In This Issue ...

Editor's ViewPoint
The MailBag
Featured Articles
Product Spotlight
Tip Of The Week
Download Of The Week
 

Editor's ViewPoint

Hello there, its been raining pretty heavily here in Singapore. Bad weather we've been having lately. Sure hope the skies clear up a little so I can go out for some fresh air.

Well, first up this week: Panasonic has started the year quick with announcements of new DVD and MiniDV camcorders, several of which feature 3CCDs, OIS and - in the case of two models - a whopping 30x Optical Zoom ratio. What's more, all cams now come with USB 2.0 for video and image transfer (though FireWire is still included on the DV models) and bundled video editing software.

The 2006 line-up includes three new DVD cams (the VDR-D300, VDR-D250 and VDR-D100) and five new MiniDV models (the 3CCD NV-GS500, NV-GS300, NV-GS280 models and 1CCD NV-GS37, NV-GS27 models).

Sonic Solutions has also released DVDit Pro 6 for Windows XP. DVDit Pro is an affordable way to prepare and master a professional-looking DVD with a variety of multimedia content. The program, designed by a firm that creates sophisticated high-end software for Hollywood and professional recording studios, is aimed primarily at the serious hobbyist and mid-range professional videographer who wants a user-friendly program that goes beyond the features of most low-to-midrange priced authoring programs.

Gary Hendricks
Desktop-Video-Guide.com Editor

The MailBag

Different video connectors explained

Question: I'm hopelessly confused about the different video connectors used in analog / digital video. Can you help?

Andy, Sydney

Answer: I know your pain, Andy. If you are new to video, figuring out all of those audio and video cables and connectors can be as difficult as untangling a bowl of spaghetti one noodle at a time.

There are many different connectors out there - some for audio (XLR
and RCA) and others for video. Let's look at each of them:

• XLR connectors are used to connect microphones and other balanced audio devices and for the AES/EBU digital audio connection.
• An RCA connector is also called a phono plug and is often used to connect consumer audio and video equipment like VCRs, tuners, and CD players.
• BNC, which stands for baby N connector, is used to connect various video sources, including analog composite, analog component, and serial digital video interface (SDI).
• The S-Video connector connects S-Video equipment, like S-VHS camcorders and video disks.
• In video, IEEE 1394 is used to connect a camcorder or digital tape recorder to a computer’s IEEE 1394 port.

Featured Articles

Burn VCD Discs using Nero Burning ROM
Do you have problems creating VCDs? If you've created a bunch of home movies and their lying on your computer's hard disk, you can ... read more

How to Record Digital Video from Your PC to VCR
You’ve probably heard about how you can save a digital movie from your PC to a digital camcorder, but did you know you could save it ... read more

Learn to Convert Your Videos to the DivX Format
In this article we will teach a very important technique in digital video—how to convert video to DivX. A video to DivX conversion is ... read more

Product Spotlight

A Great Place to Store Photos, Videos and Music Online

Streamload is a great online repository for storing, accessing, and sharing your photo, video and music files. You can upload files to yourself, as a way of backing them up or making them accessible from any Internet machine you might use. Or you can post files for others to access and receive files from them - even people who aren't Streamload subscribers.

Streamload's pay-for-access pricing structure also makes it a good place to back up you files; you only pay should you need to access them. All in all, a great place to store content online.

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Tip of The Week

Stop-motion movies involve taking inanimate objects, such as clay models, and patiently taking a picture, moving the model slightly, taking another picture, and so on until a complete movie has been produced. 'Gumby and Pokey' and 'Wallace and Gromit' are examples of productions created using claymation.

Well, those of us who are artistically challenged refuse to be left out of the fun. We can make stop motion movies too, only we'll use plastic bricks instead of clay. Enter my favorite childhood toy … LEGOs.

You should probably determine the genre of movie you would like to produce, since a cowboy will appear slightly out of place in a Science Fiction movie (unless of course, you've decided to make a SciFi Western). If you already have some LEGOs available, you might as well take them into consideration when deciding your genre.

A great side benefit of using LEGOs to create a movie is they are much easier to direct than human actors … and they don't eat as much ... hahaha.

Although stop-motion software is not essential, it is extremely helpful in producing this type of movie. Stop-motion software is commercially available for both Macintosh and Windows. For Mac OS X, Boinx software distributes iStopMotion. For Windows, Stop Motion Pro is a good tool.

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Download Of The Week

Ulead DVD MovieFactory is the quick, easy way to make great DVD movies, music discs and write data on DVDs or CDs.

The software allows you to burn video straight to disc using no hard drive space. You can also easily trim video clips, add slideshows, DVD chapters, and titles.

Anyone can use this software to produce great results - it’s aimed at the beginner and it does a great job.