Warner drops HD DVD

In a potentially major upset in the conflict between movie standards, Warner Brothers today said it would drop its support for the HD DVD format, switching all its future titles to the competing Blu-ray standard for HD versions. The move is prompted by an evident shift by movie buyers towards the Blu-ray format and is meant both to consolidate Warner's efforts and prevent users from having to choose between competing formats for the same title. The choice is a reversal but a necessary one in an industry where the field appears to be destroying itself, Warner says. more..

The Bill O'Reilly Style of Handling Photographers

..Hank Castello

How do you handle wedding photographers who stand in front of your camera? Well, here's a great news story on how Bill O'Reilly handles photon-blocking perpetrators. What the CNN story doesn't say, was that a 'Bama staffer stood directly in front of O'Reilly's camera and when his cameraman moved it to one side, the staffer moved also in order to continue blocking the shot. O'Reilly had a few choice words, then dragged the staffer out of the way.

When he retires, he should become a wedding videographer!

CNN:
Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly had a confrontation with a staffer for Barack Obama’s campaign that the aide and several eyewitnesses claim became physical. more

CNN conveniently leaves out the part about the staffer blocking their shot. Fox doesn't have a word about it on their new site yet. Each spinning in their own way.

- Hank Castello

TSA Restricts Lithium Batteries on Flights

..Hank Castello

There's a lot of misinformation on this new rule that took effect Jan 1, 2008. The short of it is no loose lithium batteries in checked baggage and no more than two loose, properly packaged lithium batteries in carry-on luggage. That info is from the TSA (http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/batteries.shtm).

However, they reference another site for more info - http://safetravel.dot.gov and on that site (http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html ) we find that you can..

..bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams..

OK, quickly now - just how many grams of lithium are in YOUR batteries???

The largest Sony batteries for our FX1, FP-970 have only 4.2 grams each (according to my best resources). But how will you prove that to airport security guards? If you're travelling with three or more cameras, you'll likely want to bring more than two extra batteries, so be forwarned and prepared.

As for the "properly packaged", it seems that sealable, clear plastic sandwich or freezer bags will do. Happy Flying!

- Hank Castello

Dollar Down = Prices UP (Soon)

..Hank Castello

The Federal Reserve has announced another rate cut at its policy meeting today - another quarter percent. This and the ensuing stock sell-off could send the already sagging dollar into another nose-dive that will soon impact prices of foreign goods.

What does this mean to wedding videographers? Well, how many of us are shooting with U.S.-made cameras? Just about every piece of gear we use (and we use a ton of it) is foreign-made. Seven years ago, when I lived in Canada, it took about $1.60 Cdn to buy a USD. Today, according to xrates.com, the dollar is on an even keel with the Loon, meaning we've already lost forty percent of our purchasing power. When you're looking at upgrading to hi-def cameras costing $3,000 and up, that's a hunk of change!

Notice the drop from 2000 to present time. Chart courtesy of fa-mag.com

This may be a good time to buy - before the dollar takes yet another dive.        More..

Windows XP outshines Vista

..Suzanne Tindal, ZDNet Australia

New tests have revealed that Windows XP with the beta Service Pack 3 has twice the performance of Vista, even with its long-awaited Service Pack 1.
Vista's first service pack, to be released early next year, is intended to boost the operating system's performance. However, when Vista with the Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta was put through benchmark testing by researchers at Florida-based software development company Devil Mountain Software, the improvement was not overwhelming, leaving the latest Windows iteration outshined by its predecessor.

Vista, both with and without SP1, performed notably slower than XP with SP3 in the test, taking over 80 seconds to complete the test, compared to the beta SP3-enhanced XP's 35 seconds.        More..

2-Day Glidecam Workshop Jan. 27-28

..Dave Williams, Las Vegas

A two-day, hands-on workshop, featuring award-winning videographer and trainer Dave Williams, will take place at the Las Vegas Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino on Sunday and Monday, January 27th & 28th, 2008.

"I have seen Dave's work and from that I would say that any time you can spend learning from this man, has to make you a better wedding videographer." - Hank Castello, WeddingVideoDoneRight.com

Register Now by calling Toll Free 866-989-0158        More..

George Ou Declares HD-DVD Winner (almost)..

..On Rumor of $99 Toshiba HD DVD player at Wal-Mart

$99 for a Toshiba HD DVD player and $348 for a 1GB Acer Laptop supposedly this Friday at Wal-Mart and it isn’t even Black Friday yet. This is being advertised as the “Secret in-store specials” ri-walmart.com site which I’m not 100% sure is Wal-Mart operated but a whois.org search says it’s registered to “Wal-Mart stores”.

..If this $100 HD DVD is for real and if there are no sub-$250 Blu-ray set-top players this, I’m starting to think the High Definition format war is all but over.
         More..

Adobe Head Rolls

..though high sales still expected

In an unexpected move, Adobe Systems (NSDQ:ADBE) announced Monday that CEO Bruce Chizen will resign his position effective Dec. 1, to be replaced by the company's current president and chief operating officer, Shantanu Narayen.

If the timing of Chizen's departure is a surprise, the identity of his successor is not. A nine-year Adobe veteran, Narayen has been Chizen's heir apparent since his promotion to president in early 2005. He worked closely with Chizen to guide Adobe's landmark Macromedia purchase later that year, a deal that significantly boosted Adobe's already sizable footprint in the design and development software field and set it on a collision course with Microsoft for the hearts and minds of Web developers.        More..

WeDJ.com offers $10/mo Merchant Account

OK, PayPal now offers a merchant account with no monthly fee, but for you PayPal haters out there, this looks like a good deal. (We are not getting paid to post this, nor do we make commission off link hits, so this IS news..)

$10/Month Statement Fee
0.4% ABOVE INTERCHANGE RATE (Interchange is the cost directly from Visa and Mastercard)
$0.15 Per Transaction
$0.00 Monthly Minimum
$0.00 Annual Fee
$0.00 Early Termination Fee - Cancel ANYTIME!!
FREE Online Payment Gateway
Own a physical terminal? No problem! CDGCommerce will reprogram the terminal to get you these group rates!*
Toll-Free Processing (Easily call a toll-free number from virtually anywhere to process a credit card - only $0.10 per minute)
FREE Mobile Web Processing (Process a credit card from any mobile web enabled phone - Ex: Treo Phones)
Funds Automatically transferred to your Checking Account typically within 3 business days!
Your Business Name shows on the customers credit card statement!
         More..

Bride Sues - Flowers Wrong Color!

That headline's good enough for a story, eh? But this story has an even better one hidden inside - the bride paid..wait a minute..How much do you charge for your wedding videos? Think you work harder than a florist? Well guess how much the bride paid for these wrong-color, wilted flowers in dusty vases? Nah, higher. Uh-uh, higher still. Give up?

$27,435.14   OK, ready to raise your rates now???         More..

Audition 3, Sneak Peek

Just three weeks ago at the IBC broadcast show in Amsterdam, Adobe continued its commitment to this audio software with the unveiling of the third-generation Audition 3. The program doesn't officially ship until Q4 2007, but we got a sneak preview of a late beta version, which was fairly close to the genuine article, save for some (mostly) cosmetic tweaks. More..

Toshiba Un-Announces SD-H903A HD-DVD Burner!

In January of 2007, tech sites like engadget.com and others, heralded the release of Toshiba's first HD-DVD burner, the SD-H903a.

Engadget's SD-H903A story

A search on Toshiba's website (Toshiba American Consumer Division - tacp.toshiba.com), just several weeks ago, led me to a page proudly showing and telling all about the SD-H903A. A search today - in fact several quite determined searches using both Toshiba's 'basic' and 'advanced' search settings, give only a "Sorry, no matches were found containing h903a." notice, although Google's advanced search feature leads us to a single section on the toshiba site with any mention of the H903A - sdd.toshiba.com. One page in that section is:

http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/HDDVDDrives/SD-H903A

By apparently pulling public access to pages about the SD-H903A HD-DVD burner, is Toshiba effectively "un-announcing" this drive? It would certainly seem so. But read on and you'll see why we shouldn't expect this burner anytime soon..

Trying to find info through Toshiba was a real circus! After a long go-round, we ended up being connected to a repair center in Texas where they could only confirm that they had never seen an SD-H903A and worse, that they'd never even heard of it! This rma center handles optical drives and would seemingly be the place to send defective H903A's should they ever be shipped. Such rma centers generally receive training, parts and specs on new models well before they actually ship. Thus, it would appear that we can safely say there will be no US shipments of SD-H903A burners anywhere in the near future.

How HD-DVD ever expected to beat out Blu-ray without coming up with an HD-DVD burner, is anyone's guess. As for me, I'm shopping for a Blu-ray burner now!

- Hank Castello, WeddingVideoDoneRight.com

SONY ANNOUNCES FIRST SOLID-STATE COMPACT PRO-CAMCORDER

New Model Offers Workflow Flexibility, Broad Editing Capabilities and Full HD Image Quality

The new PMW-EX1 model expands Sony’s XDCAM® line-up of high-definition tapeless production and acquisition systems, which also includes optical disc-based camcorders and decks. The camcorder’s distinction is that it records and stores content to ExpressCard™ high-speed media, offering greater workflow flexibility with selectable bit rates in addition to an extensive list of editing and effects capabilities. more..

USB 3.0 To Boost Peripherals to Multi-Gigabit Speeds

The "SuperSpeed" USB Promotions Group was announced Tuesday at the Intel Developer Forum. The promotions group will get together with contributors over the next year to finalize a USB 3.0 spec that will, they hope, take care of our wired peripheral and syncing needs for another five years or more.

USB 3.0 is built upon, and is backwards-compatible with, the USB 2.0 "High Speed" spec. .

More..

AMD's Barcelona: Quad-Core Opteron unveiled

An in-depth technical analysis of AMD's quad-core Opteron versus Intel's competitive Xeon offerings reveals some surprises—and fails to dispel concerns about AMD's long-term survival.
By Brian Dipert, Senior Technical Editor -- EDN, 9/11/2007

More..

Toshiba Introduces Industry-Leading 320GB 2.5-Inch HDD To Headline Broad Offerings in Three New Mobile HDD Families

More..

PARK RIDGE, N.J., Aug. 22, 2007 – Sony is introducing an entry-level professional HDV™ camcorder with a shoulder-mount design, bringing the benefits of HD production to a wider range of users.

The new HVR-HD1000U model is targeted toward wedding videographers, freelancers and educational video creators, offering them more versatility and more opportunities for generating business with a moderately priced camera.

The HVR-HD1000U model supports both the HDV and the standard-definition DV formats. In DV mode, the unit can work exclusively as a DV camcorder, allowing users to maintain their current DV workflow without any disruptions. When needed, the camcorder can be instantly switched to high-definition mode.

More..

Nero 8 introduces the newly-designed Nero StartSmart user interface, which maximizes user efficiency with a one-stop solution for creating and managing digital media projects. With this new interface, prime functions like burning and ripping audio and data discs can now be accessed directly, letting users complete projects with one-click functions. Nero 8 also supports a number of next-generation formats with editing, playback, and burning features. In addition, Nero 8 lets users edit photo slide shows and create High Definition video in both Blu-ray BD-AV and HD DVD video formats. More..

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA), each announced today that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment. More on this news item..

You may not want to do your demo video this way, but..well, just click this link and see for yourself.. Bride Trashes Wedding Gown

CNN spoke with the host of the syndicated radio show, "The Small Business Advocate," Jim Blasingame, to find out what it takes to run a successful home-based business.

Blasingame, a small business expert, answers so many business-related questions that he recently launched a new Web site, askjim.biz, which functions as a search engine for people looking for business advice. More..

Toshiba's HD-DVD burner (SD-H802A) is actually shipping in the UK, Switzerland and presumably the rest of Europe. eBay even had one for sale last month by biggeek-computers.com, saying "PULLED FROM A NEW HP MEDIA CENTER PC" (it's gone now).

Can there be any doubt that we'll be seeing HD-DVD burners on the shelves soon? Perhaps. If Toshiba's distribution efforts are as sloppy as their website news section, which if full of bad links and outdated information, they may well lose the format war before they ever really get deployed.

.. has been updated to reflect recent survey results and changes in the market. The current US average wedding cost is $28,800.

What is included in the average wedding cost?

Attendant Gifts, Boutonnieres/Corsages, Bride Accessories, Bride Bouquet, Bride/Groom Hotel, Bridesmaid Bouquets, Ceremony Accessories, Ceremony Location, Ceremony Site Decorations, Decorations/Centerpieces, Flower Girl Flowers, Gifts for Each Other, Groom Accessories, Groom Tux/Suit, Guestbook, Hair & Makeup, Headpiece/Veil, Her Ring, His Ring, Invitations & Reply Cards, Limo Rental, Officiate/Pastor or Priest, Parent Gifts, Photographer, Reception Beverages/Bartender, Reception DJ, Reception Food Service, Reception Venue/Rentals, Rehearsal Dinner, Thank You Cards, Wedding Cake & Cutting Fee, Wedding Dress, and Wedding Favors

If you are in or are going to be in the New Brunswick, New Jersey area on Sunday, August 12, 2007 there is a wedding industry conference going on.

Details can be found at: http://www.njwedding.com/abc/nerc/

To get the latest wedding industry information for your area:

http://www.theweddingreport.com

... More..

Samsung's new offering promises better performance by serving up a full terrabyte with just three platters, all at lower cost. Also mentioned, a new 80 gig pocket drive that may have possibilities for event videographers... More..

What if the HD DVD camp was relying on NEC for HD DVD burner development? NEC’s optical storage division is now part of Optiarc, which is a joint venture between NEC and Sony (the prime supporter of Blu-ray). Has this NEC/Sony relationship caused NEC to drop their HD DVD burner development? It is not clear at this time, but it is certainly very strange that the HD DVD burners have been repeatedly delayed.. More.. (halfway down the page)

Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday it has developed a color-filter technology that at least doubles the sensitivity to light of the image sensor in every digital camera, enabling shutterbugs to take better pictures in poor light.

RAID storage explained

Sony Sued Over Blu-Ray