DVD's Bad for Archiving

Homemade DVD’s: Going, Going, Gone?

Following up my on recent post about disapperaing data on hard drives, comes a warning about the short lifespans of recordable DVD's. David Pogue, the technology writer for the New York Times, mentions some DVD's he made that after 2 years were already unreadable on many computers. I was taken aback by 2 years. I knew recordable DVD's didn't have a really long lifespan, but I was hoping for something more like 10 years.

The short takeaway is that recordable DVD's are not an archiving format. They are a distribution format.

Cool Camera Shootout

Zacuto's Great Camera Shootout '08

I recommend this video, which includes a good camera shootout.
The cameras/formats tested are:
35mm Film
Red One
Panasonic HPX3000
Panasonic HVX200 (with three 35mm lens adapters)
Sony EX3
Panasonic HPX170
Canon XH-A1
Canon 5D Mark II
Nikon D90
There's a long discussion at the start which you can skip through. This shootout I feel gives a good comparison of what you can get with these different kinds of setups, especially if you are going for a filmic or cinematic look. I recommend downloading the 1280x720 h.264 movie if you want to see more detail than you get with Vimeo's flash player. That's a good thing about Vimeo is that they give a higher-quality download option for their movies--just scroll down the page and look for the download link on the right column.

I'm most interested in the comparisons between the EX3, the HPX170 and the Canon XH-A1. The cheapest camera, the XH-A1, looked really good, and I really like how the HPX170 renders colors, more natural than the Sony camera. This test doesn't tell everything, by any means, (e.g., the EX3 is supposed to do better than its competitors in low-light), but it's a good place to start thinking about different cameras and what kind of images they create.

LCD Displays: TN Panels Not So Hot

We've recently gotten some LCD displays that I haven't been thrilled with the quality on. The first was a Dell S2409W--hey it was only $300. What did I expect? The display is crisp, but the colors are clearly washed out. It replaced a 20" Dell Ultrasharp (It think it was the 2005 model) and the colors weren't as good on the new one. Next came, a new 20" iMac. Same thing--washed-out colors. I also noticed a noticeable viewing-angle effect--as you move off-axis, the colors go off and the contrast drops. (BTW, the display on the 24" iMac is supposed to be much better than the 20".)

So I've been trying to do some research on the web. I'm not an authoritative source on this, but here's what I've gleaned. The lower-quality displays are probably using a technology called TN for the panel. These are much cheaper than some competing technologies for LCD displays. The best is supposed to be IPS displays--Apple uses IPS displays for their pricey Cinema Displays. There are other technologies out there too that are better than TN, for example our Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP display isn't IPS, but another technology called PVA. If you really want to know the ins and outs of these LCD display technologies, there's an article at Wikipedia.

Unfortunately, manufacturers don't always tell what kind of display technology they use. One clue that you are getting a TN display is that the viewing angle will be lower than 178°. For example our Dell 2409W lists a display angle of 160° / 170°. Dell is good in that they tell you straight-up that it's a TN panel too--duh, that's why it's half the price of the Ultrasharp 2408 24".

One thing that the Wikipedia article says is that TN's displays often don't natively show millions of colors. They often use 6-bit color vs the 8-bit color needed to display millions of colors. My memory of binary math, says that 6-bit displays have about 1/4 of the info on color as an 8-bit.

So in summary, there are a lot drawbacks to the cheap LCD's that use TN displays. If you aren't doing critical color work on the monitor, then it might be OK. I wouldn't do a lot of graphics work on it. I definitely wouldn't use it to color correct your next video. LCD display technology is complex and there are many issues that go into making a good (or bad) monitor. But you should definitely know up front what you are getting when you pick a TN display.

One scenario were I think using a TN panel is OK is as a general workspace.  Say you are doing video and have a good external video monitor.  The external video monitor is where you do your color correction--so your LCD computer screen's quality isn't critical.  It may make more sense to spend you computer screen dollars on a bigger workspace than a smaller screen with a better quality image.

Comprehensive List of S-IPS Based LCD Monitors
This website lists some monitors that use a good display technology, S-IPS.

Macworld Review: Apple LED Cinema Display
Apple's new display is not only IPS, but it also uses an LED backlight, which is a whole new technology for desktop displays.

December Blogwad

I seem to do most of my blogging when I'm at home sick. Well now that I've got a cold, here's a backlog of interesting links on the web.

MacWorld Review: AppleJack 1.5
This is a piece of shareware for servicing your ailing Mac. It's a command-line utility, that helps simplify running some commands that can help fix your Mac. Includes a copy of memtest, which does a thorough check of your memory that helps diagnose bad RAM.

MacWorld First Look: boxee
boxee is an application for accessing digital media that is on your computer and on the internet. It's in alpha right now (I've run into quite a few bugs). But it's a promising concept that illustrates well the future of TV. It's got a 15-feet interface, so you can sit back on your couch and control the app with your Apple Remote. Lets you access Hulu (watch The Daily Show, 30 Rock) and (just added) Netflix support. So you can use the boxee interface to navigate and watch Netflix video that's in your Instant queue (oh, that's something that NetFlix recently allowed on Mac's--you don't need boxee to do that.) boxee runs on Mac's, Linux, and on Apple TV. You can sign up to get into the alpha release or ask a friend for an invitation. I wish Apple TV had this functionality built-in--Apple needs to up their game if they want to stay competitive with hardware and software for entertainment in the living room.

Digital Rebellion: How to keep your job as an editor
This article cover some technical gotchas that will mar your work and how to fix/avoid them in FCP. It goes over my current pet peeve--incorrect field dominance. I've been seeing more and more of this recently. Unfortunately, DV video uses a standard, lower-field dominance, that is very rare in video. Most other formats, like HDV, are upper-field dominant. You can run into a lot of problems when you mix formats in a timeline like DV and HDV. All of this is made more complex because anyone working in HD is probably not using a display that is interlaced--so it's easier to miss these problems. That's one reason why I'm not going to give up on my CRT any time soon--you've got to be checking for interlacing issues.

AppleCare Articles
Convert MP3 and AAC audio files for compatibility before importing
I've run into some weirdness recently with 44 KHz audio files in FCP--if they get rendered then the audio is from a different part of the track then it should be. Solution: convert the audio file to 48 KHz as described in this article.
Creating an Easy Setup for capturing DV with 32 kHz audio
Speaking of audio issues... For those of us still working in DV, once and a while you'll run into some audio at 32 KHz, instead of the usual 48 KHz.
Restoring a DV device connection in QuickTime 7
Can't say I've ever done this, but I've definitely run into issues with DV device connection in FCP. Maybe this will do the trick for you.

A couple of good lists of video tools:
Final Cut User: My Compression Tools
The DV Show: Big List of Video & Audio Converters Mac, PC, and online applications and tools

slashCAM: HD Camcorder Comparison
Looking for a new camera below $10K? This is a great resource. A giant database of specs that you can access in a comparison layout. Also has test shots, and some review info.

Vincent Laforet: 7 DAYS, 7 SHOOTS - EOS 5D MKII
A very beautiful-looking video shot with a Canon digital SLR camera. I haven't been blogging about video on DSLR's--there are a lot of pitfalls to this approach. But check out the video, just to get a sense of how pretty low-cost video could look.

Larry Jordan: Fixing Fluorescent Flicker
This is a nasty problem that I've seen a lot in footage that comes from developping countries. It's caused by cheap fluorescent lighting (can't say I've ever seen it in footage from the States.) This solution won't fix every bad shot, but it could help.

Kensington Mice and After Effects CS4
Oh, we've got a copy of Adobe Production Premium CS4 in house. I'm excited to check out the new 3D features (including real 3D models). One new 3D feature relies on a 3-button mouse. This article helps you set up your current mouse to work as a 3-button input device.

Studio Daily Blog: Multiuser
This looks like a handy piece of software that will set up different user settings on the same computer.

FxFactory Freebies: Pan and Zoom
A free plug-in for FCP. Looks good for stills. I'd avoid applying this to standard-def footage, as SD footage looks like crap when it gets scaled up (especially if it's interlaced.) But I'm much more open to zooming in on HD footage. Just make sure that you capture your HDV footage as native HDV and that the deck isn't downconverting it over firewire. (Caveat: watch out for our old-frenemy interlace flicker if you put your HDV footage in a DV sequence.)