Camcorder & Computer Video articles from November 2003

Camcorder & Computer Video archives from November 2003

Shooting in the dark.(Editor's Report)
November 1, 2003... Ask any expert on video about a surefire way to get a good picture, one of the tips is sure to be, "Use lots of light." Camcorders are great electronic instruments, however, they haven't been particularly good at seeing in low-light situations....

DVD CopyWare.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? A DVD backup solution from TRITTON Technologies. What does it do? It's a simple way for users to protect their videos; they simply launch the DVD CopyWare, insert the DVD they want to copy, and click Backup. Special...

Texture Collection.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? The third edition of NewTek's free Texture Collection. What does it do? The new set includes 50 high-resolution textures that include Wood, Metal, Sky, Nature, and Stone. Special features? All textures are completely...

EZ Writer.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... What is it? Apricorn's new portable optical drive, available in two versions--EZ Writer Combo and EZ Writer DVD. What do they do? Both versions provide a portable solution for creating, storing and playing data, music, movies and MP3s in...

Edge Vol. 6: Chill-Out/Cool Moods/Lounge.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? The latest collection of royalty-free music and sound libraries from SmartSound Software. What does it do? Use it to score any footage that needs a fun, hip and cool sound. Special features? The 12-CD collection features...

Movie Edit Pro 2004.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... What is it? The latest home video-editing software from MAGIX (See Bob Wolenik's "Editor's Report" for more information about Movie Edit Pro 2004 in this issue.) What does it do? Lets users create cool-looking DVDs of their birthday...

WinDVD Platinum 5 and WinDVD Gold 5.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What are they? Two new versions of InterVideo's DVD playback software. What do they do? Both versions offer such features as Movie Encyclopedia, a searchable database of movie facts; Hyper-threading support, which lets users watch DVDs...

Presto! VideoWorks Platinum.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? A complete video-editing and DVD-authoring suite, with an IEEE1394/FireWire card, from NewSoft. What does it do? Lets users encode directly from a DV camcorder into MPEG-2 in real time. Special features? Also includes...

ArtDrive Medusa.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... What is it? A FireWire 800 hard drive from All4DVD. What does it do? Weighing only 2.8 pounds, this tiny drive has huge storage capacity, up to 250GB. Special features? It transfers data at more than 60 megabits per second (60Mbps), is...

Cruzer Mini.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? SanDisk's latest USB 2.0 "key chain" flash drive that's about the size of a tube of lipstick. What does it do? Provides portable storage of up to 256MB. Special features? Its compact design makes it very portable; users can...

DMR-E100H.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? Panasonic's newest DVD recorder. What does it do? It's ideal for storing and archiving home videos on either a DVD-RAM or DVD-R disc, or storing up to 160 hours of video on its built-in 120GB hard disk drive. Special...

Wild FX Pro.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... What is it? A video-titling and text-animation software from Wildform. What does it do? It lets users generate complex effects to complete title crawls in minutes. Special features? Wild FX Pro includes 417 effects that work with a...

Road Warrior.(Zoom In)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... What is it? One model in a line of portable DVD carrying cases from Targus. What does it do? Fits most DVD players on the market, protecting them from the elements and allowing storage for DVD accessories and media. Special features?...

What's new in camcorders: from combo-cams, fashion cams, DVD cams and more.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Most of us take camcorders so much for granted; it's hard to believe they've only been around for about 15 years. In fact, C&CV (originally called (Camcorder Report) was born in the fall of 1988, at the start of the video camera era. What's...

Buy the right camcorder: narrowing your choices.
November 1, 2003... With so many different camcorders to choose from, deciding which make and model to purchase can be a daunting task. Even though I have handled and reviewed literally dozens of camcorders through the year's, there's no way I can tell you which...

Video tricks: 10 shots to make your videos stand out.
November 1, 2003... Most of the time we just point and shoot. You probably place the camcorder up to your eye so you can look through the viewfinder or hold it out in front of you about head high as you keep an eye on the LCD monitor screen. The entire video--and...

Sony DCR-PC105: a super compact Mini DV Combo-Cam with great video quality.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Like most consumers, I like it when my electronics come in a small package. The Sony DCR-PC105 is one of those super small Mini DV camcorders that has a vertical profile, designed so that you can grip it in one hand. Its a little broader than...

HDTV & beyond: the content is catching up to the technology.
November 1, 2003... You may have noticed a lot of noise about high-definition television lately, and more affordable HDTV-compatible televisions and wide-screen displays appearing in stores. Interestingly, one of the major drivers for home theatre systems actually...

The big four: Adobe's package of integrated video tools.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Adobe is an interesting company, with a wide variety of products for digital imaging and video, print and Web publishing. Beyond its heritage in PostScript printing, Adobe is best known for its ubiquitous Acrobat PDF format for electronic...

Getting hands-on with video: DV camps show you the ins and outs of digital filmmaking.
November 1, 2003... Much like DV technology has radically changed the way films are made, DV Camps is radically changing the way filmmakers are made. With its intensive, hands-on approach teaching Digital Video and editing, DV Camps is creating filmmakers...

Samsung SCD5000 DuoCam: a Mini DV Combo-Cam that takes 4MP digital stills.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... We've reviewed dozens of Combo-Cams--those digital camcorders that can not only shoot excellent Digital Video, but that can also take true digital still frames, thanks to a separate memory module. But, with most Combo-Cams, there has always...

Smooth video moves: three products to help stabilize your shots.(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Everyone knows a film director's cry, "Lights, camera, action." But, few people realize that the "action" part can relate to the camcorder, as well as the subject. Yes, that's right, the days of the camcorder movement taboo is behind us. A...

Video XB Expansion Bay: everything you need to edit your videos--in one box!
November 1, 2003... Are you looking into getting into video production and starting to burn your own DVD movies? Are you just beginning and all you have is a computer and Digital Video camcorder? What else do you really need? To create DVD movies from your DV...

Multimedia recorder/player for ultimate mobility.(Camcorder Insider)
November 1, 2003... At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, I saw a preview of a very cool product from Archos--the Video AV120 ($399.95), or MultiMedia Jukebox as Archos calls it. The Archos AV120 is a palm-sized (about 4-in. x 3-in. x 1-in. mid weighing 10...

Shooting your first movie: top 10 lessons for beginning filmmakers.
November 1, 2003... For a director, the experience of shooting a first movie is a mix of excitement and frustration, satisfaction and panic. But, more than anything, it's a learning experience. From late 2000 through 2001, my brother and I produced and...

Extreme videos: getting close to the action.
November 1, 2003... Handled camcorders have revolutionized extreme sports Videos, giving enthusiasts affordable, high-quality tools to document the outrageous exploits of their fellow sports Freaks. The camcorders are small and light enough to be carried In a...