Panny take Plasma to 150″ . . . Doing!

I had opportunity to see Panasonic’s “world’s largest” 103″ plasma screen at the GV Expo… and now I feel like I’d been had. You can’t really claim the 103″ is the “world’s largest” if you, yourself have already tested and are boxing up a 150″ plasma to be shown at CES.

Engadget has a small gallery of photos of the incredibly impressive screen. It could well do with some better anti-glare glass on the front of it…

Firestore versus Archos.

Riddle me this, caped crusader…

If I want to capture video direct to hard drive in a pocketable recorder I could pay a lot or a little, then get a little or a lot. So which do I order?

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Rolling shutter? – Pick the right tool for the job.

At DVXuser, there’s a detailed article called Sensor Artifacts and CMOS Rolling Shutter by Barry Green. He discusses, and does a very good job at showing a phenomenon whereby the image captured by a camcorder’s imaging chip is not gathered all at once (what I’ll call “progressive” like a frame of film behind a shutter) but may end up being collected across the chip like a farmer collecting corn from his field. This can create footage that has unique problems. He says:

While CMOS and CCD sensors do the same basic job (gathering light and turning it into a video image), they go about it in different ways, and the differences can have very significant impact on your footage… CMOS sensors (equipped with “rolling shutters”) can exhibit skew, wobble, and partial exposure; CCD sensors are immune to those effects. And a CMOS sensor with a “global shutter” would also be immune to them, but since no current CMOS camcorders are equipped with global shutters, a camcorder buyer needs to be aware of what the implications of a rolling shutter would be.

As I read through his article, I thought back to using tube video cameras.

HD-101, a reference for your friends and family.

For the most part, readers of this blog are tech savvy folks that can actually recite the two different ATSC HD frame sizes off the top of their heads.

This is something mere mortals (i.e. usually everyone else in our families) simply cannot, or care not to do.

But then, when any of those folks need camcorder advice, or computer help, or digital camera assistance, they turn to us. As if knowledge about how to shoot and edit professional video equals a complete encyclopediac knowledge of every consumer camcorder, computer, software problem & how to fix it.

But there’s now help from a retail friend…

Sony’s HD1000u & Panasonic’s DVC-60 – Seperated at birth?

Looking at Sony’s latest HD1000u on-shoulder camcorder and comparing it to Panasonic’s long-time AG-DVC60 and DVC20 on-shoulder prosumer camcorders, it’s clear where Sony’s inspiration came from. Both shoot on MiniDV tape. Both look more professional than they are. Both offer a stereo microphone, integrated lens, XLR audio input and plenty of space to stick on wireless microphones and other important production gear. Both only have one ring on the lens. But even though the panasonic clearly offers more direct access to control the capabilities of the camcorder, the key difference here is that Sony has taken the design and updated it for HD.

Come and follow me for my hands-on with the HD1000u at the recent Sony event in NYC,
complete with a slew of original photos from all angles…