Recently in News Category

The term 'interlaced video' may cause chills to the seasoned video editor.  There are a variety of ways to 'deinterlace' video, but depending how you go about the process may lead to inferior results. 

Today, you'll mostly likely encounter an 'interlacing' problem when viewing 'standard defination' mini-dv video on the web, or viewing a QuickTime file playing SD media on a computer screen.

I stumbled upon a free program called 'Deinterlacer' by JES Schotsman.  So, I ran through a quick test using it's default parameters.  Here are the results.  Wow!, I'm sold.

This is a typical example of what an interlaced frame looks like from an interlaced SD or HD video source.  Notice how the image looks blurry from displaying both fields of video on a single frame.



Notice the difference, after the video has been deinterlaced.  You'll also notice that 'JES Deinterlacer' also runs a color correction algorithm to automatically for color contrast.

 

HandBrake is a great software program, not to mention it's free, that you can use to convert your own DVDs for the purpose of putting them on a hard drive or iPod.  It's available for Mac or Windows.  You can download HandBrake here.  Once you have it installed on your computer, it's pretty easy to start converting your DVDs.

Start by inserting your DVD into your computer.  If the Apple DVD player automatically starts up, just close it.  Now open HandBrake.  Select your DVD and click Open.

It's time to revisit the popular Carbon Copy Cloner program that allows you to create an exact copy of your source machine onto an external hard drive. 

I recently tested this by backing up my Mac Book Pro running Snow Leopard. It took about 1 1/2 hours to back up 80 Gigs to my portable pocket drive running at 5400 RPM. 

The latest version also allows you to create incremental backups that can be scheduled.  You can even back everything up to a remote Mac on a Network. To create a backup of your entire sytstem, just hook up an external drive and set it as the target.  That's it!

To test the copy, you can boot your Mac directly off the external drive by holding down the option key while you restart your Mac.  This will allow you to choose your external drive as the new Boot Drive. 

Okay, so how must does this software cost?  Guess what, it's free!  Yes, you read that correctly.  Bombich Software makes this very clear by running an occasional banner within the software program.  I recommend that you donate to Bomich Software for this amazing program. 

If you plan on cloning several machines using Carbon Copy Cloner there's one catch. Keep in mind those machines will be EXACT copies of each other.  This means, they will inherent all the same user names and passwords.  They'll also have all the same programs with the same serial numbers.  This means, you may have reset the serial numbers on certain software products that have license restrictions.

Related articles

• Carbon Copy Cloner - A Free & Powerful Backup Utility (Mac Only) (makeuseof.com)

Matt Stevens completed our 9 day Final Cut Studio Bundle this past summer as part of his career enhancement as an Audio/Visual Editor for Southcentral Foundation in Alaska.  When asked, Matt really liked his training here at GeniusDV, and feels like he learned alot.  He thought the instructors were great and very helpful.

Matt's focus at Southcentral Foundation is making promotional videos to bring awareness to the people about their program, which is operating and managing health care and related services for 50,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people.

I asked Matt, "before you took the class, what were your biggest challenges when editing video?"  His reply was simply, "I pretty much went in blind, so everything I learned was helpful and informative.  I had no experience editing before and I am now fully capable in all editing processes."

You too can be one of the many students who come to GeniusDV for video editing training.  It doesn't matter if you have no experience at all, or if you have years of experience; GeniusDV can help even professional editors learn shortcuts, and new ways to integrate efficient workflows.  So give us a call today and check out our upcoming class schedule. 

As we've mentioned our excitement here at GeniusDV the last few days regarding the new Apple iMacs, I wanted to take a closer look at the new Magic Mouse that is included with every new iMac.  The things this new mouse can do is amazing.  Although I've not yet had the chance to try it out, I'm looking forward to the day when I can.  As with any other time you're switching over to a new mouse, it takes some time getting used to.  Just like when I started using the Mighty Mouse; I hated it at first, but after working with it over time, I'd have a hard time reverting back.

Magic Mouse uses the same multi-touch technology as you would have on your iPhone or MacBook Pro, using finger gestures.  There are no visible buttons, no scroll wheel, just a sleek and smooth design.  The multi-touch area covers the whole top surface of the mouse and the mouse itself is the button.  You can scroll in any direction, and swipe through photos just as you would on your iPhone.  It's so intuitive, it knows just what you want it to do, and it won't confuse a scroll with a swipe.  You can also change these features in the System Preferences pane, to specify one button clicking or 2, or to disable swiping or scrolling.

The new Apple Magic Mouse connects to your Mac wirelessly via Bluetooth; so before running out and purchasing one, be sure your Mac is Bluetooth enabled.  At least you won't have any of those tiny USB adapters to worry about losing like with other wireless mice.  Like I said before, all of the new iMacs come with the new Apple Magic Mouse, not to mention a wireless keyboard as well; but you can buy it separately, currently retailing just under $70.  Magic Mouse brings a whole new feel to the way you get around on your desktop!