Video capable DSLR cameras are becoming increasingly popular among videographers. Many buyers of VDSLR cameras are non-professionals who simply want an affordable way to shoot high quality video. VDSLR’s, when wielded correctly, can simulate a film-look that is akin to what much higher cost cameras produce for professionally made TV shows and movies. This filmic effect is highly regarded among buyers of VDSLR cameras, as they often want to escape the ‘home video’ look that most camcorders produce.

The Importance of Sensor Size

Perhaps the most important feature that separates VDSLR cameras from camcorders is their relatively large sensor size. The image sensor, which lies at the heart of every digital camera, can be thought of as the eye of the camera. Having a much larger sensor allows VDSLR’s to draw in more light for their recordings. This means that while shooting in low-light situations, which is practically any indoor location, the camera will record more detail, with less noise and with truer colors. In my experience, viewers simply describe VDSLR video as looking more beautiful, although they can’t always technically explain why that is.

It should be noted that sensor size is unrelated to a camera’s megapixel capacity, which is why a cell phone with a 12MP camera will still take very poor photos compared to a 12MP DSLR, especially in lowlight. If you are buying a VDSL from a reputable brand, you can largely ignore its megapixel rating.

High Quality Interchangeable Lenses

Another important feature that separates Video DSLR cameras from camcorders is their ability to change lenses. Most camcorders are fitted with a mediocre zoom lens. This is a convenient arrangement for shooting home videos, but doesn’t allow for a variety of looks that are only accessible by using an interchangeable lens camera. Whether you are seeking a prime, macro or telephoto look, VDSLR’s give the greatest amount of options to shoot a scene, that is, assuming you can afford all those lenses! Even if you can’t splurge on more lenses, most VDSLR’s ship with a decent kit lens.

Using Manual Controls

Getting a film-like look from a VDSLR requires setting the camera in manual mode and adjusting its settings.

Frames Per Second

Most camcorders shoot at 30 FPS. Similarly, the evening news, weather channel and daytime television is shot at a similar specification (often 60 interlaced fields per second, which are combined to form 30 FPS). This standard gives movement captured by the camera a smooth look, but isn’t how Hollywood movies and most TV series are shot. Higher end productions typically use film cameras, or very expensive digital cameras to capture video at 24 FPS. This frame rate produces a subtle choppiness or strobing effect. Although it might seem odd, this lower frame rate video is what most people associate with professionally produced footage.

Shutter Speed

The shutter speed controls the length of time that the image sensor is exposed to light. When shooting 24 FPS video, the shutter is opened 24 times a second; however, it can be set to stay open for the entire duration of the frame (1/24 Hz), or opened and closed for a shorter length of time ( e.g. 1/1000 Hz).

Using a slow shutter speed increases motion blur, but will allow the camera to capture video in darker scenes. In comparison, using a high shutter speed will make movement look choppy, but is an effect that’s often used in action scenes to produce a more chaotic look. Typically, movies are shot in 1/48hz, and it is important to use a similar value if you want your video to retain film-like motion blur.

Depth of Field

Using a shallow depth of field allows you to isolate a subject, thus drawing the viewer’s attention towards it. This is why a shallow depth of field is often used by filmmakers. Watch any TV series or movie: when the camera zooms in on an actor or object, more often than not, the background will be blurred out. Producing a shallow depth of field relies on several factors, including a camera with a large sensor size and a fast lens. This is why this effect is difficult or impossible to perform on a regular camcorder.

How to Shoot Hollywood Style Video

To shoot video with a VDSL and have it look more Hollywood, some common sense shooting habits must be observed:

Getting a Stable Shot

Firstly, professionals rarely shoot without having their camera attached to some kind of stabilizing device. Assuming you don’t own such gear, it is impotant to always hold the camera in a way that produces the least amount of shaking. Some users hold a weight in their hand (like a water bottle) while also gripping the camera. This decreases the amount of involuntary shaking by their hands, producing a more stable picture.

Lighting

Lighting is another important factor that separates the amateurs from the pro’s. Although you can’t always control the available lighting, it’s usually best to move indoor scenes to where there is a maximum amount of light. This means avoiding dark rooms and opening curtains for daylight when possible.

Regarding outside shots, it’s often important to watch the amount of dynamic range that a scene demands. For instance, if half your scene is filled with a dark tunnel that you’re trying to peer into, it’s likely that the rest of the shot will feature blown highlights. Watching the camera’s histogram and exposure meter can often tell if your camera and lens is capable of capturing a particular scene.

Panning

Control over the camera while panning is another important technique to master. Take a look at most Hollywood productions and you will notice that most camera movements are slow and deliberate. Fast panning of wide-angle shot will often exaggerate the strobing effect. This can be quite uncomfortable for viewers! Instead, try to pan slowly, or simply use the technique infrequently. Most high-end productions use an abundance of static shots, and this is what viewers expect from a quality produced film. In contrast, most non-professionals will pan around wildly while filming, trying to capture all the action at once. This often results in footage that can be nauseating to watch.

Conclusion

If you are considering buying a new video camera, and are interested in giving your shots a high quality look that will be appreciated by your viewers, then you should consider buying a VDSLR. Currently, most of the major camera manufacturers produce video capable DSLR cameras. Notably, Canon, Nikon and Panasonic have led the path in innovating this class of cameras. Try checking out Vimeo for sample footage taken from the cameras that you are interested in buying.

Learning a new language is one of the best ways to give your brain a workout and increase its mental capacity. Neuroscientists often describe the human brain in terms of plasticity and crystallization. Plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to rewire neural connections, which is necessary for learning new skills, whereas crystallization is the loss of this ability, often through old age and mental stagnation. By attempting to learn a new language, you can force many areas of your brain to change its neural wiring. Doing this promotes plasticity and can help keep your mind strong and sharp.

So why aren’t we all trying to boost our cognitive abilities by learning a new language? As anyone who has spent time trying to learn a new language knows – it’s damn hard! But if you’re up for the challenge, then you should at least be aware that some methods of learning are much better than others.

The Wrong Way to Learn a Language

Having tried to study a few languages during my high school and college years, I can attest to the ineffective method of ROTE learning. This learning method, used by most institutions to teach basically anything, depends heavily on blunt repetition. As you can imagine, learning a language by repeating new vocabulary over and over again will quickly become tiresome. When the passion to learn a new language is diminished, it’s almost impossible to continue on. Most people who try to learn a language this way never master more than a few words.

The Easy Way to Learn a Language

To determine the best method for learning a new language, one only needs to examine how they learned their first language – through mental associations. How does this work? Let me give you an example:

If I show you three different colored shoes, and say aloud, “blue shoes, red shoes, yellow shoes,” while pointing at each pair respectively, you will naturally learn the noun “shoes” because it is the only word that doesn’t change for each item. Similarly, I could teach the adjective “yellow” by showing you three different objects that are all painted yellow. Again, through logical reasoning you would determine that the word “yellow” must associate with the one variable that’s consistent with each object – its color.

This is how to naturally learn a language and requires no direct translation between the language you already know and the one you are trying to learn. Even if the new language possesses a different alphabet and a strange grammar structure, these elements can also be acquired through associations.

Although natural learning would seem to hold many benefits over traditional methods, this style of learning is harder to implement in a learning environment. Learning through associations requires testing for each association observed, because this process relies on trial-and-error feedback. As you can imagine, this method would be difficult to employ through a passive medium (such as studying from a textbook) or in a group setting where individual testing is not possible. Fortunately, a company has solved this problem by taking the high-tech route of replacing both the teacher and course work with interactive software!

Using Rosetta Stone to Learn a New Language

I can confidently state that using Rosetta Stone software is the best language learning method I have ever used. As you might of guessed, Rosetta Stone teaches languages by leveraging the brain’s innate ability to form associations. Nowhere in their learning program will you find direct translations or explanations of what is being taught. Instead, the program immerses you in whatever language you are learning and uses various media props, such as photos and voice recordings, to nudge your brain into forming new associations. The results produce faster learning with better retention.

Rosetta Stone’s interface is simple, yet effective. Each screen is typically divided into several photo frames. The student then matches each photo to its corresponding phrase to move onto the next screen. With this friendly setup, Rosetta Stone has effectively turned learning into a matching game that even children can enjoy. Furthermore, Rosetta Stone also teaches correct pronunciation through speech recognition software. With Rosetta Stone, you can cover all the major domains for learning a language: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Typically, Rosetta Stone offers languages packs that are separated by level of difficulty. Within each of these packs are lessons that are sorted into various categories. A lesson can last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes and usually focuses on a single topic. Going through the course work, the software continually scores your performance and tracks your progress. After all the lessons have been completed, Rosetta Stone will recommend which lessons you should review, based on previous scores and the duration of time since you last took the lesson. When using Rosetta Stone, I felt as if the software was pulling me along, challenging me even when my motivation was low.

Although pricey, I believe Rosetta Stone is fully worth its cost – there is nothing quite like it on the market, and it is by far the best quality product in its class. Rosetta Stone can be bought from the company’s website, or accessed online through a subscription service.

Chances are if you’re reading this you are in Japan, own a Mac, and want to watch some free HD channels over UHF. The GV-MACTV is one of the few devices made for this purpose.

Device Info:

The GV-MACTV is made by I-O DATA and is a compact device that uses USB for power and to interface with the Mac. The device features a B-CAS card slot, which takes the included B-CAS card. This card is needed to watch HD TV channels over UHF, because even though such channels are free to view, all HD content over-the-air is encrypted for copyright protection purposes. The GV-MACTV features a single F-connector plug for use with a UHF antenna. It is highly recommended to use this device with a high quality indoor or outdoor antenna for best possible reception.

Installation:

During installation, you’ll need to type-in the serial number found on the bottom side of the device for the software to activate. Once this is done, the simple, but elegant M2TV viewing application will ask you to input the prefecture you reside in before scanning for available channels.

M2TV Software Upgrade

The CD that came with my GV-MACTV featured an old copy of the M2TV software, so right away I wanted to upgrade to the latest version. Unfortunately, the upgrade found on I-O DATA’s website caused my GV-MACTV to stop responding! After some initial panicking, I managed to hunt down a fix, which I found here. Apparently, you can’t upgrade the M2TV software if you’re running OS X Snow Leopard; you’ll first need to completely remove the older copy of M2TV with a removal tool. After I did this and installed the latest copy of M2TV, I was finally up and running with free HD channels over UHF!

Software and Restrictions:

Although the M2TV software is rather modest in features, it does allow you to record content directly to your hard disk. Unfortunately, these files can only be played back with the M2TV software; I believe this is for copy protection purposes. Similarly, moving the M2TV viewing window to my external monitor causes the video feed to go blank. Perhaps this wouldn’t happen if I were using a HDCP monitor connector. Another thing I tried was using a screen capture app to record the entire screen to a standard video format. The M2TV app recognized the capture software and promptly shutdown!

Conclusion:

Despite featuring strict copy protection controls, which is just how things are in Japan, the GV-MACTV and bundled M2TV software work exactly as advertised. Changing channels, updating programming guides and recording TV shows in stunning 1080i 17Mbps is a breeze.  I would definitely recommend this product to anyone owning a Mac in Japan.

Capturing Japanese TV Shows to Disk:

If you’re one of those people that are interested in capturing Japanese TV content for playback on other devices, then I would suggest getting a USB 1SEG turner. This will allow you to save video captures to disk, usually in MPEG4/AAC format, without DRM restrictions. The downside to 1SEG is that it’s limited to 320 x 240, 15FPS – it won’t look pretty on your large display, but it should look decent running on your mobile devices (iPhone, PSP, etc.) or on sites like YouTube.

Introduction:

Tapping into free, other-the-air HDTV channels has become a popular activity. In an age when you thought everything digital came from subscription based cable, DSL or satellite services, it seems like a dream that even higher quality HD channels await you on good old UHF.

Living in an area with UHF digital television coverage, I wanted to see if I could pick up some 1080i broadcasts using a convenient indoor antenna. I decided to go with the Nippon Antenna UDF80 in black, which I picked up for around $100USD.

The UDF80 Antenna:

The UDF80 is fully incased in plastic and resembles a rectangle about the size of a Blu-ray player. The antenna is fairly lightweight and comes with a screw in foot and wall mount. The UDF80 has clearly been designed with aesthetics in mind; it’s not that it’s amazing to look at, but it’ll blend in nicely with your other electronics and household furnishings.

Testing and Usage:

For testing purposes, I decided to have the UDF80 sit right on my desk; currently, I use a USB capture device to decrypt and transfer UHF content to my Macbook Pro, so with this arrangement every piece of equipment is on my desk together. This is the perfect solution for someone as lazy as I!

With the least amount of time used to get the UDF80 up and running, I’ve produced some mixed results. With eight channels detected, I can tune into five of them, but not all of them consistently. I find this still somewhat impressive, as my house is a single story dwelling, closely surrounded by taller buildings. Even if I did mount a UHF antenna on a tall mast, I would still be a long ways from getting a clear line of sight to a transmission tower. Furthermore, with the UDF80 sitting on my desk, it is currently pointed at several pieces of solid wood furniture with the exterior wall of my house behind them. Obviously, this is a very disadvantaged position for the antenna, but even under these circumstances I’m able to enjoy some free HD channels.

Fortunately, because of the UDF80’s lightweight and fairly compact design, I am able to move it around the room and improve reception for specific channels when the need arises. One thing I’m considering is mounting the antenna to the top of a wall. I could probably do this with adhesive and forgo the use of screws since the unit is relatively lightweight. Alternatively, I’m also considering moving it to face a window, or even mounting it outside. If I change the setup and get better results I’ll make sure to update this review.

*UPDATE* I simply moved the UDF80 to a shelf above my desk and now I am receiving six out of eight channels reliably. The two remaining channels are broadcast from a direction that my antenna is not currently facing.

Conclusion:

With the Nippon UDF80 indoor antenna, I have been able to skip out on mounting an antenna to my roof and running the cable down to my room. For me, the whole point of using an indoor antenna was to get free digital TV with the least amount of effort. In my area, this has produced good results.

If you are considering an indoor solution for receiving digital television over UHF then I would consider the UDF80. It features mid-range specs for an indoor antenna and is affordable for most people. Although you shouldn’t expect magic from an indoor antenna, hopefully its performance is enough to pull in a decent selection of HD channels to make the purchase worthwhile. Results will vary, so shop around and do your research.