This is a test of my night vision webcam. It is actually a day/night web cam. I’ve plugged it in via a Pinnacle usb video conversion device.

Here’s my original article talking about the setup for this goofy experiment.
http://www.softduit.com/…dockffice/

Mobile post sent by brettbum using Utterz.  Replies.

That was the first test. Nothing spectacular and the audio could have been better. I have to figure the audio out a bit more as I fine tune my recipes for nocturnal web cam tests.

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This weekend, I set up a green screen in my back up office (winter office when the wifi fishing dock is too chilly or windy).  I set up lighting for filming, set up my video camera, and hung a green screen like sheet as a back drop behind my desk.

I then went through the process of trying to learn how to take a picture or a video and putting that into the background while putting my own head or image into the foreground using Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate.  My son, Corbin, helped me with the whole process and within about 90 minutes we were able to push our images into a South Park episode (just playing at first).

Then I pushed my son’s video image into a Rolling Stones concert, while my son played the guitar with Keith Richards.  Maybe not the best influence, but my son thought it was pretty cool.

Then I toyed around with a very very basic slide presentation using some still images from a trip I took to Cahokia Mounds, the largest pyramid in the Americas and the pyramid with a base larger than that of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.  (Looks like a dirt pyramid with the top cut off if you ever visit)

The tools that I have for this were relatively inexpensive.  I have a $250 mini-dvd camcorder, a $100 software program and a $40 video converter box that came with the software that enables me to plug my camera (or DVR or any video source) into my laptop via USB.  The green screen was thrown in with the software too and I thumb tacked it to the ceiling.

The Green screen can be used for anything from video productions to insert a talking head into a scene or to create special effects (think gollum in the Lord of the Rings) or even in web design (check out the MGM Grand website most of those images are created with Models in New York with the rest of the images pushed in from other sources). 

I’ll probably use it more for talking head purposes myself, so I can kick back in a massage chair drinking a beer while the world sees the professional image of me on the internet.  (Maybe not that extreme, but there are many uses.

The package that I bought is a steal at less than $160, if you can find it at $150 or better you are getting a good deal. This software is more video editing than screen capture. It will not replace Camtasia, but will enable you to take your Camtasia videos to a whole new level.   There are lesser versions of Pinnacle that range in price from $70 - $120, but for a few dollars more, you can get the full package along with many special effects, the green screen and all the cords you need too.  Compared to paying $400 for Camtasia it really felt cheap!

Its called Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate

Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate

Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate combines a high-speed USB 2.0 capture device with the power of Pinnacle Studio Ultimate video editing software and a suite of highly-acclaimed pro audio and video tools for professional results. The extensive range of capabilities includes compatibility with the Windows Vista operating system, HD DVD and AVCHD format editing and disc authoring, Hi-Fi audio music generation, and automatic Web publishing. In addition to Pinnacle Studio Ultimate video editing software s improved performance and speed, and a sleek new user interface, Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Ultimate includes BIAS Inc s SoundSoap audio cleaning tools, professional level special effects from ProDAD VitaScene, precision Panning and Zooming with StageTool MovingPicture, and a Chroma Key green screen backdrop for easy-to-achieve professional results. Product has new packaging, smaller footprint and upgraded software. Hardware remains identical to previous version.

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Here to for, I’ve generally built videos and tutorials with the unorganized approach of recording some video while I do something and then going back and editing it into something useful.

Today, I was working on a viral video for a client and actually built a story board of the video before I put it together attempting to plan out how I would present the video.

This actually worked pretty well for me, even though the story board turned out to be very rough.

Here’s a quick video showing the MindManager map I used for this situation.

Plus, here is the resulting viral video that I created from the story board draft.

Note. there’s a technical sound glitch in the final product that is the result of a problem with Camtasia’s ability to render 2 tracks of sound and a slow motion video clip at the same time.  I’m hoping to resolve this by reworking the clips in Pinacle.  If that succeeds I’ll add a third movie with the corrected result. For now, there are a couple sections where the volume level is a little buggy.

So now, I have to crack open this new software, get it installed and start learning some advanced techniques.  Coming soon, I will have my office on the fishing dock converted into a green room studio, you won’t even be able to see the patio furniture when I’m done, but I’m not sure what I’ll do when the occasional duck flies through my office.

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I have been conducting a few tests today with the Jing Video Capture tool from TechSmith.  I learned about this in September at the Podcast and New Media Expo, TechSmith had a great product and I didn’t need to be won over with advertising pens.  (note, it took me a few attempts to figure out how to install it on my machine running XP Media Center)

I noticed that when my microphone was set to red in Dragon Naturally Speaking, this seemed to turn off the microphone for Jing too.  Dragon Naturally Speaking does not normally have universal control over the microphone for other applications and I routinely shit in and out of it with other voice programs or recording programs.

I’m going to attempt to embed the video I created and published to TechSmith’s site, Screencast.com.

Here is the text I wrote with Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 during the test (not very polished, but it is what it is)

This is a quick experiment to see if I can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 at the same time that I’m using Jing. Jing is a video capture software program from TechSmith.

The first time I tried this program I had the microphone for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 turned off and I attempted to record sound with the video. The sound did not work on the video capture program. This time I have the microphone on for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I’m wondering if there’s an incompatibility with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Jing.

As you can see Dragon NaturallySpeaking doesn’t like to spell the word Jing very much.

Note, I to get the actual video installed, shared on this blog, the steps were not obvious and I had to backwards engineer some code.  I suspect that this will be an area that I will focus my initial efforts to figure out the best way to apply the use of this tool.

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Quest to Build an Entertainment Empire

I am on a quest to build an entertainment empire.  The world of entertainment cannot fulfill the demand for programming on TV.  Most every network rely significantly on reality TV and the quality of entertainment has dropped dramatically. 

Consumers meanwhile have developed more sophisticated tastes and demand better entertainment.  So I’m working to grow and entertainment empire that can fulfill that demand with hundreds of thousands of writers and actors and comedians and musicians.

2 Point 4 Children Case Study

I’d like to give you an example of a great British televeision program that was taken off the air after running for about eight years.  The show was called 2Point4 children and it aired from about 1991 until 1999.

I know of the show because a good friend of mine married one of the actresses from the show.  Her name now is Kim Dodge and she goes by the nickname K T Dodge and even has a blog of the same name. 

K T Dodge is Kim Benson from 2Point4 Children

On the show, 2Point4 Children she was known as Kim Benson and worked as a British Comedy actress for many years playing on Grange Hill in the late 70’s and working on many more shows since.

Today, many TV shows end before their time, due to the fact that the writers often times extinguish their effort on working the same material.  I believe that with an army of many more writers from all around the world, shows could enjoy a much longer life span and characters such as Kim Benson’s Christine could even be expanded out more to get people interested in the different angles and twists that character development could take when a cadre of writers really puts their best foot forward.

Kim Benson as Christine - A Character that Could have Been Developed More

Kim Benson appeared as Christine starting in season 2 and running through the end of 2Point4 Children, but those appearances like many other actors and actresses on the show could have been grown out even more, developing a number of twists and plot opportunities that a typical linear television program has been limited to in the past.

That linear thinking surrounding television programs is rapidly going to come to an end as more people demand more television programing of high quality.  Developing television character universes following characters like Kim Benson’s Christine and others from 2Point4 Children will enable multiple groups of writers to work on the same universe of related shows, co-mingling ideas and plot opportunities and greatly expanding the potential of a television franchise.

Example of 2 Point 4 Children Excerpt (doesn’t included Kim Benson’s Character)

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