OEC Micro Ball Head Camera Mount (review)

This is the same micro ball head that came with my field monitor. I needed another one to mount my H4N sound recorder to my camera rig, so about two weeks ago, as an experiment, I purchased a slightly more expensive micro ball head, the name brand Giotto Professional Mini Ball Head Camera Mount.

The Giotto MH1004 is $12 on Amazon. The Giotto MH1304-110C is a little more expensive at $18, but also claims a 3 pound greater load capacity (7lbs. vs. 4lbs.). Neither of the Giotto units is as good as the OEC one in my opinion, and the OEC is only $9.

The two Giottos do not come with the hot shoe bolt and lock nut. The Giottos also utilize a *plastic* lock nut for the top nut (the one on the ball head), and in addition to the material being sub-bar, the plastic nut is too thick (it doesn't leave enough threaded rod exposed).

The OEC is all metal. It comes with a hot shoe bolt and metal lock nut. The top lock nut is metal with a rubber face. It also comes with a hex head male/male 1/4" 20 bolt (a tiny threaded rod)and allen wrench that can be used with a cheeseplate or any other 1/4" hole.
The base of the OEC is only around 3mm taller than the Giotto, so the height clearance is pretty much identical.

I can't imagine choosing the more expensive option when the less expensive one is actually *better.* After receiving the Giotto, I actually went back online and purchased another one of these OEC Micro Ball Heads.

Do not confuse this item with the $7 Neewer Black Ball Head for DSLR Camera Tripod Ballhead Stand (type I).  That thing is a piece of junk.  The top lock nut is plastic, the side knob is feeble plastic, and it lacks the hot shoe bolt/lock nut and male/male 1/4” hex bolt and wrench that come with the OEC.

Verizon Messages (app)

I will be the first to say that I HATE bloatware and carrier/manufacturer specific apps.  I rejoiced to the heavens when Android implemented the ability to disable ANY app (even if you can’t actually remove it from your device).

That said, I am thoroughly impressed with Verizon’s Messenger app (bear in mind, my very least favorite piece of bloatware is Verizon Navigator, so I definitely have no special love for Verizon apps).

When searching for a texting app for my tablet, I wanted something that would do a good job of syncing my communication on all my devices.  From my research, nothing even comes close to Verizon Messages.  Unfortunately, if Verizon is not your carrier, you can disregard the rest of this post, because the app is only for Verizon customers.

With all the other messaging apps you have to create an account and enter your phone numbers for all your devices.  Since Verizon already has all of this information, you aren’t sharing anything with yet another party.

Some apps (quite a few actually) merely link your tablet and phone via Bluetooth and/or wifi.  What good is this?  Unless your phone and tablet are ALWAYS in the same vicinity, your messages won’t be synced!

Verizon is already in charge of storing/organizing/disseminating your texts, so it should (should) stand to reason that they have the power to best sync all this information between your devices (which they are also in charge of).

Sure enough… they do!

Once you have installed Verizon Messenger on all your devices, your messages (ingoing, outgoing, SMS, and MMS) are all immediately synced.  The speed at which it happens is great (immediate).  I’m even happy with the way the interface functions/looks.  To a limited degree, you can customize the look (background color, text bubble colors, etc.).  The program also does a great job of organizing media.  For instance, I can open a text thread from any user, and if I want, Verizon Messenger will show me all the pictures sent from that person in a gallery at the bottom of the thread.  Pretty cool.

So, while I normally hate any proprietary apps (almost always bloatware), I would highly recommend Verizon Messenger to anyone on the Verizon network who needs to sync their SMS/MMS between multiple devices.

[UPDATE: 10-28-14] It’s more than a little annoying that even when you have “display message notifications in status bar” ticked in the settings, there is no notification displayed in the status bar when you have messages.  In other words, you get a text, your phone makes a sound, but there is no notification (no LED light, no icon in the header, just a number on the apps icon –so unless you’re looking at the actual app shortcut, you don’t know you’ve got a message).  So far, this is the only real gripe I have with the app.

[UPDATE: 11-04-14] Oddly enough, it seems that the problem with notification listed above happens only on my Samsung S5.  My LG Gpad 8.3 shows notifications from Verizon Messages in the notification bar at the top of the screen just like it’s supposed to, so evidently the problem is specific to my S5 (which also has major problems downloading all my e-mail from Gmail –it only downloads some of the e-mail –post on this issue coming soon).

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Enabling CUDA for Adobe Premiere Pro

I’m pissed at Adobe, and I feel like a chump.

For several years I’ve been using Premiere Pro (CS4/CS6) without harnessing the CUDA capability of my graphics card (192 CUDA cores, to be precise).

How could this possibly happen?

Well, Adobe’s software will only “look” for the cards that are listed in a text file called “cuda_supported_cards.txt.”  This text file is by NO MEANS comprehensive.  In fact, it lists VERY FEW cards.

There is a program in the Premiere Pro system directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6) called GPUSniffer.exe.  If you run this program from the command line, it will show you the exact name of your installed video card(s).  When you add this card (be sure to use the exact name listed by GPU Sniffer) to the “cuda_supported_cards.txt” file, only then will Premiere harness the CUDA power of your graphics card.

Once you have added the name of your device to the approved list that Premiere Pro uses to verify the card, the “GPU accelration” option will be available under the General tab of your Project Settings.

Specific instructions:

1. Type CMD into your Start Menu search field (at the very bottom of your Start Menu).
2. Right click the cmd.exe program in the list and select “run as administrator.”
3. Navigate to the appropriate directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6) first by typing “cd\” to get to the root (c:) and then “cd Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6” to get to the Premiere Pro directory.
4. Type “GPUSniffer.exe” and take note of the card listed in the information returned.
5. Open Notepoad with admin privileges (right click on the Notepad program icon and select “run as admin”), then navigate to the same directory (C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Premiere Pro CS6) and open the “cuda_supported_cards.txt” file.
6. Add the name of your card to the list (it must be EXACTLY as it was listed in the GUP Sniffer dialog), and save the file.
7. Next time you open Adobe Premiere Pro, GPU Acceleration will be available from the drop down in your project’s “General” tab of settings.

UPDATE: You may also need to do a regedit fix documented here: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1061522?tstart=120

• Go to Regedit
• Find this key by selecting Edit and then Find at the top:- " 0cc5b647-c1df-4637-891a-dec35c318583 "
• Within this key, there is a value called: "ValueMax"
• This value represents the % number of cores the system will park - the default is 100% (ie: all Cores are potentially park-able)
• Change the value from 64 to 0 so the "ValueMin" and "ValueMax" are both zero
• You will have to find the key a few times and repeat the process for each time it is found - the number of instances will depend on the number of power profiles in your system

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Adobe Premiere AudioPrefetch.cpp-87 Error

[UPDATE: 11-15-14] The “definitive solution” is at the end of this post.

The dreaded AudioPrefetch.cpp-87 error has been present in Adobe Premiere Pro at least since version CS4 and continues to wreak havoc through CS6.1 and possibly later (CC?).

Adobe has answered with everything from “simply cut and paste your timeline onto a new one” to “you must completely reinstall your software.”

Unfortunately, neither of these is necessarily the answer.

The issue has to do with playback and rendering the audio wave form (the visual representation of the audio wave). I assume the term “prefetch” means the program is trying to “fetch” the audio wave image before it is played back on the timeline.  When it cannot do this, the error is spawned.

The error seems to occur most often (if not always), when Premiere is trying to play a clip that has been conformed to a non-native format. For instance, if you have a clip that you shot at 59.97fps but then conformed to 23.976fps so the clip would play in slow motion, and if you are allowing the audio to play, you will eventually get this error.

If you minimize the audio clip (click the triangle to the far left in the timeline) so that the wave form is not being shown and therefore not being rendered, the error will not occur.  If you are not using the audio (most often if the clip is slomo, you will not be using the audio), you can simply “unlink” the audio from the video clip (right-click, unlink) and delete the audio portion of the clip.  The error will no longer occur.

If you are doing something weird (like I often am), and you actually want to PLAY the slow-motion audio and need to see the waveform in order to edit in/out points, key frames, volume, etc., you are simply out of luck and will need to keep closing the program (making sure to click “close” a million times on all the prefetch error dialog boxes that are likely stacked up behind your main edit window), then re-opening the project and working until the error occurs again.

The “copy/paste to a new timeline” fix has been the go-to answer for years.  The idea is that doing this will resolve any issue with a corrupt clip on the timeline.  While it’s not a total fix (it does seem to work sometimes), I have noticed that the “copy all the clips on the timeline to a new sequence” solution does seem to extend the amount of time you will have once you re-open the program to work on the new sequence/timeline.  Just be sure that once the error occurs, you copy and paste everything to a new sequence and then delete the old sequence without ever playing either the old or new timeline/sequence.  Bear in mind, this solution means you will lose all settings you had for the original sequence (track names, mixer channel names, key frames on the timeline (not key frames on the clips), etc.).

[UPDATE: 9-30-14] Now I’m getting an AudioPrefetch.cpp-99 error in CS6.0.5. It behaves exactly the same.

[UPDATE: 11-15-14] I have been working on a project with a lot of overcranked footage, and utilizing a lot of the overcranked audio.  As such, I have come up with what I will call the “definitive” solution to this issue.  The problem is a result of Premiere having to process “slow motion” audio in real time (on the fly).  Thus, I figured the solution would be to convert the slo-mo audio to “regular” audio.  Simply right-click any active slowed down audio on your timeline, open in Audition, resave as a “normal” file, and then import that file and replace the audio clip (highlight the new audio file in your bin, right click the slow motion audio clip on your timeline, right-click and select “replace with clip from bin”).  Golden.

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The Wish You Were Here (drink recipe)

 

• Domaine Canton
• Jim Beam Black (bourbon)
• Blueberries
• Mint
• Dash dried jalapeno powder
• Dash orange bitters
• Fresh cilantro
• Tall Sprig of Cilantro Seed Cluster

Muddle blueberries, mint, fresh cilantro (not the seed sprig), and jalapeno powder in shaker.  Add Canton and Bourbon to liking (generally 1 to 3), dash orange bitters, ice, shake till ice is nicely bruised.

Place sprig of mint, 3 blueberries, and a tall sprig of cilantro seed cluster into chilled martini glass.  Pour shaker contents into glass.

The “trick” to this drink is that you can only make it when your cilantro has gone to seed, which is usually kind of annoying, but now that there’s this… I love it when the cilantro goes to seed!  As a garnish, the tall sprig is nearer your nose and imparts a wonderful smell as part of the drinking experience.

This drink is pretty involved to make, so there is a simpler version that devolved from the Wish You Were Here: the “German Bimber” (which is a German Bimber induced translation of Ginger/Bourbon).

The German Bimber is also a very tasty drink, and much simpler to make.  Put some Domaine Canton in your Bourbon over ice.  Add blueberries and cilantro if you feel like it.  There you go. [wink]

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Verizon Has Been Calling Me Twice a Day for More Than a Month

I have been getting calls from the same number (several numbers, actually, in New York and in Boston) at least two times a day for more than a month.

Here are some of the numbers from my call log:

617-342-0412 (Boston, MA)
508-884-1230 (Massachusetts)
617-878-1158 (Boston, MA)
917-779-2500 (New York) –this one calls A LOT
508-884-1808 (Massachusetts)

(there are many more numbers, presumably from this company’s call bank, but I’m not going to type them all out)

When I finally answered this morning (because the call was at SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING my time and I wanted the calls to STOP), the ultra-rude guy on the other end told me he was from Verizon.

He insisted that I had placed some weird technical order with their business services.  I explained that he was calling someone’s personal cell phone, and I had no idea what he was talking about.  He further insisted that this was the correct number (a number I’ve been using for around 15 years), and started yelling at me (yes, yelling) when I got upset that he wouldn’t stop calling.

I have received 6 more calls today.  Every single person I have spoken to has been extremely rude when I asked to stop being called.  Things like, “Well this is the number on the order.”  To which I respond, “well I’ve explained to every single person who’s called me that this is my personal cell phone, I have no idea what you are talking about, and everyone keeps promising me that I won’t receive calls for this order at this number any more.”

One of the calls was a restricted line, and a guy actually left a message stating: “C order 6B256544 if this is the correct number for the circuit you can call us at 800-891-0301 option 8, 3, and 1.” I called this number and spent about fifteen minutes on hold and being routed around the system before I gave up.

The last guy told me that if an order has a phone number on it with “their company,” I will continue to receive calls until the order is fulfilled or resolved.  I explained that the number on the order is wrong, and he said there was nothing he could do about it; that he couldn’t change the number on the order.  “So I’m just going to keep receiving calls forever?”  “That’s not what I said!” he replied in a heated tone.  “But you did say the number on the order couldn’t be changed, so I will continue to receive calls, right?”  “Correct.”

I asked to speak to his supervisor.

He gave me the name Tanya Barnett and a number of 617-342-0412.  This number is the general number to get into Verizon’s voice mail system (to get into the system, not to get to a person).  Therefore, he gave me a number for no one.

This is EXTREMELY annoying, but I have no recourse, because there is no one to contact about the issue, and the people who are calling are extremely rude, don’t care what is happening, and obviously have NO intention of fixing the situation.

Hopefully creating this blog post will either bring the issue to someone’s attention, or people having a similar issue will post in the comments when searching the number that keeps calling them so we can get to the bottom of this intrusive and disrespectful situation that Verizon is creating.

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Converting an Image from Adobe RGB to sRGB for Printing

I recently started using a professional online service to print my photos.  In doing so, I have done a lot of research regarding Color Profiles, soft proofing, calibrating, etc., to be sure the photos on my computer screen look exactly like the prints I receive back.

One of the major things to consider when setting up your digital photography workflow is what color profile to work in.  The Adobe RGB color profile is a wider (more information) profile than the “standard” sRGB.  However, most pro labs will want your work in sRGB, thus, the problem becomes how to edit in Adobe RGB (so you can utilize all that juicy information) but serve up your photo in sRGB at the end without losing any image quality or experiencing any shift in color/brightness/depth, etc.

The simplest way to change from Adobe RGB to sRGB in Photoshop is to simply go to the “Edit” menu, select “Assign Color Profile,” and switch it to sRGB.  However, I find that when I do this, the changes I see are far to great to be satisfactory.

Luckily, Adobe Camera Raw has a much better engine to convert files.  The problem then becomes, how do I open a PSD file (assuming you are editing photos in Photoshop) in Adobe Camera Raw?

The magic lies in the “open as” command under the Photoshop “File” menu.  If you select “open as” then select Adobe Camera Raw from the “open as” menu in the dialogue box, you are able to open a .psd in ACR.  Then you can simply click on the information link at the bottom of the ACR window (the underlined link that shows color profile, bit depth, dimensions, and resolution) and change the Adobe RGB to sRGB (the click “open image” and save the image from within Photoshop however you’d like).

When I make the change from here, I see virtually no change in the image.

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