DSE

I'm here for two more days, if you're gonna make it, Phil... Your comments on the blog are appreciated. Hope to see you before I jet off to the great snowy place back home. You were missed on this project.

Then it isn't similar to an FX1000...Not if it weighs the same as the PC350. The heavier weight and substantially higher profile create a greater 'whip' at opening, and you'll feel it, no doubt. I've jumped the FX1000, it's about the same as the EX1, FX1/Z1, etc. It's a typical prosumer camcorder. you'll want more than just the threaded tripod mount for an attachment point. I use long, industrial strength zip ties going over the lens (removing the lens hood) and over the back just forward of the battery housing. It's a rudder, it provides a much bigger profile to the wind than you'd expect. To really make good use of this type of camera, you still need a wide adapter, and this is where you gain a tremendous amount of weight/imbalance. none of the 65mm-82mm wide adapters are light.... The picture quality you get is indeed slightly better, but not so much that it's worth being hurt for, so be very careful. For a school project? I don't know that I'd take the half hour extra it takes to mount (and my helmet top is made for this sort of thing) vs using a CX or HC series cam. Depending on the actual model (you suggest it *isn't* an FX1000) then it likely is a tremendously greater snag hazard. There is no way to keep the microphone on an FX1000 from being a snag hazard, as just one example. You can't put pressure on it with the zip ties; it'll break off. You can't remove it easily, there are quite a few circuits in there. Be sure to gaff the LCD preview screen down as well. Either way, it's fun to jump with, just plan it carefully, practice the deployment/head positioning on the ground, and you'll likely be just fine.

I'm more of a MOON person, hence the blue face. Any suggestions for me? As far as I know, we don't have our own beer.

it'll take you longer, because it's being converted during import. BTW, FWIW, jpg is usually the preferred upload format. For appication screen grabs, .gif is even better, usually.

393. And a couple with you. Damn weather today...hope you're up for a jump tomorrow.

SD-about 1 min HD-About 2.5 mins on my system. Speed is dependent on how your system is set up, to a degree. USB bus is shared with CPU. Firewire has its own bus. If you have an ESATA connection, I've heard these are much faster, but haven't tried one myself. Using the Express Card reader *seems* faster, but I haven't actually timed it. Short answer is that different systems will Xfer at different speeds.

I didn't realize you were old enough to know who Kris Kristopherson is, let alone know his catalog! Impressive.

Be careful, the page you linked to will download the Zlob.porn.ad virus/trojan to computers not properly protected. I'd prefer to look at a picture of the real Skittles

Nuh-uh! He was a rock star. I saw the movie of his bio. Ted Neeley studied under him, and IMO, did a better job than the original. One might even suggest Jesus was the Elvis of his day. -Elvis walked on water, so did Jesus. -Elvis died, but many think he's really still alive, just like Jesus. -Elvis had a bigger following in his lifetime than all the people on the planet combined at the time of Jesus. -Elvis sold more records than Jesus did. -There are more books about Elvis than there are books in the bible. -Elvis was a white guy that sang like he was black. Jesus was a black guy that everyone portrays as white. -Elvis wore white flowing robes of leather and studs; Jesus wore white flowing robes of cotton (leather wasn't cool in the desert, especially with the vegans). They maybe were even related, because I've seen movies of Elvis; one of them he was making love to a woman and she screamed "Sweet Jesus!" at the appropriate time. Jesus is more popular than Elvis though... Happy New Year, Ryoder

Man...I wish I was there with you. (not really, it's 80 degrees here in Florida). The "new and improved" Tiki Bar with bartender Harry Parker is very nice.

Taya is pretty darn sweet, does that make her a sugar glider?

I suspect it's more because: A-she's not running for VP with a near-death, flip-flopper as a running mate; B-CK is NOwhere near as ignorant as Sarah Palin, who most now recognize as a last-ditch attempt to save a failing campaign. Her good looks and 'folksy' manner of speaking belied the ignoramus that laid not-so-far beneath the surface, however...CK at least has an education with a law degree from Columbia, and receiving degrees from Radcliffe and Harvard. More privileged? Surely. Yet also a far cry from a 7 school shuffle that ended with a BA from the University of Idaho. At least CK can form complete sentences, even if she is fond of "you-knowing" listeners to death.

I like to think of the photography crowd as being a special group. I've appreciated learning from and sharing with so many of you this past year. Looking forward to a great 2009. Happy 2009, everyone! Yeah, I'm breaking the rules, turn me in to one of the moderators.

Congrats, Pat! Been nice having you around our DZ too, hope to see you do one of your milestones with us. Happy New Year to ya!!

Thanks for the reminder, Howard... Looking forward to seeing you there.

Star Skydiving/Boise, Idaho had a Cessna boogie in October of this year. I don't know if it's annual or not.

I'll second the Silhouette. It can be packed for fast or slow openings, but fast or slow...it's a sweet opening canopy. Sparky recommended the Sil for me a couple years back, and I've never regretted it. I've since moved to a Storm and Sabre 2, but have approx 1000 jumps on Silhouettes in various sizes. Super easy to pack too.

Pinnacle sucks. There is a reason the largest retail distributor on the planet (Navarre) returned over 1M of product to Avid...they couldn't afford the high return rate. Putting them in on a site license, IMO, is just begging for trouble. Adobe Premiere Elements, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Canopus Edius Studio are all significantly better, 100% reliable, and better supported. next...as Phil mentions, why is your video so compressed? 26% of potential quality is a strange option.

Don't forget lens distortion in addition to angle of view. Aspherical lenses distort the distances as well.

Very important question; are you using 8C? There is a known bug with HDV files in Vegas 7c/d and 8 a/b.

Yes, I understand that using the grid model, the Z axis somewhat counts, but IMO, it should entirely count. If someone is 24" or more above/below, then that invalidates the formation, or something like that (random number, pulled outta my backside). I like the 3D concept, and see it as very useful and fairly easy to construct. But, it may be too complex for the Luddites and non-creatives that seem to make up the FAI crowd. re; artistic nuances; John Adams' music is mathematically perfect, and is a strain on most ears. Same can be said for many other endeavors. Conversely, the music of Tomita or Nickelback is far from mathematically perfect, but easy on the ears. It's subjective. Does the mathematically perfect formation carry more weight than the asymetrical formation that 'looks' right?' There is a groove, we've all felt it, where everything fits. It may not be mathematically right but everyone involved knows it is right. As we get into more vertical formations, some of this becomes easier while some of it becomes more difficult as well. While formation skydiving does need a consistent means of measurement, should measurebation be the sole validating factor in composing and judging a formation?

We have LOTS of foam noodles...about .99 at your local walmart in the kids toys/pool area. But I don't think they'll work. IMO, this is the most productive discussion on the subject yet (trying to find a solution vs criticizing an experiment). One problem I see with this solution, Costyn, is it only takes 2 axis' into account. So does the grid. How does the Z axis come into play, other than the point being larger/smaller in the image? If someone is in their slot 20' below, they'll still fit the matrix. Should that count? What about the artistic nuances? How are those quantified? Or are they? If it's all about numbers...

Be sure you're using the HD/SDI capture app vs the DV capture app. Be sure the camera isn't in downconvert mode. These two are the most common culprits in any capture issue with HDV.

Looking forward to meeting in person! BTW, blog is updated, lotsa pix, and video coming

mpeg LA is the official licensing organization that controls the receipt and distribution of royalties related to all things MPEG. http://www.mpegla.org/index1.cfm If you make DVDs, NLE software, cameras that encode to MPEG, broadcast MPEG, create software products that conform, alter, ingest, output MPEG, you pay these guys a royalty after you've created up to 10,000 units/pieces/copies. They also license VC1 (microsoft's codec) among other relevant encoders/decoders. No one in this community would likely ever have reason to know much about MPEG LA. My company makes a software converter for PC that requires us to have an MPEG LA agreement. If my small company can deal with it, why can't/won't Apple?