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19 July
Beyond HDV: AVCHD High-definition Compression

Although AVCHD first appeared in consumer camcorders, a variation—AVC-Intra—will soon show up in broadcast cameras from Panasonic. Given that the MPEG-4 technology that fuels AVCHD is roughly twice as efficient as the MPEG-2 technology used in HDV, the new Sony-Panasonic standard will likely supplant HDV in the prosumer space. For this reason, it’s a standard you need to know about, …
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16 June
Death, Taxes and Vista

Writing is a lot like video editing, in that you tend to fool yourself about how long a column, article, or wedding edit will take to complete. “I’ll do that in 20 hours,” you confidently claim to yourself, and then six weeks lat
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16 May
Prep Your Videos to Share

So, little Suzie had her big recital, and you brought the new camcorder and tripod, enduring “Who does this guy think he is, Spielberg?” stares from other parents (and likely your spouse). Now it’s time for your big reward: You get to show the world the gorgeous new video of your future American Idol winner. You finish up the basic video …
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2 May
From YouTube to Your iPod

You’ve found an irresistible video on YouTube that you just have to show to your friends, so you want to download it to your Apple iPod. You search in vain for theDownload to iPod button that should be there on the YouTube page but isn’t. YouTube doesn’t make it easy; you’re going to have to do it yourself. Before getting started, let’s …
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8 March
My tests

I performed two rounds of testing with the camcorder, an extensive series of lab and real-world testing that revealed an auto-focus problem that prompted me to return the camcorder for diagnostics. (At press time, Canon had yet to report the resul
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8 March
Camera controls

You set the main controls via the familiar power dial that toggles you through VCR, automatic, TV (shutter priority), AV (aperture priority), full manual, spotlight, night, and easy recording modes. It took me awhile to get used to the operating c
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8 March
Canon XH A1

The Canon XH A1 is as close to perfect as any camcorder in its price range, with great resolution, very high contrast ratio, and extraordinary customizability. I did find the auto-focus somewhat lacking, which may be a concern for some potential b
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16 February
Review: The Lowel DV Creator 44 Light Kit

Most of my shoots are on-location events like concerts, ballets, and weddings, where I use on-scene lighting or, at most, an on-camera light. When I've done training videos and other similar shoots where I had more control, I've used "ad hoc" ligh
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13 September
Working with Multicam in Adobe Premiere Pro

I’ve produced a number of HDV-source projects in Premiere Pro, with generally good results. Recently, however, working with some multicamera projects, I started to notice some anomalies. When panning and zooming inside a clip in the multicam sequence, quality wasn’t what I expected. As you probably know, one of the benefits of shooting in HDV mode for SD output is …
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13 September
HDV Showdown, GY-HD100U, HDR-FX1, XL H1, HVR-Z1U

It all starts with the camcorder. Not to state the obvious, but whether you’re shooting weddings, concerts, or interviews, or editing in Premiere Pro, Vegas, or Final Cut, each project begins with the shoot. This inescapable fact of videography life, plus a price tag that can approach five figures, makes camcorder selection a critical business decision. Figure One. If …
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