DSE

He admitted to downloading HIS music. A-not illegal (because no DRM was bypassed. B-it bothered him that he COULD so easily download his own music. You presented the point as though he was in favor of illegal downloads, or at least that's how I interpreted your point.

I didn't know that. I know 2 instructors that say 200. Maybe it's because I was "particularly talented." It just goes to show how new it still is. There is still the debate in the USPA as to what should or shouldn't be done to oversee wingsuit instruction. Just be sure you let people know I required you to show me your logbook. Just cuz DZ.com sez you have more than 200 jumps doesn't mean you do. One guy that left our DZ last year had around 1500 jumps when he was let go. Here on DZ.com, he's got more than 4000 jumps only 18 months later. 200 with coach, with FFC, with beginning level wingsuit are recommended at minimum. I sometimes recommend a tracking dive with the low-time jumpers to evaluate them before putting them in a wingsuit.

Sure, and no one has led the anti-piracy fight any harder than Metallica. You're citing the source, but taking it out of context. Metallica hates for their music to be used illegally. And has taken steps to stop it. One of Lar's Ulrich's most elegant lines: If you're not fortunate enough to own a computer, there's only one way to assemble a music collection the equivalent of a Napster user's: theft. Walk into a record store, grab what you want and walk out. The difference is that the familiar phrase a computer user hears, "File's done," is replaced by another familiar phrase-"You're under arrest."

Millionaires (successful people) are rarely stupid, particularly as compared to the average skydiver.

this is me with my new waterproof iPod cover, and damn, is it AWESOME! Listening to AC/DC, Hinder, Rob Thomas, and Alterbridge while "speed walking" is wonderful. And tonight I had the pool all to myself. LTDiver was one of those to first suggest water therapy, and for the RDS/CRPS, it's the greatest thing we've found. Nerve blocks both failed, but this works!

My point in the OP was, and still is, copyright enforcement is gaining ground. This was underscored yesterday by the courts siding with the MPAA against REAL Networks as well. One thing I'm noting in this discussion (which is part of why it's likely soon to end up in SC), is there seems to be a misunderstanding between "This is how it is," "This is how I think it should be." It doesn't matter what/how any of us think the laws should apply. What matters is how the laws currently apply, and how they affect our current operations. Now, if you really believe your DZ has the moxy and finances to deal with copyright litigation when it comes, by all means, feel free to test the laws. I'll gladly donate up to 500.00 (roughly an hour of a good IP attorney's fees) to your cause, even though I *know* you shall not prevail. I've been a member of the RIAA for nearly 30 years, been a holder of copyright for more than 30 years, a member of WEVA for the past 12 years, and sat on various NARAS and NAB boards for the past 8 years. Most of the key players in the game have far more money than any dropzone has with which to play this game, not to mention the rules of Congress (which are quite separate from other portions of the applicable laws. Yes, there are changes in the winds for copyright holders and users of copyrighted works. But those changes are not fast-moving, and until DMCA is amended (and it will be) you'll see an increase in copyright control, litigation, enforcement, and judgements in favor of the holder of copyright. Bear in mind, those same laws that protect musicians from their music being illegally used in tandem videos are the same laws that protect skydiving photographers from having their works published without a license.

If the adapter has a spinning glass plate ala RedRock Micro or Letus, I'd be concerned about vibration and wind hitting the plate. Yes, extreme shallow DOF is beautiful.

You'd be wrong in that guess. Norman and I have had several discussions on this subject. It's part of why he made Willing to Fly available on DVD, for folks whose VHS tapes have worn out. The rest of it...we've drifted into SC material, so I'll depart. We're going to disagree no matter what. I will make one comment... You're obviously welcome to "disagree that skydiving videos are not commercial videos." But try to understand, by every test of the law, skydiving videos (we're referring to tandem videos ONLY in this thread, as indicated in the very first post), cannot meet tests of Fair Use any more than a wedding video can. Wedding videos have been turned inside and out by attorneys hoping to defend wedding video, and they can't find a legit, bulletproof defense. Wedding videographers outnumber skydiving videographers by at least 50:1. It's taken them a decade to figure it out. Hopefully no DZ will be nailed in the decade that it appears will have to pass before tandem videographers "get it."

If you're thinking of a Brevis, Letus, RedRock Micro, etc....then it'll take forever to get the right shot, because you'll have to rely entirely on your flying skills. Flying close, going superwide and closing down your aperture will give you effectively the same result as you're going to get without the adapter.

I'm not back, just able to walk distances in water. So far, I've walked about 3.5 miles in the current pools (I count going against the current as being two laps cuz it's so hard). The toughest part is where you reach the place where the water is 18" deep; it's damn hard to keep walking with no current, just stagnant water. Easy place to fall down and damage new hardware. But the Aquatherapy is helping a lot, and many thanks to LTDiver for suggesting it, and many thanks to the friends that help me get around in the pool. Maybe I can start the water aerobics,too. ACL/MCL are next to tackle, and hoping they'll heal as quickly as my pelvis seems to have healed. Looking forward to finding a warm DZ to call home for the winter. Any invites for me and my trailer? Hoping to stay west of Mississippi. I feel like an old fart jogging in the water, and am the youngest person in the pool by half. iPod helps keep driving me. If you pray, please pray for my ACL/MCL to heal fast and that a turbine DZ in the South West needs a good AFFI/Vidiot/Wingsuit instructor (with lots of demo suits) and is entirely self-contained. I've got so much metal between five major accidents through my life....The bolts and rod in my pelvis really do set off airport security. I get to carry a card.

Yes. Because at that point, you've made a mechanical copy that is a derivative work for public view (benefit). Keep it off the web, use it for the year-end music video, whatever....and it's legal.

A-Sony has nothing to do with the question. It's not just Sony/BMG (although BMG did some pretty rotten things regarding copyright before Sony bought them) B-it's the industry in general. Specifically, the RIAA, an association of recording industry businesses (of which I'm a part). No one wants a royalty every time you listen to a song. Someone wants a royalty every time that song is mechanically reproduced, broadcast, or synced. That's fair. If you have a skydiving photo that is unique and special, don't you want to be paid each time it's reprinted? This right already exists. You can copy a purchased song/CD/album/tape to as many mechanical devices as you wish for your own use, in other words, so it can only be listened to on one device at a time. Making copies for your friends isn't personal use. It's theft. Making a copy of your iTunes download to a CD for the car, the iPod for jogging, your computer for listening at work, your laptop for listening at home, an SD card for listening in the RV, or syncing to a personal video of yourself is all perfectly legal. here is where we significantly depart in agreement. If you make a copy of a song I wrote, recorded, and sell through iTunes for yourself and your various listening devices, GREAT! Thank you! But when you make a copy for your buddy and he makes copies for his various listening devices, you've just stolen from me. The argument might be made "well, Jim-Bob never would have bought your music in the first place, so I did you a favor by giving him a copy." How is it a favor to me that Jim-Bob is listening to my music but I was not compensated for his enjoyment of my hard work? Sorry, but I can't agree at all with this. "Regardless of who stole the work, you should be allowed to enjoy it?" Doesn't work that way in the analog world, and certainly shouldn't work that way in the digital world. You're absolutely right. The copyright holder has no control over where you listen, how many times you listen, watch, or even replicate for personal use. They never have had this right, and likely never will. The only exception is if you want to play music at a public gathering such as a bar...then you need to be a member of ASCAP, SESAC, or BMI. I've read "To Kill a Mockingbird" at least 100 times in my life (no exaggeration). I've worn out at least 4-5 copies. But since I paid for it once, should I be allowed to walk into Barnes and Noble and simply take a copy from the shelf because I paid for it once? I wore out my VHS copy of Norman Kent's "Willing to Fly" as well. Does Norman owe me a free DVD now because I paid for it once? Back to the point and direction of this thread, no matter how you shake it out, using music in a skydiving video is a commercial, non-personal use. There is simply no way to argue otherwise. The videographer is hired to shoot, edit, and deliver a video of a skydive. Even if he/she is doing it for free, there is a perceived value in the end product and it contains an unauthorized duplication of a Master recording, that has been synchronized to video (again without authorization from the copyright holder), and then finally, it is contained on a mechanical device (DVD). Three very separate and distinct copyright laws (two of which having nothing to do with the RIAA) have been violated.

Of course you can't apply the analog world to digital, but the principle is the same...no, I can't copy your truck, but I would be depriving you of your right to choose how/where it's used. If the music isn't being used for commercial use, and it's personal use only, no laws are being broken. Skydiving videos are commercial use. I'm healing well, just slowly. I did walk a mile in the pool last night, so maybe they'll let me start walking on land one of these days. Evolution, anyone?

Kora music. Especially the lullabies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMp_El9ltAs

-*most* tandem videos don't credit the artist (even if they do, doesn't natter, see next point) -It's the copyright holder's right to choose who may copy their works (hence the term copy-right). By using the music without permission, you've just taken away their right to choose who may copy, and how they'd like to be compensated for granting a license/right to copy. By that same token then.... UPT would enjoy the free publicity and advertising if I jumped a Vector rig. Do you think that Bill is going to sit quietly and smile if I simply walk into his office, pick up his rig, walk out, and jump it, saying nothing to him as I do? Particularly if he doesn't know me from Adam? Or...maybe you have a company logo on your truck/car. Surely you'd appreciate the publicity and advertising of me driving around in your truck/car as I pull my DZ trailer behind it? So when you go to get in your car tomorrow and it's gone, you won't mind because someone is giving you free publicity and advertising, right?You're not going to call the police or anything, just because your car/truck has been taken without your permission, right?

The Sonycreativesoftware.com site and the CreativeCow.net site are my best recommends. I thought you might be trying to create a webpage content feed or something, so what I was thinking of won't benefit you.

Telemetrics manufacturers tracking systems, among other things. Thomson/RCA/Grass Valley (they change their name yearly) also has an embedded xmitter/robotic head receive, but both systems (that I've seen) are too large and heavy for skydiving use. Xmitter is small, but receiver/robotic arm is large. Sony has a system that works for over-field grids such as you see on NFL or soccer games, so the camera is flying a wire-guided grid with limited options. In short, CTS (camera tracking systems) as they stand now, aren't practical for skydiving, IMO. But a micro "lazy susan" that merely rotates... very cool concept for freeflying!

Wanted to add emphasis to this. WAY too many people go buy a still cam, set it and forget it. The difference between a vidiot and a photographer is a photographer actually understands the settings on their camera and knows when to use them.

on occasion this happens here, too. I have a small pump attachment for my hand/power drill that allows me to reverse-pump down the line. remove the prime cap, attach the drill pump with the ingest end in a bucket/bottle of water. Turn on drill for about 15 seconds pumping bottled water back down the line. Put prime cap back on, re-prime, and you're good to go. A neighbor swears that backwashing this way is better for the system anyway, but I don't accept his logic. Other than "popping" the air bubble at the intake, the only other accomplishment is moving anything that might be on the mesh at the intake. We have a lime plant after the stop/waste and a britta under the kitchen sink and a britta on the fridge. Better than most bottled water, IMO.

The 'combing' as you call it, is interlacing. The way to get rid of that has a couple of options. -Set project properties to Progressive instead of Interlaced (for video editing, you'll want it set to Interlaced, but for screen captures, you'll want Progressive). -Use Ultimate S (third party plug in tool that does a LOT more than screen grabs) to capture your shots. It auto-sets everything to the best settings. (NOTE!!! I own the company that developed Ultimate S, so this could be considered a "buy my product" statement). -In Options | Preferences | Display you can set Vegas to auto-deinterlace for stills. Next, you have to decide the best method to deinterlace. You have two choices; Interpolate and Blend Fields. Fast motion almost always does best with Interpolate" but sometimes in skydiving (it's not always fast motion), Blend Fields will provide a better result. YMMV. Why are you capturing screen grabs? If I understand your final goal, I might have some better answers. Thanks for the healing wishes. I'm healing more slowly than I'd like, now that we've discovered the CRPS, it's going much faster, but it took 5 doctors, a Blackberry Storm, and a lot of time to discover what the problem was.

Brilliantly said.

Set preview to BEST/FULL prior to taking screen grab. Save as PNG for best results. If you'd search the Sony Creative Software site (only Sony site) you'll find the answer there. The aspect ratio isn't distorted by Vegas, but rather by MS Word. If your source is HDV or DV, the pixels are not square, and MS Word cannot read non-square pixel images. Therefore, you have to export from Vegas using a square pixel format, ie; 720 x 360 for a widescreen square pixel image.

We see lots of precocious kids that want to (and probably could drive) well before the legal age, too. Does that mean we teach them? Having an attitude of "nah, you're not ready" and dismissing the discussion will likely end up in them going to someone else who *will* teach them when there aren't clear cut rules that everyone agrees on. There is a BMCI/E routinely takes people with fewer than 200 jumps as well. Both attitudes are wrong from my point of view. Explain why there is a recommended jump milestone, provide exercises for the prospective wingsuiter that will help him/her as they work towards the wingsuit goal, and encourage them to build skills that will benefit them for that day when they first put on the nylon is a more productive approach as opposed to saying "you're not ready" and "you don't know what you don't know, come see me when you have 200." Teach, don't alienate, IMO. Teaching doesn't mean you need to help them harm themselves doing something they're not ready for, either.

Sony MRU (Memory Recording Unit). This uses CF cards, has a firewire interface. You'd have a 4 pin cable from the HC1 (or other firewire camcorder) that runs to the 6pin input of the MRU. I've used this several times in the past with the EX1 as a backup device. Works great.

Two CX100's weigh less than one HC1. HC1 has greater latitude (dark to light) better low light sensitivity, larger sensor, slightly better compression algorithm. you can buy a small module from Sony (or others) that would allow you to go tapeless with the HC1, but that would cost about the same as a CX100. The only benefits to the CX100 over the HC1, IMO, are: Weight (less than half) Tapeless (much faster capture/debrief) Size (obviously much smaller) Longer battery life Replacement cost