DV for Teachers

Live Web Streaming Gets Really Affordable

Stream video over your school’s LAN from a workstation – no server needed – with Sorenson Broadcaster... or stream to the internet by adding a QuickTime Streaming Server, encoding and broadcasting live with a standard video camera and Sorenson Broadcaster software. Previously a Macintosh-only product, Sorenson announced that a Windows version shipping this summer, at a price to be determined. The Mac version is only $199!
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I’ve noted before that Apple has released an upgrade to Final Cut Pro – 2-pop posts Philip Hodgetts’ review of new features and improvements in version 2.0. This review has appeared before at the Los Angeles FCP Users Group site, and at the DVGuys site Philip runs with Ron Margolis of Intelligent Media. He’s getting lots of traction with this review, but I’m reposting because it covers so much and I want to make sure people read it.

Philip is an acknowledged authority of non-linear systems, FCP in particular. If you want to move beyond iMovie’s limitations, an educator’s price of only $249 makes it extremely attractive. Final Cut is a bit of a challenge at first, but its new manual is very good, and the web offers top-notch support at 2-pop, About.com, and the discussion groups at: the DV-list on Yahoo; the Vidpro list; and dvcreators.net, to name some of my favorites.
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Three Good Links Today

First, GREATDV.COM has a lot of good information about working with video – wasy to get good results without spending an arm and a leg, and some valuable shortcuts from seasoned video pros – make sure to look at their “Spit ‘n’ Bubble Gum” section.

Their Link of the Month leads to a well laid-out overview of video production, posted by Sun Microsystems.

Apple has posted “The Final Cut Pro Revolution,” a series of articles highlighting how different producers and educators use this excellent editing software. Among other things, I learned that the trailer for Jurassic Park III was composited and edited in Final Cut Pro….——-

Another day missed – check Monday——-

Diverse, Inclusive and with Video – Perfect!

The recently released data from the latest U.S. Census shows that America’s population is more varied than ever. In Atlanta, many schools are filling with these new Americans, immigrants or children of immigrants. At San Fernando High School in Los Angeles, teacher Marco Torres used digital video to help his students tell their stories while learning about social studies, history, video production, and their place in the world.

Apple has an entire page of lesson plans incorporating desktop video, many with complete state and national standards correlation available.
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Don’t Capture Your Video to Disk – Record It

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention begins Saturday the 21st, so prepare for a slew of product announcements. FOCUS Enhancements, new owners of the Videonics line of production gear, has announced FireStore, which allows recording DV-format video direct from your camera to a hard disk, without a computer in between. FireStore can respond to the camera’s record & pause commands, creating separate clips on the drive. Thus, make a tape backup of the files on your disk, and start editing them right away. A very interesting development.——-

I’ll have updates shortly.——-

DV edit software for $49
Adamation has released their DV edit software personalStudio 2.0 for Windows as a $49 download ($59 to order on CD). Unlike Apple’s iMovie, personalStudio 2.0 works in more resolutions than the 720×540 required by DV. They have a nice animated demo here that requires Macromedia’s Flash browser plug-in.

They also have a version for the free BeOS) operating system. BeOS runs as a separate operating system within Windows.

I haven’t tested either of these, but if you’re on a budget, must stay with the Windows PC platform, and have an IEEE 1394/FireWire/iLink card, $49 is a really inexpensive way to get into DV.——-

Great message thread on 2-pop’s DV for Teachers discussion board. The first post was from a school in New Jersey. So far, responses from Washington, D.C., Massacusetts, Britain, and Israel. Go and join in.——-

The Video Mirror: Making Science a Verb

Apple’s Education site presents a series of QuickTime clips that demonstrate how good video provides multiple opportunities: great instruction for students and great professional development for teachers. Great link; check it out.

Motion Graphics:Free Stuff, Part 2
I’ve linked to whiz-bang video and motion-graphics experts Trish and Chris Meyer of CyberMotion before. They’ve posted Free Stuff, Part 2 at DV Magazine. I linked to Part 1 in February.
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