Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with Video

Cheap Camera

mccarty.tim — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:09:02 -0800

What's a good video/digital camera for a college student on a budget? I'm a pre-engineering education student at TCNJ, and many of my classes call for photography to document the design process. I like the cameras on my cellphone and MacBook Pro, but I tend to find the white balance on them to be weird, and the stills and video to be grainy.

I recently saw a Flip Ultra Video 30 Minutes on sale for $99, and I remembered that David Pogue said he uses them for his podcast. Do they take really good stills at a resolution good enough for a PowerPoint? I mostly take these pictures in a woodshop with florescent lighting. I also like the idea of getting a small camcorder at a low price with decent quality, and no need to deal with tape, external batteries, or any of the other problems regular digital camcorders have. It's something I'd been thinking about buying otherwise, and if the stills were good, this could be the thing that pushes me over the edge. I might also consider the 60 minute one.

If the thing takes bad stills, are there any good digital cameras with decent resolution for somewhere in the $50-120 range? I don't want to need to borrow friends' cameras anymore, nor do I like awkwardly holding my work in front of my MacBook Pro's camera. The cell phone takes such awful pics, I'd be embarrassed to use them in a presentation.

Best tools for capturing video and audio on a tradeshow floor?

jbickers — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:16:51 -0800

Help me figure out the best video/audio recording gear for my company. We're starting to do some in-house videos, and a lot of them are being filmed (at least in part) at trade shows, on the show floor. In the past, we've had a really cumbersome setup that involved a tripod, a tape-based camera, and an external mic. More cumbersome was the fact that only one person in the company had the necessary tools to get video off the camera, and he's always really busy.

So when I saw the Flip camera, I thought, this is it! Guys can shoot video on the show floor, then when they get back to their room they just drop.io it to me for editing. But it turns out the Flip doesn't have a jack for an external mic, and the internal mic is no good for a loud tradeshow floor.

So, I guess this is a two-part question - is there a Flip-like alternative that either has a great built-in mic or an external mic jack? The USB connection is the big allure of the Flip.

And, what microphone is best suited for such an environment? Is there a reasonably priced microphone that is great at getting the up-close audio while capturing just a bit of ambient sound?

Price is a little bit of an issue, because in a perfect world we'd have 3-4 of these complete kits in the office for people to take with them on trips. So we can't quite afford top-of-the-line, but we don't want to look/sound like amateur hour either.

MiniDV camera research

mwhybark — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:36:43 -0800

Suggestions and research sites for DV camera? I am beginning a for-work acquisition research quest to determine the best route to go for getting a video camera. We have already ruled out high-end, 640x480 is fine. We do need advanced fiddly controls - white balance, exposure, that sort of thing.

A digital connection that allows us to direct-capture to hard drive is a requirement. On or off-board audio recording does not matter, but I would tend to err on the side of audio-in-jacks for outboard mics. Mini-jacks are fine.

We will be using the camera to create short marketing-support videos which will not require outside shooting or the use of models or actors. Think simple product demos.

First decision point: should we even look at still-and-video point and shoots? I lean away, thinking that the fiddly controls won't be sufficient.

Second decision point: any pointers to that evergreen of the obsolescence-oriented geeks-n-gadgets publishing market, the current-models comparison for miniDV cameras?

Thanks very much and I look forward to your wisdoms.

Find this TDS clip?

joshuaconner — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:23:26 -0800

Daily Show clip with John Oliver talking about his previous gaffes covering the Olympics - where can I watch it online?

Does anyone have any ways to improve their Soul Calibre 4 online performance?

chunking express — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:05:00 -0800

Does anyone have any ways to improve their Soul Calibre 4 online performance? I am playing it on the PS3 and notice that if I face anyone who has a connection rank lower then 5 the game is unplayable. Even for some people with a connection rank of 5 the game is just bearable. My internet is by no means slow, I can usually average a downstream of around 500kb and an upload at peaks at around 100.

(Asking for my brother.)

Who's the woman in the "Chips Ahoy!" video by The Hold Steady?

23skidoo — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:40:42 -0800

Who is the woman in the video for the song "Chips Ahoy!" by the band The Hold Steady? If your answer includes the phrase "I don't know who she is, but she looks like", you will die within 7 days.

What software is used to make these videos?

SampleSize — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:41:55 -0800

Are these done in Flash or something else? (click the cover to preview the videos) One Two And how about these? Three Four

How can I copy one project into another in iMovie 08?

photomusic86 — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:23:25 -0800

How can I copy one project into another in iMovie 08? I have two separate projects in iMovie 08, and I want to add one to the end of the other. Copy and paste doesn't include audio tracks or titles, which is the primary problem, and I can't just drag one into the other, like you can with events.

Sex with ponies (video). Yes, ponies. Where do I find it?

bokononito — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:34:21 -0800

So. I'm looking for a video that was forwarded to me 4 or so years ago. It's about a guy working in a corporate office, who opens an email sent to him as a joke to find women having sex with ponies. Someone sees it on his screen, he gets fired, his gf leaves him, he moves in with his parents, etc. In the last scene he is dead and the mortician performs a dance on top of his body. Does anybody know the video I'm talking about? Is it anywhere online?

Watching media together in a virtual living room, is it possible?

Syntoad — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:02:41 -0800

Are there any sites online that let people watch movies or listen to music in sync with each other? One of my best friends has recently moved across the country. One of our favorite things to do together was watching movies, but it's pretty hard to do with a few thousand miles between you. I was wondering if anyone knows of a site where you can either listen to music or watch movies together, and be able to pause so it will stay in sync with the other person watching.

I'm especially looking for something flash based, no software to install. If that doesn't work, I am thinking about setting up a stream with vlc. Has anyone else ever set something similar up? I know technically how to do it, but I don't know if it's really something feasable to do (and yes I have a very fast connection, so upload speed is not an issue.)

Coaxial cable HD converter?

cgs — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:00:56 -0800

HDTV filter: I accidentally tore out my coaxial input. Can I still get the HD signal from my cable into my TV via a converter? As I was taking my wall-mounted HDTV down I accidentally tore out my coaxial jack. I thought I had disconnected all the cables, but forgot about the only one w/ the screw connection. It popped it right out of the board, and I can't get it back in there.

I know if I was a proper citizen I'd pay the $100 a month for real cable, which would then connect to my set via HDMI and solve my problem. But I was running my cable directly into my set and was getting all the free broadcast HD signals, which is enough for me.

So! I bet I could find a coaxial -> RCA adapter, but am pretty sure that the HD signal would be lost. Do you know of an adapter that suits my needs? I have plenty of inputs on my set...

Thanks, AskMeFi!

Slightly dynamic .ram files in IIS?

dirtdirt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:36:00 -0800

Slightly dynamic .ram files in IIS? I have inherited the maintenance and upkeep of a fairly large video archive, with a few dozen videos added every week. It is all in Real.

The way Real works is you point a link at a .ram file, which is just a little text file that contains another link (looks like: "rtsp://cia.gov/company_picnic.rm"). The .rm file is the actual video.

This system has been up and running for many years with hundreds of pages linking to thousands of .ram pointer files in hundreds of dated, nested folders on an external webserver pointing to thousands of .rm video files in hundreds of dated, nested folders on a separate machine. That machine, the one that has the video files, is being replaced by two machines. One machine for internet and one for intranet.

My conundrum: I'd rather not make and maintain a separate set of all these goddamn .ram and pages to serve the video internally (or externally). I'd much prefer to make the .ram files dynamically decide whether they say "rtsp://internal.cia.gov/company_picnic.rm" or "rtsp://external.cia.gov/company_picnic.rm" based on whether you are inside or outside. This would be a breeze, except the .ram files don't render .asp.

So, is it possible to tell ISS to process .asp in .ram files? If so, what do I need to tell the surly server people who will be making this change?

Is there a different solution that I am not seeing?

ps: Thanks for reminding me how bad of a choice Real/IIS is but know that it is neither my choice nor negotiable - it is what it is. Also, I have control over the pages, .ram and .rm but I do not have any administrative control over these servers.

PSP Hack/Mod advice needed

Ponderance — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:13:00 -0800

I need advice with modding/hacking my PSP. I have info and have tried and failed. Help! Okay, so I have a PSP, the old one, not the slim one. And I have a kid and no money, therefore I was contemplating selling it as I can’t afford cames, and thought I wasn’t clever enough to explore the cool homebrew options.

Then, I saw this article

http://gizmodo.com/5034551/how-to-hack-your-psp-slim-for-homebrew-apps

I ordered the TOOL battery and followed this instructions up to the point where you install the battery and put the new OS on the machine. However, with the battery installed, the green power light shows power, but it doesn’t access the memory stick. What am I doing wrong.

Some clever hive minder has done this, and the various blogs that discuss these issues are written in gibberish. Please help!

If there are details I am not disclosing that are relevane and would help you give adivce, let me know and I’ll post them.

Stream Video to Wii without Orb

jules1651 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:29:44 -0800

Is there a way to stream video to my Wii from my Mac using VLC? I am currently running Orb from the virtual windows machine on the mac I access via vmware fusion, but I am not too impressed with the video quality.

Do you know of a digital frame that can play high quality video well?

austinlee — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:15:57 -0800

Do you know of a digital frame that can play high quality video well? I'd like to exhibit a video artwork in a show and I am trying to find a nice digital frame to use. The footage will be looped and I am shooting with a Canon HV20. It's HD footage but I'm not sure if any of these things would be able to play that back. I would be willing to compromise quality a little for convenience as long as it still looks pretty decent. Audio would be an extra bonus but not 100% necessary. Any suggestions?

Recording decent audio with a lousy digicam

SamuelF — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:56:06 -0800

We're taking a road trip from Boston to Michigan this weekend, and would like to record some video along the way, just for fun. Problem is, we've got a cheap digicam with a lousy built-in mic. How can we record audio (two people talking, mostly) on the übercheap? Our digicam - Aiptek A-HD - has enough trouble recording audio normally, but it's completely useless in a car. Everything gets drowned out by engine noise and static. There's no jack for an external mic, so I'd need some kind of external recorder that I can dump to a computer to sync with the video in post. Quality isn't a huge concern, and I'd like to keep it as cheap and simple as possible. Any digital audio recorder + cheap mic pairs? Recording advice? I'm completely inexperienced at this whole thing, so any information will be valuable. Thanks!

Need Cat Herding Video

Juicylicious — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:36:14 -0800

I need a download of the EDS cat herding video. I'm having a difficult time finding it available for download. Does anyone have a copy or know where I can download it for embedding in a powerpoint presentation?

Where can I find high-resolution music videos?

sunimplodes — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:30:06 -0800

Where can I find high-quality, downloadable music videos for free? I have a low-key DJ night once a week at a small bar, and I want to do a theme night, where we project music videos onto a small screen. I've put together a long list of videos I want to play, and now comes the task of locating them.

I've found .mov files of a few of them, and I've used Firefox extensions to download .flv files from Youtube, but they're generally of a pretty low resolution. Is there a site somewhere where I can find downloadable, high-res music video?

Video Conference

yoyo_nyc — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:42:59 -0800

Job interview via video conference - How to? A company in Europa want to interview me via a video conference. They asked for my dial in number? I have never done this before and I want to ask them how to do it without looking stupid?

* Aren't there many different systems?

* How can they assume that I will be able to do this?

* What should I write back without looking stupid?

Why is it so difficult to find historical footage of past events which were, at the time, broadcast for free?

chos — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:20:09 -0800

Why is it so difficult to find historical footage of past events which were, at the time, broadcast for free (for example, archival video of the Olympic Games and the Oscars)? Wouldn't the economic value of making these events available somehow (for a fee) outweigh their value sitting on a shelf somewhere, unwatchable except in tiny snippets or on very rare special occasions? The current Beijing games has made me interested in going back to see events from past Olympics, especially those featuring athletes who are competing again this time. Considering the popularity of these types of events, I am surprised that it isn't possible to find archival video (either legally for purchase, or otherwise). I have observed this same behavior at work with other high-popularity events, like the Super Bowl or the Oscars.

Obviously the broadcast/distribution rights-holders of these events are fiercely protecting their property, as one would expect. It would seem, however, that the value of these events goes down immediately after they are completed (after everyone knows the winner of the game, most people would have no interest in watching). I am interested in understanding the economic rationale behind limiting their availability - is this a Long Tail kind of thing where it wouldn't actually be worth it to produce DVDs or otherwise manage these assets? Or is the strict limitation supposed to add to the "special/exclusive" nature of these events, thus attracting more viewers the next time they occur?

A movie editor I am not.

sisflit — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:31:05 -0800

I have a project I just completed for my MEdu program. As part of that I created a video. I recorded it on my Panasonic SDR-H18 camera, edited it with the ImageMixer3 crap software that came with the camera and joined two clips into the movie I wanted. The problem? The end result seems too large to upload anywhere. The video is just under 1 GB. So I broke the video up into parts 1 and 2, 790 MB and 227 MB respectfully. I still can't upload even the smaller clip. I have tried YouTube, my own website, the school's website. I just can't upload it anywhere.

So long story short, what am I doing wrong? I'm assuming it is related to the size of the clips.
I'm using Verizon DSL to upload, is there a limit to how much I can send to a website? I have plenty of storage space for the video on my webpage.
Is this whole thing just an exercise in futility?
Obviously I don't want to go spend a ton of money on some fancy software or hosting membership, since this is for a class that ends next week. However it is an online class and people from all over the US need to be able to access it.

I'm fairly tech savvy but inexperienced in this particular area.
Home PC is Windows XP.

Thanks in advanc for any help and suggestions!

Flipping Out in Italy

GIRLesq — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:08:27 -0800

Internet Access & Video Upload Abroad (Rome, Capri, Taormina, Palermo) I'm going on vacation (YAY!). And I want to bring my Flip video camera and upload stuff to YouTube etc. as I go.

How difficult will it be for me to find internet cafes in Rome, Capri, Taormina, and Palermo?

Also, will my USB connectors be compatible with Italian USB ports?

Are there any other potential barriers to my upload plans?

Thanks!

Lang Lang! Lang Lang!

crookedneighbor — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:53:16 -0800

How can I watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics, now that I've missed it? I have a TV but no cable or antennae, and NBC online doesn't seem to have the full thing as a video. Will it be rebroadcast on the web? Will NBC host it after the Olympics are over? Will it be released on Criterion?

"Hello, My Name Is _____."

Bakuun — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:37:21 -0800

I've this near-OCD compulsion to want to put a name to people that catch my eye. In the music video for New Order's "Crystal," who is the lead singer for the fictional Killers band? I can't seem to find any information online aside "...and that's where the real band The Killers came from! Hur hur." Are there any "credits" for the video that could list the names of the people portrayed, or is this a mysterious dead end? A link to the video on youtube. Thank you guys and gals in advance!

Tripod-mountable webcams?

esd — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:23:21 -0800

What are my options in consumer-grade, tripod-mountable webcams? I'm currently using two Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000s mounted on tripods (with the 1/4" screws) to record a set of experiments. I'd like to add a third video camera, of comparable price and quality, and mount it on a tripod as well. Unfortunately, due to what is either a bug in Windows Media Encoder or in Logitech's driver, this third camera cannot be another QuickCam Pro 4000.

What other webcams should I consider?