[Neil Myers]

Fernando:

The book is excellent and available on Amazon. Really worth the price.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

Thanks guys! That looks perfect. The post with the list of items you carry was a nice bonus.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

I did a bit more research and find that the CardBus spec is rated to a maximum of 132MB/sec. That would be about 8.1 minutes to transfer a full 64GB P2 card. That’s the maximum … I am wondering what folks are seeing in practice.

Sometimes half the battle when troubleshooting is knowing where the finish line is!

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

[Dave LaRonde] “I’m not trying to lose a gig for you, but the basics aren’t worth $35/hr or whatever for him, and lost time for you.”

I completely agree. Ditto for the Video Copilot reference.

If he needs more training after that I have also had great luck with Lynda.com.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

Dan:

Thanks for your response. In fairness, I actually didn’t use the word “cheap” in my original post. I did mention price. As a business owner I am concerned about ROI.

To answer your question a typical shoot for us is four hours on site at a corporate location generating about 60 to 90 minutes of footage. I figure two 64GB P2 cards would make sense.

I would prefer not to dump P2 cards if I can help it. I would rather get in and get out. That said, we would have that possibility if we needed it.

I just read your HVX200 to HPX170 write-up. Wow! First of all, thanks for that. It answers every question I have and many I had not thought of. After reading your write-up I can now see why the HPX170 would be worth the extra money (roughly $1,500 more).

Thanks again for your advice.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

Steve:

Thanks for your response. Although the HVX200 is discontinued, there are plenty of new units available online for roughly $3,200. That seems to be the same price as the HMC-150.

If you could buy either unit for the same price, which would you buy? I am assuming the HVX200, but I haven’t seen any footage shot on the HMC-150, so I might be wrong.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

Does the fact that the SmallHD is not 1920×1080 cause any issues for you when shooting 1080 HD?

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

We use music in all of our corporate videos. What I have found is:

1. Start the music and then bring it WAY down to allow the voice over plenty of headroom. Bring it down more than you think.

2. Bring it back up during transitions and titles. It helps to accentuate the transitions.

3. Most of the stock libraries allow really good searching tools. That makes it easy to match the music to the subject.

4. Look for music that ends well … something that can punctuate the ending.

5. I usually put two tracks of music … one starts at the beginning and the other timed to end just right. Then I play around to find the best place to have them meet in the middle. Usually I find a place where the music is really low and the VO is louder so you cannot notice the transition.

One thing I have found is that you have a lot of leeway on mating the two … the viewer never notices the cut.

If you are not sure, try doing all of this and then watch your video both ways. I personally find the video had more energy and purpose once it has music.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS

[Neil Myers]

You make several good points about the futility of reading a bad PowerPoint. I couldn’t agree more.

That said, there are occasions when a client needs a recording of a PowerPoint preso recorded and put online. Let’s assume, for a minute that the PPT is actually well written and that the script does more than just read the text on the screen.

You mentioned Camtasia in your reply almost in a pejorative sense, but I think that is actually good advice and probably a better solution in the case I’ve described (and perhaps what the original poster is looking for).

We are actually setting this up right now for a client. They will run Camtasia to capture the preso’s and then send to us. We will clean the capture up and add a professional voice over along with a standard intro and exit. It is inexpensive for the client and they get a nice professional version of the PPT for those times when the presenter cannot be there.

Neil Myers
Connect Public Relations
CS4 Master Suite, 3DS