DSE

I had a moron at Best Buy tell me the same thing, even as he told me they haven't had the CX100 in stock "for months." Then I walked around to the outside of the camer department and showed him three colors and 6 stock items that his store hasn't had "in months." Sometimes store clerks are just uninformed (or very dim.).

I don't read it the same way you do. I read it as having alternative/secondary methods. I feel his point is at the least worthy of a valid discussion rather than beating it down and summarily dismissing it. What is the comparative percentage of"straight down" landings you've experienced vs "O' shit I flared too late and am still moving forward" or "O shit, I'm flying downwind and know I can't run it out?" How many legstraps are stained with streaks of grass due to forward movement and slides? I know I've surely seen a lot of them, haven't you? Teaching people how to slide in and avoid injury to the coccyx, pelvis, spine is (IMO) as important as teaching a proper PLF, if not moreso.

Someday, you'll outgrow ponies just as I've outgrown the photoshop additions. It's as bad as publishing Purple Mike pix. Maybe worse.

Apparently I'm missing a post; I don't see anywhere that anyone is suggesting "to abandon the concept altogether?" It's equally if not more absurd to dismiss that under modern parachutes, landings will contain equal or more forward energy than downward energy, yet no one wants to talk about it as anything but a "PLF." "Modifying the technique" isn't what it is, IMO. It's a different technique entirely. It's easy to test; Come to the DZ. I'll drive my truck (33" from tailgate to ground, less than the height from which we learn to PLF) over the grass landing area at a speed of 15mph (an approximated speed of landing). You'll jump off the back of the tailgate facing the direction of the truck's travel. Land on the balls of your feet, rotate to your calf, rotate to your thigh, then hips.butt, then butt, Elbows/shoulder (the five points of a PLF) and we'll see if your body stops there and without injury. We both know it won't. Additional techniques should be taught or at least discussed. I believe that's the nature of Kimemerson's question. Why dismiss it so readily? It makes sense to question the validity of vertical descent training without recognizing horizontal movement given that so much of the energy is horizontal.

Bence joined the flock today. Great job, great flight.

At the same time (I believe PLF's should be taught no matter what), should a discussion of high-speed forward motion landings should be given equal time? Flaring high (saw a nasty landing from high flare just today), and not flaring, flaring late, downwind are all as equally likely. Do you think it's appropriate to ignore scenarios where a proper PLF isn't going to help, and may hurt?

I think that many folks don't understand the dynamic of what you're suggesting. We still teach PLF's in the FJC, yet we also talk about how that information translates/changes with forward motion. Being able to "slide in" on your side and perform a PLF-like landing with significant forward speed is certainly different than jumping off a 4' platform and being able to roll to five points of contact. I've got video of a young woman doing a "by the book" PLF while landing downwind. She rolled onto her shoulder which in turn put her feet into the air, she bounced on to her head and consequently put out a hand. And broke her wrist. Had she slid in on her thigh rolling to the side she'd have been much better off.

"You cannot advertise products for sale..." in bold as the 'only rule' is probably somewhat is off-putting to a company like PD (and mine). I have blogged a great deal about various skydiving events and experiences, but occasionally blog about various products, why I like them, and in two cases, why I produced products related to skydiving. Limiting speech to be non-offensive is one thing; telling PD or other skydiving manufacturer they can't "market" through their blog defeats the very intention of a manufacturer's intentionality for blogging.

haven't flown the Pulse, but do have about 100 jumps on the Storm, roughly 1000 jumps on Silhouettes in various sizes, and perhaps 100 on the Spectre. I disagree it opens like a spectre, and it flies nothing like a Spectre. I'm not a Spectre fan. But I surely do love my Storms. First canopy I was happy enough with to jump ship from the Sihouette, which IMO, is a GREAT camera, beginner, and wingsuit canopy. Smooth, easy, sporty but not uber-fast, and ridiculously easy to pack. Looking forward to playing with the Pulse in a couple of weeks...but I'm fairly confident that the Storm will continue to be my main.

not yet. Things are very busy/crazy scheduling, plus winds have been nasty, We're jumping, but saw a scary tandem collapse at about 150'...looked like Big Ears on a paraglider...

let's keep the other thread going.

dunno, He didn't have any pix to show uswhen we got down/ Wish you were here, Scotty (and all the other birds too).

Today we were jumping in Hawaii. A vidiot wearing a tracking suit is in the plane with us. He says he's going out before us. I'm good with that. Turns out, he'd asked one of the other WX guys if he could shoot our exit (I'm unaware of this). He climbs out to the camera step at the normal "tandem exit spot" for the DZ. I'm not paying attention, because I know where the spot I want is at, and we're not there yet. He's hanging on the side of the aircraft, and I'm thinking..."What's he doing out there?" I look out, we're still not on the exit point. I keep looking at him with "What are you up to?" and he just keeps grinning. Finally, my partner says "He wants to shoot our exit." Well...we're not to the spot yet, and he's wearing a tracking suit...but "OK." I timed it on my NLE, we made him hang on the side of the Caravan for nearly 40 seconds...And he just smiled the whole time. We laughed for quite about it at the DZ, and laughed even harder when we put timecode to the video.

I think it's a relevant topic, and in spite of some of the responses, I think it's a very explorable idea. Wish I'd thought of it. I can get Transcend 2GB drives in bulk for about 2.00... Store either MP4 or MPEG 2 (or even MPEG 1) and virtually everything can play it. Heck, include a Quicktime installer if they can't play mp4...because an mp4 at 640 x 360 will play on almost all iPods, plus any computer. Plus can be straight upload to Youtube

I'm flattered, Jarno, but I refuse to share my throne with ANYONE. Even you. Yuri made me a king, and by god, I wear my crown proudly. Any honor bestowed by Juri is worth far more than the spittle I expended when I received the honor. Find your own throne.

This thread and the accompanying tutorial should help you?

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/business/media/23warner.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q268dpc&OP=1aeb280dQ2FbjHKbxikQ3CQ24iihQ2BbQ2B@@lb@rbQ2BrbKqQ3CeYHQ3CQ3Cb_HxeWbQ2BrjWQ24YHQ24Q23Q51h_Q3E You may need to register to read; it's free.

Great tip/great reminder! All NLE systems (in the consumer/Pro-sumer space) do this, but some are much easier. With Sony Vegas or Canopus Edius, simply plug in the camera; the application recognizes it's 50i or 60i when the stream comes in. But I think David's question is more relevant to non-computer related issues, ie; you can't use a PAL camera with analog NTSC editing boards, and you can't do a one-touch burn to a DVD that will play in a student's DVD player.

Color correction is outstanding (gamma on the HC5 sux). Nicely done, Matt.

I use a bit of gaffer's tape on doors/LCD panels or a small bungee, no matter what. If that panel flips open during a skydive, you'll very likely bend it far enough to damage the ribbon cable and or the hinge, or worse.The snap that's there is from a different camera, but it serves its purpose on that particular sidemount.

PAL cameras work in the US, but they won't interface with anything but a computer, and they're slow to convert to NTSC for DVD delivery to students. You'll likely want to purchase a 60i camcorder that is compatible with both computers and analog equipment. As far as a camera, a few minutes searching around this forum will provide you with many answers... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3450879#3450879

Congratulations! It's a great feeling to jump with your daughter, isn't it? Particularly on a milestone skydive.

I've been using Cineform for years, they sponsored an HDV tour with us 6-7 years ago. Very sweet product, excellent cross-platform codec, and used most recently on "Slumdog Millionaire" as the acquisition and editing codec (yes, the very same as the one they use for AVCHD and HDV conversion). Pricey, and probably not optimal for rushing skydivers, but you Mac-only guys are crippled anyway for speed with HDV and AVC...This codec kicks the crap out of Prores 4:2:2 and of course, AIC. But the package is spendy.

Manual focus, greater image control, OIS, larger optic, auto lens cover, and a few more bells/whistles. AVCHD is the new "DV" and it is not noisier than HDV. It has the potential to make noise MORE VISIBLE due to the higher compression, but noise is related to the sensor, not the format. If the sensor is clean, so shall be the picture. The EXMOR processor and imager are the most clean small-format sensors ever developed (and are part of the Cinealta line of XDCAM). They use a sample comparison of pre/post processing to reduce noise, much like phase cancellation of an audio signal. What makes the CX100 sweet is: Super small Lightweight Picture quality per dollar 1920 x 1080 vs 1440 x 1080 HDMI out for debrief Composite or component out for immediate debrief or analog editing in SD Long battery life SUPER easy to use. Low comparative cost.``

If your timeline is going red, it suggests you've turned off Event Grouping, which separates audio from video. Look at your Options/Ignore event grouping. See if that's off.