Tag: Movies

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Preview: Panasonic HDC-SD9 1080p AVCHD Camcorder

Panasonic announces new HD products at CES 2008. One of them is the successor to Panasonic HDC-SD5. Enter Panasonic HDC-SD9, now records in 1080p (24p) mode. It is slated for March 31st, 2008 release date.

Panasonic HDC-SD9 AVCHD Camcorder

Tech Specs:

  • 1920 x 1080 progressive recording, 24p mode [1080p (24p)].
  • Leica Dicomar lens, 10x optical zoom; Advanced Mega Optical Image Stabilizer.
  • Face detection technology; Intelligent Shooting Guide.
  • 5.1-channel surround sound; Zoom mic feature.
  • Records to SD and SDHC memory cards.
  • 1/6″ 3CCD sensors.
  • High-speed burst shooting at 24 frames/second, 2.1-megapixel picture.

Pre-order Panasonic HDC-SD9 at Amazon.com

More info on Panasonic HDC-SD9:

http://www.panasonic.com/cesshow/
Endgadget
CamcorderInfo

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Troubleshooting: AVCHD and Mac OS X

Final Cut Pro: Unexpected Quit during AVCHD transfer.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306922

Issue
Final Cut Pro 6 may unexpectedly quit when attempting to transfer AVCHD media, if the third-party Perian QuickTime component is installed.

Products affected

  • Final Cut Pro 6.x
  • Perian

Solution
Check to see if the Perian QuickTime component is installed:
/Library/QuickTime/Perian.component

Drag the component to the Desktop or to the Trash, and test for the issue.

——-

iMovie does not see Sony AVCHD camcorder videos.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305919

When the Sony HDR-SR1, HDR-SR7 and HDR-SX7 cameras contain both HD (AVCHD) and SD (MPEG-2) content, iMovie ’08 will be able to import the SD (MPEG-2) content. However, to import the HD (AVCHD) content to an Intel Mac, you must first erase the SD (MPEG-2) content on the camera.

——-

iMovie ’08: Previewing footage when importing may not work when filming footage in “Pre-Record Mode” on some camcorders
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1148

Symptoms
Some camcorders have a new Pre-Record function which, when enabled, continuously records several seconds of images into an internal buffer memory which helps capture sudden shooting opportunities. Enabling that mode, however, may cause not being able to preview footage while importing in iMovie ’08.

Camcorders known to have this option include:

Panasonic HDC-SX5 AVCHD DVD
Panasonic HDC-SD5 AVCHD Flash Memory

Products Affected
iMovie 7.0

Resolution
Do not use of the Pre-Record function on your camcorder while capturing footage if you want to preview captured footage when importing.

Note: If you capture footage with the Pre-Record function enabled, you can still play back and edit your footage in iMovie ’08 once it has been imported.

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Sony HDR-CX7 AVCHD Video Sample

Sony HDR-CX7

Sony HDR-CX7 was one of three solid state AVCHD Camcorders I considered buying back in 2007. The other two are Sanyo Xacti HD1000 and Panasonic HDC-SD5. After some testing and deliberations, I bought Panasonic SDC-HD5. In addition to that, my friend bought Canon HG10.

I tested Circuit City‘s store display unit sometimes in October 2007. I didn’t even bother setting up the time and date of the camera.

Download the sample here (22.4MB).

Sony HDR-CX7 AVCHD Video Sample

  • H.264 format 960×540 Resolution
  • 3914.68 kbits/s
  • Imported and edited using iMovie ’08 on my 15-inch 2.0GHz MacBook Pro Core Duo
  • Recommeded application to view the video QuickTime 7, MPlayer or VLC

Accessories for HDR-CX7:

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AVCHD and Mac OS X

AVCHD

iMovie ‘08 Final Cut Pro Icon

On TWiT 128 (10 minutes and 40 seconds into the show), Patrick Norton asked if AVCHD is natively supported in Final Cut Pro. Alex Lindsay didn’t think so, but Leo Laporte said there is. Leo then pointed out that Final Cut Express and iMovie ’08 support AVCHD.

Now, let’s see where things really are right now for Mac users. Final Cut Pro 6, Final Cut Express 4, and iMovie ’08 do support AVCHD format, but not quite natively. It takes roughly 3 minutes to import a 58-second clip in iMovie ’08 on a 2.0GHz MacBook Pro Core Duo with 2GB RAM and 7200 RPM hard-drive (via USB 2.0). On the same MacBook Pro Final Cut Pro 6 consistently crashes in the middle of importing the same AVCHD video clip. UPDATE: There is an apparent conflict caused by Perian Quicktime Component (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306922). As for Final Cut Express 4, I don’t know because I don’t have it yet.

I installed Sony’s Vegas Movie Studio 8 Platinum Edition on a Windows XP PC that my friend and I put together. It has Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6550, 4GB of RAM, and Intel® Desktop Board DP35DP. Sony Vegas took a short amount of time to import the same AVCHD video clip. As a matter of fact, Sony Vegas recognize the “.mts” file format. This is no surprise because AVCHD was developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic.

The advantage of using a disk-based camcorder is the ability to transfer the video clip faster than tape-based camcorders. Videos from tapes are transferred in real time to the computer, because of the limitation of the tape medium. Unfortunately for Mac users, AVCHD is a little bit inconvenient; because it takes almost forever to import those video files. AVCHD requires a lot of processing power, but if the system/program natively supports AVCHD, it’d be easier to copy the actual streams to another hard drive and import them later.

Maybe the next updates to iMovie and Final Cut will address this issue. Until then, Mac users has to be patient when dealing with AVCHD camcorders.

I own a Panasonic HDC-SD5, and also use my friend’s Canon HG10.

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South Park: The Imaginationland Trilogy is Coming To DVD March 11th, 2008

South Park‘s fans can not wait for the twelfth season to start, but no date has been set yet. In addition to that, no words on the release date for South Park: The Complete Eleventh Season DVD.

Would the DVD set make any different since all of Season Eleven Episodes are available for purchase on iTunes Store and Amazon Unbox. Of course! The DVD is higher quality than the digital download version, and it is not crippled with DRM.

Good news for those who can’t wait for the Complete Season 11 DVD, because South Park: The Imaginationland Trilogy is coming to DVD on March 11th, 2008. Dubbed as “Uncensored Director’s Cut” and “New Feature Length DVD Movie”, fans can only hope that this dvd is worth every penny. No further details have been provided yet. In any case, this “New Feature Length DVD Movie” should make the wait a little bit easier.

Imaginationland Trilogy DVD

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Reno 911! Kicks Off Fifth Season

Reno 911! is back. The show kicks off its fifth season with more questions than answers, intentionally.

RENO 911! (501)
Did Garcia steal Dangle’s husband? What’s happening to Wiegel’s Baby? Find out the answers to these and other exciting questions on the season premiere of Reno 911!

Well, that’s all I wrote for now because I spent the the whole day at Paramount Studio. Yelling at those WGA strikers……. well, in a good way. Cloverfield premiered earlier tonight, and I was expecting a lot more WGA strikers there.

Anyway, I’ll update this post with more relevant Reno 911! stuff. Why? Because I promised Sheriff Deputy James Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui) to do it.

Carlos Alazraqui from Reno 911! and Taco Bell Chihuahua fame is scheduled to perform at the Ice House in Pasadena, California. Carlos will be performing on the following date and time:

View Carlos’s Video here.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lQLXRIBWgOE

Ice House Comedy Club
http://www.icehousecomedy.com/

Carlos Alazraqui
http://www.carlosalazraqui.com/
http://www.myspace.com/carlosalazraqui/

…….to be revised.

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Family Guy: Blue Harvest – Fox Digital Copy

As previously reported, “Family Guy: Blue Harvest” DVD-set includes a second disc that contains a “digital copy” of the feature. The “digital copy” is compatible with iTunes and Windows Media Player. The digital copy then can be played in video-playing-iPods, iPhone, and any compatible PlayForSure device.

Blue Harvest - 2 DVD Discs and the Code

Each DVD package comes with a serial number that can be used once in iTunes or Windows Media Player to decrypt the “digital copy” and apply corresponding DRM on it. For example, if you’re using Windows Media Player to access the “digital copy”, it will extract and decrypt it from the disc and apply PlayForSure DRM on it. The serial number that comes with the DVD package can only be used once for one format only; iTunes or PlayForSure compatible format.

Family Guy - Fox Digital Copy Family Guy blue Harvest iTunes 7.6 - Family Guy: Blue Harvest - Chapters

< ?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>


25491
FAMILYGUY_BLUEHARVEST

244097
268387794

md5=”8b1c8432da51963a2e353a235a0d063a” length=”520081073″/>

Family Guy: Blue Harvest comes in two flavors; Regular and Special Edition. The Special Edition comes with limited edition collectibles:

  • Collector’s T-Shirt (100% cotton, Black, XL)
  • 3D Glasses
  • 12 Collector’s trading cards (in same style as original Star Wars trading cards) that form a 3D scene on the back
  • 20-page “Art of Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest” booklet including sketches, notes and a letter from Seth MacFarlane

Blue Harvest Special Edition

Blue Harvest in Windows

Blue Harvest - Windows Media Player or iTunes

Blue Harvest DRM in Windows

Blue Harvest - iPhone

Blue Harvest - iPhone Chapters