Daily Twitter Update for 2009-07-03

• @jbqueru shaved his beard tonight after 13 years, I couldn't recognize him. I had NEVER seen my husband without a beard before. He scared me #
• @slewis I hate Flash sites too, all the bands are using it, and it pisses me off. Flash should be used only when it makes sense. in reply to slewis #
• @jonobacon Jono, 2.39 MB is 2,509,000 bytes. Is that acceptable for the ubuntu video competition? Or is it per byte I need to count? in reply to jonobacon #
• @jbqueru I hope it involves sushi. in reply to jbqueru #
• Just installed the Facebook IM protocol plugin on my Pidgin installation. I don't really use facebook much though. #
• @dalasv This guy ain't happy about the vimeo changes http://twitter.com/reubal #
• @dalasv This guy ain't happy http://twitter.com/reubal #
• @reubal more discussion here http://bit.ly/qJOMC
  @slewis I don't like it much either. in reply to reubal #
• I just heard Whitney Houston's brand new song. It's a very old fashioned '80s song. This is not the kind of comeback she needed. #
• @thomholwerda The Acer Aspire One can playback youtube videos just fine, as long as you don't run in flash storage. It can barely manage HD. in reply to thomholwerda #
• @Kroc We keep talking with Adam/Thom about theora/flash btw, but you need to follow me for these replies to be visible to you. in reply to Kroc #
• @thomholwerda In many ways, it's the Netscape plugin model to blame, not Adobe. Other *third party* plugins have the same problems. in reply to thomholwerda #
• @thomholwerda Yes, Flash is not fully accelerated because it has to go through the browser's pipeline, there's no way around it for plugins. in reply to thomholwerda #
• @thomholwerda It works well enough for me for VIDEO, thank you. I hate Flash sites too, but its video support works fine. in reply to thomholwerda #
• @sethadam1 Theora can not surpass h.264. At least not without by walking on patents. in reply to sethadam1 #
• @sethadam1 Stop calling me shortsighted. Theora is simply NOT a good codec, it has architectural problems. It can't be optimized a lot. in reply to sethadam1 #
• @sethadam1 I have nothing against the <video> element, my problem is with Theora being inferior to h.264. in reply to sethadam1 #
• @Kroc I have no problem with Flash, why would I? It works just fine. As for <video> doing more, it remains to be seen. in reply to Kroc #
• @Kroc The whole HTML5 video thing is mostly webmastering masturbation, nothing to do with videography. in reply to Kroc #
• @Kroc As a videographer, I don't see what more I get than with Flash with its recent h.264 support, sorry. in reply to Kroc #
• @Kroc Theora and BBC's codec simply say "we don't know if we step on patents". But really, the field is a minefield. in reply to Kroc #
• @Kroc I am afraid if you want to be realistic, you can't innovate in video encoding now, it's full of patents. Theora is not patent-free. in reply to Kroc #
• @Kroc It's irrelevant for those who don't care about video. For real videographers is relevant cause they don't want to see footage suck. in reply to Kroc #
• @Kroc h.264 _is_ better than Theora. I tried last night the much-hyped "optimized" version of Theora, it's still way worse than h.264. in reply to Kroc #
• So, this is going to be my entry for the #Ubuntu video competition: http://vimeo.com/5420428 Now, I have to figure out Ogg Theora @jonobacon #

Daily Twitter Update for 2009-07-02

• Fucking hell, Vegas Pro 9 is so buggy that I will have to continue using v8. Latest #cineform and plugins just don't work properly! #
• I found lots of bugs on Vegas Pro 9. I really hate using buggy software. #
• Editing the video I will submit to Ubuntu's competition. I have a few ideas to use some unused footage I had around. #
• @indiequick Does this count? http://twitter.com/slfisher/statuses/2430420582 in reply to indiequick #
• @jbqueru I love you too my little baby komodo slash meerkat. in reply to jbqueru #
• @jbqueru Your only obligation is to buy me sushi. Everything else is towards that end. in reply to jbqueru #
• @jbqueru You just need to work in another aspect of the job. Stay away from that specific task. in reply to jbqueru #
• Google banned my IP for searching and looking at some Madonna pictures in their "Life magazine" picture source. They think I am a bot. IMAGE REMOVED #
• Since I upgraded our Vista64 machine to SP2, USB devices take forever to wake up. Any clues? #
• Child of modern society: hormones, drugs, pills and what not, then flushing it down the toilet: http://bit.ly/pg7Mn #
• I want to go home to my mountain village. Kiss hens on the back of their heads, listen to the Aherontas river, watch the sheep go by *sniff* #
• I just noticed that if @jbqueru is not on IM I don't load up IM at all. This is why I wasn't on IM almost at all this past month. #
• I don't know if it's Firefox 3.5's fault or my connection's, but since I upgraded many pages don't load, randomly. I need to keep reloading. #
• @slewis A signature forgerying is way easier than correctly photoshoping two pictures, one of which must not be on google-images. in reply to slewis #
• I don't understand why people are asking celebrities for autographs. I would just ask for a pic. Isn't this a better way to prove the meet? #
• @TheRealPoin No, it's not better. Each newer model is a bit better than the older one. in reply to TheRealPoin #
• @derbykid Email me if you need help with that. I can help out with the dilemma. in reply to derbykid #
• @ripicard Email me if you need help with the HV20. #
• @kipb A camcorder is made for video, a DSLR is not. It's a bit of a hack. in reply to kipb #
• @jashanmakan Which one was your entry for the HV20 competition? in reply to jashanmakan #

Water & Wind

While the sea life spends the day like any other day, by drifting in the oceans, the humans share the fun in their own way. The video tries to convey the message that we should share the space with other species without getting in their way.

This is going to be my entry to the Ubuntu video competition. It's comprised from previously unused footage I had lying around. Now I need to figure out how to fit this 00:57 seconds of video in just 2.5 MBs of filesize, in an unoptimized Ogg Theora version no less, and it has to be fully tagged! I foresee some sleepless nights trying to fit it.

Fish footage was shot with the Canon SX200 IS digicam at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, and the kite surfing scenes were shot with my Canon HV20 close to the San Mateo bridge. HD version and .mp4 HD download here.

Daily Twitter Update for 2009-07-01

• Shot with the RED One camera: http://apple.com/trailers/wb/theinformant/ Does it look like video? #
• Upgraded to Firefox 3.5. Looks the same as before. #
• And so The Pirate Bay is selling out so they can pay up. This is such a big RIAA win! I said it before: Creative Commons is the only way. #
• HV20/30/40 users: go here http://bit.ly/7xiQa
  watch the films, and vote for your favorite film! #
• @jbqueru I would still love you though… IMAGE REMOVED in reply to jbqueru #
• @sethadam1 A new day, a new STD for Mayer… in reply to sethadam1 #
• @slewis But other aspects are not comparable, the camcorder will always win because it was designed to do video. in reply to slewis #
• @slewis But overall, it has a very good quality at 24 mbps at 720p res. Obviously, the bitrate is higher than AVCHD 1080p at 24 mbps. in reply to slewis #
• @slewis What you can compare, is the SX200 IS to other cheap HD digicams. And when the light is good, it kicks everyone else's ass. in reply to slewis #
• @slewis Not comparable. If you want a camcorder, you buy a camcorder. An HD digicam is only for the times that you want to go small & mobile in reply to slewis #
• @slewis A Canon SX200 IS. It costs $330 at Costco, cheaper than anyone else, even Amazon. in reply to slewis #
• @slewis Look at my latest video on Vimeo. It was shot with the SX200 IS. It came out pretty good. in reply to slewis #
• @slewis The SX200 IS has manual focus. It just doesn't do 24p. in reply to slewis #
• The people who disagree with Gaga=Next-Madonna, are simply too young to have experienced the Like a Virgin era. I was there. I am old. #
• Lady Gaga *is* the next Madonna: http://is.gd/1jyCZ Her career curve and the visual stimulation she creates matches the Madonna of 1985. #
• @slewis Man, you should read my blog: http://bit.ly/Vm7ZO in reply to slewis #
• @guyma Maybe… if you are a good boy… in reply to guyma #
• Just finished my TV interview for MYX: http://myx.tv I think it went pretty good, we will see in a few months when it airs. #
• @David_Newman The state of current video editors compared to the 3D boom, and how well prepared they are? in reply to David_Newman #
• @vqueru Now complete your profile, and add a picture! IMAGE REMOVED in reply to vqueru #
• A new way to remove PF24 pulldown with Sony Vegas. The method works well, but it has limitations. Read here: http://is.gd/1joIW #
• Ate some donuts. Will prepare some grilled tuna today for lunch. Then, the TV interview. My knees are shaking. #
• @paloaltorealtor Yesterday, we were at Hotaru. They have some of the best priced and good quality sushi in the Bay Area. It's always full. in reply to paloaltorealtor #

Faking PF24 Pulldown Removal with Vegas

Sony Vegas does not have a proper way of removing pulldown removal on PF24 streams, but there is a hack/workaround that can work just fine for some users. There are limitations to this "fake" PF24 pulldown removal, but if someone is willing to live with these limitations, the result is acceptable.

So, basically, by telling Vegas that this is HDV-24p footage (and if you run the Pro version, by creating an HDV-24p SMPTE timeline), it attempts pulldown removal. Because Vegas only supports pulldown removal from streams that have attributes (e.g. from Sony's cameras rather than the consumer Canons), the removal fails.

However, if you drop the project properties *and* exporting quality to "preview" quality, Vegas drops a field and the pulldown removal is successful. Not only there are no duplicate frames used, but you get a clean output (no ghosting). In fact, the pulldown removal is frame-by-frame sync'ed to a Cineform's pulldown removed version of the clip — which tells me that the timestamp output is correct. Not only that, but Vegas does pulldown removal even more correctly than Cineform (my Cineform NeoHD seemed to completely ignore and crop-out the last 4-5 frames out of a 14 sec PF24 clip, while Vegas didn't).

Here are the advantages:
1. No need to transcode to any other format. You edit as you normally would, directly.
2. It's the easiest method to deal with PF24's ghosting.
3. Works with both PF24 from HDV and AVCHD Canon cameras (possibly the consumer Panasonics too).
4. Works with both Vegas Pro and Platinum (although the Pro has the additional ability to set an SMPTE 24p-HDV timeline).
5. Faster exporting at the end, at "preview" quality 720p. Will look just fine on Youtube/Vimeo HD or on PS3/XBoX360/AppleTV.

And, here are the limitations:
1. You can only edit/export in "preview" quality. This means that color grading, effects, and added text will NOT look as good as if you had used "best" quality to edit/export.
2. You can't export above 720p. In fact, because the "preview" quality drops one field, the real resolution you get out of this trick is 540p. But upresizing to 720p from 540p, is not a big deal. However, you can NOT export in 1440×1080 or 1920×1080, or the interlacing will kick in, as shown in the images below.

If you are good with these limitations (quality/resolution), here's how to go about it:

First, make sure your footage was shot in PF24 mode. Then, set up project properties exactly like the following image (use 1920×1080/1.0000 if you are using AVCHD sources). Vegas Platinum users, ignore any fields that don't show up in your version.

This step is for Vegas Pro users only:

Then, edit. After you are done editing, export using the SonyAVC filetype. I simply modified an existing template below, some of these form fields are editable:

If you decide to export using the MainConcept h.264 encoder instead of SonyAVC's (available for customization only in Vegas Pro), then you can use VBR bitrate to achieve better quality (e.g. 5 mbps average, 9 mbps max).

So, test it, and see if you are happy with what you get. In most cases, it should look fine enough. Otherwise, buy Cineform NeoSCENE ($129), or use the freeware method tutorials (HDV, AVCHD).