Acceleration or No wonder my microphones have a tough time at the drags!
 

*One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Indy. 500.

* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 1 gallon of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

* A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger. * With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition.

*Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. Cutting the fuel flow can only shut down the engine.

* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

* In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.

* Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!

* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. * The redline is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.

* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run, (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).


Putting all of this into perspective: You are riding the average $250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the vantage of a flying start. You run the RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.


That, folks, is acceleration

No wonder my microphones have a tough time at the drags!

Ordered Wrong Parts, What To Do Now
 

Perhaps someone will have a good suggestion
for me regarding my next step.
I ordered some accessories from DV Info Net sponsor B&H.
I first got the Paglight C6 from them. Then I wanted a diffuser so I emailed PagUSA to ask if a particular diffuser I was considering would be usable with the C6 and was told that it would work fine for it. So I ordered the diffuser (~$70) from B&H. I also ordered barndoors to hold the diffuser (~$40).
(The reason I had to contact Pag directly is because
their website is not very clear about accessory compatibility. I can't even find the C6 listed on their USA site, only their Europe site.)
I also ordered a couple extra lamps (~$20)
and a dimmer (~$150).
All these items are listed with B&H as "no return".
When I received the items, I quickly realized
they were all designed for their larger lights,
including the diffuser and barndoors, which
customer support at Pag had told me would
work with it.
Any ideas what to do now as I have no use for
these items?

This sort of thing happens to me more than I care to admit. One option available to you is to post the items for sale in our Private Classifieds forum. Hope this helps,

You might consider giving the vendor a call and tell them what happened. Perhaps they can intercede with B&H on your behalf. You could also try calling B&H---or better yet a visit if you live in the area---They will often "bend the rules" if you make a good case.

Best video-/film-related gift?
 

What's the best video-/film-related gift you have ever gotten?

A fun website for the holidays
 

Make your own snowflakes, without the little bits of paper everywhere.
http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

Saving cash?
 

Have you found a great bargain or know of a sale that is worth mentioning? I own plenty of high end equipment and believe in buying the best whenever appropriate. I also believe it is smart to save a buck whenever possible. I enjoy all of the Home Depot type threads where people explain how they took something not specifically made for videographers and made it work well for their kit. If you have a cost cutter please post it.

Here is my 2 cents worth:

First a big thank you to ZOTZ Digital. A few of months ago I was shopping for a Sennheiser EW100 ENG kit. Brian at ZOTZ, who had a good price on it anyway, mentioned to me that he had one in stock from Sennheiser’s “B Stock”. That means it has a cosmetic flaw or something that kept it from being perfect but Sennheiser releases them because it does not effect the operation of the unit. I received an additional discount over his already low price for picking up the “B Stock”. Flaw? I can’t find it. Sennheiser’s B stock is an occasional find but if you’re going to purchase their great products it is worth asking if it is available.

A few weeks ago I found a Stanly toolbox at Wal Mart (yes, I know, I said Wal Mart). What made this one so cool is the wheels. It is two plastic boxes that stack on top of each other and rolls like air-line luggage. It has all kinds of little organizer pouches and compartments but the part I like is that the bottom box is just a tub I fill with XLR cable and AC. The top toolbox I fill with audio and monitoring stuff. Now with a Porta Brace bag over each shoulder I can roll in a gig box at the same time. It is 24” H x 19 W x 12 D, that does not sound like much but you start filling it with cable and your glad it has wheels. You can pick one up at WallyWorld for $24.99, I am going back to get another one.

Now that I have posted a Wal Mart tip I might as well take it a step lower and really embarrass myself by telling you about this accidental find at a “dollar store”. While shopping for kids stocking stuffers yesterday with my wife at a “dollar store” I picked up a few things for my junk box. Ground lift adapters were in packages of 3 for a buck, I bought 2 packages (see I am a big spender). Anyone that has ever delt with a 60 hrtz roll through their signal knows a ground lift is priceless. Nylon zip ties were in a bag of 200 (assorted sizes) for a buck, 1 inch spring clamps were in a package of 6 for a buck. No I do not buy hammers and cheap c-wrenches at the dollar store, but spring clamps?

Yes I am a professional (reference to Frank’s fun thread here), and I spend way too much money on pro gear, but, the more I can save on small stuff at WallyWorld the more often I can call DV Info Net sponsors for the good stuff.

Steve

Funny Ebay auction
 

OK, DVinfo has a No-Ebay link policy, but I think Chris will allow this one (plus the auction is over).

Read the description of why the guy is selling his video camera.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=20333

I buy small clips from the dollar store for clipping gels to barn doors. 6 for $1 sounds right. Maybe we buy the same ones. Metal with red rubber grips on either end?
I love these things, so handy. Good for many things, and I've never found the metal ones anywhere but a dollar store.

Sue 'em Dylan, he's using your story.

Dylan,
I think I saw the sequel to, "The Cops Will Never Take the Racoon Alive", but didn't think it was as good as the original that featured Lola "Boom Boom" Racoon. Sequels hardly ever capture the energy and emotion of the original.

This is awesome! Link to something funny.
 

I thought I would share this...really funny. I love the bottom right ending..."you kill yourself".

http://www.disinfotainmenttoday.com/filmschool.gif

Murph

"cq"
 

Watched this one last night with my girlfriend. By the time the main character gets his second camera in the mail, having spent all of his money on it, my own girlfriend is compelled to shoot a definitive look of recognition at me. She is far more encouraging than the French stewardess girlfriend, however, Buddha bless her. :-)

ps It wasn't the strongest piece of work I've seen, but if you haven't seen it, CQ is worth a look, particularly if you're a young male would-be filmmaker introvert.

Not too far from reality!

Tickets to IBC and a filter set from my dad. Bought all the other
stuff myself.

the best was...
 

there are two a lectrosonics 190 with ecm-77b's, or my second lowel kit with two AB 30/13 belts for field power....kinda miss getting gifts like that. both gifts from a kind boss when upgrades happened

m

DRM with no Internet connection?
 

For many reasons my editing PC isn't net connected. I discovered today that this has one major drawback when I tried to watch the wmv hi def version of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". Without an Internet connection it appears not to be possible to acquire the license necessary to unlock the content. I own the bleeding disk but can't view it in this format, about which I'm mighty curious. I've googled for a solution but can't find a way to download what I need on my Internet PC and run it on the other one. Any hope?

David Hurdon

To the best of my knowldege that's what DRM is all about. You
need a certificate to be able to play it and that certificate is
bound to the computer. So you can't transfer one to another PC.

In this case you will need to get internet access if you want to
play the movie on that machine I'm afraid.

Mastercard music video internship for kids
 

Hey Kids,

If you haven't already seen the ad on tv, go to Mastercard.com to enter a contest to win a four-week internship on a music video production. I'd love to do something like this, but old girls aren't eligible--gotta be a student between the ages of 18-25.

There are sixteen openings, and all you have to do is write a good essay. It'll be shot in Los Angeles sometime in June.

Check it out: http://www.mastercard.com/mcweb/priceless/Home.do

Tokyo: miniDV to VHS duplication...doko?
 

Any members in Tokyo know a good place for me to go to get VHS copies made from a miniDV master?

a dsr 370 problem
 

Hi all.

New to the forum.. (saw Frank pushing for the forum at dvcom..)

I haven't really worked out where this post would best be suited but maybe somebody'll give me a heads up. ;)

Anyway this is my problem..
shot a short with a friend these last days and had a problem I've never had before.
Between two takes, (no changing of camera position, light et.c. everything the same.) the image went very green tinted all of a sudden. Looks like a really bad wb.. the director who was a newbie didn't pay attention to it and it had to be reshot when discovered. It's only during a period of around five minutes. The rest, before and after is fine.
Does anybody have a clue what it could be? Made me quite worried...

thanks.






_

Walter Murch & the art of editing - interview
 

http://www.dv.com/features/features_.../2004/reed0204
(you might need to register, but it is a pretty long article)

The great Walter Murch!

best TV/cable channel IDs [?]
 

seriously, i think that TNT has the best post/AE work promoting themselves on their own network.

(you know what i mean, like, right before the show yer watching comes back on, you get a promo/commercial for some movie they are gonna be showing later that week.)

other runners up would be the style channel and the discovery channel, and yeah, food network has some cats working there too...

anyone care to chime in one this?

(more importantly, anyone have any tips to make cool stuff in post like these guys do? is it AE or flash?)

Would you like to help?
 

It's like this..

I have some really talanted friends.. They do music. They entered a competition here in scandinavia where peolpe can vote for what music they like the most.. Some sort of collaboration with samsung. They can win a record deal with some lable. I want to support their efforts to make it in the cold world of music..

That's why I turn to you guys..
If you would vote for them on http://www.samsungstar.com

They are Cavalry - I found love

If you help out, thanks a bunch!

/Andreas

Who wants a bunch of Beta SPs?
 

Hey gents. . .I didn't put this in private classifieds because it's still currently on eBay for another two days or so.

Anyway, here's the deal. The TV station I work at has a large surplus of used Beta SPs, all 5 and 10 minute lengths. They basically said "Want 'em? You can have 'em." So now I have almost a thousand Beta SP tapes, and no use for them. They're on eBay now for a dollar a tape; I'm trying to get rid of the whole bulk at once.

I was wondering if you guys knew any outlet for something like this, as I'm pretty sure I won't get a single bid on "the Bay." I'll try several local production companies if eBay doesn't work out, but after that, I'm pretty much out of ideas.

Kodak is dropped from the Dow
 

Stock film ... films
 

Can't get s-vid out of betaSP decks. Ignorant or stupid?
 

Say, is there anyone out there who can help me out?

I need to get some video off our 10-year-old betacamSP tapes and onto D8 format for some quick FCP editing I need to do. I had figured that it would be a piece of cake, since both of my betacam decks (a 9800 and the equivalent that's player-only) each have an s-vid OUT jack, and the D8 camera has an s-vid IN jack which works.

However, when I do this, the image which appears on the D8 camcorder's screen is totally screwed up. You can tell what's playing, but just barely. I have switched cables, tried both betaSP decks, and tried running s-vid into the camcorder from other sources. Seems it SHOULD work. For that matter, I also tried running the signal through a TBC, but it made no difference at any setting so I took it out of the equation.

Either (a) I'm doing something wrong, or (b) both of the betaSP decks are screwed up in the same way (they worked fine several months ago when I jacked s-video IN to them). It seems like "choice A" is the most likely. I admit to being unfamiliar with more than the very basics of betacam operation... I've used them when they were wired up, but don't know the fine points of setting them up. Moreover, I seemingly tried everything which could be adjusted on the beta decks to no avail.

Any ideas? I could just go into the RCA jack on the camcorder with a composite video signal, but I want to lose as little quality as possible.

Obviously, I need someone who's smarter than me about video stuff to tell me what bonehead mistake I'm making.

any thoughts?

thanks

Teddy Bears Picnic
 

Anyone see this piece? Can you say unfinished?

speakers for my comp..
 

Now this is maybe a bit off off topic but here goes.
Looking for some new speakers to edit with.. On the net I found a canadian manufactuer called fluance. (fluance.com)

It looks a bit too good to be true.. Does anybody live nearby and have interest to check them out? Or better yet, does anybody have firsthand experience?

Thanks!

We Are Connected
 

Here's an interesting article that bears some pondering when it comes to writing stories and such.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=4940304

Essentially what we're seeing is an explanation of why it's so painful to watch movies like, for example, Meet the Parents. Why we grimace when we watch repeated groin-injuries in America's Funniest Home Videos. Why we yell at the screen when the scream queen goes back into the house when the murderer is hiding behind the door...

Most importantly, it's suggesting that the human mind is throwing us a bone - it's telling me as a screenwriter that if I just create a character that's real enough for the audience to identify with, it will take care of the 'pathos' so that the audience feels what the character feels.

We truly are amazing machines.