Camcorder & Computer Video articles from September 2005

Camcorder & Computer Video archives from September 2005

Upfront.(DVD players)(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... No doubt about it, this is definitely the year of the DVD. Worldwide demand for DVD players and recorders are impressive--a recent market study indicates that the sale of DVD recorders will grow from 22.8 million units this year (in the U.S.)...

Rapid fire.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Panasonic's come up with three new memory cards designed for use with today's new generation of digital camcorders, cameras and more. It's Pro High Speed Series features a 2GB Secure Digital card with up to 20MB per second (MBps) data transfer...

For the classy traveler.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... It's the perfect combination of style meets function--the new Global Executive Collection of laptop cases from Targus. Designed to fit laptops with up to 15.4-inch screens and accessories, the cases feature protective technologies that...

On-location HDV.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Avoid shooting disasters in the field with the new HDV PowerPak from Serious Magic. Designed to be used in conjunction with DV Rack, this add-on helps videographers to capture, display and analyze high-resolution HDV content seamlessly into DV...

Back it up.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... It's not a question of if but when you'll experience your next computer crash. To ensure that your system and files are safe, consider a backup and recovery unit like Fastora's ExBoot EXB-0111 or EXB-0121. The company says these units are one...

Sleek storage.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... If you're a PC user, you'll love the new and stylish PC Drive Enclosure Kit from AZIO. Featuring a high-impact acrylic case in black with brushed- metal case rivets, the drive enclosure converts any 3.5-inch IDE hard disk drive into a...

Portable living room.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Whether you're outside by your pool or halfway around the world, you can take your favorite TV shows with you with the new Slingbox from Sling Media. This compact unit transforms any Internet-connected desktop or laptop into a personal TV. The...

Power up.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Recharge your camcorder batteries in as little as 30 minutes with Lenmar's Fusion-USB Mach 1 Speed Charger. This all-in-one unit features two charging areas--a main recharge area for NiMH batteries or battery packs and a USB-type power port for...

Light works.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Take the guesswork out of figuring out the right lighting during your video shoot with the new Digi-Lux from Cool-Lux. It's a dimmable light on your camera that will hold the Kelvin temperature within the +/- off the camera's requirements...

Make an impact.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Give your digital productions an edge with Alien Skin's new Eye Candy 5: Impact, a set of 10 plug-in filters for Adobe Photoshop and other compatible programs. It features three new filters: Backlight, Brushed Metal and Extrude, plus seven...

Blazin' fast.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... This tiny drive may fit in your palm, but it can also amazingly fit up to 100GB of data. It's US Modular's Dragon Drive, a USB 2.0 bus-powered portable external storage drive. Less than an inch high, this portable drive requires no AC power...

Multiple copies.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)
September 1, 2005... Make multiple copies of your CDs and DVDs in a snap using Octave Systems' new line of Copy Master II CD/ DVD duplicators. These tower-style models can copy up to nine full 650MB CDs in three minutes and up to nine 4.7 GB DVDs in seven minutes....

Extended playtime.(ZOOM in: First Look At Video Gear And Accessories)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Serious gamers, here's the card you've been waiting for. SanDisk has launched a 2-gigabyte (2GB) MemoryStick PRO Duo gaming card for owners of Sony's Play-Station Portable. This high-capacity card gives users plenty of storage for video clips,...

Canon joins the DVD crew.(CAMCORDER INSDER)
September 1, 2005... The DVD camcorder crew keeps getting bigger and better. We just recently found out that Canon is releasing its first DVD camcorders, joining the ranks of Hitachi, Panasonic and Sony, the "Big 3" that have released a total of 12 DVD models,...

Seeing double: blue-laser and multi-layer DVD.(New Tech)
September 1, 2005... Remember the arrival of CDs? What a big improvement on floppy disks, expanding storage from around 1MB to 650MB+! Then, we moved on to DVD, bumping capacity up to 4.7GB. While the 6X improvement from DVD was welcome, it was nothing like the...

All about DVD: your DVD recorder options.(Buyers Guide)
September 1, 2005... Will anyone mourn the passing of the VCR? I sure won't. At best, it was clunky, unwieldy, and impossible to program. Half my adult life has been spent on the sofa staring balefully at the blinking "12:00" and thinking that no jury in the world...

Get serious: must-have editing upgrades and peripherals.
September 1, 2005... Getting your video into your computer and loading the right editing software are obviously the first steps to getting started in video editing. However, to get the best out of your footage, and to make it a bit easier to work, you might want to...

Low-cost mini DV to go.(Canon ZR300 camcorder)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... Canon's ZR300 is one of a series of new, low-cost digital camcorders in the Canon product line. The ZR100, ZR200, ZR300 and ZR400 allow you to tailor your purchase through a stair step of features and price points. At the top of the line in the...

Shooting video with digicams.(Limited Appeal)(Buyers Guide)
September 1, 2005... The video recording function on most digital still cameras, until recently, was merely an added feature. Video clips were relegated to small screen sizes and choppy 15 frames per second (15 fps). Also, video takes up a lot of memory, and memory...

Photoshop CS2's applications for video.(Software review: DOUBLE DUTY)
September 1, 2005... Adobe Photoshop CS2 is a major upgrade to the popular digital image-editing and creation software. It's no secret that Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for color correcting, processing and formatting still images, but with every new...

Doing it all: MacroSystem's one-stop shop editing system.(MacroSystem Claro, turnkey nonlinear editing system)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... Purchasing a turnkey nonlinear editing (NLE) system usually means buying a computer with preinstalled hardware and software. MacroSystem followed a slightly different route. The Casablanca was the first--and remains one of the only--turnkey,...

An all-in-one package.(CyberLink DVD Solution 4.0 )(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... If you're just starting out in video creation and digital imaging, CyberLink's new DVD Solution 4 ($99 box or download) is the perfect package for you. Instead of buying a bunch of programs, DVD Solution 4 includes a bevy of programs for...

Audio boost: it's your PC's new audio system.(Creative USB Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... Do you want to work with high-quality video and audio? Are you overwhelmed by today's plethora of capture and playback options for analog and digital media? Creative Labs has packaged an answer for you in a convenient and powerful box: the...

HP digital entertainment center: new-gen computer for your living room.(z557 Digital Entertainment Center )(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... One of the emerging trends that we continue to see and report on in C&CV has been the migration of computers from the computer room or home office to the living room. Two big reasons for this development are peoples' desire to have a Personal...

Pinnacle Showcenter 200: an HD-ready link between your PC and TV.(Pinnacle Systems ShowCenter 200 media adapter)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... In today's ever-expanding world of digital entertainment, there are two major camps at work helping into bring digital content to your living room. One camp believes you should invest in a new generation of computer, one that doesn't even look...

Editing, authoring and burning for the Mac.(Final Cut Studio)(Product/Service Evaluation)
September 1, 2005... If you're in the market for a complete video-editing, motion graphics and soundtrack-editing, DVD-authoring and -burning bundle for the Mac, then look no further than Apple's Final Cut Studio ($1,299 MSRP). It contains new versions of Final Cut...

How to take control of your video.(best ways to use camcorders)
September 1, 2005... Taking control of how you use your camcorder is the easiest way to elevate the quality of your videos. Simply looking through the viewfinder or LCD monitor and pressing Record isn't going to cut it anymore. In this article, we will give you 10...