March 10, 2008
Blu-ray wins. HD is dead.
Blu-Ray and HD DVD long battled for the title of DVD's next generation, offering higher definition picture and more storage space than their predecessor. But the war is finally over. In the light of a recent decision by Toshiba to stop developing its line of HD DVDs, Blu-Ray has prevailed.
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Posted by robeva at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2007
Apple iPhone Review
From the moment Apple announced its iPhone at Macworld 2007, the tech world hasn't stopped asking questions. Because Apple kept many iPhone details under wraps, we've been forced to speculate. Until now. Is the iPhone pretty? Absolutely. Is it easy to use? Certainly. Does it live up to the stratospheric hype? Not so much.
Don't get us wrong, the iPhone is a lovely device with a sleek interface, top-notch music and video features and innovative design touches. The touchscreen is easier to use than we expected and the multimedia performs well. But a host of missing features, a dependency on a sluggish EDGE network and variable call quality -- it is a phone after all -- left us wanting more. For those reasons, the iPhone is noteworthy for not what it does, but how it does it.
The 8GB iPhone has finally been launched in the UK, and will be available to buy here on 9 November. It will set you back £269 from the Apple Store or Carphone Warehouse. It's only available on the O2 network, on contracts costing £35, £45 or £55 per month.
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Posted by robeva at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2007
Sony Vegas 7
Who said professional editing programs had to be difficult to learn? Beginners and advanced users alike take note: Sony's premier editing software offers a very easy learning curve while maintaining the integrity and power of a professional editing suite. Whether you're editing together a highlight video from last Christmas or producing a feature length movie in HDV, Sony Vegas 7 has the tools and stability to suit your needs.
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Posted by robeva at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
miniDV FAQ
I frequently find myself addressing a lot of DV tape questions. A lot of this material is based on my experience. A lot more is based on conversations and email exchanges I've had with Kenny Weideman, a consultant to Panasonic Digital Media and a former executive there.
A lot of this can be applied to VHS, SVHS, 8mm, Beta and other tape stocks. Just bear in mind I wrote it thinking about Metal Evaporated DV tapes.
Of course all the mistakes are mine. If you tell me about any mistakes and I can verify them I'll fix it.
Posted by robeva at 12:06 AM | Comments (4)
April 03, 2007
What is DVD-RAM?
DVD-RAM (DVD-Random Access Memory) is a disc specification presented in 1996 by the DVD Forum, which specifies rewritable DVD-RAM media and the appropriate DVD writers. DVD-RAM media are used in computers as well as camcorders and personal video recorders since 1998.
The term DVD-RAM is a misnomer based on the false assumption that RAM means the opposite of ROM (Read Only Memory). However, RAM stands for Random Access Memory (computer chips) and DVD's can inherently not use the random access method.
Compared with other writeable DVDs, DVD-RAM is more closely related to hard disk technology, as it has concentric tracks instead of one long spiral track. Unlike the competing formats DVD R, DVD-R, DVD RW and DVD-RW, you do not need special DVD burning software to write or read DVD-RAMs on a computer. DVD-RAMs can be accessed like a usual floppy disk or hard drive.
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Posted by robeva at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
What's 3CCD?
The Canon GL2 has three CCDs, delivering outstanding picture quality, highly accurate color reproduction and a wide dynamic range with virtually no color noise. On top of that, Canon has improved a broadcast technology to create a new form of Pixel Shift, producing greater picture quality than that of camcorders using CCDs with almost twice the number of pixels.
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Posted by robeva at 12:33 AM | Comments (1)
Reveiw :: Canon XH A1
Canon's XH series raises the camcorder price/performance bar again, providing the most HD pixels per dollar available. The cameras replicate the performance of the XL H1 chainsaw in a more traditional handheld package. The same 1/3-inch sensors used in the XL H1 nestle behind a fixed 20x zoom, providing 800+ TVl/ph resolution for HDV recording, yet the XH A1 weighs fewer than 5 pounds and costs only $4,000.
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Posted by robeva at 12:26 AM | Comments (1)
March 27, 2007
HDTV Explained
Legend has it that the UK government faced a choice some years ago over what to do with the frequency spectrum allocated to TV, the older analogue transmission standards were not the most efficient and so allowed for much more data to be transmitted under digital standards, but which ones?
Well as is now obvious the UK went the route of multiplexes of digital services highly compressed at 5 - 3mbits MPEG2, giving us 30 channels on Freeview. But we could have also had a good number of high quality widescreen high bit rate channels or possibly even a few HDTV ones.
But just what is HDTV, how does it work and why would we want it anyway, we'll try to answer all of these in HDTV explained.
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Posted by robeva at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
What is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.
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Posted by robeva at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)