts of Interest
• Home Page for Mobile Users

Google Map Video - Address Is Approximate

You know how you have an idea that you would like to try? It comes to you and then for some reason you don’t get around to fully testing it out?

I tried recording Google Maps for a poetry video but I never finished it. I will, but I was looking around for some inspiration and I found this animated video on Vimeo. This is a video from 2011 from The Theory.




It is so cool. It is a blending of traditional animation and the uses of the mapping site to create a story. One of the things that I like about it is that it finds ways of working with the limitations in order to make it seem like a real road trip.

You can screencast Google Maps with most screencasting software like Camtasia, CamStudio, Screenr, and on the Mac side you have Screenflow and Screencast-O-Matic.

Behind the Curtain and Recording Concerns

One of the neat things the creator did was place the car in a position where you can’t see the Google maps navigation arrows. They appear on the lower portion of the screen. By placing the car on top of the directional arrows right on top you don’t see it or become distracted by it.
 
There is also the tricky business of when you do move forward there are parts of the screen that will go out of focus. It takes a lot of editing to make it look like a smooth journey.

An additional problem that I had was trying to keep people out of the recording. You also have to be careful of business logos, corporate signage and trademarks. There are a lot of under worked corporate attorneys that would love to nab you for using the company logo in your video.

Yes, even if it is a logo on a trash bag in the street and you had nothing to do with it being there.

In urban areas that is really tough. You wind up blurring the logo or signage or overlaying your own message. But with some effort you can create with Google Maps a storytelling video.

 Other Posts of Interest

• Audio and Music
• How To...
• Mobile Video Issues
• Home Page for Mobile Users

My Thoughts About Net Neutrality and User Generated Video

Whew! It has been hectic. I had a final project that scraped every brain cell on read alert. It is done. I get a breather for a bit.

A lot of things are going on that will affect user generated content. It is hard to keep up but there are a number of forces that are going to do their best to return things to the prior century mode of communication. Top down. Limited access.

The biggest news is the current handing of Net Neutrality. This the principle that Internet service providers and governments should all data on the Internet should be processed and treated the same.
There should not be companies and businesses that set tolls, extra fees and (it will come) ideological road block to access to content.




This is a video by Vi Hart that will visually explain what the deal is and how we are gonna get screwed. The phone and cable companies are gunning hard to make this happen.

Places like Netflix have already capitulated and paid access improved access fees to Comcast and Verizon. Comcast deliberately slowed down the speeds of Netflix videos to make their point about throttling access.

The hope is that the FCC has a come to Jeebus moment and regulates the Internet as a necessary public utility.

It ain't looking good.

So, what has this got to do with user generated video? Well... the phone and cable based Internet providers are busy capping how much Internet a user can access via their mobile devices and their desktop access.

For example, on my mobile Wi-Fi I pay $35 for unlimited access. If my if my service switches to 4G LTE then I will be required to pay $55 with a cap of 6GB. If I exceed the 6GBs then I have to pay extra.

For the record, I churn about 12-15GB easy. And no, I am not a gamer.

So, some of you say, get cable internet. Right, where I'll pay $60 to start with a 10GB cap.

So if you create web videos and up load them to Vimeo and YouTube that will count against your allotted usage. That is just at the consumer ISP level. What if the phone and cable companies start smiling at Vimeo and YouTube?

If you watched Vi's video you know that they will put the touch on both of those two companies and charge them fees for "taking up too much pipe."

The word I'm looking for is, um ....extortion.

YouTube might decide that it no longer wants to host cat videos or other types of non-income generating content.

Vimeo, who do not have as deep pockets like YouTube might decide to snuggle up to independent commercial content creators who put out a consistent product and churn cash.

So what to do?

You can read the official FCC Open Internet page to get their understanding on the issue. I have to say what is on that page and what was proposed by the FCC in early April 2014 seems a world apart.

You can check out Save the Internet to learn more about it or see if they have some ideas to fight it.

Common Cause has more information and a link to a form letter that can be sent to your federal representatives. 

Whoa. I actually fighting for the right to access cat videos. Strange days indeed.

P.S. Nothing against cat and/or dog videos.

Straightening A Crooked Video with GoPro Studio 2.01

Can I say how much I love this sucker! Why, yes, I can. I just rescued a botched video that I hung my head in shame and shoved into a external hard drive. It isn't great, it is barely tolerable but it does have a historical value to some folks.

For those that need to get up to speed; The very generous folks at Go Pro have a video editing software program for their line of action cameras. The software accepts mp4 videos and some forms of .avi. That is it. It doesn't even like .mov video.

You have to really understand that part, no mp4 or the right kind of avi and baby will not see it.

Okay, good.

But if you video does measure up you can import and very easily make corrections.

I hated the video because of the crooked table. Looking at that downward slope just ticked me off. I was hand holding the video. I must have been leaning on something for support. By all rights, that water pitcher should be rolling to the other side of the table.

Yikes! That plus the shakes of the video caused me to put it out to pasture.  Time marches on and I have a bunch of videos that, although they are not perfect, there is an interest in the people and the content.

So, what did Go Pro Studio do for me?
I shall tell you. Cuz I like you.

1. You can zoom into a photo to mask the shakes, other video editing programs can do that no big whoop but it was easy to slide to what I wanted. I didn't get rid of all of them but it is better than it was.
2. You can level a crooked video and see it in real time; there are a few video editing programs that can do this but not as easy as moving a slider. You can do it horizontally or vertically.
3. You can expand or contract the width of the video. I don't know why you'd want to but it was bone easy to do and undo. 

Wait, just thought of it. It isn't ethical but you could give a person a body tuck. You could squeeze a bit ....

Naw. Forget I said that.

You can also do color correction and some other tweaking.

So for unintentionally crooked videos this is a quick solution. It is not a problem free solution. I have to convert the video from AVCHD to mp4. Then I import the video into Go Pro Studio and it does its own conversion processes.

I do my tweaking and send it out a third time. I started out at 1080p and wind up with a soft 720p video. There are still shakes and there is nothing more I can do with it. After YouTube adds its compression juice I'm lucky it isn't totally pixilated.

Not really griping about this; these videos are historical markers and if I was the only person in the room with the camcorder then it works out. 

Besides, I gotta rack up my 10,000 hours of grunt work.

Other Posts of Interest

• First Dabs with GoPro Studio 2.01
• Using PowerPoint 2013 for Text Video Poems
• Quick and Subjective Mobile Media Creation Lists
• Home Page for Mobile Users

Tripod - VidGeeky Word of the Day

We've all seen wobbly videos where there is shaking. And it is not an earthquake video.

A tripod is used to attached to a recording device in order to keep the device stable. For our purposes this means that the video can be recorded without shakes or waves. It allows the viewer to concentrate on what is being recorded.

There are tripods designed for photography and for video. The photography one are inexpensive but are not so good at allowing pans and gradual movement.

Tripod come in different sizes; from table top to person height and beyond. The larger ones are a pain to carry but used correctly a tripod can really improve the quality of your video.

Other Post of Interest

• Have Shaky Video? You Might Need A Tripod
• Preparation Tips for Recording Location Video
• Home Page for Mobile Users

USB - VidGeeky Word of the Day

A universal serial bus (USB) is a connection port for a variety of cameras, camcorders, tablets and mobile devices. The connection and the cable use to connect devices can transfer video, audio or power from one device to another.

The original standard USB 1.0 has a transfer rate of about 1.5Mbps. This means if you record a 2GB video and transfer via USB cable to a USB 1.0 connection it is gonna take some time. You only need to be aware of this if you have an older computer.

Time marches on and USB 2.0 is the next way of connectivity. The transfer rate is about 480Mbps so that data moves a lot faster than a USB 1.0 connection.

Photo from Wikipedia

But those pesky scientists and engineers have a need for speed. so there now is USB 3.0 with a transfer rate of 4.8Gbps. You can tell the difference between a USB 3.0 port and the earlier ports by the color blue that appears inside the connector. The port is backward compatible with USB 2.0.

So here is the deal:

If you have a USB 3.0 port and the supporting cable use it to transfer video from your device to the computer. It will go much faster.

If you a USB 3.0 port but your device was designed to transfer at USB 2.0 then you don't gain any advantages in using the higher speed port.You can use a USB 2.0 cable with the faster port but it will transfer at USB 2.0 speeds.

If you have an old computer you might want to consider using the memory card you recorded the video on to transfer data. It would be faster than using the USB 1.0 cable.

Other Post of Interest

• Smartphone and Tablet Fixed Aperture Issues
• Aperture - VidGeeky Word of the Day
• Home Page for Mobile Users

BlipTV Will Delete Old Vlogger Video Content

If you were a video blogger that used Blip.tv or you participated in the Yahoo Videoblogging group then heads up. Go get your videos. Now. You have until November  7, 2013. I found out via a Twitter post. Some have received e-mails.

Here is a copy of the announcement:

You might have heard that Blip.tv was sold to a new company. The company wants to continue the focus on creating create serial web video content. Need that server space and well, you know the story.

Now, honestly you should have a back-up copy of your videos before you upload video to a web hosting service. Mine are scattered between CD/DVD/Hard Drive storage. So if I don't get them all I'm not going to be heart broken.

What is breaking my heart is some of the vlogs done by people no longer on the planet. Like Grumpy Old Man With AIDS. There is no one to rescue his work. It should be.saved. It will not be unless his family and friends have his work.

I have 300+ videos of poets, adventure in the city and other non-series content. This will get tricky because some of those videos are posted on other sites, with my consent. I'll have to track them down and switch to the new video hosting service.

Yikes! Each one tell another and get busy.

Other Posts of Interest

• Mercalli Easy for Shaky Videos
• Vimeo Video Web Hosting
• To Make a Video Balance Your Needs vs Your Wants

Smartphone and Tablet Fixed Aperture Issues

The aperture or iris is the opening that controls how much light is allowed to enter your recording device. Most Smarphones and Tablet cameras have a fixed aperture. This means it cannot be changed or adjusted by a ring on the camera or by software.

Oh, dang it. Sony just released a new product that allows a lens attachment to a smartphone. This always happens when I make absolute declarations.

For most of the native cameras that appear on mobile devices you can't change the aperture.

What Is the Aperture on Mobile Devices?

Manufactures make educated guesses about where the majority of their users will take photos and videos. This is a quick sampling of Smartphones out in the wild:

Nokia Lumia 925

Nokia Lumia 920 f/2.0 aperture
iPhone 5 f/2.4
Samsung Galaxy S3 f/2.6
Sony Xperia S f/2.4

Hmm,  f/2.0 is a fast f/stop that allows a lot of light into the device. It will do a good job with daylight outdoor recording. Indoors you will need additional lighting to ensure a good recording.

The recording area that will be in focus will be limited; so items up close will be in focus those at a distance will be out of focus.

This is called Depth of Field. You will have to move closer with your feet (if possible and safe to do so) to ensure the video being in focus.

Your eyes can compensate, the camera cannot. 

Ideally, you want to record in well lit situation with your subject close to you. One more factor to consider; shaky video.

The Shakes

You are going to need to stabilize your phone. That can mean leaning the phone up against a wall or purchasing a stabilization device like the Woxom Sling Shot. You might have a software application that helps to stabilize video. You will need to use it.

To Recap:

You'll need to be aware of your lighting conditions. Too much light and your video will be overexposed. Too little light and folks will not be able to see what you have recorded. Smartphones and Tablet cameras like daylight the best followed by sufficient indoor lighting.

When recording in f/2.0  - f/2.8 you will have shallow Depth of Field. This means that subjects close to the lens will be in focus and those further away will be out of focus.

Stabilize your recording; either by bracing against a wall or chair, use a mobile stabilization device or the software stabilization that came with your phone or tablet.

Other Posts of Interest

• Aperture - VidGeeky Word of the Day
• Amani and Chip's Mobile Video Tips Presentation
• A Look at the iPhoneReporting Blog
• Home Page for Mobile Users

CameraSim F/Stop Simulator

I love teaching tools that help make sense of a topic. There are a number of camera f/stop simulators that can help folks understand the effects of using a specific f/stop, shutter speed and lighting.




This is one of the more interactive simulators I found. This is from CameraSim. Now, true it is designed for still photographers but video folks can learn from this app.

1. Set the lighting, the focal lenght of your device. that should be on the lens or in the documentation.
2. Select your Aperture on the right hand side. 
3. If you know the Focal Length of your camera move the slider to the appropriate setting. If not, leave it where it is.

When you snap the photo you will see the if you have a good shot or not.  This is a cool way to experiment and learn about lighting, f/stops and a bunch of other stuff.

If you are recording using a Smartphone or Tablet device you have a fixed aperture.  Set it to 2.8 and make your other adjustments. This can give you a rough estimation of what your video will look like in certain lighting conditions.

Those recording video on digital still cameras will have a lot more flexibility - go wild but keep in mind that your device might require you to pre-set the f/stop before you can record.

Other Posts of Interest

• A Look At Project Settings - Video Editing
• Aperture - VidGeeky Word of the Day
• File Format - VidGeeky Word of the Day
• Home Page for Mobile Users

Aperture - VidGeeky Word of the Day

Let there be light and enough of it. If you have a recording device the one this you need to understand knowing when you have enough light to record video.

Before you can answer that question, you need to understand about aperture and f/stops. This is a brief introduction.

I am going for concept and not necessarily the most technically accurate explanation. In addition, there are a lot a factors that can affect the quality of a recording. The size of the image sensor, distance, the type of light and the diameter of your lens all play a factor in making a quality video.

Example of an adjustable aperture in a lens

I want to focus on this one aspect of recording that can solve a lot of video exposure problems.

What Is Aperture?

Aperture is the opening your camera or recording devices lens uses to allow light to make contact with film or an image sensor.

Sometimes aperture is referred to as the iris of the lens but no matter which term is used the concept is the same; it is the size of the opening that allows light to pass through to make a recording.

This is where it gets a little confusing but it will make sense in a moment.

 

F/Stop Scale from Wikipedia

The wider the aperture the more light comes into the device. The smaller the aperture the less light comes into the device. That makes sense.

The scale used to describe the opening of the aperture is called an f/stop. This is where it gets a little dippy.

The smaller the f/stop number the bigger the opening.  f/1.4 is twice as large as f/2.8. Or the other way to think about it, f/2.8 allows half as much light as f/1.4.

F/2 allows twice as much light as f/4. Or f/4 allows half the amount of light as f/2.

Fixed and Adjustable Aperture

There are two types of apertures; a fixed aperture and an adjustable aperture.

On smartphones and tablets it is a fixed aperture; generally around f/2.4 and higher. Consumer level camcorders also have a fixed aperture. Camcorder users might have a work around that  smartphone/tablet users do not have but you still need to be aware of your lighting conditions.

Standard digital cameras that record videos, Micro 4/3 Cameras and DSL Cameras have adjustable apertures. You can select the most appropriate f/stop for your situation but some of those cameras don't allow adjustments as you are recording video.

Yeah, So?

Be aware of the light around you and your recording device ability. It will help you make a better video. If your smartphone has an aperture of f/2.8 and your are recording indoors with a single light bulb that isn't going to be a very good recording.  At f/4 it might not even be visible.

Standard camcorder outside in bright sun with an f/2 lens might be too much of a good thing. On a cloudy day it could be perfect. You might have to make location or other types of adjustments.

Digital cameras that record video, Micro 4/3 Cameras and DSL Cameras have adjustable apertures. You can select the most appropriate lighting for your situation but some of those cameras don't allow adjustments as your are recording video.

Know what your equipment can do.

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File Format - VidGeeky Word of the Day

A file is a digital item stored in a specific format. Video can be stored in a wide variety of computer digital formats.

What format does your device record in? If you did you homework before purchasing you should be able to answer the question.  It is also a trick question because there is a kind of a default standard for personal or consumer level videos.

The file format refers to how your video is stored on your recording device. Some of the active video file formats are:

• QuickTime .mov
• H.264.mp4
• WebM
• WMV
• AVI

All of the above are a specific type of file format for recording video or playing back video in a compatible player or device.

This Samsung Records in the .mp4 format

This was more of an issue back in the day, the day being about eight years ago. A person would record video and then they would need to make sure that the video recording was compatible with the video editing program or the playback device.

The default video format on most consumer camcorders, smart phone and tablets is mp4. There is a effort to open up to a non-proprietary standard.

I wish I could leave it at that but there are variations in the mp4 video format.  You probably will not have a problem with recording and playback of mp4 videos.

Generally.

Most of the time.

Okay there are exceptions. If the mp4 video leans more toward the Apple implementation of mp4 then it could happen that the Windows Movie Player could have an issue with it.

Or if mp4 video was constructed to work well in a Windows OS environment then the Apple QuickTime player might have a problem opening the file.

Or not.


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Quick Look at Nokia 1020 Camera Phone for Video

It has been awhile since I have written about a recording device. When the point and share camcorder line was kicked to the curb by smartphone technology that forced me to make adjustments.

I can't freely use the word camcorder unless I'm talking about a dedicated device. I've been using the term recording device to cover smartphones and tablets, applications, still digital cameras and camcorders.

With the Windows Phone 8 Nokia 1020 camera with smartphone capabilities I'm pushed further across the line only I don't know where the line is anymore.

I feel the longing building up in me. I don't want to want it. But I do. I just do.

Before I go on a drool fest, here are the relevant specs:

Video Primary Camera: f/2.2 aperture (maximum lens opening) 1080p recording 30 frame per second recording .mp4 H.264 There is a 6x zoom but it is unclear if it is optical or digital. Optical image stabilization and auto focus.

Secondary Camera: 720p at .mp4 H.264 with an f/2.4 aperture.

Sensor: 1/1.5 inches with 41 megapixels saving in jpeg format.

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Dual-core 1.5 GHz Not going to be sluggish but Quad-core would be better.

Memory: Internal 2 GB, SD Card 32 GB and 7 GB Microsoft Cloud Storage. With the size of the photos and videos this thing can churn you are going to need all that you can get and then some.

Why Do I Want It?

It really is a camera. There are quirks in the interface from what I can tell from a distance but there are possibilities here.

It is the right size, has the right number of megapixels if I need to crop a photo to a certain area. With an attachment I can hold it like a camera. Record and store remotely; this could be a keeper in certain citizen journalism/police recording situations.

I have an Android tablet and my Android phone is way over its freshness date. I'm willing to give this a look-see and fair consideration.


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Bandwidth Experiement Using iCalc Bandwith Calculator

There is a saying. You want to make God laugh? Tell her your plans. I have been having trouble maintaining a stable Internet connection so my intended experiment on making upload a good quality video on a slow bandwidth connection has to be kicked to the curb.

Not to say that I haven't been in research mode. There are dozens of video bandwidth calculators. Most seem to be for corporate or live stream video upload calculations. For example, there is an event with x amount of participants viewer this much video content.

These type of calculators figure out the bandwidth and then figure out the cost of said bandwidth. 

Not what I was looking. And then I found iCalc. For the record, I am not a broadcast engineer, nor can I construct the formula to figure out how to do this in my head. 

http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/band-calc.asp

The problem I was curious about is that I have a standard 720p video. How little bandwidth do I need in order to upload it?

On the temporary mobile WiFi service I have I'm lucky if I can get .5Mbps on the upload side of the fence. Limitations can be good for creativity but not if you can't run the test. 

Except in a way I can.

I created a one minute 37MB sample video that contains full audio and video. In the calculator I enter the size of my video and select MB. What you see in the image is the upload times for the video at different connection speeds.

Now 40 minutes isn't that bad for a home user on 128k ISDN upload. It isn't great either. With my current connection it is dicey if the connection holds for 40 solid minutes.

Drop below ISDN speed levels and it could take days to upload anything over 15MB. 

If you at an Internet cafe or some kind of metered experience this is not a financially or functional solution.  

Well, I can stand no more of this. I need speed. I'm waiting on the mail carrier to deliver me from this state of Internet interrupt-is. There is much to do and this is no time the sluggish connections.

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