[MacDV] Re: NTSC output for G5

Fri Oct 3 16:33:23 PDT 2003

At 11:27 AM +1200 10/4/03, Neville Thomas wrote:
>On Saturday, October 4, 2003, at 09:32  AM, Erica Sadun wrote:
>
>>At 2:27 PM -0700 10/3/03, Carter Tomassi wrote:
>>>>I use my a/d-d/a box about a hundred times as much as I do my
>>>>video camera. It's flat. It sits on my desktop. It's powered
>>>>by firewire.
>>>>
>>>>I watch TV with it. I do video teleconferencing with it.
>>>>I use it to import and export video projects.
>>>
>>>Erica, you ought to write a book. None of that has ever occurred to me.
>>>
>>>Carter
>>
>>Sigh.
>>
>>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782141986
>>
>>-- Erica
>>
>They won't ship to New Zealand!
>Sigh!

How annoying. For some reason, my books cost twice
as much and are 10x harder to get in NZ/Australia,
which (considering my deep devotion to all things
Region 4) is entirely unfair.

I know that the distribution is better in Britain
because I just found a very  nice review the other day.

I include the review below my signature.

-- Erica

Telecomworldwire, March 27, 2003 pNA

REVIEW: Digital Video Essentials: Shoot, Transfer, Edit, Share. (by 
Erica Sadun)(Book Review)_(book review)

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-27 March 2003-REVIEW: Digital Video Essentials: 
Shoot, Transfer, Edit, Share(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD 
http://www.m2.com

The brave new world of digital video is fast becoming a consumer 
phenomenon. Prices of equipment and software are dropping quickly and 
more and more people are becoming aware of the functionality which a 
video camera and a piece of video editing software can offer. And a 
bit of imagination as well, of course.

However, the whole process is actually quite complicated and doesn't 
fall into one easy-to-digest category. Within the whole umbrella 
subject of digital video creation you have to choose the equipment - 
from cameras and filters through to PCs/Mac and software - choose 
settings and angles, learn how to use the camera, learn about sound, 
sound effects and dubbing, and muddle your way through the whole 
editing process. All of the time you'll be hitting a steep learning 
curve as you get used the individual features of all of this amazing 
new kit you've just purchased.

Erica Sadun has done a fantastic job of bringing together this mixed 
bag of topics and converging them into one simple book. It's not big 
and it doesn't include masses of fancy colour photography: instead it 
opts for simplicity and generalism. Where Sadun could have gone into 
great detail about the wonders of a particular camera, instead she 
gives you individual details to look for when you are selecting one. 
She goes into the pros and cons of everything from picture quality, 
sound quality and the differences between analogue and digital.

The photography and imagery that is used is placed so that direct 
comparisons can instantly be made and they never take up more space 
than they need to.

The best aspect of this book however is the large swathes of text 
given over to ensuring that you get the most from the actual 
production process. This would be generic to almost any equipment 
from the latest high-end digital Canon unit down to a lowly analogue 
camcorder. These principals of video production (planning, setting 
the scene, scripting, focussing, angles, etc.) would be applicable no 
matter what kind of equipment you had. Ideas are put forward for the 
different types of movie you might be putting together and finally 
you are given a good grounding in what kinds of media are available 
for distributing the finished product.

At the end of each chapter is a brief recap of the information taken 
onboard over the last few pages and at the end of the book you'll 
find an invaluable glossary of terms and the index.

To top this off all of the video examples in the book are on a CD 
which accompanies it. This along with the many software packages 
(many are demo versions) make this an excellent starter kit for the 
newcomer to the world of digital video.

CONCLUSION: Just about faultless. Not technical enough for the 
experienced digital video hack but an absolute must for the rest of 
us.

Title: Digital Video Essentials: Shoot, Transfer, Edit, ShareAuthor: 
Erica SadunPublished by: SybexISBN: 0-7821-4198-6Price: 
GBP22.99Reviewer: Jamie Ayres

This book was provided for review by Computer Manuals 
(http://www.computer-manuals.co.uk).

((Comments on this story may be sent to tww.feedback at m2.com))

Named Works: Digital Video Essentials: Shoot, Transfer, Edit, Share 
(Book) - Reviews