Lots to learn. Got my USB desk mic Friday. Barely works. Sending it back. Still using my little plastic mic that came with my Dell, 4 years ago. Looking into shotgun mics.
I probably need to learn about back focus. I'll google on that. Application of the patterns FE refenced seems interesting.
Haven't been able to get my face to focus. Seems like the beard throws the focus off. Seems like the nose clips do the same. I dunno.
Downloaded Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 trial today and played with it to edit footage from the last pool session on 2-11-09 that Ben Potter shot in widescreen format from a mini 8. Corel couldn't pull in the M4V format that Ben Ripped, so I pulled in a WMV that was output of the same file from MS Movie Maker. In other words, input the M4V to MS Movie Maker and did some editing, then outbut it as WMV. Then input the WMV to Corel, did some more editing, and output it as MPG. Once I did that I think I lost the widescreen format, or lost it somehow. Got to play with multiple tracks and features in Corel though. Probably try Adobe next. http://paulstivers.com/?page_id=2 "Greenland Style Rolling, 2-11-09"
For some reason I can't scale the Vimeo player on my web page from this last MPG from Corel.
quality video I’m sure the video pros will scoff at me but I received a Flip HD camera for Christmas and while I can see it has many limitations; we’ve taken some stunning clips with this tiny thing! I could see using it for certain sections of a video for sure. I haven’t yet figured out how to compress the huge files for storage but I see there are ways. Once the ice melts I’ll post a few kayak clips. I’ve taken some of the clips and made still shots and have been very pleased with those too. Again, the Flip is NOT a pro-level piece of equipment but a killer tool for those of us that find our current digital cameras take funky video and want better. Within ten minutes of opening the box I was making movies with soundtracks and fades! (That’s cause all you have to do is click a tab!!) The Flip HD has bumped up my interest in maybe getting a better video camera down the road so that’s why I posted…good place to start. If any of you pros DO know how to easily compress the Flip files please post.
Flip Mino HD file compression lowbrace, if I read the product description right, it’s already using H.264 video compression, and saving as MP4, but probably at 100% quality.
I’m way not an expert, but I spent at least 20 hrs trying out different video editing packages for the Windows Operating system. I think Adobe Premiere Elements 7 (APE) is best, hands down.
You should be able to load the file in and if you don’t want to edit it you can just export it back out.
To load: file, get media from, PC files and folders.
To export with added file compression: Export, Movie, Setting, Video, then select you favorite file compression/format. I’ll suggest selecting h.264 or MPEG-4 and start with the quality slider at about 50%. Reduce quality (file size) until you start to see unacceptable degredation then bump it up a bit. I’m guessing it works like jpg compression for photos.
Very nice movie editing software IMO. Much better than Win Movie Maker or Corel. Appox the same as Corel in movie editing ability, but many more file import and export formats. Great audio features, too. I was able to filter most of the noise out of my crappy audio files with a combination of Denoiser and Notch audio effects. Cool audio mixer built in, too. (Won’t be as important maybe if I ever learn Audacity.)
You can download the APE trial at the Adobe web site. It’s a full version, but it puts an Adobe banner across your vid, until you enter a valid activation key.
Amazon has best price at $64 after rebate, or APE and Photo Shop Elements 7 together for $90 after rebate.
Lastly, if you had a Mac, of course, I’m sure it has apps that would take good care of ya, and me.