DSE

Apple does not natively support AVCHD. And likely never will. Therefore, it must be transcoded. File sizes grow larger, but more importantly, it's significantly slower than native support.

So to recap: If you want to jump this camera -Turn it on before 6K or so to be safe (depending on MSL level of your DZ) Or: -Remove the HDD, deal with the error messages, and be somewhat happy. Accept violating the warranty, accept that the camera may eventually be compromised. Back to my original point: If this blows up, don't come crying around here. My opinion is that one should buy the right camera in the first place.

have you registered the MPEG decoder? Any third party decoder packs on the computer?

Plastic rings expand/contract more easily than metal, they grow brittle in sunlight or cold, and generally don't last very long. I have seen a plastic stepdown split and lose a lens on deployment. I'd have a hard time recommending plastic in any case over metal. But that's just my opinion. YMMV. The Century .55 is a low profile lens; it's not going to come off any differently with a plastic vs metal ring. Century metal stepdown rings are black metal, not shiny silver. They don't need to be bought; an assortment comes with every Century lens.

All Century 37mm lenses come with stepdown rings, and they're solid metal quality, not plastic crap like Raynox provides.

yes, they do. No doubt. But...for compatibility purposes, we use USB. This may change this year, as we're changing how the editing program is managed. Not everyone has an eSATA card on their computer at home...but many of the ex drives today offer eSATA along with USB2

Unfortunately, yes. Scripting is what allows Vegas with PA to make the auto-edits. Chris/Parachutist can tell you more, he's the host of the project and wrote the macros that make the one-button work fastest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoL54bbbJfk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHu6iqUm4DE We released a DVD that contains a 2 minute editing workflow (can be faster, once you get a little practice).

There is only the start/stop button on the back of the cam, so yes...even with a light glove you could manage operating this camera.

you couldn't write a script for Hollywood with this sort of scare in it. I can't imagine a DZO having to charge skydivers a fee of 175.00 for a screening and badge? At every DZ? Hopefully skydivers (who voted with great pathos this USPA election) are taking note, and making comments on the Homeland Security site.

You can't start/stop from the mini, it's just an indicator. The DPro is an indicator, start/stop, etc.

In addition to what the others have said... CONGRATS! It's a great piece of gear.

Is your software licensed? The audio will not play if you're using unlicensed Vegas Platinum. Also, you're running the 9a update?

Were you carrying any of the below documents? http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1147.shtm http://www.cypres-usa.com/dot_pr_082500.pdf http://www.cypres-usa.com/AirTravelUpdate.htm Traveling through NZ, I didn't have issue, but I also had my reserve card pocket filled with paperwork.

In DV mode, the HC3 transfers to/from most other DV cameras just fine. There is always the odd duck that won't, but that's not the HC3's fault.

If the lens test doesn't answer your question, I don't know what will. The Liquid, WayCool, Royal lenses are all approximately the same. The Royal in testing, has a very thin, marginal edge. Not enough to get overly excited about. Century and Raynox shown in the tests clearly offer better resolution.

If the HC3 is in good, working condition, I'd certainly take it over an HC62 any day. It's HD, you have options, and they're not much different size-wise.

Here is the presentation from PIA. I'm lazy; the font is not embedded. IE users have said it looks fine, Firefox users have told me the text is all over the map. It looks fine in Safari. So...hope it helps. Please bear in mind that the PowerPoint presentation was designed with a narrative (live presenter) in mind, so there are some thoughts that may appear to be incomplete, as the intent was to verbally go further in-depth. I hope it helps someone/a DZ figure out what they're doing in the transition from an analog to digital, hybrid analog/digital workflow to all digital. you'll need to wait for the backround to load up; it's not fast. Like I said, I'm lazy. It was either be lazy and get it online fast (by Safety Day as promised) or go over it with a fine comb and maybe get it online by Christmas 09 Your browser may ask if you want to run the Active X component, you do. Look in the lower right corner for the "Slide Show" button. Select this button to watch the slides full-screen. There are a few large images; please be patient. They'll take a bit of time to load.

I'm not sure what you're seeing there, but the Century has nearly three times the resolution of the Diamond at the centerpoint, and significantly more resolution at the edges than the Diamond. Of course, cost is a significant difference too. The Diamond .2 is a terrific handcam lense; maybe I'm too much of a snob but I can't see using it anywhere but there. It's pretty soft, as are all .2 lenses once you move from the center.

What app are you using? This next "description" sounds like frame skip, not compression artifact. Compression artifact can be clearly seen when pausing on a single frame and macroblocks are visible in the high motion areas vs solid segments in the low motion areas. The app you use, computer for playback, decoder all play a role in seeing this correctly. That's one of the downsides of the new codecs, so many relevant factors, it's not easy to tie to one thing. Have you viewed the footage over HDMI directly to display? Are you still seeing the artifact/frame skip/less than happy image over HDMI? I can easily make this camera look terrible by shooting wth certain movements and subjects. I can make those same scenes look great by altering how I'm managing the camera. With highly compressed formats, working with the camera is fairly important, although what you're describing *seems* to be app/playback related.

There is a *huge* difference between stabilization, interlacing, and compression issues. From your earlier description, it sounds like interlacing. Jarno understands compression pretty well (he's a compositor by profession), so I'm pretty confident he's describing GOP issues, which are present whether it's AVCHD or HDV (or any other form of IBP MPEG). There I go being technical again. Gotta quit that.

ANY time you modify the content of a frame, it's recompressed. Deinterlacing, color correction, transition, title, etc... all create recomp. The frame has to be reassembled because you changed it. In this thread of discussion, you're not only modifying the content of the frame, you're converting it to another format, so again, it'll recompress. Can't avoid it. Yes, it absolutely can be. There is no "right nor wrong" answer, because the answer is dependent on your needs. Tell me more about your archiving needs and delivery needs, I'll try to help.

This is turning into a Bonfire thread TSA locks are padlocks that only TSA can open. They're supposed to prevent ramp rats from getting into your gear. False sense of security. I prefer *suggesting* they inspect our gear, and then put ties on the boxes. We use colored ties so it's immediately apparent if they've been broken into.

Not without a significant modification, no. I don't have enough jumps with the camera to definitively say it does not. I have not experienced this. It'snot a worm-drive zoom so I doubt it does. Yes, for 12 seconds in super slow mo. It does not have extended p60 capability. Of course. That's where I start charging. You're welcome to call us at Sundance Media Group (sundancemediagroup.com) and set up high-def production consultation with Mannie or Dave, and they'll arrange a time and cost (we consult HD and transitional projects as a major part of our business, and we charge for that service). I'd be pleased to help. Glad to hear you're back in the air! Ishdaddy: Your friend is not correct, I guarantee it. SonyStyle has nothing to do with professional products, in fact, they compete. The product manager for this product (Tatsuro) for Broadcast Professional Services Division (BPSD) and I have had several "interesting" discussions on this subject. The feeling is a breakaway is too costly to add to the camera system and as you point out, different users have different requirements. It's the KISS theory, one Sony is very good at practicing in their products, if not how they market and distribute their products. I wish your friend was right.

I misunderstood your point; I was under the impression you wanted to share the quality of the footage with the forum, not that you were intent on sharing an edited piece. Lots of options here. Archiving? The answer to that is dependent on what you're attempting to achieve. Archive original quality for later use/recall? Original media only. Archive master edit that you used to deliver on DVD? The MPEG2. Archive for posterity? MPEG 4, but understand nothing will smoothly play it back at full size/resolution without hardware, so i'd use a Blu-ray template vs the custom one you used for this. You can blend or interpolate. For slow moving footage, Blend is the best option. For fast moving footage, Interpolate is the best option. Mike Crash' deinterlace filter is very good for what it is, but it's slow. If speed is your need...let Vegas do it on its own. If you're delivering for the web, I'd just use the settings as I recommended in the YouTube article.