Big Trousers, Web, Design, Photography and new media.

HTML5 video for WordPress

Posted on 04. Jun, 2010 by Philip in Apple, Digital imaging, Video, Web design

We are currently testing HTML5 video for WordPress with a view to supporting the explosion of interest in the new iPad from Apple. So here goes…
Only works currently in Webkit browsers (Safari etc). Firefox support not yet available here but is possible.

Here is the embedded Flash version.

HD Video workflow

Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Hardware, Photography, Software, Video

Bruce from benallaonline.com.au gets up to speed with HD video.
Includes 24 inch iMac, Canon 7D DSLR shooting 1080p video, loaded to Aperture 3 and edited in iMovie. Export at 720p and embedded from Vimeo upload.

Keynote on auto schedule shutdown-startup

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Philip in Apple, Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Hardware, Software, Video

A very recent installation job nearly went pear shaped when a new “feature” in iWork 09 Keynote stopped us from scheduling a shutdown of a kiosk style big screen sideshow on 3 screens.

The job is a display of news and coming events on 3 big screens for The West Footscray Neighborhood House. The screens run separate keynote presentations containing HD video and slideshows all with audio in 3 different locations within the center complex. Three Mac mini’s run the program files in full HD resolution and they could not be more happy with the quality of the presentations.

There were a number of hurdles to overcome however and in the interests of others trying to achieve the same result we will list solutions to some of the problems we encountered.

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Blooper video online via Vimeo

Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by Philip in Video

We uploaded some new video to the video folio page.
Along with some HD embedded there is an old video I had forgotten about. The Bloopers tape from a daredevil like effort by Jos Van Hulsen aboard his dirtboard invention. Excuse the expletive at the end, it is hilarious.
Video folio page here.

Ferel Bloopers from Philip Greenwood on Vimeo.

Shooting heritage listed trees for TreeLogic

Posted on 04. Dec, 2009 by Philip in Digital imaging, Video

In shooting Melbourne’s best heritage listed trees this morning we decided to try a little piece to camera, just to see how it looked. Steve you are a natural.

Angophora costata (Smooth-barked Apple) from Philip Greenwood on Vimeo.

This is my favorite from the shoot, Cussonia spicata (Cabbage Tree) Cnr Inkerman and Hawthorn Rd Caulfield Park, Caulfield North, or as I called it the Manilong Sifficokus.

Louie Prez live stream from The Dog

Posted on 29. Nov, 2009 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Video

The webcast from The Dog theatre went well last night and we will continue to improve our assembly of technical specifications for this type of event. The concept was for a lightweight portable and affordable two camera streaming solution.
Video to follow soon of the recorded stream.

2008 Jazz Fringe festival begins

Posted on 20. Apr, 2008 by Philip in Photography, Video

The new 720p HD video screen at Federation square lit up on Friday with a slide show of graphics and upcoming acts.
Design by Petrina and built by Phil, this is the result.
More details about the Festival at Melbourne Jazz Fringe.

As a matter of fact I’ve got it now.

Posted on 26. Nov, 2007 by Philip in Video

This is my favorite ad at the moment.

Carpet Bomb by James and Velvedene

Posted on 22. Nov, 2007 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Video, Web design

My good mate James has finally got his CD “Carpet Bomb” onto the iTunes music store globally.
His mates in the band, Velvedene have done a great job with this album and the video footage in support.
Have a quick look at the new video.
Or get the album now using iTunes

Velvedene

Posted on 13. Aug, 2007 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Video, Web design

After much messing around we finally got Velvedene.com online.
This is a WordPress site that contains video and audio from the debut album “Carpet Bomb”

We used one track from this album for the PhotoGeek podcast intro each week so we owe James this plug at least.
Have a listen to the sample mp3′s and see the video “Fear Your Gods”

Elgato Turbo.264 hardware encoder

Posted on 18. May, 2007 by Philip in Apple, Hardware, Video

Just released the Elgato H.264 hardware encoder.

Make Apple TV ready content from Elgato recorded HD Free to Air TV in a flash. No more waiting for video to re-encode as 720p for iTunes playback.

This makes the AppleTV a much more useful device for managing Free To Air TV on your widescreen TV.

Read the article from PhotoGeek.tv

It comes at a time users are coming to terms with the process of automating playback from various sources including HD TV onto TV screens through hardware such as the AppleTV unit.
What this means is that Free to air TV can be recorded, re encoded, then added to iTunes at break-neck speed so that the content will show up on your TV screen as content available for immediate playback.

Ustream give live

Posted on 05. May, 2007 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Digital imaging, Photography, Video, Web design

Released a week or so ago, USTREAM provides a method of streaming live video and audio to a worldwide audience.

According to Cris Pirillo, this is indeed a revolution as it allows bloggers and video bloggers to go live with text chat to their audience. I suppose with Skype you could have live interview and talk back too.

At PhotoGeek.tv we intend to make use of this technology and provide a live video stream while we record audio for the podcast each Tuesday or Wednesday.

Check out the live video page on PhotoGeek left running every now and then from the Big Trousers office.

Joost, is it too late?

Posted on 17. Apr, 2007 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Video

I got my beta invitation to Joost today and for those not aware Joost is an internet TV service that works a little like free cable TV for your computer.

The content and channel selection is interesting and predictably of a standard inferior to “free to air” traditional TV. Having said that my 9 year old son loved the extreme sports stuff. The big problem though is the image quality. With video that is fairly static the compression does a reasonable job but when things jump around a lot the image breaks up to an almost unwatchable extent. The editing effects on extreme sports videos like skate board pipe competitions is a little hard to watch in HD but impossible on Joost.

I think it will get watched and the image quality may be improved over time. Certainly the program options will improve even further given that it is quite reasonable now. The advertising placement is a little mechanical at times but not too painful.

I will watch as much of the show Fifth Gear as often as I can and for me Joost is worth it just for that.

My big concern is that there is a better system for delivery in existence. That system being iTunes for free content like Video Podcast. The Merlin show is an example of HD delivered as a free subscribable download, not streamed and over compressed. With the addition of Apple TV you can watch this show on your HD Plasma or LCD. All that needs to happen is for content creators to add to this mix and I will be happy.

Apple TV and Elgato DTT

Posted on 10. Mar, 2007 by Philip in Apple, Hardware, Video

Well it seems that the times are a changin’…again.

Elgato, having released the superb DTT USB stick for Digital HD TV on the Mac, now intend to have the export files compatable with Apple TV 720p streaming capability.

I have been testing the Elgato on a 17 inch iMac Core 2 Duo and despite it’s small size it is amazing. It pulls 1080i digital signal straight through with the original compression as MPEG2 from “Free to air TV” providers. It also handles DIG radio amongst others. It can record this file for later viewing or export as some other Quicktime format for playback on DVD, iPod or even HD BlueRay DVD and burn disks using Toast. This system comes with a fairly optimistic antenna but works best when a roof mounted TV arial coax is connected.

You can subscribe for 12 months to Ice TV so that Eye TV software included with the Elgato DTT can make a scheduled recording of any show. Elgato are working with Apple to formulate the exact nature of the 720p spec that is best suited to AppleTV’s stream. When recorded it is likely that the file will be re-encoded for that specific format and then passed on to iTunes for later retrieval using the Apple TV device that is connected to your Plasma or LCD TV.

For a system that was built initially as a way to watch TV on your Mac, the Elgato may become your best way you record live TV. No more tapes, DVR’s, DVD recorders, just a stream from your Mac that has been recorded to the hard drive, firewire drive or indeed network drive.

All this for a fraction of the set up cost and complexity of traditional Digital TV home theater system. You don’t need a set top box, DVR, VHS tape recorder, tuner, or DVD player for that matter.

The biggest advantage I see to using the AppleTV is the ability to view all video on one device, DVD, BlueRay, Free to Air Digital, and most importantly the small but emerging video podcast content. Some shows are now up to 1080p HD and are available as a free subscription via iTunes. I suspect that the upper standard for this downloaded content will be 720p to match ApplTV. Check out MacBreak in HD to see what I mean.
Call us if you are interested to try the system.

Eye TV and Elgato DTT sells for $175

Apple TV around $449

12 Month subscription to IceTV $99.

Depending on Network, either Gigabit Ethernet or Airport Extreme (80211n) $259, will be required.

UPDATE: Elgato also make a EyeTV Diversity which is a similar device with two tuners. One of the difficulties faced when using the Mac to record is that TV shows often overlap and having two tuners means you can watch one channel and record another or indeed record two shows at once. It is also sort of possible to add another Stick or Diversity and have more than two tuners.

Tiki Bar TV

Posted on 28. Feb, 2007 by Philip in Video

When am I going to see another episode?

I love this show.