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Author Topic: What gear and programs?  (Read 13503 times)

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strad

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What gear and programs?
« on: January 31, 2010, 12:48:07 PM »

What gear/programs do people use to record themselves doing TOTM?
Never know, I might be able to record myself complete with melodeon face for posterity.

Nigel


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Bill the Farmer

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2010, 01:21:57 PM »

I just use a digital camera. The image quality is good, but the sound is poor because the microphone is in the top of the camera. I don't use any software, just copy the video file to the computer and upload it. The downside of doing that is that the files are large, and it takes a long time.
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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2010, 02:06:40 PM »

I use macbook webcam and i-movie

GbH

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2010, 06:42:10 PM »

A basic Canon video camera (SD card model) for filming and sound.

Adobe Premiere Elements for editing.

Streamclip for format conversion.

As for other kit, I often use a tripod (or, sometimes, Gorilla Pod) to position the camera.  I have a big green sheet for chroma key stuff (not exactly great, but better than nothing) and have one of those multi-colour 'mood' lights from B&Q, which can be useful occasionally.  And finally, of course, whatever random props and costumes I can find or make.
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Lester

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2010, 07:07:17 PM »

Bill the Farmer

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2010, 07:34:52 PM »

What's recommended for trimming windows .wav files to compressed .mp3 or similar, please?

Audacity, but you need to get Lame as well for writing mp3s.
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Clive Williams

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2010, 11:27:56 AM »

What gear/programs do people use to record themselves doing TOTM?

For myself, a Macbook, using the internal webcam and an old Sony microphone I used to use with a minidisc recorder connected via a small (BT-26 - one of these things) preamp. I record the video using iMovie, and sometimes the sound on iMovie too. If I want to beef up the sound a bit (reverb, clean it up, etc) I record the sound on GarageBand (at the same time as recording the video on iMovie), throw away the iMovie soundtrack and put the Garageband recording in its place - synchronising them isn't as hard as you'd think.

I've used the Macbook's microphone on occasion too - it's not as good as the Sony microphone/BT-26 preamp combination, but is ok especially for louder boxes.

Cheers,

Clive

juker

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2010, 12:13:06 PM »

I use macbook webcam and i-movie

Me too.
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Johnjo

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2010, 03:32:55 PM »

Fuji Finepix digital camera in video mode and windoze movie maker. I did try (once) with a posher Panasonic Lumix digicam, but the file was immense. The Fuji produces a reasonable result.
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tedrick

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2010, 03:24:18 AM »

macbook and imovie and upload to YT
or just digital camera and copy quicktime mov to computer and upload to YT

Audacity is great for recordings

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Keithypete.

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2011, 07:40:44 PM »

I have tried to put some footage together for posting but it isn't going well. I'm using a Sony Handycam DCR-SR58, then plugging it into the laptop and then following the instructions. I started uploading last night, but only 53% had uploaded - OVERNIGHT. Can anyone offer any advice?
   I think it must start out as mp4. Do I need to convert this to something else first? Getting a bit frustrated now.


   Thanks !
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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2011, 09:28:12 PM »

Sony HDR X520 camera ... has zoom mic and 5.1 surround sound and works quite well on its own.... but even smallest file sizes are big
Sound recorded simultaneously with Zoom H4 stereo handheld recorder
Additional sound processed (reverb / bass lift) with Cubase or using Sony Vegas video editing S/W
Derek
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GbH

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2011, 10:18:25 PM »

I have tried to put some footage together for posting but it isn't going well. I'm using a Sony Handycam DCR-SR58, then plugging it into the laptop and then following the instructions. I started uploading last night, but only 53% had uploaded - OVERNIGHT. Can anyone offer any advice?
   I think it must start out as mp4. Do I need to convert this to something else first? Getting a bit frustrated now.

Well, I can't say I know anything about your Sony, but it does rather sound as if you're trying to upload a file that's just too big.  Some months ago, there were problems with YouTube taking ages over loading even small files, but I've not seen any sign of that since, so I'd start out by taking a closer look at the file you're trying to upload. 

Firstly, are you sure it's an MP4?  For instance, was it created with a an .mp4 extension?  Assuming it is, you then need to have a look at the file size also.  The three files I uploaded recently all came in at around the 50Mb size (i.e. approx. 50,000 Kb).  Is yours in the same region to that, or dramatically bigger?

There should be no problem in using MP4 files - in fact, it's a good idea.  However, the format can handle varying quality levels in both video and audio, so just the fact that it's an MP4 isn't necessarily enough information.  So, if you suspect that the quality has been set too high, you need to find a converter program that will scale it down into something usable.  The one I use is called Streamclip (http://www.squared5.com/ - it's a free download) which works great for converting AVIs to MP4s.  However, I've not tried MP4->MP4 conversions, so you'd have to try it and see. 

Another thing you might want to look at for future projects is the quality setting on your camera.  If you know that you're shooting something only for YouTube, there's not really a lot of point in recording at the best quality, only to find that you then need to reduce the quality back down again afterwards.

I suppose the other thing to question is whether your Broadband upload speed is just too slow, for some reason.  Can you upload other sorts of file OK?
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Keithypete.

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2011, 10:42:16 PM »

Thanks GbH. I reckon file size could be the problem - I think one of the files was 128. 12 hours or more still seems a long time. I'll try some smaller files and see how it goes.
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tedrick

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2011, 01:30:12 AM »

Pete - which application are you using to edit/upload the video up to youtube?

Is there an option for importing the video at a lower resolution?
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Alan Morley

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #15 on: January 07, 2011, 10:37:19 AM »

I usually use my Logitech Webcam 600, which is a HiDefinition webcam with a built in mic.

The software that comes with it will allow you to upload the results to YouTube.

However, if I'm feeling creative and have the time, I drop the video into Corel Video Studio Pro X3

If really really creative, I record video using Corel Video Studio, and add cuts,transitions and effects.

For the audio I use Acoustica Mixcraft 5 using two USB mics for bass and treble sides.
You can then add all sorts of effects to the audio tracks, and record loads of extra tracks to the mix too.

The audio from Mixcraft can be dropped into Corel Video Studio and matched to the video - then you render the result and upload to YouTube directly from Corel Video Studio.

This was my last venture into playing with the video stuff, no melodeon in there though ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhtM6vd8Zys

Alan
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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #16 on: January 07, 2011, 11:11:10 PM »

I have tried to put some footage together for posting but it isn't going well. I'm using a Sony Handycam DCR-SR58, then plugging it into the laptop and then following the instructions. I started uploading last night, but only 53% had uploaded - OVERNIGHT. Can anyone offer any advice?
   I think it must start out as mp4. Do I need to convert this to something else first? Getting a bit frustrated now.

Well, I can't say I know anything about your Sony, but it does rather sound as if you're trying to upload a file that's just too big.  Some months ago, there were problems with YouTube taking ages over loading even small files, but I've not seen any sign of that since, so I'd start out by taking a closer look at the file you're trying to upload. 

Firstly, are you sure it's an MP4?  For instance, was it created with a an .mp4 extension?  Assuming it is, you then need to have a look at the file size also.  The three files I uploaded recently all came in at around the 50Mb size (i.e. approx. 50,000 Kb).  Is yours in the same region to that, or dramatically bigger?

The

i use Sony and then 150meg (my preferrred limit) still takes 25mins + on normal broadband upload!... i upload wmv's   no free lunch!
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Kautilya

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #17 on: January 10, 2011, 12:03:16 PM »

I have tried to put some footage together for posting but it isn't going well. I'm using a Sony Handycam DCR-SR58, then plugging it into the laptop and then following the instructions. I started uploading last night, but only 53% had uploaded - OVERNIGHT. Can anyone offer any advice?
   I think it must start out as mp4. Do I need to convert this to something else first? Getting a bit frustrated now.


   Thanks !

Some good some bad some indifferent how-tos (from youtube!)
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=windows+moviemaker+youtube&qpvt=windows+moviemaker+on+youtube&FORM=VDRE
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Just4Fun

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #18 on: January 10, 2011, 02:03:44 PM »

I'm brain dead when it comes to techie stuff but I've found that using a Microsoft Life Cam and then editing with Windows Movie Maker is fairly straightforward and the results seem to be just about acceptable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpUkXZdQWEc

However, I would like to be able to come up with something of a better quality so I'm thinking about using a half descent camcorder especially since it'll be good for holidays too. Any suggestions of good medium price ones or, indeed, ones to avoid?
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Just4Fun

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Re: What gear and programs?
« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2011, 10:58:46 PM »

More specifically; Does anyone have any knowledge about a Sony DCR SR15 HDD? I have no doubt the video quality is OK for your average layman but what would sound quality be like compared to a goodish webcam?
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