DSE

Since the IPC discussion group is kludgy at best, and dominated by two people at worst (not to mention it takes days for posts to appear), I'm curious as to what wingsuiters here feel constitutes/defines a "wingsuit?? What is the definition of a wingsuit? FYB has a definition that seems like a good starting point; "A piece of equipment that holds fabric in place between a skydiver's arms and legs (ram air inflated wings), creating the possibility for sustained forward movement through the air. The skydiver's body forms the only frame for the wings of the suit (no external, rigid frames). No propulsion other than gravity" There is some debate over use of the word "material" vs "fabric" in the IPC discussion. Discuss

Great that you read the SIM that hasn't had an update regarding cameras for a long, long time. I've specifically asked Jim Crouch and Todd Spillers to comment on small format cameras ie; GoPros, because I have a pretty strong belief that we're gonna see a lowtimer seriously hurt or hurt someone else because of the camera stuck to a helmet. Had the camera not been stuck to your helmet, you wouldn't have taken the precious seconds necessary to unclip your chin strap. Those seconds *might* have been the difference between any number of outcomes, one of which might be serious injury to yourself or someone else. When people do things that go against the recommendations, opportunities get taken away from everyone. your copy/paste of the recommendations in 6.8 also missed the following; 1. Recommendations for flying cameras should educate potential camera flyers and those making jumps with them. 2. Jumpers should realize that flying a camera is a serious decision and that it requires additional effort and attention on each jump. Most of the problem with jumping a camera too early isn't the snag point, isn't the concern during EP's. It's about the mindset of flying with the camera, it's about looking for shots and going low, having a problem and flying into someone else, and generally training themselves to fly poorly because the camera changes how they fly. The problem is the additional distraction the camera creates in the plane, exit, and freefall. Yours is story #6 of "Stupid things a GoPro/Contour have made me do" that I've collected in just a coupla months of looking. Congrats on saving your life. Congrats on not hurting someone else in the process, congrats on not getting hurt yourself.

Pffffft. Wake me when the green hot chicks show up. me too. here at the NAB show there are a lot of guys running around with their iPads. I've got one too, for the week. All of em' are having challenges of one sort or another. Mine is there as a discussion piece. Without i/o that is CURRENTLY relevant, it's just another cult piece, IMO. Certainly unusable for much of what it potentially could be used for. But...all the kewl koolaid kids have em'. Watched one crash keynote in front of 500 people yesterday. They ended up loading the same PPT on a netbook to get the class finished.

interesting that the problem would be with resolution and not codec. Nice to know, gives me something to point at. I have an iPad all week, courtesy of Apple and NAB. So far, suitably unimpressed, but can see some obtuse uses for certain video applications. As far as a reader, etc, I still like my Kindle better, and I don't like it very much.

Nice to see you're flying that sucker, Steve! Now fix one to your chest strap so we can see more of that cat/mouse grin! Nice pix.

I see EVIL all over that! Can I referee? You just wanna hand-measure the point to point values as data for the Kallend method.

WOW! Lots of angry words over something still unknown, undefined, brought up in passing, and not affecting anyone in any way. What are you so afraid of? No one here has anything to lose from an idea that may or may not work. NO ONE. What scares you so much? FYI, there is no "ringleader" but interesting I'm accused as such. That’s a politically loaded charge if there ever was such a thing, from someone who "has no time for politics." No one here has an intent of sending hysterical mass emails to non-wingsuiters filled with lies, half-truths, and intentional distortions of the truth such as claiming we’ve been invited to speak on behalf of USPA or that we’re trying to repeal records. Or that “ringleaders of a minority are conspiring against us.” We wouldn’t dare use Twitter to send scary tweets threatening the “end of wingsuiting as we now know it.” Or utilize Facebook to twist the truth by controlling who can see and respond to public statements. We don’t want to have the president of the USPA take us into an open room and chew out our ass over what we’re attempting, confronting us with intentional untruths and inaccuracies. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing enough watching and hearing it happen to someone else. I don’t ever want to be “those two.” No matter how much I appreciate and agree with the woodshedding, I also felt sorry for them. When Scotty made a joke about it, the response to his joke made me feel a lot less sorry for them. This came after the Competition Chair had to threaten of expulstion of two persons because they would not respectfully listen to what Zach Schroedel had to say to the competition commitee. When the grid was proposed, NO ONE knew it was being proposed, so there was no one there to harumph, interrupt, curse, vigorously shake their head, nor rudely make their opposition known in any way. When Zach was speaking he was interrupted over and over, not to mention other sorts of exceptionally rude displays of childish behavior, to the point that both the Chair and President of the USPA had to stop it in open meeting. You wanna talk about what you want people to know? These are things they should know. We would not want the USPA feeling like anything we do is opposed to or not in alignment with the organization, nor wasting their time in legal, fiduciary, or moral senses. We want to be sure anything we might undertake is respectful to all organizations, all governing bodies, and to all people in the sport. We want to know what we’re doing before we make any statement or take action. We hope to get it as right as we can in one and develop from there. Seems reasonable enough, no? Moreover, we're working in a direction that is as much global as local. Maybe we can’t make it work. But some of us sure are going to try. We’ll probably make some missteps. I certainly have. And when I did, I went immediately to the people affected by my words and apologized to them. And both graciously accepted my apology and understood my error. It’s unfortunate a couple of you believe the effort is about you and political partnerships or your plans to "pwn'd the wingsuit world." You, your political position, what you claim to own isn’t part of our goalset in a negative nor positive sense. It simply doesn’t enter into the picture for anyone I know. There are multiple precedents in skydiving related to what is hoped to achieve. There is nothing for anyone to lose. We're trying to make sure that each step taken is transparent, communal, fair, and in everyone's best interests as we move forward. Trying to achieve the mechanisms and protocols for doing this takes effort. Our initial goals are far more about research than rules. And more about community input than about getting our names in the history books for being "the ones." We all have day gigs. Teamwork takes time. Had it not been for someone actually reading the notes from the meeting, it’s likely no one would have their panties in a wad right now. At the BOD meeting I proposed BJ Worth as a liason between the camps relating to the wingsuit judgment methods? Phil raised his hand and opposed BJ merely because I asked for and nominated him. When Scott Smith and Bill Wenger then said that he'd be their choice anyway, Phil and Taya vocally opposed him. Simply because I proposed BJ Worth to be that point of contact. Wouldn’t you say that was a knee-jerk reaction? (For purposes of clarity, I also suggested Andreea/Supergirl, because she's pretty objective, but that suggestion was laid to the side during further discussion). Oppose the effort if you wish; of course that’s anyone's prerogative. Opposing an idea which you haven't yet heard is indeed also a knee-jerk reaction. Then again Phil, you’ve already publicly demonstrated that any idea any idea I suggest, even before it clears my lips. That, is a “knee-jerk reaction” if I’ve ever seen one. Phil claims a "power grab attempt" is being made. What power is there to grab? Who has it now? How did they get it? When did it occur? Is it a brandwar or "east coast vs the world thing?" Why didn't this community know about it or did we just miss it somehow? Where can we see the results of this "power?" I'd like to know what those thinking they're losing their "power" plan to do with this "power." Can they see through walls? Leap tall buildings? Wither skydivers with a single glance? Kill ideas before they're borne? What is it anyone feels they have to lose?

Vegas Movie Studio supports it. Ulead sort of does, although it's not master-compliant. Sony just had a major press release today about 3D and BD authoring. I'll try to dig up a link when I get back to my room.

Yep. Return the iPad. Get a computer that loads conversion software. Convert GoPro to an MP4 from an apple codec source ie; QT. Just kidding. I have no desire to own an iPad, and since it's not really a video tool (yet) I don't have any knowledge of what apps can be run for conversion. Might see if Revolver will work.

creativecow.net DVInfo.net Sony's own forums at sonycreativesoftware.com Like dropzone.com, a lot of the information on Doom9 is inaccurate or half-accurate. There certainly are some gleaming nuggets on video editing if you know what you're looking for. If you're a gamer, it's an outstanding site. Authoring BD discs that are compliant? Nothing free, Sony Vegas Movie Studio or Ulead Video Studio are the least expensive with reasonable quality encoding algorithms, IMO.

If you're not making DVDs for replication, it's a half-ass decent tool. If you're making discs for replication, you cannot use it, as it does not burn spec-compliant discs. I wouldn't call Doom9 "very good." I'd say it's got a lot of amateur ideas, a few really good ideas, and a lot of piracy help tools. It's a great site for gaming tweaks, however.

I wouldn't worry about an S3, Intro, or Phantom 2 for FFC jumps. True, the Intro can have the wings unleashed, but still...it's a bigger suit than an S3, as is the Phantom 2. Juan, those pix are sweet! Welcome your guys to the flock. Love the clouds!

Maybe the lack of response is that folks want to know what they're considering before they make comment? Since nothing has been put out there yet in terms of the goals and direction, I'd imagine folks want to know more before making up their mind about something. I know I'd like at least a *few* facts before deciding in favor or against *any* issue, wouldn't you?

That's precisely my point. It's just another layer of protection for the student.

none of ours do, but I've seen em' and asked about them. The response I received was "Since a student rig has to be packed by a rigger anyway, it makes no difference." I don't know that I agree.

It's a separate install, but it does not work within Movie Studio. It's a Pro-only app. I sure wish it was stand-alone.

High compression amplifies any imperfection, whether it's audio or video. Smoothcam is cool, but it softens the image a fair amount. Only very high end stabilizing softwares don't, and rendertime goes through the roof. Sony had an incredible hardward-based stabilizer in one of their old editing systems, but they couldn't affordably replicate it in their software. Boris Red is the best "affordable" stabilizer I've seen.

Totally different from Lightroom, Sony Vegas Media Manager also does amazing media management with up to 100 keyword/metatag capability. has some pre-defined tags for closeups, MCU, Medium, Wides, etc, plus a lot of other indexing options pre-built. Flaggable via stars, etc. Thumbnails, etc as well. Built on the same platform as Avid's system is built, in terms of data management/searching. But if you already know/love lightroom, you might be best off going with what you know.

The FreeFlock event in Utah over July 9, 10, 11 is pretty well a wingsuit-only event, with some fun specialty jumps. You'll have to get others to give you their input on what kind of fun it is.

Thanks for the clarification. When entering the US from Alberta, there are no Homeland Security emblems (probably just a funding/timeliness issue). either way, when you're in Customs, you're still in no-mans land. Virtually no rights, just the ability to ask nice, careful questions.

If it's Homeland Security, politely ask for a supervisor. Explain (respectfully) what your situation is. This technique has served me well from Australia to New Zealand to various areas in EU, and the most difficult of all, Israel.

Customs is not the same as Homeland Security. When you're going through Customs, you're in no-man's land. Yes, they have the right. however, if you didn't look at it immediately following their inspection, then the onus is on you. Unfortunate, but true. FWIW, I have a shitload more trouble going in/out of Canadian Customs with a rig than almost anywhere else. They always seem to think I'm selling the rig or wingsuit.

With nearly 200 lbs of force required to pull the camera off at the base (line snagged under the plastic, against the double stick) I'd suggest it's a big deal. Find TunaSalad on these forums and ask him his "jumped before 200 jumps with a stick on camera" stories (plural).

No, export doesn't show values (although I suppose they could be exported as EXIF data). Personally, I like the way you're taking a screenshot rather than exporting. It certainly is possible to overlay that data on the final image, maybe that's a feature to consider. Tom, what about adding a data stripe to the exported image so that settings are immediately visible?

Having this information collated into a single document vs wondering which of the fatalities in the Fatality Database are the specific 8 referred to, would be helpful. John's post suggests there is something more to this topic than the 8 fatalities, and that there exits a "list" of dangerous rigs, and discounts the PIA/USPA teaming up to collect more data (which is what the manufacturers say is taking place). Phree is perhaps the best non-USPA/PIA source for this, as he maintains the fatality database and has a pretty good knowledge of what's there and what isn't necessarily published?