Bird's Eye View

Cool!

Since photographing and videographing birds have always interest me, I may change my 'eye' view this time around. I may now shoot from the view of the birds.

Recently on the news is a hot topic called Hexacopter Cam.

Just Google it and I got loads of information.
One of the brand available is the Versadrones, sells for only RM999 ( did I get it right?) and it is cool.

http://www.versadrones.com/

We can fly WITH the eagles and crows here in Klang.
Just watch the video from Versadrones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06bNptwzNQ0

Need to control it carefully though, otherwise it will fall on to someone's house and he may not believe that I am just a bird videographer!

A Failure!

3D : A Proven Failure!

Some 6 years ago, I did a silent forecast about the re-emergence of the Three Dimensional format. During my youth days, I saw cineflix such as "The 13 Ghost" in black & white, right up to remakes/reissues in 3D at the cinemas. And then, they brought it into the idiot box, the TV.

The TV technology used in our country was so far behind and out-of-time that the more urgent thing the authorities should do was to quickly introduce HD (High Definition in 1080p) instead of depending on the Assthrow's 720p (1080i).
Then, so many who are ignorant about HD, Full HD (fool's HD) jumped into the pool of confusion, ended up buying TVs that they could not use it to the fullest unless one has a Blu-Ray player.
Some even spent extra on 3D without knowing the whole story. Is it because the sales person who coax you on a bargain resulted on your decision?

Just look at TM's Hypo TV service. We chucked our unify's box top set into the trash. I felt more being insulted using that 'free' TV. It is not on HD as suggested and it is more of 'streaming TV'. Those so called 'free' programs are now chargeable and we end up getting some low class rejects plus the usual seven worthless local TV stations.

Back to the 3D frustration.

Just what is it that we, here in Malaysia wants to see in 3D? The shows are very limited. Just how many TV stations shows 3D? Assthrow? Unify? local stations? Fat hopes.

How about DVD? Hey DVD is 'old tech' and the quality do not exceed 600p. Only the Blu-Ray has 1080p. Unless one also uses a media player there is no other way to watch HD programmes let alone 3D. 3D seriously need HD  frequency to broadcast off air and at present we do not have even one TV station in HD. The ministry is so lacking that all video production in HD are broadcast in the old SD(standard definition) which is about 43 years old! All production equipment even in angkasapuri,are in HD. The cameras, lighting, editing, etc are in HD. The problem lies in the old transmission equipment. they failed to spend the necessary mulla.
Then, how could 3D succeed?

Just read what Bob Zitter of HBO (Home Box Office) has to say on the failure.
http://www.eoshd.com/content/9856/3d-a-proven-failure-4k-unlikely-to-succeed-hbo

Japan and other advanced countries are now broadcasting in UHD (Ultra High Definition) 4K.

So folks, please stop helping them (the dealers) to clear their stocks by paying more.

3D is proven dead (again)

Meow!

Blessed Virgin Mary-HD Video

Holy Mary Mother of God

An appearance of an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the window of the Sime Darby Medical Centre (Subang Jaya Medical Centre- SJMC) have many Catholics visiting and witnessing this event. It was reported that the seventh floor housed the Cancer Ward in this hospital.
This HD video shows the location and the image. A 12-second time lapse video (shot with the Panasonic HDC TM300) was made to try to see any changes on the image for the last 90 minutes and the High Bit Rate video was shot using the Panasonic Lumix GH2.

Poor Video Quality Flagship

New Nikon D4 Professional DSLR

This new model of the Nikon was launched 2 weeks ago and is taking pre-orders.

Expecting 'excellent' everything from professional photos to HD videos from this RM22,000.00 camera, (price excluding lens) testers and reviewers are getting poor test results from this flagship.

In the first place,do users of Nikon ever know what 1080p HD videos looks like? Since many DSLR users shoot photos 99.99% of their time, do they know what real progressive scanned videos really look like? Ironically, the claim by Nikon for their new flagship's video, is "broadcast quality', it does not do so as reported here.

This reviewer has just cancelled his booking!

Skater Dolly Video Clip

Smooth Operator

Kindly view the HD video clip below to see the panning/trucking effect used when my camera was mounted on a DIY skater dolly. It was then edited on Sony Vegas HD software.
A Leica macro lens was fixed onto the Lumix GH2 camera to shoot on the 24p cinema mode.

C&C most appreciated.

Still A Top Dog!

Yup! It is.

The Panasonic Lumix GH2 is still rated as 'Top Dog' in video shooting via a photo camera.
A comparison with the new Canon 600D and the newer Sony NEX 5N is laid bare here to see.

An international reviewer says so here.

The proof is in the pudding.

Many still do not know that the GH2 is NOT a 'point-and-shoot' camera.

It is a serious non-DSLR camera enough.

Eat & Shake!

Chinese Pond Heron
Was driving home one afternoon and spotted a migrant in full breeding plumage.

Grabbed my Panasonic Lumix GH2, changed its lens to the 200mm TeleZoom, selected ETC 'on' and shot the bird. Thanks to James and Bitty of Photo Malaysia who id-ed this heron double quick as the usual color and pattern are not the same normally. Even the bill is in two colors!

Was in time for its quick meal and a 'shake' afterwards.

Enjoy the video here.

Jumping Ship?

New SONY Handycam NEX VG10

A dream come true for all camcorder fans.
The new SONY Handycam NEX VG10

Finally, a consumer camcorder capable of making 'Hollywood' movies is here. This new SONY handycam features interchangeable lenses and shoots in Full HD 1080p (PAL version) 24p!

It also feature a large image sensor of the latest NEX (still) cameras launched recently. It comes with an E mount 18mm-200mm lens at a retail price of USD2,000.

Just look at a clip shot in Vimeo with this camera in beautiful Bali!

Awesome!
Great work SONY, I am coming back!

My waiting time is over! No more extra expenses of a 35mm adaptor, SLR lenses, blah! blah!
I am going to jump ship from my faithful Panasonic TM300.

Let the Games Begin!!!!

Sony Playstation PS3
in Full HD and 7.1 Sound!
AWESOME!!!!!!

Just imagine this!
Playing PS3 games like "Need For Speed: Undercover", "Grand Theft Auto 4", "Call of Duty: World At War" and "Dynasty Warriors 6" all at Full High Definition 1080p and with Linear PCM 7.1 Sound System!!!! A Heavenly dream come true!

The new Playstation PS3 also comes with a 80GB Harddisk and is also a BluRay machine.
The DualShock 3 Wireless controller really shocks!!!! Freaking good!
Connected via a Digital Fibre-Optic cable to our 7.1 channel sound system and viewing it on our 47ins.HD LCDTVis an experience.
To me, Christmas came early! Ha!Ha!

Cineplex Istimewah

Welcome 7.1

Just completed testing out our upgrade and installation of our THX 7.1 sound system.

This is to complement our High Definition TV 1080p which started early this year. Our old version was DTS 5.1 and two weeks ago, we bought our 7.1 amplifier and 13 speaker/drivers for the 7 channel system.
This true 7.1 works and is also backward friendly. That would mean DVDs that features 5.1 is digitally played back giving a 7.1 effect. Only the BluRay Discs and downloaded Hard Disk programmes have true 7.1 sound. You got to hear to believe.

7.1 sound do not necessarily mean 'louder' volume or buying a larger LCD TV means having a bigger living room. These thoughts were already thing of the past. For LCD HDTV, the larger the size and sitting closer to the screen means getting into the visual dimension. Just like IMAX.
7 channels audio mean full audio dimensions i.e. 'your eyes can actually follow the moving sound'!
These life-like sound dimension appears only when necessary such as in action scenes. For example, aircrafts/helicopters/spacecrafts doing a flyby/flyover. It is a freak-out with 7.1.

This is the rear-side of our new Amplifier. Wowie, 3 HDMI in and 1 Out! 2 Digital Input and 2 Optical input!
Seven speakers output and one for sub-woofer. PLUS one additional Zone 2 pre-amp out!
Bi-amping on front speakers!
Our vintage and trusty JBL main pair of front speakers.

A phalanx of centre speakers, modified for higher spectrum frequency to get clearer speech and (dialog-y) movies such as "Michael Clayton" and "August Rush".
Our rear speakers are suspended but pointed down for a clearer 'Rear' effect.
Again, carefully modified for better sound spread, our array of side speakers gives a clean audio frequency between 1,500Hz to 18,000Hz.
The new Jamo active subwoofer is just perfect for our viewing area. It features some control- able booms and spread.
The new Onkyo's "Audyssey" 7.1 channel sound-check computed programming is tedious but is very accurate giving excellent results all the time.

Our connection from the program source is via Monster cable THX fibre-optic cable and Supra HDMIs. Monster's Co-axials are also being used.


Jazz and Classicals are played via a dedicated CD player. The older DVD's, another. Our main source is of course the TVIX by Divco HD player. Our total Hard Disk space is 4TB (TerraBytes)
The final result? A mini-cineplex!!!!Ha!Ha! This is 'that-kinda-noise' we love to hear.
WOWIE!!!