Lions, the Kings - New Show on Beechbrook

[goddi]

New show on Beechbrook:

http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/

Title: Lions, the Kings (MP4 format, not EXE).

Location: South Africa.

Frame Size: 780x432, MP4.

Videos: Yes. Hi8 video tape was converted to digital.

Size of file: 34 Mbs.

Run time: 07:45.

Any other info:

This show is from our trip in South Africa in 1995, as we sat in our vehicle in front of a pride of lions. I finally have the ability to convert and edit the original Hi-8 video tapes to digital and to insert them into PTE.

This show contains all video except for the first and last slide. Due to its low quality, the video was inserted into PTE with a frame size of 780x432 and published as an MP4 to reduce the file size. The size of the EXE would be 203 Mbs and the MP4 is only 34 Mbs. And with an MP4 file, you can play it directly on your TV or through your media center box to your TV!!!

Comments and critiques are welcomed.

Gary Oddi

[mhwarner]

Gary,

That was amazing! I thought I was watching Animal Planet! You were so fortunate to have been able to witness that spectacle in person. And it is so great that you can now easily view your old movies on the computer or TV. The clarity was great at the small size and not all that bad if I made it full screen (and probably even less noticeable at a distance from a TV). The little cubs were so adorable -- especially the one who walked beneath the big guy and attempted to play with his leg. I did almost puke when then big guy was eating the intestines. And I liked the nuzzling between the lionness and "The King".

Regarding the show itself, I did find the white shadow effect a bit distracting and I would personally have used a colored background instead of black (maybe some sort of beige paper-looking graphic). With that small size video I think it would be less distracting, but of course, that's my 2 cents.

I'm guessing that you have lots more movies where this came from. Can't wait to see some of them!

[goddi]

Gary,

That was amazing! I thought I was watching Animal Planet! You were so fortunate to have been able to witness that spectacle in person. And it is so great that you can now easily view your old movies on the computer or TV. The clarity was great at the small size and not all that bad if I made it full screen (and probably even less noticeable at a distance from a TV). The little cubs were so adorable -- especially the one who walked beneath the big guy and attempted to play with his leg. I did almost puke when then big guy was eating the intestines. And I liked the nuzzling between the lionness and "The King".

Regarding the show itself, I did find the white shadow effect a bit distracting and I would personally have used a colored background instead of black (maybe some sort of beige paper-looking graphic). With that small size video I think it would be less distracting, but of course, that's my 2 cents.

I'm guessing that you have lots more movies where this came from. Can't wait to see some of them!

=============================

Mary,

My wife has the same reaction with the lion having his lunch. Thanks for watching the show. I didn't think of any other background than black. I will experiment to see what I can come up with to be a bit different. I liked the white border because I thought it helped focus attention to the smaller video. Without it, I just did not look 'right'. But, maybe with something other than a black background would work out. It will make me consider other backgrounds and borders. Thanks for the idea.

Yes, I have a bunch more 'movies' that I can put into PTE. What a great program!!! It is the only thing around that lets me be at least minimally creative. In fact, I have one just about ready on our white water rafting in the Zambezi River (Victoria Falls). I've got a lot of still images that I could put into the videos, but the problem is they are all in slides and I'd have to digitize them. That would take another lifetime...but I will work on that too./>

Gary

[Bert]

Gary

What a great video you made and you did an excellent job with converting the original VH8 tapes. I think the black background is perfect and keeps the attention on the video. The only thing I found distracting, was the light colored shadow behind the video. Nice music also.

We are going in January for 4 weeks to South Africa, and I hope we will be as lucky as you, to come up on scenes like your video.

Thanks for showing,

Bert

[goddi]

Gary

What a great video you made and you did an excellent job with converting the original VH8 tapes. I think the black background is perfect and keeps the attention on the video. The only thing I found distracting, was the light colored shadow behind the video. Nice music also.

We are going in January for 4 weeks to South Africa, and I hope we will be as lucky as you, to come up on scenes like your video.

Thanks for showing,

Bert

==============================

Bert,

I am mulling over Mary's comments and yours. Thanks for watching it. It is interesting to get comments that make one think more about the final product and how others perceive it.

Four weeks??? Fantastic. Just a quick idea for you... I found using a 'BOGEN 3265 GRIP ACTION BALL HEAD WITH QUICK RELEASE PLATE' was very useful. You slide it on the window's glass that is rolled just up part way. Helps stabalize the camera with a zoom lens to take pictures or video. Amazon has it on sale at the moment. Also, if you have some bucks left, I'd take a GoPro Hero camera, too. It is very small and takes video and you can get a waterproof housing (dust-proof too). You don't want to miss a thing--photographically!!!

Have a great trip.

Gary

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[Ronniebootwest]

I was amazed with this slide show! How on earth did you manage to convert those tapes. Did you use some kind of software.

The final result was excellent and your skill with a video camera was obvious. A beautiful slide show (or should I say Video) that proves that PTE is a very capable program.

Very well done! Please let us see more of your memories

Ronnie West.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I was amazed with this slide show! How on earth did you manage to convert those tapes. Did you use some kind of software.

The final result was excellent and your skill with a video camera was obvious. A beautiful slide show (or should I say Video) that proves that PTE is a very capable program.

Very well done! Please let us see more of your memories

Ronnie West.

Ronnie

Provided you have got the hardware to play the tapes, it is pretty straightforward to digitise them, a special connection lead from the play side (camera, video recorder etc) & the software which is available as a bundle with a lead from Amazon for around £20 & the like. Beware if buying from Amazon , read the feedback first to make sure it will run with your OS.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[goddi]

I was amazed with this slide show! How on earth did you manage to convert those tapes. Did you use some kind of software.

The final result was excellent and your skill with a video camera was obvious. A beautiful slide show (or should I say Video) that proves that PTE is a very capable program.

Very well done! Please let us see more of your memories

Ronnie West.

====================

Greetings Ronnie,

Thanks for watching the show and your nice comments. This slide show was actually just a small section of one Hi8 tape. All I did was edit out the 'non-action' portions. So it was all shot from one position. The lions did the rest.

How did I convert the tapes? I have had a Canopus ADVC-100 box for some time. Now they have the '110', about $200. I am not sure of the difference. But, I have my Hi8 Sony video camera plugged into the Canopus box using RCA cables. From the Canopus box to the computer, I use a cable from the 'DV I/O' connection to a firewire port on the PC. Years ago, I had a lot of problems finding a software program that would let me capture the video, so I stopped using it. I finally found that Avid Studio 1.1 works well to do the import/capture of analog videos (Hi 8 and VHS) to Mpegs, so I cranked it up again. It works great.

I don't use Avid for anything else. Too complicated. So I use Freemake Video Converter (free) to trim and edit the captured digititized videos and convert them to AVI (makes them smaller in file size). Being able to just plop them into PTE is the magic that makes all the previous steps worthwhile. I have had no issues with the audio not matching the video.

I had problems years ago with the Canopus not working too well with Windows XP--it could have just been me. I recently decided to try it again and it has been working very well with Windows 7 and I did not need any special drivers, either. I have been going wild converting my old and very old analog tapes to digital video just in case my old VCR and Hi8 camera bit the dust. And now I can be busy with creating more permanent and viewable slide (video) show memories with PTE.

Hope this helps.... Gary

P.S. I can probably use the Canopus to convert my LPs to digital, but I have not tried it yet.