Episode 7 [Discussion] [Archive]

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klitzy

11-30-2006, 12:27 AM

New episode out....Watch.Enjoy.Discuss

jeffchan

11-30-2006, 02:24 AM

This episode is surprisingly good for me.

I really like it when they do reviews on something I don't already know about, like MovieBeam.

and I have to agree with Hahn, the GUI for that media player is very very ugly.

hsbsitez

11-30-2006, 09:31 AM

Ah, So it was released today (or yesterday). I thought it was releasd 6 days ago on the 24th.
Guess I am not too late to enter into the contest.

dicknixon

11-30-2006, 04:20 PM

I thought it was good. The show has definitely improved since the relaunch. Bring on more episodes.

rowlodge

11-30-2006, 06:28 PM

yes up to standards,

hahn...something else, keep the 30 mins, minimum show going, yet sometimes i wonder if it is necessary to talk so much about what the segments have already gone over.

did i hear jessica actually say "cut a hole" for something...like saying "use some duct tape to fix your ipod"

i did like the ending outtakes with will...that was funny as hell.

ggjoser

11-30-2006, 06:57 PM

Good episode folks. The Sony Reader looks interesting, but I have the same issues with DRM that Wil and Hahn have. Usually I carry 3-4 ebooks on a SD card that I read on my Palm for those times I'm out and about. I find it kind of lame that there are restrictions on the media the discourages passing ebooks around for others enjoy. Oh well.

stuartea

11-30-2006, 09:00 PM

casework

12-01-2006, 01:51 AM

ryudo

12-01-2006, 02:08 AM

Best show on Rev 3 and Hahn is doing a great job at keeping the fresh gear feel with the presentation. :)

Keep it up.

haanzz

12-01-2006, 02:11 AM

Has to be my favourite tech podcast, the length is fine, I'd probably watch an hours worth, better than what's on telly.

Oh, and I spied a red MacBook!

p.s. are the competitions available to people outside the U.S.?

The Red MacBook is in the next episode...I'm really looking forward to that one...it's going to be a rather special one for me not necessarily for the content, but the walk down memory lane.

As for the giveaways...I'm wondering what to do for our international viewers. The killer for small items isn't the shipping...it's the customs taxes. I sent a $500 item to Canada and the taxes were $100 or something crazy. Of course, that varies from country to country. For larger items (hint, hint) I doubt we can open it up to those outside the US. The taxes and shipping will really hurt. I'm open to ideas though.

Cheers!

Hahn

casework

12-01-2006, 02:43 AM

The Red MacBook is in the next episode...I'm really looking forward to that one...it's going to be a rather special one for me not necessarily for the content, but the walk down memory lane.

As for the giveaways...I'm wondering what to do for our international viewers. The killer for small items isn't the shipping...it's the customs taxes. I sent a $500 item to Canada and the taxes were $100 or something crazy. Of course, that varies from country to country. For larger items (hint, hint) I doubt we can open it up to those outside the US. The taxes and shipping will really hurt. I'm open to ideas though.

Cheers!

Hahn

Depending on the number of international viewers, this may or may not be worth it, but if there is enough of a demand, maybe do international viewers only contests for smaller things like gift cards or maybe online memberships? That also depends on if you could even get the merchandise and/or sponsors to have items like that to give away.

wilw

12-01-2006, 04:00 AM

This is entirely new territory for me, even though being on the set and playing around with geeky stuff is very familiar. I was pretty sure that nothing I did would ever be good enough for large segments of the audience (having a usenet group dedicated to all the ways you can be impaled by a Klingon's hoo-hah can do that to a guy) but I've read through this forum, and I feel welcomed and accepted. So thanks for that.

The show is only going to get better, and hearing from the audience exactly what you think works and doesn't work is really useful (well, for me. I can't speak for everyone else, though I suspect they'd all agree.)

This episode was fun to put together, even though we had to scramble to find studio space at the last minute. And by "we" I mean Hahn, and by "scramble" I mean panic, and by "last minute" I mean last minute.

And, of course, by "devil" I mean Robot Devil. And by "metaphorically" I mean get your coat.

starshine_diva

12-01-2006, 04:13 AM

hahaha

Speaking of the Robot Devil... guess what's on TV?

I really like this show, got linked to it from Wil's blog.
I am now watching back episodes.
The concept is awesome, the camera work is awesome (you guys have 2 camera people for your packs right - if not... I can totally not tell the difference)

lol

I only mention this because I love the "blue skies" shot where you quickly zoom into the item then zoom out to a different screen.

Definitely, you should talk more to the camera. I love the discussion between all of you, but it makes it more personal if I can actually see your face instead of your profile.

More emotion = good.

And I'm sorry if I'm critical. I'm a journalism student so I'm in full critique mode.

However, I've got to admit... I love the show. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I believe I am now addicted.

I'm not sure if your shows come out on a regular basis. If so, when? If not, an email newsletter would be awesome.

Thanks :P

crumbles

12-01-2006, 05:07 PM

Hahn, Wil, Jess:

This is a seriously good show. Keep up the great work guys. I always enjoy the episodes. I was watching the latest episode, and paused it near the middle to go and get something to eat. When I came back upstairs, I was happy to see that not even half the episode had passed yet. I love that this is one of the longer shows.

Hahn, get the N95 man! Do a review on that bad boy for me!

*edit*
sorry, by N95, I mean the Nokia N95. Didn't want you to google N95 and think that I was talking about that random respirator that comes up... lol

perfecto

12-01-2006, 05:50 PM

Really enjoying the show - the chemistry between the three of you is very good I think. As for shipping Internationally for contests ... as a Canadian ... I would love the opportunity to participate in some way too? :)

tokenuser

12-01-2006, 08:06 PM

I am going to echo what people have been saying here - the show is great, and all presenters have a chemistry that works on camera.

I like the "magazine" format of the show too, with presenters talking as segues into pretaped segments. It really works for the format and the content.

After 7 episodes, everything is clicking, and no matter what dramas are going on behind the scenes, it doesn't show - which is the mark of a professional team. I for one am really looking forward to seeing a lot more of InDigital.

starshine_diva

12-02-2006, 06:27 AM

As for shipping Internationally for contests ... as a Canadian ... I would love the opportunity to participate in some way too? :)

Roger that!!

nimrod

12-03-2006, 08:08 PM

I like the show. You guys are awesome. Keep up the good work.

haanzz

12-03-2006, 10:40 PM

Roger that!!

I think for products like the Kingston, I'd open it up to Canada. I received some entries from there. It's small and easy to ship. Enter quick!

Hahn

theblackleopard

12-04-2006, 12:51 PM

I would also like to chime in and say how much I enjoy this show more than any other on Rev3.

Infact, if the shows came out at a consistent time I would be happy to 'pay' for membership much like Diggnation for early content or perhaps the team could offer the giveaways for members only?

Just a thought... Also glad to see the show is now sponsored!

atobar

12-04-2006, 02:58 PM

haanzz

12-05-2006, 08:11 AM

As much as I want to be positive, I was turned down by some of the reviews, especially the one on movie beam. Instead of agreeing with the reviewer, or getting a deeper understanding of a new product,which I expect everytime I read a review. I was left with the sense the guy was partial and limited in his views and more research was needed before getting those views out.
He stated that the service had no market and that he did not see what it would replace in today's market. Maybe it's not meant to replace anything, I would add, but what the heck, he kept going.
In contrast, if you read David Pogue's review of moviebeam (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/technology/01pogue.html?ex=1306814400&en=fffe9ee52db44a76&ei=5090) published in june, you will get a deeper understanding of both the market and the product and in fewer words! Check the video review as well. Finally, he did not mention that a phone line was required, just focused on the antenna and the easy process. I say so, because images of the interface show the phone line set up as he talks about the gadget. I say try again! BTW, I am not a subscriber and I am planning on becoming one.

Don't blame Wil for not mentioning the phone...blame me. That part ended up on the cutting room floor. As for the market...I don't agree with David Pogue mostly because his analysis consists of what MovieBeam says is their market and he freely admits that. He makes no attempt to agree or disagree. So his video is really a dramatic recreation of MovieBeam's marketing and PR machine.

If MovieBeam's library was vast or the selection of movies was recent, I can see it complimenting other services. In this case, that's not true. It doesn't compliment enough nor does it replace. But then I guess it depends on the movies you like to watch...Disney fans will probably appreciate this service more (Disney owns some part of them). I guess you could argue that it's not supposed to compliment or replace, it's just supposed to be...in which case I still say - Who is this for?

At the very least, I'm glad we got you researching and spreading the technology gospel.

Cheers!

Hahn

gevmage

12-10-2006, 03:58 PM

I wandered over from Wil Wheaton In eXile. I've watched eps 5 and 7, and I'm now going back and watching the back episodes. I have a few comments on what I've seen:

I like the format of the show it's fun and interesting and appears to have useful information. Your on-screen chemistry is gelling a little bit. It will be great to watch the show when you have an actual set to interact with.

I'm very glad that the show goes ahead and does reviews that end up being negative. The movie beam particularly. That segment is very specific about the technology, which works reasonably well from the sound of it, but makes the point that the technology isn't the point, it's the content. After all, the iPod didn't become mega popular because it was killer hardware; it's because its software and interface made it easy to buy music. And it sounds like the content just isn't really there.

Jessica: the up-the-nose camera angle on the airplane was funny. Look for it in all quality cinema; it's featured in Citizen Kane, for instance.

Quick question about that segment--there's no way to pull the video directly off the camera? Via USB or firewire or something?

Wil has talked about doing segments on the show. I realize that he probably already has an infinite backlog of things to do in his life, but here's an idea of a possible continuing segment:

There are a huge number of Linux distributions. Some old, some new, some tailored to experts, some not. It would be interesting to have Wil (experienced Linux user but not hard-core programmer) try out installing and using various distributions, say, one per segment. The segment would more or less be "what can Wil do with X distribution in an afternoon"? Then 5 minutes, maybe half on the installation, and half on software available/installable.

I really like what i see so far. It's a fun show that has stuff that I like that I will keep watching. I can't wait to see the next episode.

Sincerely,

Craig Steffen (http://www.craigsteffen.net/blog/)

gevmage

12-10-2006, 04:23 PM

Oh Oh! One other thing I forgot in my review above!

You guys are doing awesome stuff by publishing your shows in so many formats. I never really watched Screen Savers or anything on Tech TV...because I didn't want to purchase the super-expensive cable to watch it directly, and they only put episodes on the web in Windows-oriented formats.

I'm currently downloading and watching inDigital on my Debian-installed laptop. Whoo-hoo! All kinds of kudos for being open-standards oriented!

Craig Steffen (http://www.craigsteffen.net/blog/)

supere

01-10-2007, 10:22 PM

This review just pissed me off... It lacked basic common sense and that was extremely annoying. While she had good points overall for the entire industry, I don't think she was right or fair to the product at hand.

1 - She talks about the camera as if all dvd camera's were created equal to this one.
2 - The camera she selected was the BOTTOM OF THE LINE camera, so the camera is NOT feature rich.
3 - She gets pissed she can't go back delete scenes at she doesn't like, ALTHOUGH she clearly states she's using a DVD-R, and unless I'm having a brain fart... DVD-R, since the creation of anything '-r' OR '+r' have NEVER been able to be re-written onto. This was an ignorant statement to be upset at the fact that you couldn't go back when you used a dvd-r... GET DVD-RWs ffs. Consumers know that they are NOT buying a hard drive camera with a dvd burning function. This point is null and void.
4 - Finalizing... she mentions this as the beginning of the segment. While I can't speak to the product she used (which I'll admit might have a longer finalization period), but I do have a sony dvd cam and the finalization process takes exactly 10 seconds... YES only 10 seconds, not 10 minutes, not an hour, literally a full dvd only takes 10 seconds to finalize. This was a useless couple of sentences to mention in her "con" list and seemed to be only added dialogue to me
5 - Initializing the disc is what happens when you pop a disc in and the camera first tries to figure out what type it is, what features can be used with the disc, is it dvd-r, dvd+r, dvd-rw, etc. Again... not sure about this camera she reviewed that is much newer than my sony, but my sony dvd cam being around 1 1/2 years old, initializes a disc at start up, and takes ONLY 3 SECS TOTAL to do so (yes these are exact times, I'm testing them as I write) and after initialization you can hit record and run with it (You can actually hit record right away and the sony will start recording right after it is done initiallizing for you. a sort of a queue it up type feature). AGain, another dialogue added in my opinion to ***** about something just to add a couple seconds to the review.
6 - Modes in the camera switch depending on if you have a re-writeable in or just a write once disc in (dvd-rw or dvd-r).
Well ffs of course they're going to switch... You're not going to be able to do as much with a dvd-r than you are with a dvd-rw, so the modes adjust accordingly. This is actually a good thing to keep consumers away from the frustration they would feel if they WERE able to select options that were incompatible with a DVD-R disc format.
7 - And as far as sticking the mini-dvd into your power book... That sux, BUT that's not the dvd cam's falt... ALL dvd cams use the small mini-dvd discs, your power book uses a slim dvd drive, again, something that is not the dvd cam's fault, your powerbook just cannot sense the mini-dvd format (which amazes me with how inventive apple is).
ALSO, WHY didn't you use the cameras internal usb/firewire port to just transfer the video to your powerbook since that option is available on that camera???????

I mention my sony alot because afterwards (and even a little during the review in generalizations) they include/bash sony as well, while mine is fantastic and I love it.

One thing that was mentioned that I didn't list on my numbers above... at the end of the review Hahn mentions a colleague had a camera (assuming the dc100) and he ran out of space and the camera would not let him finalize it. Wil replied that you would think the onboard Hardware would help with that.
To rebuttle this as well... I HAVE NEVER HAD THIS PROBLEM WITH MY SONY. My sony DOES calculate the time left and leaves enough room to finalize the disc regardless of 'how full' you make the dvd before hand.
________________________________________________

So I actually didn't first submit these rebuttles, I re-read them and thought it was not fair to compare my 1 1/2 year old sony to a newer, however less expensive dc100 cannon Jessica speaks of. So... I went to circuit city to play with the display one. And after I did... the cannon had about the same timing as my sony with the finalization and initializing times... and the rest of my points remained 100% valid.

Jessica's review was worthless and most of her points were plain and simply wrong.

PS - It is fair to note that I PREFER mini-dv cam corders. I am a film student aspiring to be a director and I am a writer. So I am not bias to dvd cams, I just have one (and I have a mini-dv one as well) and everything negative I heard on Jessica's review was junk and mostly incorrect.

mcsurvey

01-11-2007, 01:25 AM

7 - And as far as sticking the mini-dvd into your power book... That sux, BUT that's not the dvd cam's falt... ALL dvd cams use the small mini-dvd discs, your power book uses a slim dvd drive, again, something that is not the dvd cam's fault, your powerbook just cannot sense the mini-dvd format (which amazes me with how inventive apple is).

I agree, seriously it's Jessica's fault for having a slot-loading DVD drive in her Powerbook not the camera manufacturer. Plenty of notebooks have proper tray loading DVD drives that don't eat 8cm disks when you try to use them.

tokenuser

01-11-2007, 12:34 PM

I agree, seriously it's Jessica's fault for having a slot-loading DVD drive in her Powerbook not the camera manufacturer. Plenty of notebooks have proper tray loading DVD drives that don't eat 8cm disks when you try to use them.Might be true, but given the number of people that do video editting on a Mac, this turns something that would be a convenience (ie not needing to do Firewire/USB transfer via a cable) into a liability.

To be honest, the thing that steered me away from a MiniDVD camcorder is the fact it only shoots 30min to a disc. MiniDV all the way for me - at least that way I get 60-80 min (standard) to a tape (depends on the tape brand) :)

supere

01-12-2007, 12:11 AM

To be honest, the thing that steered me away from a MiniDVD camcorder is the fact it only shoots 30min to a disc.

actually not tru on the dvd cam reviewed nor on my sony - BOTH had the ability to adjust the quality that allowed for recording sessions of up to 60 mins.

HOWEVER, notice I state, adjust the quality. On Mini-dv, the quality only starts to lack once you've used the tape 9000 times (exaggeration, but stay with me here people), on the dvd cam's I'm referring to, and more to your point, to get the quality of a mini-dv tape, you need to crank it up on dvd cams to the highest quality to match it's counterpart in tape and that only allows for 20 mins of film time. SO I understand why you would want to stick with the tape. =O)

tokenuser

01-12-2007, 12:28 AM

Actually what I was getting at is in standard recording modes, a mini DVD handles 30min of recording, while a miniDV tape comes in 60min or 80min tape lengths.

If you move to LP (long play), the quality is degraded, but on a miniDV camera that results in 90min or 120min of record time. Similarly on a miniDVD it takes it out to 60min, but at degraded quality.

I have crystal clear 16:9 aspect miniDV recordings. These are NOT HD, but regular 480p recordings that still look outstanding on a 60" widescreen TV. Even better when they are upconverted via a burnt DVD.

What it comes down to though, it doing your homework BEFORE buying a camera (ie knowing you can't use a miniDVD in slot load DVD drive), and doing you homework before you take it away so you know how to use it (without stumbling through the manual).

I took my camcorder (Panasonic PV-GS500) away to Europe twice last year. I knew how to use the camera, but on playback, its obvious I still have a lot to learn about shooting good video. No matter what camcorder you get, you need to practice using it.