Bastards.
Today, Sony released a revised version of the Reader product. The PRS-505 adds USB-mass storage mode (so you can drag and drop to it), a better control layout, and different color options. I’ve also heard that the screen is higher contrast, though I don’t see that verified anywhere. On sale nowish for $300. Get one. I love mine.
I know, I know, I just posted saying that I’m somewhat disenchanted with the iTunes Store (and just wait till I post my rant about iPhone 1.1.1) … however, iTunes itself is still my digital media jukebox of choice.
With that in mind, and with the impending arrival of an appleTV, I’ve decided to commit to iTunes as my complete digital media manager. Not just audio – video too.
There are two routes to getting video into iTunes. If you want the video to work seamlessly on iPods, iPhones and AppleTVs, you need to use something like Quicktime Pro or Visual Hub to transcode the video. This is a slow, lossy process and I have no interest in that.
Option two is to wrap the video in a Quicktime wrapper. This doesn’t touch the video data at all, just makes it look like a Quicktime file. It’ll still have XVid or Windows Media (or whatever) data inside. To do this, open the file in Quicktime, and do file->save as. Make sure to create a new file, not a reference file. The resulting mov can be dropped directly into iTunes. If you add the Perian codec to your appleTV, the files will work with that device as well (I hope, I don’t have a TV yet to test this with).
That’s great if you just have a few files, but what if you’ve got hundreds of gigabytes of video? You need automation! Other folks have created Applescripts to do this, but Quicktime 7.2 broke them all. So, I’ve created one that works with 7.2. Make sure you’ve got interface scripting turned on in the “universal access” system preference panel. Then just drop a load of videos onto this droplet and let it go to work.
SaveAsMov.zip – SaveAsMov script
From there, you’ll need to properly organize all your videos. Check out Doug’s Applescripts for Itunes page for a load of scripts to make this easier. I particularly like “set video kind” and “track names with incremented number.”
Dig it.
Amazon.com recently launched an MP3 music store, promising DRM-free 256kbit mp3s for less than the cost of an iTunes download. Initially, I didn’t pay much attention, but over the weekend I took the time to browse the service. Apple better not ignore this one.
First, let’s talk about the reasons that I normally ignore non-iTunes stores. First off, prior to this (and eMusic, but eMusic lost me years ago) the alternatives were all reliant on DRM-wrapped Windows Media. That meant no Mac playback, no iPod playback, and therefore, no Colin.
Additionally, most of the other stores have been strictly web-based, which compared with the all-in-one nature of iTunes is cumbersome and obnoxious. Amazon still suffers here, but they’ve done some clever things to work around it. By installing their download-helper application, you can purchase an album with one click, have the files downloaded in a batch and then automatically added to iTunes, with proper cover art and everything. That’s incredibly slick and makes the service far less clunky than having to click a whole load of “download now” links and then drag the files into iTunes.
The selection isn’t at iTunes levels yet, but they’ve got plenty of mainstream artists. Prices are almost universally better than iTunes – most singles are $0.89 and albums are $8.99 or less. I can’t help but wonder whether there’s any profit in this for Amazon.
Yes, buying still takes an extra couple clicks versus iTunes, and the web interface isn’t nearly as slick as iTunes, but saving a few bucks and getting DRM-free music is a pretty nice advantage. For the first time since I gave up CDs, I’m going to consider looking outside of iTunes for music – and I’m a fanboi! So Apple: don’t ignore this one…
I’ve been thinking about the consumer video market a lot recently. I figured I’d take some time to sum up my thoughts about where we’re at and where we’re going.
First off, lets just all agree that for consumers, tape is dead. While HDV and DV will hang around for a while, coughing up blood, consumers should never again see a linear format for video. The optical formats (mini-DVD) may hang around for a bit, but they too should die off before too long.
Why? Because I think most folks who have shot home movies agree that the linear nature of tape is a huge disincentive to repeat viewing. Because tapes give you 60 minutes of continuous video, you’re inclined to shoot far more than makes sense, which makes it that much less fun to go back and find the good parts. Similarly, bringing it into a computer is too hard and takes too long to make it worthwhile for most consumers.
The DVD formats are a bit better than tape, but come with their own negatives in terms of form factor and robustness.
That brings us to solid state. Most cell phone video is truly terrible right now, but another few months and we’ll start seeing more VGA-quality recording. For a lot of people, it’ll be good enough to capture Jimmy blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, etc, just like for many folks, the stills produced by a cell phone camera are “good enough” for day-to-day events.
The next step up from cell phones is still cameras with video capabilities. These vary widely right now – some cameras don’t do video at all, some do video with no audio, and some do proper all singing, all dancing video. The Casio Exilim line, with its “youtube mode” is a good example. Quality takes a step up for a cell phone, but the form factor is oriented towards stills (obviously) and audio, if present at all, is bound to be subpar.
Moving beyond still cameras (incidentally, the Exilim retails for well under $250) you get into a murky world of old-line camcorder manufacturers and new companies you’ve never heard of.
To start out with, you’ve got the Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra. For under $200, you get a camera that will record between 30 and 60 minutes of video (depending on the model) with a not-all-that-horrible microphone, 640×480 30fps video and a rather neat built in USB plug. Aimed squarely at YouTube users, the Flip may be a good choice to give to the kids for recording their hijinks, but the lack of a still-frame mode means you’re going to be carrying the Flip in addition to your digital still camera. Who wants that?
If you’re looking for a decent still camera with good video capabilities and a nice form factor, you really need to investigate the Sanyo Xacti line. Whether you’d like a waterproof SD camera, or a full 1080i monster, they’ve got you covered. The Xacti line differentiates itself by providing a proper lens, and on many models, a microphone input. That’s a feature that really sets the Xacti line apart for folks who want to do slightly more professional recordings. Quality isn’t quite at the level of an HDV camera, but it’s not bad either. If I had to spend my own money, I’d probably get their HD2, which shoots 720p video and 7.1 megapixel stills. I love the form factor – it feels great in your hand, and the “one button for video, one button for stills” layout makes it incredibly easy to use.
Downsides? The video isn’t optically stabilized. The digital stabilizer is slightly better than absolute crap. No problem on wide shots, but doing a 10x zoom handheld is going to be pretty jumpy, especially after that second cup of coffee.
Expect to pay around $350 for the lesser Xacti models, on up through $600 for the HD2 and $800 for the HD1000.
Sanyo HD1000 1080i model
From there, things start to get really serious, as we start to find the old guard of camcorder makers. Sony enters with a variety of Memory Stick and HardDrive based models. I’m not a fan of harddisk recorders – you’ve got moving parts, you’re limited to the built in capacity and battery life takes a hit. The HDR-CX7 meets all the right criteria though – direct to memory stick recording, AVCHD recording, and all the features you’d expect on a consumer camcorder (no mic in though!). 6.1 megapixel stills round out the feature set, and you can find it for around $900.
That said, the real bargain in this space is the Panasonic HDC-SD5. You get 3 1920×1080 imagers, optical image stabilization, and direct-to-SD card recording. The fact that it’s 3CCD really sets this model apart. It records in the same AVC-HD as the Sony, so you can expect compression quality that is only slightly inferior to similar HDV cameras like the Canon HV20. The Panasonic will run you a bit under $900.
Downsides? Form factor. You won’t slip either the Panasonic or the Sony into your pocket. You’ll look like more a tourist with your fancy camcorder. It’s not huge by any means, but it can’t be an after-thought in packing either. For me, the lack of proper audio inputs is a disappointment as well. I think that the higher-end consumer cameras really need to get features like audio inputs if they want to differentiate themselves in the minds of savvy consumers.
So that’s where we’re at right now. Most of these cameras include basic editing software in the box, but keep in mind that iMovie ’08 should manage and edit the video produced by any of these models. Nifty!
Sony has announced a pair of interchangeable-lens cameras at IBC (announced might be too strong a word… previewed?). Take a look at the rundown from some dude’s blog.
The little guy is pretty cute. Smallish CMOS chips, but you can swap the lens, including adding SLR lenses with the right adapter. I haven’t seen US press releases on these yet, nor model numbers, so I wouldn’t expect anything concrete until NAB08.
Apple released a new product, Logic Studio, today. It’s a package containing an updated version of Logic (Logic 8), a new live music application called MainStage, Soundtrack Pro 2 and a bunch of effects and software instruments. It’s all very exciting, particularly MainStage. Mainstage aims to provide a stable, reliable basis for doing live performances with software instruments and effects.
I find it very interesting that one of the eight highly touted features of Logic 8 is that you no longer need a hardware dongle. Just… interesting.
So, say you’re a company that intends to market a software product whose primary audience is the hacker set. You know that your product will be instantly reverse engineered, recoded and rereleased. But you’d still like to make a buck. How do you do it?
Generate huge buzz (and it doesn’t get much bigger than “software iPhone unlock!”), stall for 6 weeks, while leaking out more and more proof that you really did what you said you did, and then require prepayment before releasing the software. Churn out a few thousand presales at $50+ per copy. Release the software to much joy. Gather up the money for 24 hours.
Then the hackers release their version, and you go on an extended, well earned vacation.
Brilliant.
Seriously, Al-Qaeda is coming out with some quality compositing. Check out the still from this Times Online article. It’s definitely a comp since the dude was dead by the time the still in the background was shot. What a clean key!
I don’t know why I’ve never watched any of these, but Creative Cow has a great collection of (primarily) After Effects tutorials available for free. Great quality and great content!
Oh yeah, RED shipped. It does some of the stuff they said it’d do. Check out HDForIndies for the full fanboi rundown.