[Bob Cole]

[Andre Gagnon] “Microsoft Windows Media Encoder does capture movies playing on your desktop. It produces clips in the WMV format.”

Thanks. When you say it captures movies — does it do full-screen captures, including mouse moves etc.?

— BC

[Bob Cole]

What a timely thread. Thanks. I too need to buy a laptop asap, and since I also need to upgrade my desktop unit, money is a big issue for the laptop side.

I’m a bit confused by the various responses, recommending a variety of makes, models, and processors. I need laptop SD PPro editing now, HDV laptop editing soon. I don’t like to pinch pennies and wind up dissatisfied, but if I can pinch hundreds of dollars by buying a yesteryear model I would be interested. What do you feel is the absolute best value, in the category of laptops that are slightly behind the curve technically, and therefore might be a bit cheaper than the hottest new models?

Thanks again.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[digitalideations] “I appreciate your pointing out the readme issue.”

Actually that was the astute Dave Friend.

But thanks very much indeed for introducing yourself and taking these comments so constructively. I appreciate it.

Great software + Great support? Sounds wonderful.

— Bob Cole

[Bob Cole]

David, I thought I posted a reply but I don’t see it so at the risk of a double post, here is what I’ve read:

Setup 1: with the camera close to subject, frame a head-and-shoulders shot with the zoom lens set to moderate wide angle.

Setup 2: camera far from subject, frame a head-and-shoulder shot with the lens set to tele.

Resulting depth of field is identical in either setup. You’ll see a broader section of the background with Setup 1. In reality, since the room is hardly ever very large, if you use Setup 2, you’ll probably have to place the subject closer to the back wall, resulting in a background that is even sharper than with Setup 1.

Don’t know if this is true or not. I’m waiting for a nice big CCD to move over to HDV for acquisition — or an HD camera that someone else pays for.

— Bob

[Bob Cole]

[john sharaf] “You are correct in your plan to minimize the ambient light to create a moody environment, but you can achieve the wide open apperture with ND filters as well.”

Somewhere I read that with 1/3″ imagers, you get more depth of field than you want, even wide open. And that it didn’t help to set up far away from the subject and use tele — for a given image size, the background would be equally defocussed.

— Bob

[Bob Cole]

Thanks. Alex’s article is great — it really saved my hide this week. It is a little outdated, but not in any crippling way.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[WTS(JManz)] “If you are authoring for Mac’s and PC’s, then there are some file/folder associations that require the mastering on a Mac to maintain the resource forks necessary for it to work (launching of a folder or Mac executable). Otherwise, the other file types work well mastered/burned from either platform.”

Thanks for the interesting post. I would like to read more specifics about “mastering on a Mac,” or in any event, how to avoid problems for Mac users.

My frustration with Sonic is due to their cavalier attitude to customer service, as exemplified by a website which leads you down a garden path, promising help, only to leave you at a dead end. It refuses to accept your registration, then refuses to allow you access not only to information, but also to e-mail, because you aren’t registered. The online manual lacks clarity and a tutorial; if it weren’t for the COW tutorial I’d be outta luck.

I like the software and appreciate it all the more after your enlightening post. If you can point me to some online resources I’d most appreciate it.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

[WTS(JManz)] “What is your question in regards to eDVD4?”

I’m referring to the problems Dave Friend mentions in his post above.

— BC

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Dennis. (I hope you realize I wasn’t really miffed. I do miss your wisdom here though.)

So, the oblong shape of the fixture is not a problem, I guess.

— Bob

[Bob Cole]

Thanks Matte and Zach. Playing back through the camera that acquired the footage did the trick.

— BC