Peter Ralph
Forum Replies Created
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that is my concern Doug – none of us have much much experience with discs 5+ years old. All sorts of folks can tell us of uncles who lived to 80 after smoking 50 cigarettes a day for 50 years, so a few stories of dvd-rs lasting 6 or 7 years don’t provide much comfort. For us wedvidrs who boast of videos “that will continue to delight for generations to come” this info is extremely disturbing. Advising clients to copy their discs every year or two might be a solution of sorts – at least that way there are more copies out there – but I would rather have a better solution before too much attention is focused on the problem.
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You are correct Brett the physical degradation will start anew – but the data stream on the new disk will be as degraded (have as many disc errors) as the original at the time the (second) copy was made. Actually it may have more as regular grade discs are typically allowed to have 400-1000 bad sectors per disk. The highest rated discs avaialable (medical grade cd-rs used to store cat scans etc) are allowed up to 200 bad sectors per disk. The burn process itself may also introduce errors, particularly when using consumer grade equipment.
The copy may last marginally longer than the original, because physical degradation of the copied disc is likely to start in different areas than on the original. Disc errors only become a problem when a lot of them occur close to one another. But with each copy MTF (mean time to failure) will fall. At least that is my understanding.
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any chance of a link to those studies Doug?
The IBM Gmb research reported by NPR and the BBC in primetime news:
The only other study I am aware of is from the NIST. It is more optimisitic, but it is based on storing and using the discs in controlled environments (protecting the discs from airborne contaminants!) and cleaning discs before storing (with an air blower!). Not sure if it has much relevance to discs stored and used in living rooms and cleaned with glass cleaner. The real problem is that regular DVDs work fine with that treatment, and many consumers don’t understand that a DVD is many times more resilient than a DVD-R.
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shotguns arent ideal in this situation. get a feed from the soundboard and supplement with mics close to the stage. Remember sound travels slowly – there can be a noticeable lag between the feed from the board and the sound recorded at the back of the auditorium.
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For it is they who have written the definitive guide to getting all the shots. I think it’s in the archives here
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an LLC is basically a device to allow sole proprietorships and partnerships to acquire liability protection without incorporating. The advantages of an LLC over a C or S corp. are basically for people who are intimidated by the incorporation process. The advantages of incorporation detailed in “Inc Yourself” and many other books are not avaialable to LLC’s (with the exception of the protection of personal assets). But don’t overrate that protection. Almost all creditors will require a personal guarantor before extending credit to a newly formed corporation. Courts may “lift the corporate veil” in cases where an individual attempts to take egregious advantage. Don’t think that incorporating will necessarily protect your personal assets if you don’t have liability insurance.
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thanks Don – I have read conflicting opinions on this issue – no comaprison reviews so far dealing with workflow issues.
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Don – is zooming/panning/cropping the H1 HDV footage in an SD FCP timeline viable? caveats?
There are plans at dvxuser.com to capture and edit their sony/canon/pana/jvc shootout footage on an as-shipped G5.
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i use a portabrace – not sure of the model number – made for the XL1 since it first came out. It just has one central zipper – some of the other soft cases have a zipper on 3 sides of the top which opens up wider, would be worth considering for fast in and out. The case is a little tight if the camera is tricked out. It won’t take the cam in its polar coat easily.
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Form should follow function. You must know what your intended output is before you can evaluate the efficacy of the avaialable inputs. Few business strategies are wrong in an absolute sense. Do you want video samples, photo slideshows? How often will you want to update the site? How important is it that the site reflect your style and promote your design skills? Are clients going to be looking to you for help in putting video on the web? How central a role will the site have in promoting your business? Sit down with photoshop or even a piece of paper and sketch out a site plan. Then you can decide html or flash, template or scratch, hire it out or DIY etc.