Apple, Video Pros & the future.

It’s pretty clear that Apple dropping “computer” from their name was not just to use less ink. They’ve been behind the curve with the hardware for many years. Case in point: after PCs have had a SD card slot for many years, Apple finally decides to integrate this functionality into their laptops (but not desktops.)

But, in so doing, they ditch the ExpressCard slot from the 15″ MacBook “Pro” and specifically make the SD card slot not compatible with I/O devices so it can’t be used to expand the computer. wtf?

So now, the 17″ MacBook Pro is the only expandable laptop from Apple- for a starting price of $2500.
If I’m going to spend that much, I’ll buy a Lenovo 17″ (starting at $1,900) that offers me the capability of a quad-core chip, dual internal LCD displays, integrated Wacom tablet, Pantone color calibration of the displays, fingerprint reader for mobile security, internal Blu-ray, integrated cellular broadband, and more.

There were times, back when Apple didn’t have today’s market share, that they produced computers that were affordable, and wildly expandable. They strong to be what the other guys weren’t. They thought differently. That gave us the G3, the G4 towers. It gave us the G3 series PowerBooks with dual media bays, in addition to the PC card slot. That emphasis on providing users with innovative solutions ahead of the pack is gone.

The Next HD Hurdle: Live Video Mixers

While HDV and the move to HD have produced some truly amazing cameras— even in the consumer arena— compared to what was available for many tens of thousands of dollars just 10 years ago, those of us who regularly produce live shows are facing a new hurdle: expensive HD switchers.

The Sounds of Inevatibility.

Agent Smith said:

“You hear that Mr. Anderson?
That— is the sound of inevitability…
It is the sound of your death…”

As I was unable to attend NAB in person, I read the same news as everyone else and there are clearly a few trends that it pays to notice because they will have a dramatic affect on production in the future. Whether or not you want to go this route, the sounds of inevitability are becoming louder.

Digital Still Camera shoots HDTV.

Actually, this is not news. Numerous digital still cameras can record video, and the latest advancement is that they can shoot HD- usually 720p30 video. I haven’t seen any that shoot 1080p30 or 1080p24 yet, but I suppose it’s only a matter of time. Apparently, according to the review on FreshDV, the Kodak V1233 won’t replace our video camera- not by a long shot. But I look forward to more reviews of HD-capable still cameras.

ROCK (tech) HARD PLACE. Yea.

The proverbial “between a rock and a hard place” is basically a tough place to be.

I was corresponding with a fellow videographer who works for a government video department. He tried to explain the troubles he faces with regard to new gear purchases. It’s beyond trying to decide between P2 or SxS. It’s beyond tape or flash media. It’s, well, let’s just say it basically covers the last 20 years of video production- every single day.

Canon VIXIA HV30 vs venerable HV20? Review is in!

CancorderInfo has reviewed the HV30- the newest HDV camcorder from Canon that makes a few improvements on the HV20 that has garnered plenty of praise and quite an industry of people making it work as a “pro” camera by working around its consumer camcorder limitations.

Personally, I didn’t see much in the HV30 to warrant jumping at it, but after reading CamcorderInfo’s normally exhaustive hands-on testing, I’m prepared to rethink myself on the HV30.

Canon improves HV20- Now: “Vixia” & HV30!

It’s Canon’s new Vixia line.
This is the HV30. Look familliar?

It looks a whole lot like the HV20 we’ve already grown to love. But with a slightly higher price, manual exposure, and a black case.

How does it compare, feature by feature with the HV20?

Lets go through the rundown and find out.

Flash Hard Drives (SSD) are they worth it?

I’ve long opined that flash media in a camcorder isn’t really worth it because the video data you record will end up on a hard drive, so why not shoot it onto a hard drive. At the same time, flash media makers are realizing this dichotomy and are starting to build flash media based hard drives, solid state devices or solid state drives. (i.e. nothing moves) Engadget (author of the photo here) did a test of SSD vs. HDD (hard disk drive)…

Hard Drive as floppy disk. Now for just $47.

I’ve ranted on about how inane it is to use flash media to record video because, in the end, all the video has to live on a hard drive. I’ve specifically asked, “Wouldn’t it be smarter to record video onto a hard drive in the first place?”

Well, the key element missing was the device that made using internal hard drives as easy as inserting a floppy disk. For those that don’t know, there were lots of disks used before CDs- 8″ floppies (on the right), 5″ floppies, (those two were actually floppy) 3.5″ floppies (that were not floppy, but stiff, shown on right next to 8″ floppy drive) then Syquest, Bernoulli, then Zip, Jazz, and then a bumpy transition into using CD and DVD optical disks as ways to give media to someone else. Now, perhaps supplanted by USB memory sticks. (They’re not “drives.” Drives spin.)

Now there’s a little USB dock where you can drop in any 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA hard drive as if it were a floppy…