Format Large SD Card for Android

I’ve got several older devices laying around that I use for various things (media players, cameras, etc.).  Recently I tried to upgrade the Micro SD card in my HTC Droid Incredible (ADR6300) running Android 2.3.4 from 8GB to 128GB and I had a heck of a time getting it to recognize the 128GB card.

Formatting via Windows for anything over 32GB can’t be done using Disk Tools (you can only format as exFat and NTFS).  Thus, if you’re going to format with what you’ve got in Windows, you have to use a command line.  Using the “quick” format command in the command line ( format <drive letter>: /FS:FAT32 /Q) almost always causes failure for disks over 32GB, and when you don’t do a quick format, it almost always pretends like it’s formatting for a couple of hours, then fails.

I actually got the Droid to recognize and format the card using its own utility at one point, but then the phone just went into boot loop and finally hung on the HTC screen.

I am loathe to download and install programs from weird locations around the web, but after about an hour and a half of trying all the routes that DIDN’T involve installing software, I finally broke down and installed FAT32Format from Ridgecrop Consultants, LTD (a guy in the UK).

Here is their fancy logo.

While their graphic design may leave something to be desired, their code rocks.

Lemme tell you… I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out “other ways” when I could have just done this in the first place.  The executable is tiny (76KB), and the disk was formatted and working in my droid in less than 60 seconds.

Kudos, Ridgeway.

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Transfering Data in the Field with Android (Media Card to Hard Drive)

I wasted pretty much a whole day figuring out how to transfer data from a CF card to a USB stick and/or hard drive using only Android.  I say “wasted” because I was trying all these things that in the end I found out I *DIDN’T NEED TO MESS WITH!*

All the research I had been doing regarding “dumping cards in the field using Android” (simply transferring data from a CF or SD card to a hard drive for back up and card reuse) led me to believe this was a very involved process requiring special cables, apps, altering the functionality of your device, etc., etc.

Almost none of that is true, or at least, it’s not ANYWHERE near as big a deal as people would have you to believe.

Long story short, if you plug a powered hub with a CF reader and USB ports (I’m using the Unitek USB3.0+Card Reader :: Y-3123) into your device via an OTG cable, it will probably work right off the bat (wish I’d have just tried that first!).

So why did this take me all day?

I thought I was being all clever rooting a Galaxy S5, installing CyanogenMod 12.1, and then downloading various apps that in combination would allow the transfer happen.  I thought I needed [root]StickMount. I even purchased the Pro version.  But at this point, I really have no idea what StickMount is even for.  Your device will likely read a USB stick as is.  There is no need for this app (or rooting your device for that matter).

In the end, the stock Samsung TouchWiz Lollipop OS worked great.  The stock OS on my LG Gpad (Kit Kat) also worked great.  In fact, with the Lollipop on the S5 (from Verizon), there is a really nice little area in “My Files” that allows me to easily pick between USB Storage A (the CF card) and USB Storage B (a USB drive)… though “My Files” doesn’t allow me to see my 750GB NTFS drive (see below for that bonus action).

This set up also works like a champ with my stock LG Gpad 8.3 (Verizon Kit Kat).

This means BOTH my devices, as stock (Lollipop and/or Kit Kat), are able to transfer data from a card to a thumb drive (either FAT32 or exFAT) via a hub (you may need a powered hub, depending on how much power your device puts out and how much power your card and USB stick require).

Here’s the bonus: if I use the Paragon Technologies GmbH plugin for Total Commander, my Galaxy S5 and LG Gpad 8.3 WILL allow me to read/write to/from the 750GB NTFS drive and it doesn’t even require root access to the device (very cool)!  I have found that I actually need to install two plug-ins for Total Commander to make an NTFS hard drive, a card, and a USB stick all work together.  You need USB Stick Plugin-TC by Ferenc Hechler to use both NTFS and FAT32/exFAT.  For some reason, if you install the NTFS plug-in, Total Commander treats everything plugged into the hub as NTFS, thus non-NTFS drives (CF card and USB drive) are not recognized.  Installing the Stick Plug-in restores Total Commander’s ability to see the card and USB stick with the NTFS drive.

If your device is rooted, there is actually a patch that someone on the XDA Developers forums has come up with that will allow Android to read/write NTFS, but the installation is a little more involved (dropping files and modules into particular directories on your device), so going the Total Commander route is just a little easier in my opinion.

All said and done, the actual data transfer takes a while, but by transferring directly from card to hard drive (or USB stick) you eliminate the extra step that a lot of people are going through when they transfer from a CF reader to their device’s SD Card and then back out to a Portable Hard Drive (though if your device’s SD card is big enough, leaving a copy of the files on the SD card offers additional back up).

On my LG Gpad 8.3 tablet I dumped 9GB from a 16GB SanDisk Extreme (160MB/s) CF card containing RAW files and .MOV files (from a Canon 7D) to a USB 3.0 (not that it matters –the connection is USB 2, thus that’s the speed limit) 16GB Transcend USB stick in roughly 23 minutes (not awesome, but probably fast enough to transfer while you’re shooting another couple of cards).  Later that day, I transferred a full 16GB CF card (600x Transcend) to a 5400RPM 2.5” portable HD formatted exFAT, and it actually took less than 23 minutes.

To reiterate: I am confirming that with both the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the LG Gpad 8.3 I can use a powered hub to plug in a 16 GB CF card (FAT32), a 32GB USB drive (exFat), and a 750GB external NTFS hard drive… all at the same time… and transfer data between all three devices (not to mention the device they are all plugged into).

Furthermore (and obviously the easiest way to go), if you format an external hard drive using exFAT or FAT32, your Android device will almost certainly allow you to dump data from a media card to the hard drive without making ANY modifications and by simply using the stock file explorer on your device!

I will also state (though I have no good reason for this), the transfer seems to work most consistently, without glitches, without having to try several times, on Kit Kat (with my Gpad).

While we’re on the topic, let’s explore this magical “OTG cable.”  It’s a cable that has a male micro USB B to go into your device, and the other end has a female type A USB.  That’s it.  The only thing special about this “OTG” cable is that pins 4 and 5 are jumpered.  In fact, as shown in this Makezine article, if you’ve got a micro USB cable and a USB 2.0 cable lying around, you can splice them together to make your own OTG, just be sure to jumper pins 4 and 5 (because: “When the sense pin is connected to ground, the USB OTG device attached to the cable enters host mode. If the sense pin is left in its usual disconnected state, the USB OTG device will remain in slave mode”).

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ACL Settings in Thecus NAS Prevent Connections

Yesterday I set up protections on shared folders in my Thecus N5550 NAS using the ACL settings (you can set permissions for specific users created in your NAS GUI).  Today I tried to access these folders on my NAS, and Windows 7 wouldn’t let me!  There was no option to enter the login credentials I created for the folders yesterday, and no way to make the NAS recognize my Windows credentials.

I searched for a while and found this (mysterious and not very solid) answer on the Thecus Forums:

1. Opened Network and Sharing Center
2. Opened Change Advanced Sharing....
3. Changed the last setting to "Use user accounts and passwords..."
4. Closed that and changed my active network type from "home" to "work"

Not sure exactly why it worked, but it did. Now I can enter my username (no need to add @thecus.com after the username) and pw to browse my ACL protected folder.

Thanks to user jonathan.morris for posting!  I too am not sure why this works, as I have not set up the ACL on the folders with my Windows credentials, nor did I enter the NAS user credentials I set up yesterday, but suddenly there is no issue accessing the NAS Share Folders directly via Explorer (which has me wondering how effective the ACL setting could be since I’m accessing the folders without entering any user/pass).

Windows advises that you should let it monitor and control your home network, but if I can’t USE my home network to access my NAS, Windows certainly isn’t doing its job correctly.

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Cutting the Cable: One Year Later (a real world experience)

It’s been nearly a year since I cut the cable, so I thought I’d provide some thoughts on my experience, what has worked, what hasn’t, what I actively use.

For some time, the center of “cutting the cable” was a good HTPC (home theater computer).  This was where the physical media was streamed from, and also the access point for the television to actually show programs/media from the internet.  While a home theater PC is still a great tool, it’s getting easier and easier to get by without one.

I am set up with a NAS (network attached storage -in my case a Thecus N5550 with 5x 3TB RED WD drives for a total of around 11TB of media storage), and a Roku stick on each of our TV’s (one in the bedroom, one in the living room, one in the kitchen).  We also have the original television antenna that was installed on our roof around 1963, and it does a fantastic job of pulling in nearly 30 HD broadcast channels (for free). The broadcast television signal is processed through an older TV Tuner Card (Hauppauge 1196 WinTV-HVR-1250) that I purchased in 2010 and have installed in an older computer (from 2007) that we use as an HTPC (home theater computer).

Plex has become a major part of our media set up.  It’s a program that will push content to Roku from your NAS (and various other places, but I’m mostly concerned with getting my media from my NAS to my television, and that happens via Plex and Roku).  Plex has a subscription based online experience with various channels and content, but the actual channel/app for your Roku is offered for a one time purchase of only $5, and it is WELL worth it (you can try it first for 30 days free).  You also need to have a server running the Plex Media Server (I installed a free Plex Media server module on my Thecus NAS so all the media is streamed using the Plex Server from the NAS –but you could just as easily stream content from a PC).

Plex is able to convert media on the fly, so anything you throw at it is converted to h.264 and fed to your Roku over wifi.  I was allowing Plex to convert VOB’s from my ripped DVD collection (all ripped from DVD’s I own, for those keeping tabs), but I have recently begun converting a lot of my movies and ALL of the TV shows on the server to h264 using HandBrake and/or MakeMKV.  Plex does an “ok” job of converting on the fly, but if the files already exist as h264, you get a MUCH MORE streamlined media streaming experience (read: no delays or hiccups when watching).  The h264 files at the same native resolution also take up a LOT less space than VOB files (which are MPEG-2).

I am still using the HTPC (an actual computer), but funny enough, we use it mostly just to watch Hulu (you can’t get Hulu on your Roku unless you pay for HuluPlus, and I’m not interested in paying $10/month for a service that DOESN’T eliminate the commercials (what the hell?!)).  Also, from what I understand reading other people’s complaints about HuluPlus, it doesn’t even offer all of the content on Hulu free (again, what the hell?!).

I am close to finalizing our over-the-air recording set up (broadcast TV recorder) that will allow me to stop using Hulu altogether.  We pretty much only use Hulu to catch up on Network TV that we’ve missed throughout the week, so once I am recording all those shows with a PC/TV tuner and the broadcast signal from the aerial antenna, we’ll be able to stream the recorded programs from the NAS via Plex/Roku and will no longer need Hulu –or an internet connection, for that matter.

We’re actually already set up to record broadcast TV (just Windows Media Center on the bedroom HTPC), but it’s a part of an HTPC that has to be physically hooked up to the TV, and I’m working on getting it moved elsewhere, and then automating the record/convert-to-h264 for Roku streaming process and we won’t need an attached HTPC cluttering up the bedroom or making noise where we’re trying to watch/sleep.

Recorded TV: you can set up XBMC (free media software) with a third-party recorder like NextPVR to record TV from signal using a tuner card in your PC, but I prefer to just use Windows Media Center, since it comes with Windows and doesn’t require any additional work (Windows 7/8 come with television recording ready to go –you just have to buy a TV Tuner Card).  There are also other software programs you can use to record live television with a PC Television Tuner Card (often they come free with the TV Tuner Card).

If you’d rather go the XBMC route, here’s a post on Lifehacker showing how to set up the software (again, it’s a bit more complex than just using WMC).

The only problem I have with WMC (Windows Media Center) is that it records to a proprietary format (.wtv) that’s really just a container file for video encoded using the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standard and audio using MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3.  Some people have had trouble converting the .wtv format to h264 with Handbrake, but to date (knock on wood) I haven’t had any issues; it’s been working great for me.  I just use Handbrake to convert the files recorded by WMC directly to h264 for streaming.  If it doesn’t work for you, you can try right-clicking the WMC file (the .wtv file) and converting it to the older Windows Media Player format (.DVR-MS), then converting that file to h264 with MakeMKV and/or Handbrake.

So outside of the stuff we stream from the NAS (ripped movies and television shows from recorded over-the-air and ripped DVD’s), we use Roku to stream from Amazon Prime, HBO, and some PBS (and will likely start streaming Netflix again in the near future).  I’ve tried using Roku channels like the History Channel, but the content is limited to a couple of episodes of each show so once you’ve watched the channel, it’s basically “used up” until they refresh the content in a week or a month).

A lot of the “cable channels” on Roku are set up this way.  You can watch one or two episodes of each show, but that’s it.  Some of the channels will allow you to subscribe to see all their content, but I’m not willing to pay $30 to watch a season of a single channel when sources like Amazon Prime have tons of content (thousands of shows and movies) for one, much lower, subscription price.

So, to recap, I rip DVD’s to h264 and put them on a NAS (network attached storage, 11TB of media that is always on and available).  I also record Network TV from an old fashioned television antenna that receives almost 30 broadcast channels (in HD resolution) over the air.  The ripped DVD’s and recorded television are converted to h264 (.mp4 or .m4v) for streaming from the NAS via Plex on the Roku hooked up to each television.

We also watch movies and television from Amazon Prime (paid subscription), HBO  (Comcast has added streaming HBO to a couple of their ISP packages, including Internet Plus and Blast Plus, see image below), and soon Netflix again (we dropped it for a while, but are going to sign up again).

 
(here’s a full screen shot with address bar to “prove” the free HBO with internet is coming directly from Comcast)

We have almost cut out the HTPC (the home theater computer), and the only thing that might be missed will be direct access to the internet (but almost all content accessed directly from the internet can be found through other plug-ins/apps/channels/routes).

We are doing quite well without paying for cable.  I think some people would miss the “ease” of channel surfing, but I actually like the control of a more specific and intentional media watching experience.

There are also TONS of options for streaming to your tv from your phone or tablet (things like Twonky, Roku Screen Mirroring, various content provider apps, etc.) as well as Boxee, Apple TV, Xbox, Chrome Cast, Amazon Media Fire, etc., but for us, an antenna with a PC tuner card, NAS, Plex, and Roku are what we find serve us best (and for so much less cash than a cable subscription!).

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Google Drive is Preventing My PC from Shutting Down

…and Google doesn’t seem to care!  There are posts from years ago on the Google forums, and responses from Google admin saying “we’re looking into this,” but the problem still exists (in Win 7 and Win 8).

(screenshot from BleepingComputer.com – click for link to thread)

I have tried uninstalling/reinstalling Google Drive, but to no avail.  And it’s a serious pain in the butt, because every time you do this, in order to associate a folder with Google Drive, the drive has to be empty (you can’t associate a folder with any contents).  So once you’ve reinstalled Google Drive, you have to create a new folder, associate it with Google Drive, dump all the contents of your old Google Drive into the new folder, rename the folder, and then wait for Google Drive to figure out what the hell just happened (update sync database).

In a thread discussing problems with Piriform’s CCLeaner and Google Drive, I found this information:

When the Google Drive application is running, it creates a directory under C:\Users\Chukhung\AppData\Local\Temp with a name like "_MEI54082" (the last five digits of the directory name change every time the Google Drive application is started). Within this directory are a large number of subdirectories, DLLs, and what appear to be Python files. This directory disappears when the Google Drive application is shut down manually.  [. . .] I'm guessing that Google Drive gets seriously confused when CCleaner partially deletes the contents of this directory.

This seems like a pretty decent guess as to why this is happening, but I’m not sure what to do about it (other than to always manually shut down Google Drive before shutting down the computer, which isn’t exactly an ideal solution).

I will update this post if I find a solution, but in the meantime, feel free to post your thoughts/solutions in the comments!

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TeraCopy: Better than Windows Explorer but still lacking

I do a lot of file copying.  Most people do.  However, as a filmmaker, photographer, and recording artist, I do a lot of copying of massive amounts of data (my machine is currently running a >800GB transfer that’s been going for more than 20 hours).

The native Windows Explorer copy feature makes me nervous, because sometimes it drops data or runs into trouble with transferring data, and basically, for lack of a better term, just craps out.

A while back I finally found a copy program I like to replace the simple “cut and paste” in Explorer.  Checksum verification was the single most important feature I was looking for.  Basically this means each file is analyzed and assigned a number and then checked against the transferred file once copied.  From the ubiquitous Wikipedia: “A checksum or hash sum is a small-size datum computed from an arbitrary block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage.”

When I shoot photos or video, I need to be absolutely sure the data is not lost or corrupted during transfer.  Checksum verification helps mitigate this problem.  I never transfer anything important without running checksum verification.

For this reason, I love TeraCopy.

I also love that you can pause a transfer, and also that you can initiate several transfers that will run in the order you set them up (rather than try to run them all at the same time… though that options exists as well).

I wish you could pause a transfer or test, shut down your computer, and come back to it.  It doesn’t seem like there is anything that would prevent this from being possible (TeraCopy would just need to store the same “pause” information and then access it once the computer was restarted).  This would be AMAZINGLY helpful for when you’re in the middle of a large file transfer but need to shutdown or restart your computer.

My biggest complaint with the program is that Code Sector brags about how FAST TeraCopy copies files.  They say it over and over again.  It’s even their freaking TAG LINE (see photo).

In all my personal experience and in EVERY review I’ve seen online, TeraCopy is proven slower than just about any transfer program out there… including Window’s native “cut and paste.”

But the thing that has REALLY been annoying me lately is just how insanely slow the file check runs after the actual transfer takes place.  It actually takes CONSIDERABLY longer for TeraCopy to run the Checksum verification after the transfer than it does to actually transfer the files.

I would REALLY like to know what is going on there.

There have also been quite a few times where I’ve initiated a large file transfer and then left it to run overnight, only to come back in the morning to see an error from TeraCopy that states simply “TeraCopy has stopped.”  Uh, ok.  What about all the bragging on the TeraCopy product page about how TeraCopy will try again and again to transfer a file, but ultimately if it fails it will simply skip the file instead of crapping out (like Windows Explorer)?  From the product page: “In case of a copy error, TeraCopy will try several times to recover and, in the worse case scenario, will simply skip the file, not terminating the entire transfer.”  This has not been the case in my experience (on many occasions).

Still, though slower than Windows Explorer copy, I feel more secure transferring my precious data with TeraCopy.  Perhaps it’s a false sense of security, but at least I sleep a little better at night knowing that checksum verification has been run after the file transfer.

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My Feature Wish List for Adobe Premiere CS4

For the past two months I have been editin a feature film in Adobe Premiere CS4.1.  While I still think Premiere is the right choice for editing a feature shot on RED, there are definitely some things lacking from the program.   A few are minor things, but a few are MAJOR shortcomings of the software.

I should have been putting this together over the course of the entire project, but I just thought to do this now.  And I guess late is better than never.  Hopefully I can remember most of the things I “wished” for while working with the program.

I submit “feature requests” to Adobe all the freaking time.  I assume my pleas fall on deaf ears, so I’m at least going to put a list together just to document my needs.  Perhaps some of these are actually already implemented, and some kind soul who stumbles upon this post will leave a solution to one of these wishes in the comments.

I will keep adding to this list as things come up.  Please feel free to cut and paste any of these wishes to Adobe Feature Request.

SOUND SYNC via TIMECODE
For some insane reason, Adobe has decided to completely ignore time code synchronization of sound/video in Premiere CS4.  This means if you record your audio to an external source, as ALL professional shoots do, you have to MANUALLY sync your audio and video.  And by manually, I mean line your waveforms up with the slate clap visually.  We recorded our audio (24 bit, 48KHz) to an eight track digital recorder.  We had a time code smart slate.  In regard to Premiere, it doesn’t matter, because Premiere won’t chase audio time code.  I can’t get over this.  This is like making an editing program that won’t handle video.  INSANE.
The work around is to sync all your audio via time code in Final Cut Pro, export the footage via XML, and then import the XML into Premiere.  When doing this, there are some very important things to remember.  You MUST place the footage on a timeline in FCP before exporting the XML.  Premiere does not link audio and video in the bins (stupid, stupid, stupid –see next wish list item) so the audio/video MUST be on a timeline to remain synced when it’s imported into Premiere.  Also, we found that FCP 7 would not work for this process.  We actually had to use an older copy (FCP 6) for the XML export/import to work.

LINK AUDIO/VIDEO IN PROJECT BINS
I cannot believe you can’t link audio and video files in the project bins.  This means you can’t use the bins to select clips for your edit.  You have to cut and paste EVERYTHING from a sequence/time line.  This makes me so angry that I can’t even write about it any more.  Moving on…

EXPORT LIST OF EFFECTS OR CLIP CHANGES
I am currently having to go through my project files to manually find each and every clip that has been manipulated by scale and position (keyed/cropped/scaled clips).  It would be phenomenal if I could simply generate a list of all the clips in a sequence that had been manipulated.  Same goes for effects.

When you generate an EDL for, say, color grading, any information regarding anything but in and out points is completely lost when the EDL is imported into wherever it’s going.  In order to recreate any changes you’ve made, the person importing the EDL will need a list of any clips that have been changed.  Thus, you have to go through each of your sequences manually to find any changes you made to each clip, and then give those changes to the person who is opening the EDL so that they can re-implement your changes.  Being able to generate a list of these changes would save an incredible amount of time.

XML EXPORT
You can import an XML, why the hell can’t you export one?!

BETTER (UP TO DATE WITH THE REST OF THE WORDL) EDL FORMAT
RED cameras generate 16 digit file folder names.  The EDL format that Premiere uses (CMX3600) only handles 8 digits for the file folder structure.  Thus, when the color house imported all our files, they had to go in and manually add the missing information.  I can’t imagine they were happy about this.

CUT/PASTE INFORMATION FROM THE “INFO” PANEL
Believe is or not, you can’t copy/cut any text in the clip “info” box window.  What in the FREAK?!  Why would such a thing be disabled?  Since I’m having to let my color guy know the file name, instance number, and in/out point of the clip he needs to manually scale and adjust, I am constantly in need of being able to copy the information regarding a clip, but I have to manually type out all the information, because you can’t select any text in the “info” box.  Infuriating.

NUMBER THE CLIPS IN A SEQUENCE
There is no place to find a clip’s instance number.  In an EDL, each clip is referred to by it’s instance number… simply which clip it is in numerical order.  In order to determine the number of a clip in a Premiere sequence, you either have to count the number of clips up to the clip in question (unacceptable in a sequence with hundreds of clips), or search an EDL you’ve generated for the clip’s file name (and then make sure you’ve got the correct instance if that file has been used for multiple clips).  How easy would it be to simply put the number of the clip in the “info” box?!  Grrrrrr.

SAVE “STATE” (expdanded details) IN EFFECT CONTROL PANEL

Since I’m having to go through and manually find each clip that’s been resized and/or cropped, I need the “motion” line in the Video Effects Panel to remain open.  Since it doesn’t, I’m having to go through hundreds of clips, click on them, then click on the little triangle next to “motion” to expand the details to see if any changes have been made to scale and position.  If I could set the “motion” line to remain open for all clips, it would save a LOT of time.

EXPORT OMF IS PRETTY WORTHLESS
That’s it.  Not much more to say here.  OMF export performance is spotty at best.
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30" LCD Monitor for Video Editing

It kills me that I can't find any decent reviews of 30" monitors from this year (2009). A lot of the reviews I'm reading are from 2006. WTF? Has nothing changed in the world of 30" monitors since Dell upgraded the 3007WFP to the 3008WFP?

I'm looking to purchase a larger monitor. I love my Dell 2407WFP, but at a maximum resolution of 1920x1200, it's just not up to the task at hand. I need to be able to view RED files at 2k resolution (2048x1024).

Here are the top models to choose from at the consumer level (under $2,000): Dell 3008WFP (some still swear by the 3007WFP), the Apple Cinema Display, HP LP3065, Samsung 305T, and I suppose the Gateway XHD3000 and LG W300H.

There are also 30" models from NEC and Eizo, but they definitely bump you up over the $2000 mark into the "pro-sumer" level of things.

There are many things that factor into what would be the best monitor (contrast ratio, response time, gamma display, etc.), and the biggest factor in these is how the screen is constructed.

Here is an explanation from jaguarskx on Tom's Hardware (in 2007, I might add), and yes, I consider "jaguarskx" to be the preeminent expert on LCD panel types:

TN = Twisted Nematic - These are 6-bit screens that cannot really reproduce 16.7 million colors. They can only reproduce 262,144 colors; 64 shades of Red, Green & Blue. Thats (2^6)^3 or 64^3. All the other colors are created through a process called dithering. These typically have fast response times (for gaming) at the expense of color accuracy. These are inexpensive monitors.

MVA = Multidomain Vertical Alignment
PVA = Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment

MVA and PVA panel are the most common 8-bit LCD screen around. They are relatively slow compared to TN, but offers better color accuracy. Good viewing angles and contrast ratio. However not all MVA and PVA panels are 8-bit screens. S-MVA and S-PVA are typically the ones that are 8-bit panel from my research. S = Super.

8-bit LCDs can truly reproduce 16.7 million colors. That's because there will be 256 shades of each color (2^8 ); Red, Green & Blue. Therefore 256^3 = 16.7 million (actually, a little more).

S-IPS = Super In-Plane Switching. These are high end and really expensive LCD panels. All these panels are 8-bit panels and comes the closest to CRT image quality. From what I've read they also have very good response times as well. LCD monitors geared towards graphic artists who demands the most color accuracy are designed with these type of panels. That means the shades of color you see on the screen are the exact shades that will be printed out on a good color printer.

That's at least a beginning. I need an IPS panel. But this seems pretty standard these days. Some gamers prefer the TN panels because they're a little faster and much cheaper, but I definitely need color consistency, so IPS it is.

Now I have to decide between the monitors on my list above. The big three seem to be the Apple, the Dell, and the HP (the Samsung gets pretty good reviews, but nothing's changed since 2005... that makes me nervous --should it?).

There are no definitive winners regarding any of these. Depending upon the review you read, any one of these is the superior monitor. Can this really be the case?

The Dell 3008WFP often wins the debate because of the sheer numbers of inputs on the device. I could care less. Give me my DVI port and I'm happy. I guess I'll enjoy the upgrade to 10-bit color (via the DisplayPort) over 8-bit (via DVI), but it's not really a battle-winning factor. That said, I am starting to doubt all choices but the Dell because of the DisplayPort... so I guess I lied. It does matter.

Dell seems to be the brand that gets commented on for color inconsistency the most often. But none of the others really "shine" in this area, anyway, so it doesn't really help with my decision. Most of the comlaints also seem to be from back in the year 2007, so I wonder if they've fixed the problem. I don't know, because I can't find a damn review from this year.

If I go simply by price, Apple loses the battle hands down. You can't really find it for less than $1,699 (and there are lots of people bitching about the ACD problems to boot, so it's not a matter of "the higher the price, the better the monitor"). The "regular" price for the Dell isn't much better, but it goes on sale all the time, and can usually be purchased for around $1299, depending on the day (it's really annoying how Dell fluctuates their prices all the time --the 3008WFP was actually $1039 in March of 2009). The HP is usually $1,199. The Samsung can often be found for less than $1,000.

Awwww who am I kidding? I'm buying the Dell. Having the Display Port for 10-bit color is the clincher. Now I just have to figure out how to get them to sell it to me for the price I've seen a million times ($1,299 instead of $1,699... or better yet, $1,039), but isn't available "right now."

Bastards.

New Topic: Editing RED Footage in Adobe Premiere CS4

Alright... I've been gone for a long, long time. Before my blogging hiatus, the major topic of discussion was hacking up the Samsung Omnia i910, and while I will continue to tinker with that toy (nay, superior smart phone) my new topic of choice is video editing and post production for "film!"

I am getting ready to edit a feature film in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.

"Really? Shouldn't you be editing in Final Cut Pro, like everyone else?" you might ask.

Well, we shot our film in full resolution (4K) RED. Final Cut hasn't addressed the format as well as Adobe, so I'm going with Premiere. Premiere is simply at the forefront of editing native RED footage.

The new version of Final Cut Pro released last week touts the ability to edit RED better than it's previous version, but FCP still forces you to wrap the .r3d file in a Quicktime wrapper, thus you aren't really accessing the RED files natively (you have to go through that workaround).

The RED plug-in for Adobe Premiere is just the best way to go in my book.

So much of post is done in After Affects (no matter what platform you're on and what software you're using), and the integration and flow of Premiere and After Affects is superior (vs. FCP or AVID) to say the least.

Yes, there are issues with editing in Premiere (not the least of which is Adobe's apparent REFUSAL to address syncing and linking audio and video files --more on that later). But each leading platform (FCP and AVID being the two others), have their issues as well.

Other than sound, the biggest problem with Premiere (and it's admittedly a big one), as that it's a youngster in the field. Pretty much anybody who's been doing anything with film on a serious, professional level, has been using either AVID or Final Cut Pro. Thus, the knowledge base for Avid and FCP is much more vast. Finding answers for your problems with Premiere takes a lot of work. Hopefully my posts on the topic can help people find the same answers I was looking for a little quicker (a couple issues we had took weeks to find an answer to --some of the problems we still haven't found answers to, which leads me to believe that there might not be answers yet).

Bottom line, you're going to have problems (big or small) with any program you go with, so you just need to make sure you're doing what's best for you and your particular project.

Next up, the build (what I learned from researching for weeks before putting together a computer for the specific purpose of video editing).