DSE

That title (honor??) officially goes to Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General of the State of Utah, and his Internet Crimes Against Children task force. More arrests (not per capita) and more convictions in the last three years than any state in history. And, worldwide they've uncovered many child porn rings from Croatia, Estonia, etc. His team was part of the 700 member bust in London this past week. Very proud of Mark, He's done a few skydives for charity. Had to lose 40 lbs to do it, but he's done it a few times.

you mean there are DZ's that *don't* do it this way?

You don't want to be buying gear til you have your license, but going for cheap is a good idea. Chances of you jumping the same gear in 50 jumps after finishing AFF are slim. Additionally, the DZ where you go thru AFF may not even allow you to jump on gear that they aren't familiar with. I'd recommend checking with them before buying anything. Dunno about other DZ's, but our DZ won't allow more than two per day during AFF, except in unique circumstances and the head AFF instructor agrees. I've been at other DZ's where they had a limit on the number of AFF jumps in a day as well.

Gotta second that. Kolla, Kim and crew are terrific. If for no other reason, they make it worthwhile to own PD canopies.

I'm with AFFI on this one; our DZ is pumping em' out faster than our plane can carry them 6 days a week. More tandems, more AFFs, more employees than ever before, (funny how that works out). However, geographically I'm sure it's different. You can postulate and theorize all you want, but the younger generation will always be younger than those that are older... edited to add: That really happens/gets whined about?

Look at my post. There is a picture of a vladiball in flight attached to the post. If they blow up, apparently it's because of a cracked bladder. Bladders can be overheated in a car, etc. it's a small ball, split in half with a post and ribbon on the top. Two halves are put together once the shot is put in to them, held closed with a rubber band. On the ride to altitude, as pressure decreases, the bladder forces a pin into the bottom of the two halves of the ball. Once the pin is firmly seated in the two halves, the rubberband can be removed, and should be kept on the wrist of the ballmaster so when he retrieves it at breakoff, it can be closed and pocketed. As mentioned in previous posts, each person on our skyball jumps wears a rubber band on the wrist in case they end up with the ball at breakoff. I can post vid should you want. PM me.

the unit I was given for a short test had some issues. On the side of skydiving, I can say it worked. On the question of image quality, the pre-production model I had wasn't complete nor software-updated, so I'll reserve comment. I expect to have another CX in my hands not later than next Wed (6/27/07). I'll reserve image quality comments til then. Remember, this is AVCHD. For editing (currently) you've got two choices in the typical DZ workflow; a-capture analog SD over composite (Loses most benefit of static mem) b-use an NLE that accepts AVCHD. currently Avid Liquid sorta manages it, Sony Vegas manages Sony/JVC AVCHD but not Panasonic (Panny chose their own flavor of codec again) Sony says they'll support Panny soon. If you don't want to use SD capture, if you want to use AVCHD, the other option is to purchase EleCard for $49.99, and CineForm NEO for $149.99 This will give you access to converted AVCHD in any NLE except FCP. AVCHD is going to be the next DV, but it will be a while before its all compatible like DV has become.

Yeah, but Lucas makes the transitions blatant, obvious, and they work well in how he designs his production and cuts. Robert Rodriquez does some of the same in his SpyKids films as part of the same concept. It's almost like a tradition. However, since most of us aren't Lucas or Rodriquez, it's probably a good idea to stick to conservative vs bouncing balls, 3D cubes, etc. Please bear in mind that the article linked was published in a magazine aimed at soccer moms/dads, so it's not entirely applicable.

I'm a proud owner of a few gloves; I like the new Ozonefly glove quite a bit. It's very comfortable, solid, and adapts to fit more/larger cameras than the other wrist mounts I've got. It also has a cutaway, which seems a bit odd, but they told me that in Europe, they're more or less required to have a safety release. It does (barely) adjust to hold the high def cams with a .2 lens mounted.

The Vladiball (for all intent/discussion) is an altimeter that pushes a small pin instead of a small needle/armature. You fill the ball on the ground, steel or lead shot are best used. The ball is held together with a rubber band/stoe until you hit altitude of around 3K. Remove the rubber band (I wait until just before exit and slide it over my wrist). If the ball hits around 1k or so, the pin that is holding it closed retracts due to pressure change. This causes the shot to fall out and because the shot is so light, it spreads out. At worse, it might pit the paint on a car below. On our dives, the ballmaster gets the ball above 4k. Rubberband is slid back around the slender ball, and ball is placed in pocket or tossed down your shirt. Everyone on the dive carries a rubber band on their wrist in case the ballmaster doesn't get the ball at breakoff.

This article is probably way beneath most everyone here, but thought I'd share it for the newbies.

If you shoot HDV, then you MUST capture from an HDV cam. No choices. Were I in the market to buy a camera in the next 3 months, I'd wait. Were I in the market to buy a camera tomorrow, I'd purchase an HC5/7/3. There are two new cameras, both of which we'll have for testing in the next 30 days, that I'll report on. Both are CF-based, both AVCHD, both look promising. It won't be HDV, which is easy to edit. It won't be HDV, which is easy to convert...but it *is* tapeless/driveless. This past weekend, I had to hand off my work to an editor due to high volumes. I had the camera downconvert with the cam still mounted to my helmet, so he was capturing DV wide. Looked pretty good anyway, still FAR FAR better than the DV my co-workers are shooting. Then again, I'm shooting stuff that isn't tandem-only, as much of it is going to other avenues. But...I shoot everything in HDV regardless of where it's going to end up, simply because I have an archive. I've jumped a few bigger cameras, but frankly...the difference is no longer that great between 16mm and HDV converted to Sheer or CineForm or other DI...so it's not gonna get much better on a bang per pound comparison. That'll change late this summer though.

Shooting HDV and downconverting is best for linear editing, yes. If you can shoot/edit HDV and not downconvert in camera, but output to MPEG2 SD from the HDV source is the best idea from an NLE workflow.

Tie a harness to the ground with a 6ft tether, put on an old canopy, try to keep it (and yourself) in the air. Inflatable bowling pins with large ball, swoop or land into the ball pushing it forward to knock over pins. Play poker by randomly drawing 5 names per team/creating teams. Landing on face-down cards, whoever has the best hand wins. One we haven't tried, but I want to, is slingshot water balloons at people landing.

Your right on about inevitable. I'd say 1/3 of dz.com is just grillings. 2/3 of my dz.com career has been grillings. but contrary to popular belief they actually piss me off. The outcome of the situation would be much different if you were meeting these guys in person. (DSE) I agree. Although it is hard sometimes, I tend not to take anything that is said here personal. Although most people here are far more experienced than I am, they tend to use the ability to hide behind a username and play the odds of never meeting in person to stroll about on their high-horse. That is not to say, by any means, that a lot of the people talking big couldn't fly circles blindfolded around me. I have taken much advice from the site, with many grains of salt. I have received a LOT of useful info. I have received many grilling as well, though! Anyway, now that this thread was derailed... I basically posted it to accept about 10 flamings to every "Wow, what were the odds! Neat!" I don't think anyone is grilling you in this thread. Skyball is a helluva lot of fun; I've been on several and enjoy them. However, the video you posted invites several comments, safety doesn't appear to be a big deal in that vid. Add to that the concern that you're jumping a tennis ball vs something safer. Our DZ is very remote as well, with cattle sometimes beneath us or within half a mile of us. Additionally, there are other aircraft parked on the apron, outbuildings, etc. The rule at our DZ is that nothing but a Vladiball or other pressure-release device is used. The terminal velocity of a tennis ball filled with shot is around 150-170mph, and it'll seriously ruin anyone/anything's day if it hits. It would go through top/bottom of a vehicle, easily. I'm sure someone will think something ridiculous like "The lesson to be learned is don't let the ball burn in." Accidents happen to the best jumpers with the best intentions. The one death we've had in 15 years at our DZ was a skyball jump; too many people in the same place going for the same target =broken neck. If asking questions about safety considerations is considered "grilling" then I guess I'm guilty. Skyball is a lot of fun, but also can be more dangerous than the average skydive.

Skydivers believe in Santa Claus and delivery dates. Both are useless ideals. I ordered my rig in January. Still don't have. Ordered my canopy in November, modified the order in March. It came last week.

You didn't mention the Harrisons; William Henry Harrison and his grandson Benjamin Harrison. They were big tobacco, which is more or less the big oil of today.

Crossfire is very popular, so is the Spectre. I jumped pretty well everything with and without my helmet and ended up settling on a PD Silhouette (It's also the canopy of choice for the military, as I've recently been shown). Super soft, on-heading openings, semi-elliptical, very trustworthy, IMO. Fun landings are not a problem at all. One of the camera guys at our DZ just purchased a Crossfire II and loves it. Then again, he'd been jumping a Sabre1 previously, so anything will have a softer opening after that one.

Bit rate is determined by your encoder (the software that converts your DV to MPEG) and there should be a menu somewhere in there. If you're using Roxio as your encoder, you can set the bitrate there. A bitrate of around 6.5Mbps should be very suitable, even though you have the ability to go up to 9.2Mbps. Some DVD players can't manage this speed.

I still don't know what you're burning. Stills/slideshow? Video? I'll assume video, as you say they "won't play through." What bitrate are you burning? Some encoders attempt to burn at max bitrate, which is rarely compatible. CBR? VBR? I know it's a lot to type, but you're assuming that I understand/know what you're doing in each step. For example, I don't understand why you build an ISO for each video; it's not needed. You can build/have the authoring app build a VOB straight from the MPEG files and menus. If you build an ISO and add to it, it needs to render the new content along with the old content, depending on how you have the DVD laid out. I'm happy to try to help you offline if need be.

The lowest bidder. TY even got caught stamping their name on crap DVDs two years ago, allegedly there were 10 million discs in that lot. The coating flew/blew off the discs kinda like how some printables blow off their coating. JT, can you be more specific about how this isn't working? Error messages/codes. etc?

I guess you misunderstood what I was meaning. "No worries about losing a tennis ball filled with BB's" means "no worries about putting a high-speed projectile" into the air. While the area looks fairly open, what about livestock, outbuildings, irrigation systems, people working their land, vehicles. asphalt roads...A 65mm bullet with velocity is going to have some serious impact value. Yeah, I know, Vladiballs cost money but they're safe. But this has been discussed to death here so I'll shut up.

No worries about losing a tennis ball filled with BBs?

It's not a stupid question, and it's one that is fair to ask. That said, I don't believe it happens to students given the methods of instruction, taught body position, etc. You should have covered this in your First Jump Course, but it's unlikely that you will receive deep instruction on this scenario, simply because you have other things you need to be learning. Others will explain it better, but it's not easy to get feet/legs tangled in lines by nature of how your container opens, body position, etc. Talk to your instructors first hand, it's *always* best to talk to someone who can see your face, comprehend your concerns, and know whether they're explaining it clearly and measuring the depth of their explanation with your ability to take it all in. *Don't* be intimidated by more experienced jumpers around you. They once were newbies too. If your instructors or the upjumpers around you make you feel intimidated, then look for other jumpers at the DZ that don't make you feel this way. If you can't find any people there that are willing to talk, bring some beer. That'll always get them talking.

Encore is a good app. Miracles? I'd debate that point. DVD Studio Pro is the best of the affordables, with (IMO) Sony DVD Architect a reasonably distant second, and then Encore, DVD Lab, etc as thirds. But IMO, *all* the apps are very good. Only DVD Studio Pro and Sony Vegas offer more or less an "iron-clad" guarantee that whatever discs you burn will be compatible/playable. One thing I like about both of them (depends on which computer was in my bag before going to the DZ) is the ability to pre-render and package extra media, so that I'm only adding stills (as Extras folders) and the tandem video or fun jump video to an already existing template complete with intro, outro, end actions, and "If you had fun on your tandem, did you know you can take the AFF course and jump solo" video. DVD Studio Pro has the sexiest templates of all, IMO, Sony's are LAME but you can easily build your own. Encore works sweetly with PShop, so it's also easy to roll your own.