I Make Media!

M-Audio MicroTrack

M-Audio steps into the portable recorder space, going toe-to-toe with the Edirol R-1 and Marantz PMD660. With a similar price point to Edirol and Marantz units, the Marantz MicroTrack looks like a Dell DJ with different controls. This small size is the only improvement over either alternative. The device offers two 1/4 jacks, SPDIF, and a 1/8-inch microphone line in for recording, making it versatile and keeping the size small. Outputs are stereo RCA, which doesn't jive with the digital input. There 1/8-inch microphone-in jack is powered for use with a bundled mic. The bundle includes a 64MB CompactFlash card comparable to Marantz and Edirol. Two places MicroTrack beats the competition: Rechargeable battery and 96kHz recording. You can find the Microtrack on the street for about $450, which puts it inline with pricing from Marantz and Edirol. My biggest gripe with the MicroTrack is no visual indicator when charging for the first time. When I plugged mine in, it appeared DOA for about the first 15 minutes of charging.

Canon DC10 Review

My personal take on the entire direct to DVD camcorder business is to steer clear. Unless you never want to edit your footage, these camcorders are more hassle than they are worth. The data output isn't supported by most of the major video editors, which means you have to rip your DVD before you can edit. Canon's DC10 is no different than the many DVD offerings Sony is shoving down our throats. Still, you shouldn't...

64 Second Film Contest

Dreamworks is sponsoring a contest. The rules, submit a 64 second movie in Windows Media, Nero Digital or QuickTime format no bigger than 320x240 and 4MB. The subject is the concept of Waitlessness. I didn't no it was a word either, but I recently discovered the joy of waitlessness when arriving at the coffee shop and finding no one in line. No line, I'm waitless, what'd'ya know. All the details are available from The 64...

Interview with Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez recently talked to Digital Producer about his philosophy on shooting movies with a small crew, shooting digital and how he got his start as a one man production house. There's not a ton of ground breaking stuff here, but it's inspirational for the DIY ethic of independent production. Read the interview...

Samsung SC-D6550 Review

When Samsung first announced their dual cameras with a lens for video and a lens for still images it seemed like a dream come true. We all know just how lousy the still photos on a DV cam can be. Still cameras generally take decent videos, but the file size limitation of SD and CompactFlash makes them slightly prohibitive. Samsung aimed to solve this problem by mounting two separate lenses on a DV cam body,...

Windows Movie Maker Subtitles

Windows Movie Maker includes subtitles as an option in the built in title tool. The disadvantage is the software only allows you to add on title per clip, so a dialogue intense movie needs to be broken into many small clips in order to get subtitles matched up with every verbal exchange. The other disadvantage is very little control over where the subtitles appear on screen. The only option is at the bottom of the screen with either one or two lines of text.

iMovie Subtitles

Apple's iMovie is more versatile in it's subtitling options, although still not perfect. When working with iMovie, you have the limitation of titles appearing in overlay on the video. iMovie supports two subtitle options, not counting the Stripe Subtitle, which is more like the marquee you see appearing at the bottom of a screen to identify the current person speaking. Option one is a two line subtitle for adding text detail on a per clip basis. A more versatile option for adding subtitles to a dialog intensive movie is the Subtitle Multiple Option.

Comparing HD DV Cams

With the announcement of Canon's new XL H1 at Canon Expo 2005, the world of pro-quality HD recording is starting to get interesting. Camcorderinfo.com has an early comparison of features side-by-side with the Sony HDR-FX1 and Panasonic's AG-HVX200. No indication as to which cam is the best, but it seems Canon is leading the way in a number of important optics categories like Optical zoom and megapixels per CCD, although it lacks a 24fps progressive...

Copyright Caveats

After posting links to Creative Cow's coverage of Copyright and Fair Use, one of the active participants in a discussion group I'm part of posted anther great series of articles on copyright issues faced by those of us making media. The DV Info Net community is known for great material and this five part series is no exception. It answers questions about all the headaches faced when recording material in public places, like what the...

Understanding Copyright and Fair Use

Intellectual property is a frequent topic of conversation for me, especially as it relates to publishing podcasts and video online. There's a great deal of misunderstanding about what constitutes fair use, what constitutes a copyright violation and where the lines are drawn for using any content from music or movies purchased on DVD and CD. Just because you can do something doesn't mean it's legal. Conversely, just because a copyright holder doesn't want you to...