Paying the Power Bill in Chuxiong

Posted on December 4, 2006 by Robert Thompson

Title	Power Bill
Video	1024k, 2vbr
Audio	112 AAC
Dimenions	640×320
Format	QT H.264
File Size	11 mb
Length	0:36
Sound?	Live Narrative
Rated	G – ALL

Try the SUPER DUPER CRUNCHED VERSION!
20 kpbs video
50 px wide enlarged to 640 px wide
0.1 mb

Okay, that’s a bit much, but I just ran a bunch of tests and found out that my current settings (1024 video kbps ,etc) is way overkill. Also, audio can be set at the very lowest (mono, 8bit, etc). I just did a test at 300 video kpbs, cut the dimensions by 75%, and it is almost the same as this 11 meg file in terms of video quality, but the file size is 1 meg (of course you have to resize the QT file back up, but for 90% off the file size, I’ll take it.)

-BOB-

Sunday

Posted on December 3, 2006 by Robert Thompson

We entertained over twenty guests today from 1 o’clock to 11 o’clock. For dinner we went to a restaurant (this one, actually) and ate lamb hot pot. You all know what hot pot is. It was hella good. I have to say, before Cirque and China, I never had lamb. Or maybe I did but I don’t remember. Probably because we were poor East Oakland folk who only ate mashed potatoes and meat loaf, with ketchup on top. Okay I’m joking, we had our share of Cheeto’s and Top Ramen, oh and don’t forget Eric’s “Rice, Tuna and Peas” creation in the plastic Tupperware bowl with the “big” spoon. (I copied that one a few times in Boston.)

So after the delectable hot pot we all walked to the house and everyone continued to play hours of mahjong. I was on tea duty and poured over 100 little cups of tea for everyone. We served Pu’er Cha (poo-’ARE), a Yunnan specialty that is very difficult to find outside of Yunnan. (My sources tell me that it sells for 10x the price in Beijing.) It’s fermented tea, comes in green and red, and has a unique production process (involving steaming and “compressing”). The green version is caffienated, so take it easy on that one.

It was a fun day and the weather was just a touch under 70. Right now I’m going to watch a little of the 15th Asian Games with Chun Mei and then go to sleep, with hopes to get back on a normal sleep schedule. Jimmy, thanks for the call last night, you are the first one to randomly call me on a phone in China! (Sorry I was alseep! I loved the, “ALLLLLL-RIIIIIIIIIGHT!! IT WORKED!” Made me laugh today.)

-BOB-

Yizu New Year Celebration

Posted on December 2, 2006 by Robert Thompson

Title	Yizu NY
Video	888k, 2vbr
Audio	112 AAC
Dimenions	700×366
Format	QT H.264
File Size	40.1 mb
Length	2:26
Sound?	Live Narrative
Rated	G – ALL

Compare, and let me know which you prefer in the future (basically the same export settings):

Flash Version | Quicktime Version

I’d be interested to see the difference in load times, picture quality, choppiness, etc. I’m on a slow connection, I can’t really test.

PS, I’m not really sure why the FLV is 18 mb and the QT is 40…

-BOB-

SkypeOut International Forwarding Works

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Robert Thompson

Whether I’m at my computer or downtown buying oranges, I just made it a lot easier for anyone in the USA to call me. International Call Forwarding, free for you.

It doesn’t matter if I’m “online” in your Skype window or not — just double-click and it should forward to me in China.

Best of all, it’s free for you guys, and it’s cheap for me. Hope this helps keep us connected for the next 4-6 months. Call us up!

-BOB-

Last Chuxiong House Tour

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Robert Thompson

Title	House Tour
Video	888k,2p
Audio	112 AAC
Dimenions	700×366
Format	QT H.264
File Size	23.1 mb
Length	3:16
Sound?	Live Narrative
Rated	G – ALL

This completes the tour of our house. View the first video (first floor) if you haven’t already seen it.

PS – I added a new CSS style for the movie attributes, then made a little table in 36-sec Dreamweaver and threw it in the blog. Fresh, huh?

UPDATE:
I exported this movie again Flash Video, and it took 11 minutes to export, as opposed to H.264, which took 26 minutes. After it uploads I’ll look at the video quality. All the settings are the same, but with this On2 Flix Exporter, I cannot crop the frame. File size was identical. View FLV export.

-BOB-

House Video #2

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Robert Thompson

VIEW MOVIE

W I D E S C R E E N is the new black.

What it looks like in the morning at YRGZ (never saw it before.) Gotta clean the wide-angle adapter, or remove it. That reminds me, we need to get a mirror for our bathroom.

Title	House Video #2
Video	600 kbps, 2-pass VBR
Audio	40 AAC, mono
Dimenions	600×310, preserve aspect ratio (crop)
Format	Quicktime
File Size	7.1mb
Length	1:21 (FCP compression time= 10 mins)
Sound	Narrative
Rated	G (All audiences)
Notes	Never using 600 vkpbs again.

-BOB-

Dreamweaver Load Time

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Robert Thompson

Update:
SEE FOR YOURSELF. Screen Mimic initialized recording at the same time I clicked Dreamweaver on the dock.

This is what it should be.

On this brand new $3,000+ laptop, with 2 GB of RAM, it takes Dreamweaver 36 seconds to load and get to a “new” HTML screen. :)

-BOB-

Useful Cropping Tip to save you $1099 at Amazon.com

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Robert Thompson

To all the people (aHEM) that are may be in the market for a new HDV widescreen mega-cam… Quick way to save yourself a load of cash.

1. Borrow someone else’s DV cam and use it for free!
2. After you watch the FCP tutorial and have the basics, export you movie like this:

This screen is at (… are you ready?):

File > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion > Options > Size

While in this dialogue, set the Dimensions to Custom and enter any widescreen ratio (help with good widescreen ratios, bottom of the page) and then check the “Preserve aspect ratio using” and set it’s menu to “Crop”.

By doing this, you are cropping your DV from the center (essentially trimming off the top and bottom equally) to give it a “widescreen” feel.

And when you read the reviews on Amazon about how “normal” DV cameras look like s*** with the internal widescreen mode enabled (or look like s*** when you crop them in post-production because the resolution is terrible), I encourage you to take a look at the quality of my last export and see for yourself. Keep in mind that this was shot on a 3.5 year old model Panasonic (3CCD!) and was cropped in FCP…

-BOB-

Weather

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Robert Thompson

Currently, at 1:59 am, it’s 54°F outside.

The range is 45°-70ish°F. In direct sunlight, you experience “very hot” and in shade, your fingers are uncomfortably cold. I’m at 5500 feet, but closer to that equator, blah… It’s nice during the day. That’s why people in Beijing buy second homes in Yunnan — because of the good weather. Doesn’t rain that much.

-BOB-

Final Cut + Compression Notes

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Robert Thompson

WATCH MOVIE

Just a note: I edited this video with the intention of using all the new information I learned from Total Training: Final Cut 5. It’s not a very stimulating video, but I did make use of the ‘Viewer’ and ’3-point editing’ (as opposed to drag&drop, razor method, as described in my last tutorial.) Also I learned about how to effectively use the browser (or what I called the ‘library’ window).

Title	Bob & Fam Visit Heijing, Yunnan
Video	1024 kbps, 2-pass VBR
Audio	80 AAC, mono
Dimensions	640×480
Format	Quicktime
File Size	21.7 mb
Length	2:42 min
Rated	All audiences

I compressed this video twice, same settings, except for 2-pass.

1-pass = 21.8 megs / lots of crap on screen
2-pass = 21.7 megs / much less crap

But, the 2-pass very little of the artifacting that 1-pass does when you move the camera more that the speed of “slow”. What that means is, for a talking head, yes, 1-pass could be useful at saving you compression time, but really, I’m now convinced that 2-pass must always be used.

-BOB-