[plug] Video cameras and video editing

[Tim Bowden]

Thanks Bernd and others.  This is just the info I was after.

Regards,
Tim

On Wed, 2008-09-24 at 18:59 +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> Tim Bowden <tim.bowden at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> 
> >I'm going to be hiring a video camera for a conf I'm going to
> >(FOSS4G2008 in Cape Town: http://foss4g.org/) for doing interviews etc.
> >Not something I've done before.  Any tips as to what's what with cameras
> >(digital v analogue etc), and the process of getting the content into my
> >laptop and editing it?
> 
> Camera:
> 
> A cheap digital camera with DV tapes and USB or Firewire (IEEE-1394)
> can be bought for under $400 at many discount stores. I prefer those
> with IEEE-1394 because they tend to work better for data transfers.
> Quality is "good enough" with the cheapies. You're probably not
> going to be able to rent much of anything. at that price.
> 
> High-definition digital video camera with DV tapes such as a Canon
> HV30 with full 1080 resolution are selling on eBay for under $1200.
> 
> If you're going to be doing interviews and the like, and you're
> doubling as camera operator, then make sure that you get one with a
> remote control. Be aware that the infra-red's sometimes don't work
> well in bright sunlight.
> 
> Stick with the cameras that record onto DV tape. They are much more
> versatile and the digital tape is useful archive media. I have
> standard def. tapes recorded back in 1997 that play back without a
> hitch.
> 
> 
> Editing:
> 
> When it comes down to editing, the best video editing package for
> Linux appears to be Cinelerra. It's a non-linear editing package.
> I've used it quite a bit.
> 	<http:http://www.vimeo.com/berndfelsche>
> As well as producing online versions, I'm using Cinelerra with
> SubtitleComposer and DeVeDe to build DVDs. There are other DVD
> building GUI; most drive DVDauthor in the background.
> 
> I tend to output for DVD from Cinelerra and then transcode to lower
> online resolutions using ffmpeg. NB: Cinelerra doesn't handle
> changes in resolution well after you've started the project. I've
> learnt how to hack the XML that it produces to repair the damage
> that i've unwittingly inflicted upon myself through past
> transgressions.
> 
> But before editing, you'll need to transfer the digital data to
> your hard drive. Estimate 20 gigabytes per hour of raw, standard
> resolution video. A striped RAID works best. External USB drives can
> be used at a pinch.
> 
> Set up whatever you use capture to auto-split on the recorded
> scenes, with a maximum of say 5 minutes per scene.  Use the
> timestamp as filenames for the scenes. IIRC, I used Kino for most of
> the captures.
> 
> 
> Video recording:
> 
> A tripod with a fluid-stabilised head gives moving camera motion a
> professional look.
> 
> Use an external microphone or a "wind screen" on the camera when
> recording outdoors.
> 
> "Backup" your recording by using a media player that has built-in
> microphone to do a digital recording in case the camera's sound is
> garbled.
> 
> Set you digital camera to UTC date-time and leave it like that
> regardless of where you're recording. Your video will be date-time
> stamped consistently.
> 
> If you have a spare, charged battery, then it's unlikely that you'll
> need to use it. If you don't have one, you'll almost certainly wish
> that you had! :-)
> 
> Play with the camera before going "live" with it. Practice the
> handling; make sure that you know when it's recording or off.
-- 
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake
when you make it again.