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If enough people want the course, it will be given sometime after the April-June time frame.

by Carl Farley for Shantinath . . .

by Carl Farley for Hobo Walcott . . .

Carl, can you or do you know of someone who can transfer the sound from one CD (movie) to another CD? What kind of equipment would it take? Perhaps you know of someone who can do this for me.

by Carl Farley for K. Shantinath:

Can any of our Camcorder & Video SIG members give me some information about converting my home made DVD in my computer to play abroad where they use PAL system? Is there any software that does this? I know that it is commercially converted and many places do it. What I am looking for is something that I can use in my PC to do the conversion.

Thanks.

K.Shantinath. You may please write to me at this address: shantinathrama@earthlink.net

by Carl Farley for Murray McAndrew . . .

At the last Video SIG meeting, there was some discussion about video capture using a simple device  – Video Xpress by ADS Tech – which cost $40 at Amazon.com.  I found this device at Fry’s for the same price.  I also saw a similar device, the “Dazzle”, marketed by Pinnacle, for about $50.

Do you know if one is better than the other?  I imagine it depends on the software that comes with each device.  Since I already have Studio 10.7 on my computers, do you happen to know if it would be necessary to install the software that comes with the capture device (beyond the driver) or can I just use Studio?  Maybe there is some additional functionality that comes with the capture device’s software that would
be useful.

by Carl Farley for Steve Kennedy . . .

My wife has been transferring a lot of VHS tapes to DVD for a club she belongs to.  So far it has worked pretty well using Magix’ “Movie Edit Pro”, but it takes a lot of adjustments, primarily matching the audio and video. 

In today’s Houston Chronicle (10/14/07), Walgreen’s is offering “Home Video to DVD Transfer” for $20 for the first VHS tape, then $15 each for more tapes.  I don’t know the quality, but if it’s acceptable, this may be easier than trying to get set up with software and a DIY approach.

by Carl Farley for Ron Gore . . .

I’m starting a project to digitally record training information in my home using a digital video camcorder.  I plan to place the recordings on a website and make them available for viewing by interested persons.

At this point I am looking at camcorders. I understand the  MiniDV format produces the highest quality video but I’m not sure it would be best for making the video available on the net.

If you have any suggestions or advice, I’d be happy to receive it. I thank you for any time you are able to spend and look forward to hearing from you.

by Carl Farley forwarded from a member . . .

I have a lot of photos and several videos that I took using my digital camera that I would like to share with relatives living far away. I tried to send them by email, but the files are too large.How can I share pictures and videos?

Head on over to www.zdrive.com and open a free account. Use a username and password that you don’t mind sharing with friends and family, since you will need to give them the username and password so they can view the files.Once you have made an account, you will need to check your email to get a message from Zdrive with a link in it, click on the link, and your account will be all set up.

Once your account is set up, you can go to www.zdrive.com and log into your account using the username and password you selected.You will see that there are three folders in your account, My Documents, My Music, and My Pictures. You can create more folders if you wish using the “Create Folder” button at the top of the page.

When you are done uploading files, you can send an email message to your family and friends. Just tell them to go to www.zdrive.com and log in using your username and password.They can check off the files they want, then click on the “Download” button at the top of the page.

Finding Music, Sound Effects and Movies on the Internet

Your video projects can be enhanced with music, sound effects, and other video.  The Internet is an excellent source for these enhancements; and best of all, they’re free. 

We’re going to find music and sound effects and add them to a small video project, and I’ll show you a good website to find video.  (I’ll be using Microsoft Movie Maker for my project; some details may be different if you use different video editing software.)

I’ve set up a small 40-second video project.  You can see the starting project at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3116808099864552709

In my video, I don’t want music to play when Diane is talking; I’ll want music for the beginning, no music when Diane talks, and music for the end.  I want to add sound effects to the vehicles.

First, I’ll add the music.  The best way (in my opinion) to find “stuff” on the Internet is to use Google.

http://www.google.com/

We want to do a Google Search to find “free sound effects” (I don’t use the quotes).  Here are my results:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+music&btnG=Search

Many sites are offered, and you could do some “music shopping” from here.  I’m going to use the Freeplay Music site (the first one following the Sponsored Links).

http://freeplaymusic.com/

I like to use the “Style” or “Feel” selections, and Freeplay suggests songs.  For my project, I selected the “Driving” Feel.

http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=f&i=42

You’re presented with the first page of recommendations (ten songs).  The songs are offered in different lengths of time.  Pick a “Preview” version to hear a sample.  Pick the “MP3” version to download the music file to use in your video project.  (Try to preview most of the music and only download what you want to use.  It’s very easy to download many songs and clutter up your hard drive.)  I want to use Dixie Pickens (#10) and I want the music in two parts.  I download a 15 second version and a ten second version.

Now, I’ll add the music to my video.  I import the music files into Moviemaker.   (The video for my starting project is already in the Timeline.)  I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where Diane starts talking.  I place (“drag-and-drop”) the 15-second music clip on the Audio/Music line so it ends at the Timeline Marker.  I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where Diane stops talking.  I place the 10-second music clip so it starts where Diane stops talking.  The 10-second clip makes our project longer.  I don’t want the project longer, so I “push” the end of the music clip so it ends with the rest of our video.  (I’ve just chopped off the end of the music, but no one will notice.)  Here’s our video project with the music.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5078169841654137679

Now, we have to add an extra step because we’re using Movie Maker.  (You don’t have to do this if your editing software allows adding more lines of audio at the same time.)  We need to save the movie to the camcorder.  Close the Movie Maker program and restart it.  Capture the movie you just saved into Movie Maker and place it on the Timeline.

Now, I’ll find the sound effects.  Like before, do a Google search for free sound effects.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+sound+effects&btnG=Search

Like the music, there are plenty of places to browse.  I like this one.

http://stonewashed.net/sfx.html

For my video project, I’ll pick the “Transportation” category (from the column on the left).

http://stonewashed.net/transportation-sounds.html

I’ll pick the AutoSpeak Library of Sound.

http://www.autospeak.com/library.htm

I like this site because it provides the time duration for each sound effect.  On this site, you can left-click a sound to hear it.  You can right-click a sound and “Save Target as…” to download it.  For my video project, I’ll use the “Fast take off” and “Way too fast around a curve” sounds.

Now, I’ll add these sounds to my video.  I import the sound files into Moviemaker.   I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where the spinning scooter starts.  I place the “Way too fast around a curve” sound on the Audio/Music line so it starts at the Timeline Marker.  I move the Timeline Marker to the point in the video where the jeep starts.  I place the “Fast take off” sound so it starts at the Timeline Marker.  The “Fast take off” sound isn’t long enough for the length of the jeep video, so I add a second copy of the “Fast take off” sound immediately after the first.  Like the music, this second copy is longer than our starting video project so I “push” the end of the sound clip so it ends with the rest of our video.  Here’s our video project with the sound effects:  our final product.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3058680426951697115

For video on the Internet, I haven’t had good luck finding free movies with Google.  (I think most of the Google recommendations are sites like YouTube; these sites provide movies to watch rather than use.)  A site where I’ve found good video that can be used is

http://www.archive.org/details/movies

There’s a lot to look over here.  Some of the videos come with different “rights,” but you should not have a problem finding something.

For my work at Nassau Bay Television, I needed to publicize a hurricane preparedness seminar for the community and was given a one-page flyer of information.  I used the above video site, got some Hurricane Katrina video (and music), and provided this.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5560511096238690972

The Internet can be a rich source of music, sound effects and video.  My biggest problem is selecting a particular piece; there’s so much to choose from that I get sidetracked browsing.  Go online, look around, download those pieces that can enhance your video, and give it a try.  If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me at johnn@houston.rr.com. 

John’s Disclaimer:  I’m disappointed with the quality of the video that I’ve uploaded to Google and provided here as samples.  My videos generally look much better on a computer, DVD, or TV.  I need to “play with Google” or find another site to improve the quality.  (Let me know if you have suggestions.)  Hopefully, I’ve interested you in finding and using data from the Internet in your video project.