Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with analog

How do ringside pro photographers do their thing?

wastelands — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:08:11 -0800

How do ringside (boxing, MMA, etc.) photographers work? Are there any pro or serious amateur photogs at MeFi who could satisfy my curiosity about ringside photography? Specifically:

* Given how fast action can occur, do they plan shots or just take a ton of them and filter out later?

* I notice they use two cameras, presumably for close up vs. far off shots. Do they pre-focus at the two distances so they don't have to think about it? Or do they still do some adjustment on the fly?

* Analog or digital? I'd assume digital would favor the approach of taking loads of shots and culling later. But I think a lot of pros still use film.

* How do they decide which shots to use? Or is it their newspaper/website/etc. editor that does that for them? I assume shots with punches landing, people dropping from knockouts, etc. would be favored over all other shots?

Thanks!

Foux de Fa Fa!

drjimmy11 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:40:51 -0800

Point me to some real examples of the cinematic style parodied in Flight of the Conchords' "Foux de Fa Fa!" The video can be seen here. I'm looking for real films which inspired the "French" part of this video (after they go into the fantasy world).

I'm assuming this is a real style of French cinema, probably from the 60s or 70s, but I don't know where to start looking for examples. it doesn't have to be silly like the Conchords, or even comedy, but I'm interested in seeing that style- the very vintage "analog" film look, the bright, playful clothes and colors, the transitions, and just the general feel. I'm especially interested in the part where they have the picnic in the park.

thanks!

Radio has no future! - Lord Kelvin

mikw — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:21:22 -0800

Where can I buy a discontinued 11C90 650 MHz prescaler? This is for reverse engineering a SR-2020 mystery receiver that a friend of mine has been working on. Any information on this will be very much appreciated. Bonus hand drawn analog circuit diagrams. There's some more numbers associated with the 11C90 however I'm not sure what they mean: U5.75H90. It appears to be discontinued sometime in 2001, however I can only find these for sale in bulk quantities. I'm really just after one or two of these, not a giant stack. The photo set is of a mystery receiver being reverse engineered by a friend of mine. It appears to be of military origin and it and a twin were purchased in Australia at a junk sale. He's been working on it for a number of years as a hobby and has managed to coax quite a bit of life out of it. He'd be extremely interested in any information, no matter how oblique.

Wait, why are we doing this, again?

theefixedstars — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:37:06 -0800

I want to understand more about the switch from analog to digital television. Why is the FCC doing this, and how are the analog waves now going to be used? Where can I go to find out more information?

keyboard effects

plexi — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:16:49 -0800

I just got a nice keyboard with no on-board effects. What are some good effects equipment for keyboard? Should I just string along some MXR pedals? Invest in a Roland Space Echo? VST?

At what moment will the analog TV signal die?

k7lim — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:23:11 -0800

My friends and I would like to observe the switch-off of analog TV. The FCC has mandated that all analog TV stations stop on February 19, 2009. I'm planning to procure a bunny-eared TV to watch the signal go dead. Can anyone help me pinpoint when this moment is going to be? (This is going to be SO much better than New Year's)

Need lube advice for slippery filter sweeps!

kaseijin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:42:19 -0800

Vintage synth maintenance help needed! I have a Roland SH-09 monosynth... ...and I recently cleaned the sliders on it because they were dirty and were performing less than optimally.

Now, they work fantastically, but the cleaner stripped a lot of the grease out of them. This is probably a good thing, as that grease was probably from about 1981. The problem now, though, is that the action of the sliders is very stiff. When you move one, you get a metal-on-metal feeling and it is very hard to get a smooth glide.

What sort of grease should I put in there to restore my smooth action (I need my filter sweeps back!), and how should I put it in? I have never taken the synth apart to the degree where I could actually get to the individual sliders themselves, so a method of application that would allow me to just squirt it down in there from the top would be ideal.

Any help?

TV or no TV...that is the question.

NoraCharles — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:37:36 -0800

Will my old black and white battery operated television be defunct after the analog to digital switch? I have an old black and white portable television that runs on 8 D cell batteries. It's ancient, but still pulls in a pretty good signal and has come to my rescue several times when I have been without power -- once for several days at a time. I only use it when the power is out.

With the new analog to digital television switch coming in February of 2009, I've tried to look for converters, but they are all requiring another power source, which kind of voids the whole battery operation feature.

Is there any kind of analog to digital converter out there that runs on batteries as well? Or is there some kind of battery operated power source I can use?
Any suggestions Hivemind?

Digital replacement for a Nikon 2020?

segatakai — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:16:46 -0800

I'd like some advice about replacing the analog Nikon SLR and Tokina lens I lost 3 years ago with a new/used digital SLR/lens. 20 (or so) years ago, I asked a family friend (a professional photographer) to help me pick out my first SLR. Based on my budget (a grand, give or take) she chose a Nikon 2020 body, and a Tokina lens (SZ-X 287 28-70 f/2.8-4.3). For almost 2 decades, until I lost the camera in a fire about 3 years ago, I was thrilled with the choice, and with the pictures it took. The only complaints I ever had about the camera/lens were:
- it was heavy and somewhat bulky to carry around.
- there was no built in flash
- it wasn't digital (this ONLY became an issue once I entered the digital age and started putting everything on my computer, about 5-7 years ago)

My impression is that the 2020 was not a top-of-the-line camera. Decent perhaps, but not over the top. The fact that I was so happy for so long with the 2020 (I would consider just buying an old 2020 now, if it wasn't for the digital issue) makes me wonder if, although my budget is about the same today, I might be satisfied with something cheaper. I feel that the 2020 didn't have much in the way of bells and whistles, and I don't feel that I need bells and whistles now.

I have a digital point-and-shoot camera that I have been using since the fire (note that I was content without a point-and-shoot camera the whole time I had the 2020), but I find the romance of taking pictures is gone. I used to enjoy composing the shot, making a decision about aperture and shutter speed (often relying on the 2020's "suggestions" in the viewfinder, but never once using the automatic mode), and then manually working the focus ring (again, often using the 'in-focus-indicator" in the viewfinder, but also often ignoring it). I don't take many pictures that require haste -- I was utterly content to take my time and "make my photograph."

My question is: What digital camera will I be happy with? I had a look at the local electronics shop, and the way the cameras now work seems to be different. The 'shutter speed dial' on the top right now appears to be covered in modes, which seem gimmicky to me. I didn't spend a lot of time, but the lenses I saw don't seem to have the 'clicking' aperture selection ring. Ultimately I'd prefer the same 'system' of 'composing' in the viewfinder, and ultimately I think I'd like to stick with Nikon (less stuck on Tokina, I suppose), but I'm pretty confused/open.

I would prefer something that will last. I'm hoping that I'll love my new SLR (almost?) as much as I did my old SLR, and I get a sense that the [constant better and better and better improvements <-- there's a word for this, right?] of digital SLR's has finally slowed enough now that it's possible to imagine I'd use and be satisfied with the new camera for decades as well (wishful thinking?).

I know this is at least somewhat subjective, but what advice can you offer me? Feel free to point out holes in my logic as stated above, and/or point me to other resources. Specific and general suggestions both very welcome.

Thank you kindly for your support.

Make some noise

skylar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:54:57 -0800

I've just bought a second-hand Shuttle XPC computer with an Nvidia sound card. One fault is bugging me: no sound through the analogue audio outs or headphone sockets on the front or back, even when the operating system volumes are set to maximum. However, I have been told that the previous owner used the optical audio out. Is it possible that he could have disabled the analogue sound somehow? If so how might I re-enable it?

How can I hook up my Timex-Sinclair 1000 to a modern television?

missed — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:51:49 -0800

How can I hook up my Timex-Sinclair 1000 to a modern television? I've recently acquired a complete Timex-Sinclair 1000 computer, complete with power supply, switch box, and cables.

My grandmother has an old, old RCA XL-100 analog television that barely works (VHF is all staticy with just the regular antenna attached, UHF comes in fine, but it's a faded, washed out image). I hooked the switch box up to the TV, toggled it to computer, plugged in the power and tv cable to the computer unit, and don't see anything. If I toggle the channel switch on the bottom of the TS1k the screen switches from black to static, so this leads me to believe I've a working TS1k, just the TV is bad.

I'd like to know how I can get this working on a modern TV with RCA cabling. Is this possible? If so, what do I need? Hopefully soldering isn't an option, but I can get someone to do it for me if it's required.

"Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise."

mykescipark — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:53:45 -0800

Please recommend current-market analog cassette decks with superior signal/noise ratios. Like everyone in the known universe, I have several decades' worth of analog cassette tapes to digitize. Tell me about currently-available decks with the best signal-to-noise ratio so I can preserve the (relative) fidelity of the source tapes. Let's consider $500 my max price and go from there. (For what it's worth, I already have an A/D converter, so it doesn't have to have USB/FireWire capability. Standard RCA ins/outs are fine.)

Dust spots? Water marks? Crud on film?

Geckwoistmeinauto — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:59:57 -0800

Why am I getting blotches on my black and white negatives? What are the marks? Are they dust? Water spots? How do I fix this? I'm a relative newbie when it comes to film photograhpy, but I've been doing digital photography for a few years. I develop my own black and white film at home, and I've been less than pleased with the results when I scan my film. I have the dreaded 'crap on the negative' issue. It's started off so bad that I couldn't even print my negatives using an enlarger due to the amount of junk on the negs. Exhibit A - a crop at 100% of a corner of a negative.

Here's how I develop, and what I've done so far to fix this:

I mix all my chemicals using tap water. I'm using the standard Sprint developer and quick fixer, and stop my film using plain ol' tap water. I do a first rinse using tap water. This is all deemed fine by general consensus of photography dorks everywhere. I am using a plastic 2 135 roll development tank, capacity for two rolls of film 650ml.

I dry my film hanging from the shower bar, after the hot water was run to make the room nice and steamy and left to clear. The bathroom isn't dusty, and there hasn't been any dust on any surfaces, really, since we moved in. I make sure no one cleans the bathroom at least I24 hours before I hang film to dry. I determine dryness by curl (towards emulsion), and if the curl is correct, I test a 'spare' area of film for tackiness. Once I deem the film dry, I cut and place the negs in new archival sheet holders.

The first few rolls I developed came out disgusting, with obvious spots, water marks around the sprockets, and other disgustingness.

After much discussion with the guys at the darkroom I use to print my photos, they felt I should try a squeegee for my film. I also decided to use distilled water for a final rinse, about half a gallon of water. When I asked about a wetting agent, they claimed that it will cause more problems than it solves with regards to spots.

My negs were slightly cleaner, but still spotty and I could see a few nasty, large water spots here and there. Also, I have noticed some gnarly scratches that may have been caused by the squeegee OR the archival sleeves I put my negatives into once dry.

So, please, take a look at that shot, and let me know if you think those are dust spots or (more likely) water spots. Should I look into photoflo, or another wetting agent? Is the squeegee the cause of the scratches, or could it be more likely my negative holder sheets? I'm starting to get sick of fixing dust scratches in the gimp, and I'd like to make some nice analog enlargements of some of my negatives!

Thanks!

Help me find the right angle!

langeNU — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:42:36 -0800

I'm looking for an online resource that will allow me to enter a time (in hours, minutes, seconds) and return a listing of the angles between the hands if that time was displayed on an analog clock. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Simple tutorial on setting up a PBX?

yellowbkpk — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:01:06 -0800

Where can I find information on setting up a phone system for a small business? It seems that most of my Google searches return spam or "we want your money!" links, so I'm asking the hive mind:

I'm helping a friend research a PBX system for his small business. There are two analog lines coming in to the office, and we'd like to have 5-7 extensions within the office. Voicemail, conference calls, and faxing (from a fax machine) capability would be very nice, too.

Also, we'd like to use analog telephones on the extensions if possible.

Where can I find a nice, concise tutorial on setting up a PBX system that routes analog phone calls? Using asterisk would be nice, but ease of setup and maintenance are pretty important.

For the asterisk solution, what hardware is needed to interface with the phone lines?

Thanks!

Analog Video Capture to Mac Webcam

terrapin — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:21:24 -0800

I have a VHS-C camcorder and an eMac with USB 1.1 ports (firewire ports are broken) and I am curious if the Dazzle Video Creator Platinum will allow me to use the VHS-C camcorder as a webcam on this Mac. I used to use the same VHS-C camcorder with a Windows machine many years ago with a video capture card. I would leave the tape out and put the VHS-C camcorder in the record mode; used Webcam32 and it worked perfectly, giving me much better images of outdoor views than any Firewire or USB "webcam" I have ever found.

I don't know if the Dazzle will:

1) work with Mac.
2) allow me to stream the image from the VHS-C as I did before using EvoCam.

Does anyone have experience with this product? With a Mac?

Thanks.

Brand new noise coming from G5 into audio signal

lockedroomguy — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:47:27 -0800

I have a Mac G5 and it is connected via the analog audio output port to my stereo receiver, and a new humming buzzing just started. I connected it last week so I could play music from the G5 through my stereo speakers. It worked fine. Today there is a loud humming noise that comes through the speakers whenever the G5 is selected as the stereo input. Any other stereo input does not have the humming noise. It's definitely an electrical type noise.

It's so loud that there is no point playing the music.

If I unplug the cable from the G5 and plug it into any other audio source, the humming goes away, so it's definitely the G5. It's not interference from a nearby object, because I can put a laptop next to the G5, and use it as the audio signal, and the humming goes away.

The noise is there whether the G5 is powered on or not. I've plugged it into different electrical outlets with no change.

The noise is still there if I move the audio out cable to the headphone jack of the G5.

There is no noise when playing sound through the G5 internal speaker.

There is a common problem with the G5 Mac power supply making noise that leaks into the audio signal, but that is a problem that is inherent in the power supply, not a problem that develops over time, so I don't think that's it.

There was no problem a week ago. I can't think of anything that changed since then.

How do I correct a discrepancy between MRTG and Apache?

PuGZ — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:43:34 -0800

How can I go about rectifying the discrepancy between AWStats/Analog/Apache log tools and MRTG graphs? I've searched endlessly on Google, but everyone has the opposite problem to me. My MRTG graphs from my provider (LayeredTech, for what it's worth) are consistently lower than what is reported by Apache logs and therefore tools like AWStats, Analog, Webalizer and the like. I figure this is due to people starting downloads (and thus HTTP 200 status codes), but cancelling their downloads.

The discrepancy is as much as 30GB a month (45GB in MRTG vs. 75GB elsewhere), so a solution to this would be greatly appreciated. Any pointers, AskMefi?

Does anyone know of an audiophile/hi-fi club in the St. Louis area?

Bengston — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:31:07 -0800

Does anyone know of an audiophile/hi-fi club in the St. Louis area? I have recently become interested in DIY Hi-Fi and being a college student with little electronics experience I am looking for a way to get myself better acquainted with everything before I start to spend too much money. The internet has been a great resource, but having some real people around me who know what they are doing and would be willing to provide me with some direction would be very helpful.

Please recommend an Apache log analysis?

Nelson — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:02:07 -0800

What open source package do you like for Apache logfile analysis? I need to set up some significant usage reporting for a web application. I'm looking for a reporting application for Apache style logs that's robust and customizable. Not looking just for some little report of top URLs for the day, but something that goes into detail on user agents, page load times, IP addresses, etc. Something with a pluggable report system would be ideal because I need to do some app-specific custom reports.

Much of my traffic is API calls, not web browsers, so I think Javascript-based logging like Mint and server-hosted things like Google Analytics won't work. I need something that works primarily off of logs. Storing data in MySQL is ok, but I'd prefer just to work straight from log files.

What's good, flexible, and not ugly? I know about Webalizer, Analog, and AWStats, but in the past when I've used them they've all seemed a bit awkward and limited. It's been awhile, maybe they've improved? Or maybe there's an alternative?

Circuit bending for dummies

starscream — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:26:03 -0800

I have a simple Sony reel-to-reel tape deck from the 1960's that I'd like to install a speed control on. Since I have no electronics skills, can anyone here recommend an ace 'circuit bender' in the Los Angeles area? Thanks :)

Log File Analysis on OS X?

mikel — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 07:04:11 -0800

What software do people currently recommend using to do web log analysis on OS X? I am hip to Google Analytics and am currently using it on a couple of sites, and it's great - but not for everything. I download my raw log files regularly and there are times when I like to be able to run very customized reports focusing on a particular file or directory or something very specific like that.

I have been using the OS X port of Analog with Analog Helper for years on and off, but I was wondering if there were another, better alternative out there that I haven't noticed yet. I would prefer something with nicer-looking output and that didn't eat up close to 100% of CPU while running.

Spoken-Word-Audio-Filter: What is the best way to get audio from tapes to my Powerbook?

plemeljr — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 11:23:40 -0800

Spoken-Word-Audio-Filter: What is the best way to get audio from tapes to my Powerbook? Here's the deal: I'm using a Marantx PMD222 cassette analog recorder to field record interviews (and sometimes sounds) of New Yorker's for a project of mine. I want to use the original tapes as masters, but then convert them to a .wav file in order to create a digital master. I can then downsample it to whatever I need. The intended output is primarily through the web, but with a view toward compiling a CD for distribution.

The PMD222 has a RCA jack out (mono) so I figured I could use the Edirol UA-1EX connected to my PowerBook as the input. I'm not looking for 100% studio sound, nor could I afford it - I would be willing to spend about $200.

Are there any other ways I could convert the analog to digital using my powerbook? Is the Edirol UA-1EX a good product? Are there any other proiducts out there which would be better?

Thanks!

Help me parse the logs, Jim!

dance — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:53:55 -0800

Hi, I'm hosted with TextDrive who don't provide stats or log analysis for their customers. I do have access to the raw Apache log files, though, and would dearly love to parse them and get some meaningful stats and hopefully graphical charts out of them, ala AWStats, Analog or Webalizer. I've tried installing AWStats onto the host but permissions problems are causing that to fail. Surely there must be a local solution? I have access to Mac and Windows boxes - can anyone talk me through parsing my logs locally? For extra bonus love - would anyone be prepared to produce a oneoff document from a couple of log files while this is being sorted out?

how do I best get static off old tapes that I can't let out of my sight?

Izzmeister — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:15:56 -0800

How do I best convert borrowed valuable audiotapes into a hiss and static reduced output? I have recieved on loan from a relative some old family audio recordings- I am looking to make them clearer and copy them for my own use. However, the owner does not allow me to mail them away for fear they would get lost or damaged somehow.

How would I best (in the NYC area) have them converted to mp3 or other format and have the static reduced? I don;t mind either getting the software and doing it myself if that is the best way to do it (Audible?) or giving it to a professional (who? where? any recommendations)?

I could make copies of the tapes and then return the originals and THEN go and get them sent away to get it done- but i assume that a copy of these old tapes would be even a generation less clear then the "original copies" I am using.