In the episode titled “316” we saw the protagonists “zapped” away from the plane, rather than seeing the plane actually crashing. On the same episode it was revealed that the Oceanic 6 must re-create the circumstances of the Oceanic 815 flight as much as possible in order to make it to the island.

What if the island was “pre-programmed” to search for certain “patterns” on flights that happen to fly above the invisible island? Just like the “grep” command on UNIX. In the flight 815 there were these few special people on it that the island expected them to arrive for a long time. The plan was to zap them out of the plane in order to have them fulfill their destiny on the island. Instead, the plane crashed. So, what happened?

Desmond happened.

The “expected” timeline was changed by the only person that is able to affect timelines, Desmond. By not entering the numbers on the computer in time, the island released a big amount of electromagnetism affecting the operational abilities of the island itself. This temporary interference disabled the “zapping” abilities of the island, and the electromagnetism broke the plane in pieces instead. The island only had enough time to make sure the safety of as many people as it could, hoping that among the survivors the special persons will survive too. In the series it was said that no one should have survived that crash, and yet, enough of them did. Because the island intervened just in time.

This theory also explains why the red-shirts Oceanic 815 survivors ultimately died. It’s because they should have not survived (or crash there) in the first place! This is also enforced by Ben’s “who cares?” in the episode “316” when Jack asked them what would happen to the rest of the people in flight 316. The island is not interested in them, and so it’s possible that flight 316 never crashed anywhere. The co-pilot took over when Frank zapped out of there along the rest, and no one noticed anything more than a temporary disturbance. This is what it should have happened in Oceanic 815 too, if it was not for Desmond.

Because more people than it was required survived, a different timeline emerged. The original plan might have been for the Others to pick up the people zapped in the island (people who were in “the list”, like in the case of the abduction of some of the tailees), give them a tutorial as to what the heck happened to them, and then let them fulfill their destiny (which according to some it will be a “saving the world” scenario). Instead, we had many survivors, they created their own little team, and combated the Others. Coupling this with Ben’s behavioral shortcoming to give up the leadership to Locke early on, the Others and the Losties created a scenario that didn’t serve anyone. The island right now is probably not happy with any of the two sides…

Some will ask why the island was pre-programmed to search about these special people, but given that time travel is possible on Lost, it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy plot: someone from the future (Jacob?) went back in time, in the ancient era when Egyptians colonized the island, and made sure the island knows about these special people that it needs to bring together when it recognizes some patterns in the sky. The island might just be a big computer (or a spaceship) of a sort. And Richard Alpert is the ageless keeper of the island making sure it’s safe, while it’s waiting for these special people to arrive and fulfill their destiny. Alpert and Ben do not know who the special people among the survivors are (except for the case of Locke), they only know what Jacob allows them to eventually know via “the list”.

However, if the destiny of these special people was just to be fulfilled as originally planned, we would have not had TV suspense. Every character would just do what they were meant to do and that would be that. But you can’t constraint a twisted TV show like “Lost” is to having the heroes just do what they were supposed to do. There has to be a twist, a twist that changes the rules, and brings chaos to “what was supposed to happen”. That’s the suspense that the show actually brings us: not a boring, canned version of what’s supposed to happen, but what actually happened. And Desmond with his timeline-changing abilities is the plot device for this twist. As in a Greek tragedy, Desmond unknowingly, but ironically, paid back the island –a place that he so much despises– with a huge platter of revenge for keeping him prisoner there for 3 years. This theory makes Desmond the “variable” to the “Lost” saga, another ironic reference as the direct opposite of the popular Desmond-centric “The Constant” episode. “The Variable” is also the title of an upcoming episode!

The beauty of all of it is that both science and faith are important to understand the mechanics of it all. Locke’s faith, and Jack’s scientific disbelief fit perfectly, as this theory entertains both the destiny/fate element in the show (that Locke’s so fond of), and the scientific/technological point of view that Jack will ultimately unveil as being behind it all. So both of the two lead characters are right. And both are wrong, by being blindly devoted to abstract notions (Locke), or disturbingly close minded (Jack).

The following tutorial shows you the best way to get as smooth slow motion video out of your footage. It’s a bit involved, but it’s worth it if the slow motion scenes of your videos are central to what you are trying to show (e.g. skateboarding slow-mo). This method uses the bob+weave de-interlacing algorithm that makes 50i or 60i interlacing streams to become 50p or 60p (progressive), before we slow them down. This way, the slow-motion algorithms have more frames to work with, therefore creating a smoother slow-mo effect similar to what some get from expensive high-frame rate cameras. Here’s how this 60p method looks like, compared to the default slo-mo methods of Sony Vegas:

Sony Vegas can do this too, but it requires a train of thought that most users don’t know about. So, if you want to use the more complicated but video editor-agnostic AviSynth/VirtualDub method, use the one directly below. If you want to use the easier Sony Vegas-only method, go to the bottom of the article.

Preparation (needed for both methods)

1. For footage that you know you want to slow-mo later, record at the highest frame rate that your camera is capable of (e.g. 50i or 60i for most camcorders), and at high shutter speed. Anything between ~1/300th to 1/1000th is good. If your camera does not have shutter speed manual control, then you are using the wrong tool for the job.

Method 1: Software setup (needs to be done only once)

1. Install the stable 2.5.7 version of the AVISynth application. Follow the default options during installation. Once it’s installed, you can safely delete its downloaded installation file.

2. Download the DGIndex application. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, select all files and folders in it, and drag-n-drop them on C:\Tools\DGIndex\ (create the folders if they don’t exist). From within that last folder, copy the file called “DGDecode.dll” and paste it on the C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\ folder (make sure you do a “copy” and not a “move”). You can delete that downloaded .zip file now.

3. Download and unzip the MPASource plugin. Inside that zipped folder, you will find a file called mpasource.dll. Drag-n-drop that .dll file on the C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\ folder. You can safely delete that downloaded .zip file now.

4. Download the Lagarith lossless codec. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, and drag-n-drop on your desktop the two files that their names are starting with the word “lagarith” (these are: lagarith.inf and lagarith.dll). Right-click on the file that’s called either plainly “lagarith” or “lagarith.inf”. From that right-click menu select “Install”. After about 10 seconds, the Lagarith codec will be installed. You can safely delete the two lagarith files from your Desktop, and their downloaded .zip file.

5. Download VirtualDub from here. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, select all files and folders in it, and drag-n-drop them on C:\Tools\VirtualDub\ (create that folder if it doesn’t exist). You can delete that downloaded .zip file now.

6. Download the Smooth Deinterlace plugin for VirtualDub. Unzip that downloaded .zip file, select all files and folders in it, and drag-n-drop them on C:\Tools\VirtualDub\plugins\ folder. You can delete that downloaded .zip file now.

7. In a text editor, type the following (just copy/paste it from below). Then save the above script file on C:\Tools\ with the name “avisynth.avs” (make sure its suffix is .avs and not .txt).
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll")
MPEG2Source("F:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.d2v")
ConvertToRGB(matrix="rec709")
SeparateFields()

Method 1: Procedure

1. Double-click to load the C:\Tools\DGIndex\DGIndex.exe file. Select “File”, “Open”, change the “Files of type” to “All Files”, select the .M2T HDV file you want to open, and press “Open”. Click “Ok”. If a “Warning! Opening GOP is not closed” error message appears, ignore it. Then click “Video”, then “YUV->RGB”, and then “TV Scale”. Then, press “File”, “Save Project”, and save this .d2v file on C:\Tools\Videos\ (create the folder if it doesn’t exist). When the dialog says “FINISH” you can close down DGIndex.

2. Load the C:\Tools\avisynth.avs file with a text editor, and replace the XXXXX word with the file name of the d2v file that DGIndex produced above in the C:\Tools\Videos\ folder. Each time you work on a different video file you need to manually replace the filename inside this avisynth script file. Save the file.

3. Double-click to load the C:\Tools\VirtualDub\VirtualDub.exe file. Then click “File”, “Open video file”, and load the C:\Tools\avisynth.avs file. Click “Video”, then “Frame rate”, and make sure that it reads “59.940 fps” for your NTSC footage (or 50 fps if you are on PAL). Click “Cancel” to discard that dialog. Click “Video” again, and then “Filters”, then “Add…”. From the list, select the “deinterlace – smooth v1.1” option, and click “Ok”. Click “Ok” in the new dialog to load the plugin, and then “ok” again to discard the Filters dialog. Now, click “Video” again, and then click “Compression”. From the long list, select the “Lagarith lossless codec” and then click “Configure”. Select “Use Multithreading” if you are using a somewhat modern PC, and then select either the “RGB (Default)” mode or the “YUY2” mode. The RGB one has a tiny bit better quality, but it creates 2-3 times the filesize. We are talking about GBs per minute here, so you need to make sure you have a lot of free hard drive space! Click “Ok”, then “Ok” again.

4. If you want to slow-mo only parts of your .m2t HDV file, then you can set “start” and “end” points on VirtualDub. Move the slider in the VirtualDub timeline on where you want the starting point to be, and then click “Edit” and “Set selection start”. Then move the slider to the finishing point, and then select “Edit” and “Set selection end”. This is now marked with a blue-ish color, and if you attempt to render out, it will only render that part of your video. If you want to render out the whole thing, just go directly to the rendering part: select “File”, “Save as avi”, give it a filename of your choosing, and save on a folder that it’s easy to find back. After a while, you will be having a big .avi file. You can now safely close down VirtualDub.

5. Load Sony Vegas. On Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the File or Project menu select “Project Properties”, and a new dialog will pop up. In there, click the right outmost icon called “Match Media”, the one that looks like a yellow folder. From there, select the .avi file produced on step 3, and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked. You will notice that the frame rate is reading either 59.940 (NTSC) or 50.000 (PAL), and it’s progressive! Finally, do a few changes manually to that dialog: For the de-interlacing option select “interpolate”, and for the Quality option select “Best”. You can save a new template with these settings (e.g. name it “slow-motion”), so each time you start a new project with the same kind of footage, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”.

6. Now bring that huge .avi file on the Vegas timeline. Slow-motion it the way you want to (there are three ways to do slow-mo on Vegas, pick any — and if you don’t know what I am talking about, read its help files). When you have it slow-mo in the timeline, right click on the clip, click “Switches”, and then “Disable resample”. Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that poped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 frame size, 29.970 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL) or 23.976 (film) frame rate (export at the same frame rate as your main project this clip will be incorporated into), “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 aspect ratio, and then select either the Cineform or the Lagarith option from the “video format” menu (any will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back. After a while, the video will be ready.

7. Now, bring that slow motion avi file to your main Sony Vegas project! If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Just make sure your main project is also correctly setup in the Vegas’ “Project Properties” dialog (your exported avi file above should have been exported at the same frame rate as your main project). Now, edit as you please and enjoy!

Method 1: Important Notes

1. If you are using AVCHD instead of HDV footage, you must buy CoreAVC’s Professional Edition decoder ($15). Install it, register it with the system, and then load its “Preferences” dialog, and disable de-interlacing (select “None”), and also disable “Aggressive de-interlacing” in there. Then, omit the first step about DGIndex in the procedure, and use this avisynth script instead:
DirectShowSource("C:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.m2ts")
ConvertToRGB(matrix="rec709")
ComplementParity()
SeparateFields()
Replace the XXXXX.m2ts with the .m2ts or .mts filename you want processed. If your footage appears to be jumpy, remove the ComplementParity() line and retry. On step 5, you might want to be careful about the frame size you export (it might be 1440×1080 with aspect ratio 1.3333, or 1920×1080 with aspect ratio 1.000 — use the same size as Vegas auto-configured in the Project Properties dialog earlier). Every other step is the same as in my tutorial. BTW, I do suggest you buy CoreAVC Pro and not use the freeware AVCHD decoders, because they crap out the frame rate decoding, and so it becomes impossible to get good 60p out of them. CoreAVC Pro is cheap, and it’s worth every dime.

2. If you are using plain miniDV (DV AVI) footage, use this avisynth script instead:
AviSource("C:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.avi")
ComplementParity()
SeparateFields()
Again, replace the XXXXX.avi with the right .avi filename of your video. If your footage appears to be jumpy, remove the ComplementParity() line and retry. Pay attention to the frame rate, resolution and aspect ratio you need to use & export from Vegas, depending if you are using NTSC or PAL, and if it’s widescreen or not. For widescreen miniDV footage you might need to manually set the right aspect ratio in the clip’s properties the first time you import it on Vegas (before you drop it in the timeline).

3. Audio is not included in the procedure described above. Not much of a point most of the times, but if you need it, use the following .avs script instead. You will have two XXXXX filenames to replace in that .avs file each time (one for the .d2v and one for the .mpa). Also, sometimes DGIndex craps out on the m2t files, and it creates shorter waveforms compared to the video, so this introduces an audio/video synch problem.
LoadPlugin("C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins\DGDecode.dll")
video=MPEG2Source("F:\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.d2v")
audio=mpasource("F:\Tools\Tools\Videos\XXXXX.mpa")
AudioDub(video,audio)
ConvertToRGB(matrix="rec709")
SeparateFields()

4. Sony Vegas is not required to follow the tutorial. Any video editor that allows you to disable resampling (aka motion estimation/compensation), and let’s you define a progressive 50p or 60p timeline, it’s fair game. Such editors include Premiere, After Effects, FCP etc. iMovie, Ulead and most other basic editors that don’t let you define less popular frame rates won’t do though.

5. If you are using a 64bit variant of Windows, then you need to replace all instances of “C:\Program Files\” in the tutorial to become “C:\Program Files (x86)\”.

Method 2: Sony Vegas-only way

1. Load Sony Vegas. On Vegas, it’s very important to have the right project settings before you start editing. From the File or Project menu select “Project Properties”, and a new dialog will pop up. In there, click the right outmost icon called “Match Media”, the one that looks like a yellow folder. From there, select the video file you want to slow-motion, and click “open”. Vegas will now automatically fill up most of the project settings for you, after analyzing the video file you picked. Now, you need to do a few changes manually to that dialog: For the de-interlacing option select “interpolate”, and for the Quality option select “Best”. For frame rate use 59.940 for NTSC videos, or 50.000 for PAL videos. Then, change the field order to “none (progressive)”. You can save a new template with these settings (e.g. name it “slow-motion”), so each time you start a new project that’s destined to become slow motion, you can just pick it from the list! So, after your project settings are set, click “Ok”.

2. Load your file in the Vegas timeline. Make sure that resampling is set to “smart resampling” (in the clip’s properties dialog). Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that poped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 or 1920×1080 frame size (same as what Vegas used in your project properties dialog), 59.940 (NTSC) or 50 (PAL) frame rate, “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 or 1.000 aspect ratio (same as your project properties), and then select either the Cineform or the Lagarith codec option from the “video format” menu (any will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller — Lagarith’s installation procedure is detailed in method 1 above). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion1.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back.

3. Create a new project on Vegas. Use again the “Match Media” function on Vegas’ Project Properties dialog, and select the new slowmotion1.avi file. Make sure field order is still “none (progressive)” and frame rate of NTSC 59.940 fps or PAL 50 fps (or just use the “slowmotion preset that you might have created in step 1). If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Then, drop the slowmotion1.avi in the timeline. Slow-motion it the way you want to. Then, right click on the clip, click “Switches”, and then “Disable resample”. Now it’s ready to render it out. Select “Project” or “File”, and then click on “Render As”. Select the “Video for Windows (avi)” in the “Save as type” option, and then click “Custom”. In the new dialog that popped up, select “Best” for “Video rendering quality”. In the second tab named “Video”, select the following options: 1440×1080 or 1920×1080 frame size (same as what Vegas used in your project properties dialog), 29.970 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL) or 23.976 (film) frame rate (export at the same frame rate as your main project this clip will be incorporated into), “None (progressive scan)” field order, 1.3333 or 1.000 aspect ratio (same as your project properties), and then select either the Cineform or the freeware Lagarith option from the “video format” menu (any of the two will do, although Cineform is faster and smaller — Lagarith’s installation procedure is detailed in method 1 above). Then click “ok” to close this dialog window. Finally, give a filename to your “Render As” dialog (e.g. slowmotion2.avi), and click “Save” to save it in a folder that you can easily find back. After a while, the video will be ready.

4. Now, bring that new slowmotion2.avi file to your main Sony Vegas project! If Vegas doesn’t recognize the file as progressive (some Cineform files are not recognized as such), then right click on the clip in the Media Bin (before is dropped in the timeline), and click “Properties”, and set its progressiveness in that dialog. Just make sure your main project is also correctly setup in the Vegas’ “Project Properties” dialog (your exported avi file above should have been exported at the same frame rate as your main project). Also, in the final edit prefer “interpolation” as the de-interlacing algorithm, and don’t forget to disable resampling on all clips in the timeline. Now, edit as you please and enjoy!

Method 2: Important Notes

1. To use the Vegas method with miniDV footage, you need to change all resolutions and aspect ratios mentioned in the tutorial to mirror your camera’s format. E.g. MiniDV NTSC Widescreen would be 720×480 with aspect ratio 1.2121. For the rest of the combinations Vegas has the info you need if you look hard enough.

A video from our yesterday’s visit to Santa Cruz’s Beach Boardwalk. Unfortunately, no tripods were allowed, so all shots are either handheld or with the camera sitting on top of a trash can. HD version and download here.

I know I said that this blog is closed, but I got messages from people asking me about my opinion on the new Canon camcorders, announced yesterday. Instead of emailing each and every one of you separately about them, here’s a quick post instead. Also, thank you to everyone who emailed me in the past 2+ weeks to wish well for my health and express their surprise, sadness (and in one case, …happiness) for the closing of this blog.

So, the (quite possibly) last of the HV-series, the HV40, adds just a customizable button and “true” 24p, without the need of pulldown removal. If you already have an HV20 or HV30 and a utility to remove pulldown out of PF24, or you just never shoot in PF24, then there is zero reason to buy this camera. It doesn’t worth the upgrade from a previous HV camera. It’s only a good solution if you are using a different, cheaper/older, camera. And it’s even less of interest if you live in a PAL country, as the only new thing you are going to get is the customizable button (PAL cameras don’t have 24p support). LAME.

The real interest is not in the HV series anymore. In my book, the HV series are dead in the “DV Rebel” amateur artistic videography. Long live the HV series. The interest is now in the AVCHD-based HF-S series. These two new models (HF-S10 and HF-S100) have some really good features, and only “lose out” to the HV40 in five departments. First, the good things about them:

Pros of the HF-S10/S100 compared to the HV20/30/40

– 8 MP sensor (in RED terms, that’s a 3K resolution, similar to the upcoming RED Scarlet). The picture captured is 8 MP and then it’s resized down to 1080p. Depending on the algorithm used to resize down the image, it should produce some very good quality picture, not only compared to the previous king in the consumer market, the HV series, but also compared to some prosumer cameras!
– It uses the brand new DigicDV III sensor. This sensor, in addition to the features mentioned above, is also faster. This means that Canon CAN optimized their h.264 AVC encoder to cram more quality while encoding at 24mbps. So, even if its 24mbps bitrate is the same as the HF11/HF100/HG20/etc cameras, the new faster sensor allows for more optimization of the encoder used during recording. More encoder optimization, better final quality.
– The new sensor is 1/2.6″ size, which is bigger than the HV-series’ 1/2.7″ size. Bigger sensor means shallower DoF, and better quality. Overall, that’s a 5% difference though, and quite honestly, not a huge difference. You will still need to zoom in at around 75% to get some nice-looking background blur.
– More dynamic range. Canon in fact specifically advertises this.
– Full 1920×1080 recording, instead of the HV’s 1440×1080.
– Zebra support. The HV series have that too, but this is a first for Canon’s AVCHD cameras, so it’s worth mentioning.
– Gain support. This is the first consumer Canon cameras ever to offer Gain/ISO control! With their Tv/Av modes, exposure compensation & locking, and now gain support, you can get a lot out of these cameras, only losing very little compared to having full manual control. Only extreme cases would require you to have a light meter and full manual control.
– Better focus roller. Unfortunately, this camera doesn’t have a full focus ring either, but its focus roller is bigger and more accessible than the HV series’.
– CineMode has *most probably* moved to the Colors Settings, rather than the ‘Programmed AE’ menu found in the HV series. If this is indeed true, it is a very good thing, as it will allow you to use a cinema gamma/look, while you can use your camera in Tv or Av mode at the same time, to properly control it. [Update: Unfortunately, no, it’s still in the Program AE menu]
– Focusing has been improved, by including color peaking and targeting, and face targeting. Overall, the camera has 3-4 ways of focusing. Still, the LCD screen is the same 2.7″ as in the HV series, I would have personally preferred an upgrade to 3.0″.
– Advanced auto-exposure, with the help of the DigicDV III.
– Much better still picture support and software controls for it.
– No LCD overscan. What you see on the screen is what it’s been recorded. On my HV20 I had ruined quite a few shots because its LCD has overscan.
– Color bars with Test Tone. To be used to calibrate third party hardware that work with your camera.
– No tapes. For some, this is a downside, for me, it’s not. I had enough of the tapes.

Cons of the HF-S10/S100 compared to the HV20/30/40
– No true, native 24p support. This is NTSC HV40’s new feature. NTSC HV20/30 cameras don’t have that either, they can only shoot in PF24. Removing pulldown for AVCHD using the freeware method is not fool proof: A/V sync issues appear overtime. And Cineform’s NeoHD utility costs $500. So yeah, I am kind of pissed at Canon for including true 24p in their dying HV40, and not to the HF-S series. For us, Sony Vegas users, this is a blow. Update: Cineform now sells a new product, called NeoSCENE, that removes pulldown of HDV and AVCHD. Costs just $129. Good to hear that at least someone can make money out of Canon’s screw ups.
– No Video input. This means that you can’t record (telecine) your old VCR tapes via your camera anymore. Or record your gameplay from a gaming device.
– Mini Advanced Shoe, instead of Full Advanced Shoe. This is a deal breaker if you already have Full Advanced shoe add-ons, like in my case, the VL-3 light & the DM-50 microphone. Even worse, there is no converter from Mini to Full in the market as of this writing (there’s only a $30 Mini-to-Cold shoe converter which is not useful in my case). I hate it when companies try to break existing standards on a whim to diversify their market while it doesn’t need diversifying.
– No viewfinder. Not a big deal for me, I never used it on my HV20. I always use a stabilizing gadget anyway. I never shoot handheld. And when I do, I hate that footage and I throw it away.
– The Canon site says that the HF-S series require 3 LUX as minimum illumination, while the HV series can deal with 2 LUX. However, measuring LUX capability is not very standard, so while the pixels are smaller in the HF-S series (more crammed pixels in the almost same-sized sensor), it should be up to par with the HV series in terms of low-light support. Possibly not better though. Camcorderinfo’s review in a few weeks will clear this up for us.

What I personally find annoying with the HF-S series
– No 24p native support. It’s stupid of Canon to give true 24p support to a much inferior quality-wise camera like the HV40 is, and not to the HF-S series. I am EXPECTING that the traditional refresh that Canon does every August to their camcorders will have this feature added to the HF-S series. So I might wait for that August refresh before I buy the HF-S100.
– The Mini advanced shoe is not compatible with my Full advanced shoe microphone and VL-3 light. That is $200 down the drain for me.
– The 58mm filter thread used is too huge, and all my 52mm filters might show vignetting if I use a step-down ring. The lens itself, quality and speed-wise, seems to be the same as in the HV series btw.
– No full focus ring. Thankfully, the new focus roller seems to be better than my HV20’s.
– Still, no full manual support.
– No ability to rotate the screen’s contents without rotating the screen (useful for 35mm adapter usage).

I would have gladly paid an extra $500 to the cameras’ price (estimated between $1200 and $1500) for these annoyances to go away. Still, if Canon updates the firmware with true 24p in August, I will go for the HF-S100 regardless.

Update: Some screenshots from an HF-S series stream.

This is the end of the road for this blog. Seven years on it I got tired of it, I have nothing new or important to add to it, and it doesn’t really make a difference anyway in the grand scheme of things.

On top of all that, my physical health is bad, so I should be catering to it rather than this online life that takes so much of my time daily. My JBQ suggests that it’s perfectly possible to keep up with both my normal life and the online one, but it’s not how I work. Either I give 100% of myself to something, or I don’t do it at all. So the time has come to take care of myself, and to do that, I have to focus on it. So no more blogging and heavy online presence for me.

You can still keep up with me by checking my videos on Vimeo. As long as I keep posting there once a month or so, it would mean that I am still alive and that videography is still my hobby.

This blog might get re-opened some day, depending on the circumstances. But for now, it’s a wrap. Thank you for reading my rants and thoughts all this time, truly appreciated. Take care!

What’s the difference between Vegas Pro and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum
Info about it here. Discussion about it and more details here. There are several DVD authoring applications out there to fill the void of DVD Architect (in case of the OEM version purchase of Vegas Pro 8 which doesn’t include a DVD authoring companion app). I would suggest the freeware DVDFlick which does the basics well. If you are just an amateur or enthusiast, the Platinum version is all you need. It will be enough for your needs, since it’s already the most advanced consumer editor.

How do I learn how to use Vegas fast?
Follow the links here.

Can’t capture from the HV20/30
Connect your camera to the firewire cable (not to your USB cable), put it into “play” mode and rewind the tape. On Vegas click “File” and then “Capture video”. A window will popup asking you if you want to capture DV or HDV. If you don’t get this window you must re-enable it at the Vegas’ preference panel. Select HDV. Then, in the Capture window/tab, click the little down-arrow next to “Prefs”, then “Device” and select the HV20 from there. You can also specify where you want the captured files to be saved. Then, on that same Vegas window, press “play” and then press “record”. You will find your .m2t files on the folder you set it to save, and on the “project media” tab (next to the capture tab). If you still can’t capture, make sure your HV20 doesn’t have its “DV Locked” setting ON, and that the date/time is set in your camera. As a last resort, reset your camera’s settings with the button behind the battery compartment. Finally, you could try capturing with the HDVSplit freeware utility — if HDVSplit can’t capture either, the problem is with your Windows/PC or the hardware of your camera, not with Vegas.

Tape capture stops all by itself
When capturing HDV video, Vegas has the bad habit of stopping the capturing if you moved your window/mouse focus to another application. To change that, click the “Prefs” button on the “Capture” tab and uncheck the “Stop device on loss of focus”.

Optimize Vegas for speedy video preview
You can speed up the Vegas video preview with the following tips:
1. Make sure that you use your files with the right “Project Properties” template. If you don’t use the right template, both Vegas’ speed and visual quality can decrease. If you don’t know what files you have, or you are using 24p and there is no available template for that kind of footage, then click the icon “match media” on the “Project Properties” dialog and navigate to one of these files you want to edit. Vegas will read that file and will figure out automatically the format and will fill up the right settings in the “Project Properties” panel. The only manual work you need to do on the Project Properties dialog after that, is to select “interpolate” for De-interlacing method, and “Best” for the Quality option.
2. Set the preview quality (in the preview window) to “preview (auto)“. If you use a single monitor try editing at 1/4 of the original size (that would be 640×360). If you have two monitors and one of the two is a full 1080p monitor, set the preview quality to “preview (full)”. If you are using a full 1080p monitor as a secondary preview monitor, expect the preview speed to reduce, as the graphics card and CPU will have to work extra hard serving you in this large resolution.
3. If you run Vegas on a Mac, make sure that you use Windows on its own partition, and you cleanly reboot to it via Bootcamp. Do not use virtualisers like Parallels or VMWare.
4. It is recommended that Vegas’ temp folder remains on the C:\ drive, but the footage itself on another drive. This way the hard drive don’t have to spin back and forth between locations, as the job will be shared within two drives. I can’t recommend USB/Firewire external drives as on some systems the media become “offline” and never wake up (seems to be a Vegas bug). Your mileage may vary.
5. Right click on the preview tab/window and de-select the “Scale video…” option. Make sure that “Simulate device…” option is selected.
6. Go to Vegas’ settings/preferences panel and on the Video tab tell it to use 4 threads. If you experience random crashes, go back to 2 threads. The fewer threads the more stability, but the more threads the more speed (for a hyperthreaded/multi-processing/multi-core CPU, that is). It’s a trade off until Sony fixes all their multi-threaded bugs.
7. Do not use plugins or pan/cropping if you need every bit of previewing speed while editing. Same goes for transitions and transparent tracks/media. Add all these at the very end, just before exporting, when your cut is already finalized.
8. If you are using the Pro version, stay with 8bit color depth editing and not 32bit. While 32bit editing can offer a tiny bit better visual quality when using plugins or transitions, it is extremely slow to edit as such.
9. Despite Sony’s claims, you need at least 2 GBs of RAM for HD editing. Otherwise, Vegas will start swapping sooner than later and everything will get really slow.
10. Vegas does not use special graphics functions like some other NLEs do. It will work with any DirectX 9 card. However, it does benefit (up to 10%-15% sometimes) from graphics cards that have fast bandwidth throughput, e.g. some of the latest ones from nVidia. Since Vegas version 10+, h.264 mts/mp4/mov/m2ts support is better too.
11. On pre-10 Vegas versions there is also a method to enable dual-core support on the preview screen, by clicking CNTRL+SHFT while clicking to load the Vegas preferences panel. This will enable a secret tab called “Internal” where you can enable preview support for dual core CPUs to speed up things even more. You need to turn to TRUE the option that reads “Enable multi-core rendering for playback”. Use this option with caution, might not be very stable. Don’t use it if your CPU is not an actual dual-core one.

Exporting tips
In the “Project Properties” window, even after having selected a template or you had let Vegas auto-configure itself, there are two options that you want to mess with manually.
1. Set “full-resolution rendering quality” to “Best”.
2. Set “De-interlace method” to either “Blend Fields” or “Interpolate” depending on the content of your video. If it’s a very fast moving video, use interpolate (at the expense of losing half of the resolution, but you get clean shots). If it’s a pretty static video, use “Blend Fields”. While people are swearing for one or the other, truth is that are both algorithms are useful for different things.

You can’t have a single kind of export for every possible need. For example, if you are interested in archiving your project, you might want to try exporting in Cineform or .M2T. If you want to export to DVD Architect, you need to export in mpeg2/AC3. If you want to export for Vimeo or YouTube HD or for your viewing pleasure in your PC, you want to export in WMV or MP4 in 720p.

If you are interested in saving only the media files you used in a project and nothing more (in order to save hard drive space), you can click “File”, “Save as”, and then check “Copy and trim media with project”. This will create a new folder in your drive that will only save the parts of the M2T files and other media you used in the project and not unused media.

No mpeg2/AC3/AVC exporting available, or no M2T support
If your Vegas doesn’t offer you these codecs to export it means that either:
1. You forgot to install the companion application DVD Architect (offers mpeg2/AC3).
2. You pirated Vegas and so these codecs refuse to work without online registration (mpeg2/AC3/AVC h.264).

24p support in Platinum
While Platinum does not have any preset 24p templates like Pro does, it does work with 24p timelines and footage. Just manually set the frame rate in 23.976, or use the “match media” icon to let Vegas auto-configure itself after you select one of these 24p video files.

Please note that Vegas (Pro or Platinum) won’t remove pulldown off of PF24 footage (the format that most Canon consumer cameras shoot 24p as). You first need to remove pulldown using an external utility, and then bring the resulted pulldown removed files into Vegas for editing in 24p mode.

Vegas can’t read Cineform files
If you remove pulldown with Cineform’s Neo/AspectHD utilities and Vegas can’t read these files then close down Vegas. Go to the C:\Program Files\Sony\ folder and find your Vegas installation. There, rename the cfhd.dll to cfhd.dll-OLD. Then, re-open Vegas. Now Vegas will use the system-wide Cineform codec instead of the old and outdated licensed version that comes with Vegas.

Formats that Vegas doesn’t like editing
Vegas is optimized to edit fast Cineform, DV AVI, mpeg2, AVCHD and some other types of videos. But expect extremely slow editing with MOV and MP4 containers, and WMV. Additionally, Platinum doesn’t seem to like XViD/DivX files (even if a third party codec might be installed it usually doesn’t like it much), while Pro fairs better in that regard. Vegas may have issues with files captured by HDVSplit.

Proxy Editing
If your PC is not fast enough to edit HD, you can use this tutorial to utilize proxy editing.

Ghosting on slow/fast-motion, or when there’s too much motion
Vegas has a pretty mediocre resampling algorithm. If you see ghosting where there shouldn’t be, select the clip in the timeline that shows the problem, right click it, select “Properties”, and then “Disable resample”. Please note that Vegas’ default slow motion technique is not very good. Use this tutorial for best results, if you shot in 50i/60i.

Crash when too many pictures are part of a project
Some versions of Vegas will crash if you have way too many huge megapixel pictures in your project. So for example, if your digicam is 10 megapixel, you will have to resize these pictures to the Vegas project size in order to ensure not only the best quality and speed, but also stability So, first download this batch resizing utility from Microsoft and install it. Then, you must decide on the correct size that you need to resize your pictures to, depending on the aspect ratio of your current project.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD burning
Vegas Pro 8 and Platinum 9 can burn your current open project on the timeline in a Blu-Ray or plain DVD disc, in HD format. There is no support for menus or other beautifications, just a straight HD burning. A Blu-Ray player is needed to playback the disc back, but not necessarily a Blu-Ray burner. Vegas Platinum 8 does not have this ability, but there is a free alternative way to achieve the same thing. For HD-DVD burns on plain DVD discs, check here.

Tips for AVCHD support
1. Make sure you have installed the free updates for either Vegas 8+ Pro or Platinum from Sony’s website. Without these updates for your Vegas there are bugs & even incompatibilities with some camera model formats.
2. If your AVCHD camera snaps full 1920×1080 video (instead of the usual 1440×1080) and you insert that video on Vegas Platinum 8, Platinum 8 will resize that video to 1440×1080 (because that’s the maximum resolution it supports), and you will lose this way both resolution and quality. You will have to either upgrade to Pro if that’s the case, or get Platinum version 9.
3. Editing AVCHD can be slow as it is a much heavier format than HDV. You can use proxy files, or import your AVCHD files in the timeline, match their format in the “project properties” window, and then directly export one by one your clips to the Cineform format which is much faster to edit (and it’s visually lossless, so you don’t lose quality during the conversion). You will find the Cineform codec under the AVI filetype rendering option: click “custom”, select the Cineform codec in the video tab, and fill up the right options for resolution, frame rate & aspect ratio in that same panel too. When you are done convert all your clips, you start a new project, match your AVI footage in the project properties window, and use these AVI Cineform files to edit. Update: Vegas 9+ doesn’t carry Cineform anymore. You will need to either use proxy files, upgrade your PC, or buy the Cineform NeoSCENE utility ($129, can also remove pulldown, it’s handy).
4. Platinum 8 can not export your edited video in AVCHD format back to the camera. Pro and Platinum 9 does though (at least for Sony cameras).

No way to export h.264 AVC from Platinum 7/8
While Pro has two h.264 encoders under its belt to choose from and Platinum 9 has one, it is a mystery why Platinum 8 has zero. There are several ways to go around the limitation:
Export either in a lossless codec using exporting options that match your source footage (I suggest Huffyuv because it’s supported by the vast majority of applications), or by using a frameserver. Then, use either ffmpeg as per my tutorial here or download the freeware utility “SUPER” which can will work equally well. Here’s how to export with SUPER in h.264 MP4. Even easier, try Handbrake.

I am such a “Lost” cheerleader, am I not? Sorry, I can’t help it. Best show of all times! The only piece of art that carries me away.

Adam wrote a very to-the-point review of “Heroes”, which I agree completely. A few moments later, I stumbled upon the following video, a brand new ABC promo for “Lost”. And damn did it bump my adrenaline to the max!

I can’t wait for season 5 to start in January!

< spoilers >
* In this season we will see Radzinsky, the guy who was there before Desmond in the hatch. The guy was only referenced once 2.5 years ago in the show, and here we are, he’s got a major guest role this season!
* How are we going to see him, you ask, as he’s dead? (for those who pay attention to “Lost” the way they should, Radzinsky committed suicide). Well, the island moved in both space and time, and our losties left-behinders will join the Dharma Initiative! In the past!
* You gotta see the leaked pictures with Sawyer in a Dharma suit! “Head of security” no less! And with a pseudonym! It seems that while Sawyer’s role was down-graded in the last season, he becomes the defacto leader of the left-behinders in this season.
* A part of the Oceanic 6 will make it back to the island, joining the left-behinders in the Dharma era. All this will happen before we reach the half of this season.
< /spoilers >

Writing the above it also just occurred to me that translating “Lost” to other languages via dubbing doesn’t work well (e.g. as they do in France), because the show has such subtle references to things, or carefully done sentences that hint things that will happen 30 episodes later, that the people who do the translation can’t possibly know (as they are not part of the writing team of “Lost”). So if you are watching “Lost” via dubbing, stop doing so now, buy the DVDs, and watch the show in English, or you will lose part of what it is “Lost”: the puzzle references and hints. That’s where the whole beauty of “Lost” is. Not in a dry, funny-sounded, dubbing.

Gosh, I hate dubbing more than ironing clothes.

UPDATE: Listen to the embedded promo video above, at the very beginning, mark 00′:02″. You will hear a voice (presumably Locke’s voice) saying something non-understandable. Now, if you reverse the audio at that point, you will hear instead “Am I… when?”. And this is my whole point about “Lost”: even their god damn ads include hints and puzzles to keep people busy decrypting & theorizing. As I said before, “Lost” is the ultimate geek/nerd TV show, if you don’t watch it, you are the one who misses out!

We had a nice evening at Computer History Museum‘s special event tonight, where celebrated lawyer, founder of Creative Commons, and all-around free thinker Larry Lessig gave us a speech about copyright law, remixing, and his plans for the future. Very cool guy. He looked thinner than in pictures I’ve seen. Here’s proof:

I completely re-cut and re-graded the music video of “You’ve Gotta Want It” by Dolorata. The original was too dark, boring, and cheesy. For the amount of footage I had (just 40 minutes of tape), I think I did a better job this time, as I used pans & crops to hide the fact that I don’t have nearly enough footage for a proper music video. HD version and download here.

To compare, the original cut is still available on youtube at Dolorata’s channel. It’s amazing that it got over 30,000 views overall though! I wish I had the current cut available from Day 1. 😮

Update: And as I was writing all that, I burned our dinner tonight in the stove.

Ewan McGregor describes how it’s like to be Scottish, on the Oscar-nominated movie “Trainspotting“. Best scene of the movie, in my opinion:

This reminds me of the kind of feeling some of us have about Greece. We love our home with all our being alright, but we just hate all the shit around it, plus, we don’t love it for the same reasons every-day Greeks do. So I think is this similar to what the Scottish author of “Trainspotting” had in mind when he wrote that dialogue. It was love, and anger, at the same time.