Saturday, March 29, 2008 by admin.

The first Television broadcast was tested in the U.S. in 1928, with CBS beginning regular broadcasts in 1931, with Kate Smith and George Gershwin. When did the first High Definition broadcast take place? In 1936, California station W6XAO demonstrated what they called “high definition television,” improving the original 60-line image to 343 lines, and later to 441 lines. Eventually, the National Technical Standards Committee (NTSC) called for 525 lines of horizontal resolution, displayed at 30 frames per second.

Now the definition of High Definition means a lot more than 343 or 525 lines! High definition television (HDTV) includes a number of variations, including 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Waiting for future technology to support it, HDTV includes a 2160p format, but it will be likely many years before hardware supports this resolution, other than perhaps cinema (movie theater) applications.

The “p” in these numbers refers to progressive scan, which means that the entire picture is sent from the source (DVD player, digital cable, DTV/ATSC tuner) 30 times per second. The “i” stands for interlaced, which is the way existing analog television is broadcast. Because NTSC standards were developed before many of our modern technological advancements, the television signal could not be transmitted fast enough to send the information rapidly enough. So a compromise was made, sending only half the information in each frame transmission. But rather than sending only the top half of the picture and then the bottom half for the next frame, the concept of interlacing was developed to send first the odd-numbered lines, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, up to 525, during the first frame, and then sending the even-numbered lines, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, up to 525, during the second frame. This alternating continues continuously, odd/even, odd/even, displayed rapidly enough that the viewer perceives the illusion of motion.

As manufacturers develop larger and larger displays for televisions, monitors, and projectors, the flickering of an interlaced signal became more objectionable. Technology improved, making higher/faster data rates possible, and computer monitors developed without the need for interlacing. These were called NI, non-interlacing monitors, or de-interlaced monitors. Because this seems like a double negative, the term progressive scan took its place.

Interlacing graphic from Wikipedia 

Digital Television (DTV) refers to the new method of broadcasting television signals, sending digital data using radio frequencies, rather than analog signals. DTV will require a new television tuner, which is included in nearly all TV’s sold today. Older TV’s can be utilized with DTV signals, with the use of an external digital ATSC tuner box. Older TV’s will not be able to display HDTV unless they were HDTV-compatible, and not all digital signals are wide-screen or HDTV. But the signal quality is improved (both video and audio).

DTV is currently in operation, as most broadcast television stations have added the new equipment required to send out digital signals. In fact, the FCC has mandated that the existing VHF and UHF television frequencies must cease operation on February 17, 2009. The new digital television frequencies are UHF frequencies that were unused by the old UHF channels. But the old channels (which have specific Megahertz, such as 187 MHz for channel 9, or 549.25 MHz for channel 27) must be vacated in 2009, and will be re-sold and reassigned by the FCC for other uses.

Cable television reception, satellite television receivers, and DVD players are not effected by the DTV change, in that they will still function. But the older television tuners (and the older tuners in VCR’s) will not tune in the new frequencies and digital signals without the ATSC converter boxes. From revenue generated by the sale of the use of the new digital frequencies, the U.S. government is offering one or two $40 coupons to use towards purchase of an off-air DTV tuner, allowing an older TV to display broadcast television signals after February, 2009. See the website, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/dtv/, for more information and to request a coupon to be mailed to you.

Posted in New Technology, Video Cameras | Print | No Comments »

Monday, March 24, 2008 by admin.

Besides taking photos and working with Photoshop, I enjoy seeing the creativity of others expressed with their unique vision. Please feel welcome to e-mail a photo or design work to share with others here at my blog! I would be happy to share a link to more of your images, too, if you have a website, blog, or online photo album.

Here is a “right place, right time” image that just appeared in my viewfinder, while visiting the Eiffel Tower in 2004. The sun was beginning it’s descent, and the shadows were getting so long. Do you have any fun shadow photos, anyone?

Here is one of our kids on a late summer day, having fun:

Posted in Portfolio - Mine and Yours | Print | 2 Comments »

Friday, March 21, 2008 by admin.

Thinking of Good Friday, I remembered a very moving song, “I’ve Just Seen Jesus,” that was released in the 1980’s. Whether you’ve never heard this song, of it’s been a while, take a few minutes to ponder the story portrayed in this song, beginning as Jesus died. The musicians are Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris.

Think about the ways that you have seen Jesus in the last month. Not in a physical sense, but in the way He is at work around you, and at work around the world. Spend some time reading the Bible, and pray that He will be revealed to others through your life somehow in this next week.

May those around us feel that they have seen a reflection of Jesus after being in our presence. May we lead them into the presence of God.Christ suffered for us. For you. For me. And He rose again, and is preparing to come again. Rejoice in our risen Christ!

Posted in General Discussion | Print | No Comments »

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by admin.

April Fools Day is little more than a week away, and friendly Computer Pranks have become popular. I would never advocate anything harmful, but I remember the Google Mirror site I saw a few years ago. It is still available at http://elgoog.rb-hosting.de/index.cgi. Someone with a sense of humor created a mirror image (of an older version) of the Google search page. This mirror version of Google is fully functional, but you have to spell your search term(s) backwards! So load this page, and in your prank victim’s Internet Explorer or Firefox, go to Tools - Options and save this as the homepage for your favorite prank victim! Of course, be prepared to confess, and return their home page to normal after having some fun.

In the same light of people who must have too much time on their hands, over 10,000 contributions have come to a new Wiki site, like Wikipedia, but from the perspective of camels. Sorry it’s all in German, but if you read some German, it is quite hilarious. http://kamelopedia.mormo.org/index.php/Hauptseite

Being an amateur actor (some of you know about my delightful memories with Elizabeth as Annie and Daddy Warbucks played be me, bald head and all, and a couple community theatre stints as Jud Fry in Oklahoma), I enjoy musical theatre. There is an ad hoc Improv group of dozens to thousands, called Improv Everywhere. Their latest project, called Food Court Musical, took place in a Los Angeles mall. It is hilarious! Also check out Frozen Grand Central, where over 200 people freeze in motion for two minutes throughout NYC’s Grand Central Station! What a great way to make people laugh! I wonder what they have planned for April Fool’s Day this year?

Food Court Musical on YouTube

I’ll share one final link that might inspire a harmless (?) classroom prank, for those of you dramatic students reading this. Good-natured teachers would actually enjoy this, at least I would. If you haven’t seen this video before, watch the Lecture Musical, presented spontaneously in a college classroom (obviously well-planned and rehearsed). The Prangstgrüp has performed some other musical theatrics, which are available on their website.

Please add a comment with your favorite similar video !

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | 8 Comments »

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by admin.

My mom helped develop my interest in photography, and she averaged two 36-exposure rolls of film per week from age 65 to 75. I hope I am still active enough to take that many photos in my later years! I wasn’t able to convert Mom to digital before she died, but she enjoyed seeing instant photos on my first couple of digital cameras.

In high school, I saved my earnings from the grocery store where I worked to purchase a Canon FTb SLR, with a 50mm lens. This served me well, even through a dunking in the lake on a canoe trip. I added a Canon AE-1, which accompanied my wife and I to Guam, but its electronics got damp when our car was flooded during a typhoon. The car recovered, and the FTb, but not the electronic-based AE-1. I still own a Canon F-1 film camera that I found used while visiting Japan. I tried its shutter last summer, and it snapped crisply after sitting unused for over fifteen years!

My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica that used two-inch floppy disks, with only about 240×360 pixels of resolution (0.8 megapixels). Next came a workhorse, the Kodak DC260, and then DC290. Then an Olympus C-5050, and eventually my first digital SLR, the Fujifilm Finepix S2. I still use the S2, as well as the newer Fuji S3 and S5. The S5 is built from Nikon’s D200 camera, but with a Fujifilm sensor that produces finer portrait color (like the old Fujifilm Velvia films - my opinion here!).

My favorite digital camera research site is DP Review, where I enjoy the camera reviews, and the User Forums (particularly the Fuji SLR forum). I recommend this site as a starting point for buying a new digital cameras, including statistics on the cameras currently most-popular.

Posted in Photography | Print | 18 Comments »

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by admin.

I would like to share some tips I have learned in many years of audio and video production and photography, and perhaps a few samples of my work. I invite comments, questions, and other tips you are willing to share! If you have a blog or favorite links to relevant sites, please share these, as well.

Thanks for visiting!

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | 11 Comments »

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 by admin.

Where do you start when creating your first website? It’s not as hard as it used to be. One of the easiest and quickest ways to get a website online is to use pre-formatted templates. These allow users to see sample layouts, including linked pages, which can all be modified with the user’s own content. This way, nearly anyone can create an attractive website in less than a couple of hours!

One company offering this is 1&1 Web Hosting, which is the company I’m using for this website. Their prices are very competitive, their pre-designed templates are excellent, and the range of services available (useful as you grow) is vast. Go to my portfolio home page to see one of the dozens of templates available in use!

If you’re ready to go the next step and do some real web design, I recommend trying a new Open Source free program called N-Vu. This is very powerful software for web design, and it is available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems. This comes from the Open Source community of developers, the same type of community that created the Firefox web browser and the excellent Microsoft Office free alternative, Open Office.

For the professional that can justify spending hundreds of dollars for a truly professional software package, Adobe Dreamweaver is very hard to beat. There is definitely a learning curve to master Dreamweaver, but it is worthwhile if Web Design will consume much of your time.

I am teaching Dreamweaver as part of my class, Web Design/Interactive Media, offered at Morningside College.  A lot of online tutorials and classes are available, which I will summarize in another blog entry.

E-mail if you have any questions about these or other tools for web design!

Posted in Web Design | Print | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by admin.

Being a graduate student (online program), I have been buying a lot of books from Amazon. I’ve passed over their new Kindle device that shows up every time I log in. The Kindle is their new electronic book gadget, and I assumed it was just a black-and-white LCD display, like a mini-laptop computer, to display pages of a book.

But then Stephen and I were in a Borders store about a week ago, and the similar Sony Reader device was on display. Stephen asked me if I’d seen it before, and I glanced at it. “Not in person,” I replied. At first we thought it was just a fake display model, like some cell phones at WalMart that don’t work, in case someone would try to steal the display unit. But this was the real thing, tethered down with a steel cable. And I was very impressed.

The display is NOT LCD, but rather the first major implementation of electronically-addressable ink. This display is very nice to read and look at. It does not look like an LCD at all. No backlight necessary, it looks like ink on paper. The front is very non-glare, but without obscuring the display like non-glare picture frames do.

Tonight I noticed the over-the-edge technology dealer, thinkgeeks, has a new e-ink wristwatch. Like the $399 Kindle, I won’t rush out to buy the e-ink wristwatch for $250. Maybe when it’s $100. Notice the picture to the left, which shows optional displays a user can select on the SAME WATCH! I like this technology! Soon a similar watch will have bluetooth, allowing us to load our own watch face. And our watch will be able to display the caller ID from our cellphone on the face of the watch. LCD’s could do that, too, but the e-ink is certainly a technology I will be watching.

Supposedly color is coming in the future of e-ink, so I look forward to the portable projection screen with e-ink… Hang it on the wall, and pull down a self-contained 6′ wide television/computer monitor, with no projector! That will be awesome! Thank you, Xerox and others, for this Research and Development!

Posted in New Technology | Print | 3 Comments »

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by admin.

I’ve been using digital video editing on my PC since Adobe Premiere version 4.2. That was back in 1996, when a 9GB hard drive was the BIGGEST hard drive anyone had ever seen. I took an old Gateway Computer super-size tower case and converted it into an external hard-drive enclosure, combining four 9GB drives into a whopping 36GB drive array (in addition to a 4GB system drive). It actually worked very well for its era, but I pulled out more than a few hairs when it didn’t work correctly.

I am still an Adobe fan and user, with CS3 Master Collection. I’m thankful to be eligible for educational pricing, even though it is still expensive.

Premiere Pro CS3 still has its flaws, but it is incredible software for video editing. If your needs aren’t so professional in nature, the little brother, Premiere Elements  is an excellent value. In fact, it is sold bundled with Adobe Photoshop Elements for $150.00 (or even less, if you are a student or teacher, with educational pricing).

Windows Movie Maker isn’t a bad place to start doing video editing with Windows. If you have a Mac, iMovie is also quite powerful for a beginner’s tool. I attended a 3-day training seminar on Final Cut Pro, using a MacBook Pro, and it was impressive. But Final Cut doesn’t offer much that isn’t also available in Premiere. I really love the way Adobe products are integrated, especially with CS3. I’m sure CS4 will only get better. But it better not come too soon; I have to get more value out of CS3 before the next version tempts my wallet!

Posted in Video Editing | Print | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by admin.

Computers have invaded our lives. What would we do without them? We would definitely survive! But so much of our work is enhanced with the use of our computers. We really realize how much we depend on them when they fail! So with help of my wonderful (techie) son, Stephen, I will share some excellent free utilities to help keep our computers running well!

Free Speed Enhancer for your Windows Computer!
Auslogics Disk Defrag works better and faster than the Windows defrag.

Safely Clean your LCD Screen Computer Monitor or TV
Recipe for Homemade Cleaning Solution from a University Computer Lab. Be sure to buy a clean microfiber or soft cotton cloth. Buy a few microfiber cloths at the local discount store.

PC Anti-Virus Software
Current Anti-Virus software is crucial for maintaining your PC. I don’t like paying for subscriptions to the big name companies, and I recommend the tried-and-true AVG Free version (AVG now tries to convert users to their paid version, but the free is still available). Lately, PC Magazine has recommended Avira AntiVir as a new alternative to AVG. The biggest names aren’t always the best (in anti-virus as in a lot of things).

Open Source software is one of my favorite sources for software, particularly because it is usually free. Read about the Open Source concept at Wikipedia.
Free 7-Zip Windows Compression Program to zip/unzip files.
Search for other Open Source software at Source Forge, with your favorite search engine, or see this list of some of the best.

Posted in Computer Utilities | Print | 1 Comment »