What does encoding mean?

Marianna made a very good point today. What is encoding? Encoding determines the quality of the video online. Of course, the videos we produce for your DVD player or BluRay DVD are the highest quality available, but when we share video on the internet we are forced to reduce the quality for faster loading.

The video below was recently encoded using Apple quicktime encoder - basically we shrunk the size of the video from 720x480 to 380x?? not sure -- Tim did this experiment. Then we uploaded the video to viddler where their software further reduced the size of the video.

The goal for us is to find the best result under 500 megs. or approx 3 minutes of video.

Not happy with encoding but Michelle is sooo cute

BMI is Bunk

So I meet alot of brides. Most if not all have goals that involve making changes to themselves for their very special day. Some want whiter teeth, lose weight, new boobs (I just put that one in).

Anyhow. As I attempt to make improvements on myself I have talked to the professionals at Dr B

Yesterday I met with the a doctor at the clinic I attend. He was the least motivated person I have every met. Well, except for the Tim Hortons drive thru coffee girl near the studio in Toronto or the guy at the front cash at Jamba juice in Boca.

Anyhow, as he basically reads the script in a monotone voice "so you started the diet at 255.2 pounds and yourBMI was 34. That means that you must lose 100 lbs to meet the minimum requirement according to the government food administration, blah blah --bueler,bueler,bueler

I've beed researching BMI and found an interesting chart. It shows photos of real people at exact weights.

http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.shtml


Here is a great article that sums up my feelings on BMI - Harvard wants you fat.

Food glorious food.

Marianna's birthday party last night. Russian parties are very different than the typical home birthday party. In fact, most Russian parties are like mini weddings. The below photo is what the table looked like when I arrived.

Of course, since I am back on a diet I had to hold back. You see after everyone starts on this food, every few minutes a waiter bring out hot food.





hahhahahhahhahah

When is summer going to get here already.

In South Florida its currently:

34°C
Mostly Cloudy
Wind: SW at 6 km/h
Humidity: 54%

Today

32° | 22°

In Toronto its currently:

Toronto

17°C
Clear
Wind: NW at 27 km/h
Humidity: 42%

Today

17° | 10°

Sun

What I really need is a good book. I've read all the Terry Prachet books that he has written. Most of the self improvement books out right now are just rewrites of other books I have already read. I can't take another cook book or diet book.

I think I'm going to back to Science Fiction. Its been a few years. Here is a list of the top 100. I have bolded my favs.

• Adams, Douglas Alexander, Lloyd Anderson, Poul Anthony, Piers Asimov, Isaac Baum, L. Frank Bear, Greg Blish, James Bova, Ben Bradley, Marion Zimmer Bradbury, Ray Brin, David Brooks, Terry Bujold, Lois McMaster Burroughs, Edgar Rice Capek, Karel Card, Orson Scott Cherryh, C. J. Chesterton, G.K. Chopra, Deepak Clarke, Arthur C. Crichton, Michael Davidson, Avram

  Dick, Philip K. Ellison, Harlan Farmer, Philip Jose Foster, Alan Dean Gibson, William Greeley, Andrew Heinlein, Robert A. Henderson, Zenna Herbert, Frank Hickman, Tracy Hubbard, L. Ron Jordan, Robert King, Stephen L'Engle, Madeleine Larson, Glen A. Le Guin, Ursula K. Leiber, Fritz Lem, Stanislaw Lewis, C. S. Lucas, George McCaffrey, Anne Niven, Larry Orwell, George

  Perry, Anne Pohl, Frederik Rice, Anne Robinson, Kim Stanley Roddenberry, Gene Sagan, Carl Shelley, Mary Silverberg, Robert Simmons, Dan Smith, Cordwainer Stapledon, Olaf Stephenson, Neal Straczynski, J. Michael Sturgeon, Theodore Tolkien, J.R.R. Turtledove, Harry Verne, Jules Vonnegut, Jr., Kurt Miller, Jr., Walter M. Wells, H.G. Willis, Connie Wolfe, Gene Wolverton, Dave Zelazny, Roger

Nice lunch, lot of new orders -life is good

Every Friday I try to make time to go out with Marianna. Since we are work practically every Saturday throughout the year, Friday's are kinda special.

Today we went to one of my favorite restaurants of all time - Tutto Bene

Seriously, if you are looking for a very classy place where the food is absolutely amazing then plan a dinner here.

Today I ate --- FILET OF HERITAGE FARM SALMON WITH BRAISED RED CABBAGE, TROPICAL FRUIT SALSA, YELLOW TOMATOES SAFFRON REDUCTION

Melted in my mouth!!!

Eariler in the day I went to visit a business that was closing downtown. They specialized in added subtitles to movies. In the end I bought 4 VCRs and few Video monitors, 2 chairs and a coat rack. Hey a deal is a deal, it drives me nuts when our editors toss their coats on the one of the racks in the back of the studio.

Going to see Indiana Jones tonight - cant wait!

Imagine if we all talked like this.

I turned this on full blast and the kids were seriously confused.

Passed on from Lori on Facebook - THANKS!!

1991 Cadets of Bergen County from Bergen Field, New Jersey. Quarterfinals from The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. "Letter from Home" by Aaron Copland.

Ok dont ask me about the guys dancing. I was one of the people in uniform. You know in life there are moments when you are as close to perfect as possible. After 10,000 hours of rehearsing 11 minutes of music and drill, you get pretty close.

ahhh memories.

Doing homework.

We started a Facebook page for TorontoHomeMovies.com and we already have 6 fans!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/8mm-to-DVD-Super8-16mm-VHS-Hi8-35mm-slides-to-DVD/21636170364?ref=share

I did a little adversting on Facebook and even I can't believe the response.

In less than 48 hours from Sunday to Monday we had
Impressions Clicks

	8mm to DVD conversion			151,808 52
	8mm to DVD conversions			110,033 31

I love long weekends. And my new steamer.

I finally got to go see a movie with Marianna - without the kids. We saw What Happens in Vegas... (2008) . Funnny.

Too bad I wasnt able to have butter on my popcorn.


I'm trying to think of my 10 pounds off reward. Any ideas? Post it in the comments. Here is my top 3

• a cooler for my landrover. So my water is always cool.
• HD video camera for home
• Rent a limo and go see My Fair Lady - yea sound kinda ---ahhh feminine but I dont care.
  

Anyhow - I bought a steamer cause I absolutely hate ironing and have yet come up with a way to influence Marianna into doing it. I usually drop it off at the dry cleaner but if I forget on Monday they cannot get it back for the weekend. Of course, I end up ironing.

Test # 1

Cotton - 15 minutes with the steamer - lots of wrinkles. I tried holding it far away, then up close. I tried from the bottom.

Test #2

Linen - 3 minute -- very cool!!! The wrinkles just faded away. But the collar doesnt look sharp.

Test # 3

Old Navy - cotton blend. -- 10 minutes - sort of removed all the wrinkles but left kinda waves.

Final result - Marianna thinks I'm an idiot.

Sunday mornings

Its so nice not to have to shoot the day after 2 big weddings we shot yesterday. I joke that going to weddings is my day off because I can concentrate on being a creative person and not deal with emails, phone calls and ATT (Phone company in Florida trying to rip me off for $665- they say that I have to pay a cancellation fee based on the fact that Bell South was purchased by ATT. But in January it was waived if I sign a 1 year contract promising to use ATT for interenet and phone. So I signed up. Now it turns out they lost my fax and shut off my phone service and are again demanding I pay the penalty. After 1 hour on the phone they promise I dont have to pay if I refax the contract. And I though Bell Canada was screwed up)




Most of you may have noticed I put on a lot of weight over the past 6 months. In fact, I have put on every single pound that I had lost last year plus an additional 15. So as of May 1st I weighted 255 lbs. Oh the humanity!!

Of course, I am back to dieting. It sooo frustrating. I know I cannot eat certain foods, but its like this.

Every year for the past 4 years I lose an avg of 30 pounds. I keep it off for a few months then as soon as I get busy in September/October the weight quickly comes back. The most successful diet I tried was Dr Daniels, but it involved driving to his office every week in Scarborough. For you Florida people that is about a 45 minute drive from my studio in the center of Toronto each way. I basically lost 3 hours of work time a month. Just not possible in September when the studio has 2 bridal shows in Florida and 2 in Toronto, plus I have 4 appointments a night Monday to Thursday from 6-11pm, and 8 weddings.

Here is the latest. Since I started my "new diet" I am down to 247 - or 8 pounds. This is mostly water but its a start. Its not like I dont know exactly what I have to do, but I need help.

Here is a few things that worked for me over the last few years

• set resonable goal each week
• 30 minutes of cardo each day - shooting a wedding counts
• no pasta, rice, ice cream or chicken wings
  
• 10 glasses of water a day
• no eating after 8pm
• take a snack in the car (apple, veggies, nuts)
• reward my losses - steak, upgrade at the gym, bbq

A little change.

Super tired... Lots of shooting going on. 2-3 engagement shoots a day.

We are closing up December in South Florida. If you are sitting on the fence we only have a few more spots open for 2008.

You may have noticed I changed the back ground. This is to test how the new videos I am posting will look. Let me know what you think?




Congratulations Julia and Chris !!




Here is a precap (intro to a wedding video) for Susy and Louie

Video Test

For this test I am reviewing - encoding quality, movement artifacts and colour rendition. Please email me your comments.

Back on the wagon.

I love the movies. I like how if I'm in a pissy mood, 2 hours of watching a funny movie (or a chick flik - dont laugh I love them. Yea that is Jean - as in Jean Francois not Jean as in jeanie) will completely change my attitude.

What about you? Have you ever gone to a Rambo movie and felt a little tougher? Or, better yet a Karate movie? After Karate Kid - I waxed on and waxed off for weeks -----ohhh noo I didnt mean that the way I wrote it!!!!!

anyhow---

Wedding videos. Why do we make them? I know when I started in the business it was just that, a business. But as I spent more and more time being a part of hundreds of couples special day I came to realize that the moments we record are not just for viewing by the Bride and Groom a few months after the wedding. No no. These memories are clips of people and times past.

It's become even more obvious to me since I've become involved with FloridaHomeMovies.com, TorontoHomeMovies.com, USHomeMovies.com and MontrealHomeMovies.com. The 4 most important events that I see recorded over and over again are

• Weddings - almost every single person who brings in reels has wedding footage.
  
• Babies in the bath - seriously I could make this up. Babies love to splash too.
• Vacations - of course, makes sense that we all long for the fun times
• close ups of older relatives - this sounds spooky but I think sub conscientiously whoever is recording wants the older person to be remembered and deliberately takes the time.

So why do all the bridal show videographers spend time showing videos with a million effects and camera angles that make MTV look tame?

Over the next few months I will be featuring a number of videos. In fact, we are currently looking making this blog a much more interactive event, with submissions from both our photo and video editing teams!!



For the above photo read the names on the jerseys. OK now read it again out loud slowly 3 times. heheheehhehehheh - Their joke not mine!