Video Thing

Retiring Video Thing?

2009-07-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well, It began as a group blog, but the focus was so wide that we lost our momentum early on, and it has regrettably turned into a glorified bookmark feed for me. I think it's probably time to retire poor old Video Thing. I'm leaving the blog up for our past articles, especially the gems like the ones over in the "best video things" sidebar. I'll still be posting over at It's Not For Everyone, so don't forget to pay me a visit over there. ttfn!

Download GLYUVPlay for Mac - RAW YUV playback, comparison and conversion. MacUpdate Mac Video Software Downloads

2009-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Download GLYUVPlay for Mac - RAW YUV playback, comparison and conversion. MacUpdate Mac Video Software Downloads

All you want to know about 2.4 update

2009-06-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

Boxee still works with 2.4, just run the patchstick again and get all the boxee updates.

All you want to know about 2.4 update

WatchUWant on boxee

2009-06-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

WatchUWant is a Pandora-style video search application for Boxee. Just type in "Portuguese vomit wrestling" or whatever you are looking for and it will generate a channel completely filled with Portuguese vomit wrestling off of YouTube.

The app: We’re Pandora for video. We create automatic programming for any distribution method. We get better and better the more people use us, even across different devices.
“Channels” are automatically generated based on user queries. These channels play an endless stream of clips, and we determine how well we choose videos based on how quickly the user skips (or doesn’t skip) to the next one.

We are particularly useful for devices that demand less interaction — mobile and television — because we remove the burden of navigation. On the Web, we’ve found that this way of presenting removes the cognitive load of choosing videos and keeps users highly engaged. All our videos are pulled from YouTube.

boxee blog � WatchUWant on boxee

Review: Blackmagic Design Video Recorder with H.264 Encoding | iLounge

2009-06-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just another video recording solution for Mac users? Not at all: Blackmagic Design's Video Recorder ($149) actually offers something that's not so common, namely component video inputs so that you can record video from high-definition sources.

Review: Blackmagic Design Video Recorder with H.264 Encoding | iLounge:

MSA Remote rejected AGAIN, velocity sensitive pads on iPhone, and patents | memo.tv

2009-05-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

Memo's amazing OSC remote app for iphone (velocity sensitive pads, multitouch!) has been rejected by Apple a second time. This time for having a drawing of an iPhone in the 'how to use' screen, which is a 'copyrighted image' (if by a picture of an iPhone you mean a buttonless black rectangle with rounded corners). Anyway, when it finally gets released it's going to completely annihilate the other current OSC controller apps. Check out his latest post about it to see him playing in ableton live and VDMX simultaneously with it.
MSA Remote rejected AGAIN, velocity sensitive pads on iPhone, and patents | memo.tv

write a boxee app, win a Sony HDTV/Drobo

2009-05-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

The new boxee API enables developers to build and publish apps for boxee users. while people are working on a variety of boxee apps, we thought it would be a good idea to provide some extra incentive for the developers.

the boxee dev challenge will have 3 categories: Video, Music and Photos. in each category we will have a People's Choice award and a Judge's Choice award:

People's Choice Award: Drobo, http://bit.ly/boxeedevchallenge-peopleschoice
Judge's Choice Award: Sony Bravia XBR9 46", http://bit.ly/boxeedevchallenge-judgeschoice

the deadline for submitting your application is June 14th at 11:59pm PT, but we encourage you to submit early and often as we'll be talking up cool applications as they come in.

Boxee for Developers

Create Digital Motion � Remembering Nam Jun Paik, TVs, and Some Serious Cybernetics; NYC Chelsea Gallery Show

2009-05-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Create Digital Motion � Remembering Nam Jun Paik, TVs, and Some Serious Cybernetics; NYC Chelsea Gallery Show

Elgato Video Capture records analog video to MPEG-4, H.264 | Video hardware | Macworld

2009-05-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Elgato Video Capture records analog video to MPEG-4, H.264 | Video hardware | Macworld

YouCube

2009-04-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

YouCube Demo Video from Aaron Meyers on Vimeo.

YouCube is a little project I've put together over the last two days. It allows you to map YouTube videos onto an interactive 3D cube and then save it to a database so you can show your friends. As you spin around a YouCube, the sounds of the different videos fade in and out. Its fun!

I apologize that the functionality for browsing the YouCube database is currently just an incredibly crude html page. I hope to build something a bit nicer real soon. Special thanks to everyone who made cubes and helped me test yesterday.

This was all put together rather hastily so if you find bugs that need my attention, please drop me a note about it.

Visit the YouCube page and get cracking!

YouCube

Browse other YouCubes

Processing based 360 degree video app

2009-03-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Noelb on the processing.org forums responded (deftly) to a video thing query and has made a processing sketch, (downloadable as java applets for Mac, Linux, and Windows) that will do with a live video input, what video thing-ers were having to render out with After Effects before- namely to unwrap their ghetto 360 degree video projects.

Here's the processing.org forum thread

My First VJ outing with VDMX

2009-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

So, on saturday I had my first public performance with VDMX. I was going from my Macbook Pro to an HD projector through a byzantine array of converters since there is no publicly available mini-display port to HDMI or component adapter. My signal was squashed to SD over RCA, but that was ok, since none of my source material was HD. Monoprice.com is supposed to have a Mini-display to HDMI adapter ready by the 15th of this month, so we'll see how that works out next time.

Overall I was pleased with VDMX. My setup had to run itself, because I was going to be busy playing keys with my band, and running around like a headless chicken for the rest of the show. I made three layers, one on top using an OpenGL add mode, two on bottom, transitioning back and forth using a quartz composition 'xerox' wipe. All the layers had clips cycling through them using a step sequencer. Since I had my computer in a balcony VJ booth, I was able to include a video input as a clip in my bin, and then angle the camera in my MacBook screen down at the audience so occasionally there would be a crowd shot projected, which seemed to give the audience a kick.

My visuals did get a little washed out due to so much simultaneous stuff going on at once with that OpenGL add mode, but that's something that shouldn't be too difficult to improve on next round. I may also try to add touchOSC controls from my iphone next time, although I am pretty content to just let the thing run itself so I don't have to worry about it. If I was vj'ing for another band I would probably add a midi controller and work that way.

I'll post my vdmx project file in a bit, as well as some video of the show when I track some down.

Create Digital Motion's post about the pains of getting mini-display out to most projectors and televisions

Plex Media Center for OS X

2009-02-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

An interesting new XBMC branch that is only for the Mac: Plex Media Center for OS X

Hulu pulling its Boxee presence

2009-02-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

Bad news for Boxee users.

JVC ProHD camcorder records for Final Cut Pro | Macworld

2009-02-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

JVC ProHD camcorder records for Final Cut Pro | Macworld

MAKE: Blog: Art and Code Symposium

2009-02-06T07:12:00.000-08:00

Registration opens today for the Art and Code symposium -- it's a low-key conference teaching a variety of tools specially developed for use in the arts and education to artists, young people, and everyone else. Among the presenters will be many of the people behind these tools, including the creators of Processing -- the software environment used with the Arduino. [...]

Link
MAKE: Blog: Art and Code Symposium

v002 - The Rutt Etra emulator

2009-01-30T07:06:00.000-08:00

Visualist Vade has created a Quartz Composer and VDMX compatible emulator for the Rutt/Etra analog video synth, with the assistance of co-designer and Video Thing hero Bill Etra:

v002 Rutt/Etra attempts to emulate the Rutt/Etra raster-based analog synthesizer.

The original Rutt/Etra machine was one of the first voltage-controlled video special effects systems and video synthesizers.

The Rutt/Etra is named after Steve Rutt and Bill Etra, the two engineers and artists who designed the machine. Bill Etra, Nam June Paik, Woody and Steina Vasulka, and many other artists composed visual art with the Rutt/Etra in the blossoming video art movement of the early 1970s.

The Rutt Etra fundamentally “understood” video signals, and allowed the patching of different video sync rate oscillators to control, offset and famously “z-displace” the resulting video, an effect most memorably demonstrated in the work of the Vasulkas. The Rutt/Etra is capable of much more, however.

v002 Rutt/Etra is an attempt to capture some of the beauty of the original hardware. It’s almost impossible to emulate an entire Rutt/Etra, as modern graphics and computer systems make fundamentally different assumptions from analog video systems. This plugin is a work in progress, and we will try our best to make it as faithful as possible to the original while exploring new creative possibilities.

Any donations recieved from the download page will be used to help Bill Etra, who is now living on disability and no longer has funding for his work.

Link

QuickTime update increases H.264 encoding quality | Macworld

2009-01-21T12:01:00.000-08:00

Link to MacWorld post

Create Digital Motion � Groovy Color TV Oscilloscope Box from Critter and Guitari

2008-12-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

Create Digital Motion � Groovy Color TV Oscilloscope Box from Critter and Guitari

Create Digital Motion : Resolume “Avenue” 3 Announced: The Audiovisual App to Beat?

2008-12-01T14:07:00.000-08:00

Resolume Avenue 3 Introduction from Resolume on Vimeo.
Create Digital Motion � Resolume “Avenue” 3 Announced: The Audiovisual App to Beat? (Mac, PC)

boxee blog � boxee on Apple TV 2.3

2008-11-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Boxee has their USB creator patchstick app working for Apple TV version 2.3 now. As my friend Scott said, it's an arms race from here out. Boxee is a competitor to iTunes now, and competition can only help both applications from a user perspective. boxee blog boxee on Apple TV 2.3

Create Digital Motion � Processing: Revolutionary Creative Coding Tool Now 1.0, No Longer Beta

2008-11-25T07:02:00.000-08:00

Create Digital Motion � Processing: Revolutionary Creative Coding Tool Now 1.0, No Longer Beta

1980's Toshiba IK-1850 Camera Teaches Today's Camcorders A Thing Or Two - Retro Thing

2008-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

1980's Toshiba IK-1850 Camera Teaches Today's Camcorders A Thing Or Two - Retro Thing

AppleTV 2.3 update kills boxee

2008-11-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

While mixed video/audio playlists are something I've been looking for since version 1, The new Apple TV update is mostly insignificant feature additions, and breaks Boxee, which makes it pretty undesirable at the moment. When Apple gives us the features that we want, and that the device is obviously capable of, people will stop hacking it en masse. Imagine if iTunes had got its start by disallowing CD ripping and only letting you play music that was purchased from Apple or made in Garageband. The reality is that people already have tons of digital media, and the further that Apple gets from trusting users to be responsible with how they acquire and manage media and the more they dictate usage and cripple featuresets, the less successful they will be. It's their product and their choice, but if there's a way to make it work the way we want it to, people will continue to do it. link

Projectors: Pico Cube Projector is World's Smallest, Says Maker Epoq

2008-11-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

Projectors: Pico Cube Projector is World's Smallest, Says Maker Epoq

Boxee: the open, connected, social media center for mac os x and linux

2008-10-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

I've been using an AppleTV since it was released. A device with great potential (cheap, HD enabled, great integration with iTunes) crippled intentionally by Apple's need to tie it directly to iTunes only- Since it's still illegal to rip your DVD collection to file in the Rip, Mix, Burn style we've become accustomed to in iTunes, the AppleTV eschews any video media you have in naughty 'pirate' formats like DivX, and only wants to play video purchased from the iTunes store or DRM-less mp4 files you ostensibly made yourself or that come from podcasts. Every weird movie curator worth his salt that I know now has a couple of terabyte drives filled with DivX's and subtitle files, and we are not anyone's target user. AppleTV's free online video solution is also centered around YouTube, while Hulu is hosting tons of high-quality free movies and TV shows.
A range of hacks have been available for the AppleTV to make it do everything from play exotic video formats off network drives to order pizza, but they have all been difficult to install (I've learned more unix hacking my AppleTV than when I worked tech support at Apple) hard to use and break frequently, on their own or whenever a small AppleTV update comes out.

Enter Boxee. A new improved application helps you build a usb patchstick, which you plug into the service port on the appleTV, installs boxee and the supporting Xbox Media Center software it's based on. Previous hacks involved building a patchstick and then doing seperate Apple TV installs using SFTP and SSH, but that little difference isn't what makes Boxee better. Once you have boxee installed (and activate your account on http://boxee.tv, you'll need to apply for an alpha tester account first, sorry) the real difference is in the interface and thouroughness of the implementation. Boxee does everything the AppleTV always should have done. It recognizes your network drives (on the mac you'll have to turn on Samba sharing in your sharing preferences), plays every video format, displays subtitle files beautifully, finds posters, synopsis and trailers for media names it recognizes online, has Last.fm like social scrobbling features (not to mention actual access to Last.fm, as well as myspace video, hulu, Youtube and a host of other free video and music outlets) and the integration is beautiful.

quick intro to boxee from boxee on Vimeo.

I installed it last night and I'm smitten.

ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Mike Curtis | Founder | HD for Indies

2008-09-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

QuVis has announced a new product - QuVis Wraptor - a $699 Compressor plug-in for Final Cut Studio that allows independent content producers to create their own DCI DCP. That is a Digital Cinema Initiative’s Digital Cinema Package, which is the digital file format and wrapper used for digital projection, a standard that only came about in the last few years. Why is this such a big deal? Because I’ve heard encoding of even just TRAILERS was about $6K a pop, and features were about $20K. Now you can “roll your own” for about $700. So that’s BIG.

ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Mike Curtis | Founder | HD for Indies

Phonographantasmascope | MetaFilter

2008-06-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Phonographantasmascope | MetaFilter

The world’s first SSD-equipped Apple TV |

2008-06-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

The world’s first SSD-equipped Apple TV |
Apple TV Hacks

CellularRecombomat

2008-05-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

A while back we had an ill-fated contest to find the best use of the Make Magazine's cellular automata video synth kit. Nobody seemed to get anything in anywhere near the deadline, but I've just found the project that would have been the clear winner- the CellularRecombomat, a bent, patchbay-equipped, optically sensing Critter built into a VTech kids toy case.

Traxdata MultiMediaDrive

2008-05-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Traxdata MultiMediaDrive is a portable multimedia Hard Disk Drive that can simply be plugged into your TV set or any other type of screen for instant playback of movies, songs or photos.

[...]
The device ships with a remote control and can also be used as a standard external hard disk drive.

Traxdata's MultiMediaDrive plays the following media types: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX, Xvid, MP3, WAV and JPEG. It supports both FAT32 and NTFS file systems and has extensive DivX subtitle support. USB 2.0, composite video and audio R/L, component video cables are all included. The system costs £149.

Traxdata MultiMediaDrive

DealExtreme: $12.90 NTSC Mini Surveillance AV Camera (628x582px)

2008-05-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Dirt cheap NTSC security cameras-
Found Via Create Digital Motion
DealExtreme: $12.90 NTSC Mini Surveillance AV Camera (628x582px)

Popgadget: FastVDO SmartCapture Lite - Tiny USB device captures and shares video

2008-05-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Another USB dongle H.264 encoder, but what differentiates it from, say, the Turbo264, is that this one has its own analog input and it claims to encode in real time.

Popgadget Personal Technology for Women: SmartCapture Lite - Tiny USB device captures and shares video

Create Digital Motion - Record Your Gigs and Legacy Media to H264: Blackmagic Video Recorder

2008-04-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

CDM shows us a nice looking hardware H.264 encoder from Blackmagic, your choice of inputs.
Create Digital Motion - Record Your Gigs and Legacy Media to H264: Blackmagic Video Recorder

5 minute romp through the IP - Patch based modular analog video computer run by a gentleman in a viking hat.

2008-04-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

I am speechless.

Forums are up

2008-04-16T09:52:00.001-07:00

I just set up public forums for Video Thing! I put in some basic topics, but for the most part anything goes. Have fun.

I'm live bogging Digital Cinema Summit at NAB

2008-04-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

ProVideo Coalition.com: HD for Indies by Mike Curtis

...and I'm typing this while walling with my iPhone.

Cool panel on 3d - all my notes posted at Above link

MAKE: Blog: Panoramic video experiment

2008-04-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Another Make Magazine reader named Dr. Photon attempts Cementimental's Christmas bauble 360 degree lens hack. Unfortunately Mr. Photon does not have any video available to view from what I saw.

Quadruplex - Call for Submissions

2008-04-07T07:19:00.000-07:00

Pete from Quadruplex writes:

hi wiley,

Hi, I really enjoy your blog and the videothings that you find.

I'm putting together a video screening that I think would be right up
video thing's street [...]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
the 2 mile
QUADRUPLEX
Video bending and noise films

Please Forward!

The 2 mile Quadruplex is a new film organisation that is pro-magnetism and
anti-narrative.
We are looking for video in the following (made-up) genres:

* noise
* video-synthesis
* video-bent
* demoscene
* trash/broken
* old media
* data bending/'Mush'-inima
* ear-eye experiments
* VHS nostalgia
* other...

for an evening of video, film and live performances in Hull, UK.
Deadline: 30th May 08

Screening in late June, exact dates TBA

Please send DVDs, mini-DVs or twisted VHS tapes to:
Pete McPartlan
The Quadruplex
140 Worthing St
Hull
HU5 1PR
UK

Or contact Pete about submitting online on: info(at)quadruplex.co.uk
Please don't directly e-mail video files...

www.quadruplex.co.uk

Create Digital Motion - The Battle for Analog: VHS and the Evils of DVD

2008-02-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

From CDM:

"We know a little bit of our soul died when we brought in all this digital tech to our work. (Happy side note, though: my eyes now glow red. It’s totally awesome at parties.) So, we now proudly present The Battle for Analog, a completely nonsensical look at the analog world we might leave behind. (Well, unless you carry some mobile VHS decks to a gig, which could be a great idea … a little magnetic distortion live, anyone?)"

Create Digital Motion - The Battle for Analog: VHS and the Evils of DVD

Cute, but it sure is heavy on the, uhh.... digital effects.

Wednesday YouTube Scanimate videos:

2008-02-19T14:02:00.000-08:00

More awesome Scanimate footage via youtube:

Tech Digest: Texas Instruments' Pico chipsets go into production - projection coming to mobile phones in 2008?

2008-02-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

Tech Digest: Texas Instruments' Pico chipsets go into production - projection coming to mobile phones in 2008?

Thanks Gentry!

Japanese Pixelvision cameras

2008-02-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

From videothinger Bohus Blahut:

Just thought that you might be interested in the PXL-2000 article i just wrote. It's about the PXL's that were made in Japan in the late 90's.
http://www.retrothing.com/2008/02/pixelvision-mys.html
I will be posting a video review of a modified PXL very soon. I'll let you know when it happens. Seems almost dumb to shoot a review of the PXL in HD.

Apple TV 2.0 vs. Blu-Ray, DVD & HD Cable: The Comparison [updated] | iLounge

2008-02-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

Apple TV 2.0 vs. Blu-Ray, DVD & HD Cable: The Comparison [updated] | iLounge

Apple TV Take 2 released in the wild

2008-02-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

The AwkwardTV folks are already at work hacking it. First word is that the OS is still 10.4.7, which means that old hacked plugins may still work.

Downfall of HD-DVD

2008-01-16T09:36:00.000-08:00

Macworld Keynote: Apple TV Take two

2008-01-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Live from the MacWorld Keynote- the next big update to iTunes and the Apple TV: HD movies, 5.1 Audio $2.99 and $3.99 movie rentals from all the major studios (4.99 HD rentals), flickr and .mac photostreaming, rent movies directly on the AppleTV without a computer. Similarity engine movie reccomendations, and subtitle support (finally). If only they would let you add perian and movie subfolders or playlists without hacking it, I'd start giving them out to everyone I know as gifts. They're still too scared to address that "user with 800 divx movies with .srt subtitles" market. I guess I can't blame them.

Sony Offers a Single HDV Model for 2008 - HDR-HC9 - Sony

2008-01-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Sony Offers a Single HDV Model for 2008 - HDR-HC9 - Sony: "Sony has announced that they will release only one model in HDV category, the HDR-HC9, at least for early 2008. This decision only confirms the generally recognized fact that the tape-based HDV format has fallen out of favor compared to DVD, hard disk drive (HDD), and flash memory media using the newer AVCHD recording format." Retails for $1099.

Create Digital Motion � Pinnacle Video Transfer: Grab Analog Video Without a Computer

2008-01-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

Create Digital Motion scoops video thing so often now that I'm beginning to wonder if we have become superfluous (!) Anyway, from CDM today- Super cool hardware H.264 capture device, plug it into any usb 2.0 volume (ipods, flash drives), and capture to H.264 without a computer. At only $129, I'm totally getting one.

Create Digital Motion- Pinnacle Video Transfer: Grab Analog Video Without a Computer

Also on CDM- The worlds smallest laser projector. I want one implanted in my head.

Tiny Create Digital Motion - Laser Projector Becomes World’s Smallest Projector

Retro Thing: Cartrivision

2007-12-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

Bohus Blahut has a great post today about another forgotten video distribution format: Cartrivision.

[...]The format is called Cartrivision, and it dates all the way back to 1972. It was the first such format developed and sold in the USA. The unusual carts are square - the reels are one atop the other inside. It recorded only every third field of video and displayed it three times - a clever way to use the technology of the day to yield a decent picture and still fit a whole movie into the 8 inch square cassette.

The player was built into a number of specially made televisions, making the buy-in a hefty $1350 (nearly $6800 in today's money). Blank carts could record TV shows using the inbuilt timer, and there were pre-recorded movies and special interest programs.

Since there were no corner rental stores, you'd choose your film (the advertising copy does mention the availability of adult films, no surprise there...) from a catalog and the cartridge would be shipped to your Cartrivision dealer. You couldn't buy feature films to keep, nor could you rewind the cartridge at home. If you wanted to watch the movie again, you'd have to take it back to the dealer and pay a fee to re-rent and rewind the flick.

Why? Cartrivision was developed in cooperation with the film industry, and these were the stipulations they placed on this new home-based movie experience. It does smack a lot of the many current format wars, and the tyrannical terms of digital rights management. To be fair, home movie rental was unfamiliar turf for the studios back then, and at that point they made all of their money from a film's theatrical release and possibly a rare showing on TV.[...]

Cartrivision: The USA's First Crack At Video Cassettes

Create Digital Motion - Mobile Small form factor HDMI/HD recording - record your HD gigs in .. HD!

2007-12-11T12:12:00.001-08:00

Create Digital Motion : Mobile Small form factor HDMI/HD recording - record your HD gigs in .. HD!

Oculon pocket svga projector

2007-11-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

Link to CDM article, link to product page.

Eyeclops- $50 video microscope toy with rca out

2007-10-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this cool 200x toy video microscope on amazon. Looks like it could be hacked or otherwise used for evil in some cool way.

CVM - Richard Baily

2007-10-04T23:57:00.001-07:00

Tonight I recieved an email from the brother of Richard "Doc" Baily, the amazing mathematician and artist who contributed visuals to movies like Soderberg's Solaris Remake and Superman Returns (among others). I had written Doc last year about his 'Spore' Software and had recieved one reply but then the conversation abruptly ended. Doc's brother informed me in his mail that Doc had, sadly, passed away in April of last year, and he was now attending to Doc's archives of work. The one piece of good news he had to share was that the Center for Visual Music (who did the wonderful Oskar Fischinger disc) will be putting together a collection of Doc's work.

I am the legal trustee and copyright holder for Richard's artistic and musical work, and I apologize greatly for not replying to you in a timelier manner. Yes, I do have some high rez prints that Richard had developed and was marketing. One day I will place them for sale on Image Savant, just not right now. You are really thinking correctly about images. I will contact you when the prints become available if that is good with you.

If you wish to use or see some more of his material I have contracted with a company called Artbeats who is set-up to deliver a good variety of Richard's cg work at a very reasonable and affordable cost (Dreamlight, Dreamlight 2, Light Waves, Nightmare Light). If you wish, please check them out.

Dreamlight 1+2

There is a DVD coming out very soon of his collaboration with John Buchanan that I know you will be very interested in. The works are called Xtacism/ Aura which should be coming out this year through the Center for Visual Music (CVM).

CVM - Richard Baily

Magic Horse

2007-10-03T13:54:00.001-07:00

My video for Horse Plus Donkey's song "Magic Horse". iPhone optimized version here

The New Wave - 70's doc on analog video synths

2007-10-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks Demonbabies!

Warning! - Reduser.net

2007-09-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Warning! - Reduser.net

How to enable your AppleTV as an Xgrid node

2007-09-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

This procedure will show you how to setup you AppleTV as an Xgrid node. I'm not really sure why you'd want to do this, but this is proof-of-concept. There's not a whole lot of Xgrid-aware apps out there, but Techspansion's excellent video converter VisualHub is aware. (as is Final Cut- ed.)

Link

Quartz Composer built stereoscopic recorder

2007-08-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a nifty OS X application that creates red/blue 3D movies using input from two firewire cameras (like the two iSight camera setup featured in Res magazine a while back.

Link

Online Video Format Wars: News From The Front

2007-08-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Online Video Format Wars: News From The Front

Content-Aware Image Resizing

2007-08-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yet another Siggraph video that blows my mind -- "Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing" by Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir.

(via AE Portal News)

Part of what's so interesting is the idea of finding patterns in images/video that allow a system to be "content-aware". The use of edge detection to determine important vs. non important visual information reminds me of the process of analyzing time-sliced video footage to interpolate when cuts, dissolves, or wipes take place. Eddie Elliott has a great example of this on his website. Essentially, if you take all the frames of a video and place them back to back to make a cube, by looking at the sides of the cube you can see where a left to right wipe, a cut to different looking footage, or a cross dissolve take place. Someone told me a couple years ago about a company trying to refine the technique in order to create a software program that logged archived footage procedurally, rather than hiring someone to plod through hours of footage.

Image from Eddit Elliot's Video Streamer page. For more on time-slice/slitscan artworks, Golan Levin has a good archive here.

Adobe adds H.264 to Flash Player

2007-08-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

Link to MacNN article

Steve Jobs poo-poo's little plastic discs for video

2007-08-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

During the iMac/iLife special event Steve Jobs introduced the iDVD part of the package with a dismissive "There are some people who still want to make DVDs." This followed a demonstration of some really nice HD web galleries being generated by iMovie. It's nice to know somebody that high up has caught on to the fact that locked-up oxidizing plastic discs that are illegal to copy are a bad way to hold video.

Panic's Steven Frank chimes in.

(p.s. I know I'll probably sound like an Apple shill for saying this, but I just got one of those new iMacs, and it's the nicest computer I have ever worked on, and that includes the quad Mac Pro I use at work. The glass front LCD and keyboard and overall zippiness of the machine just plain make me happy whenever I use it. I just put FCS 2, Logic Pro, and all my assorted free video transcoders on there and it positively sings.)

AppleTV hacking goes to the next level

2007-07-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

What started out as a thread on the somethingawful forums has progressed into a veritible orgy of Apple TV hacking- Xvid support with Perian, external USB storage, bluetooth, people monkeying with the screensavers in quartz composer.. in fact so much is going on it's becoming difficult to track. Apple's YouTube update set hackers back a bit- it didn't shut them out completely, it just removed a lot of the superfluous bits of OS X that were making hacking in extra features so easy. Luckily AwkwardTV seems to be tracking the majority of the hacks and plugins as they spring up (after briefly being Digg'd into oblivion). I need another few hours to parse all this information before I start modding my AppleTV, but if it saves me all the time I've been spending transcoding XviD files, gives me subtitle support, and lets me play my HD files without waiting a whole week to convert them to a format that may or may not play on the AppleTV, I am there.

(There's a good compendium of command line hacks here as well, make sure to check whether or not they work after the YouTube update though.)

Wireless video teddybear.

2007-05-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Creeptastic.
Link
Found Via BoingBoing

Create Digital Motion - Why I Want a Portable VHS Video Case, from Museum of Lost Interactions

2007-05-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

Righteous commentary on CDM about a joke design for a portable VHS walkman, and how it would actually be a cool piece of equipment.
Link

The Scanimate - 70's Analog electronic motion graphics!

2007-05-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Awesome page about the Scanimate- a scanner-analog video synth the size of a room that they used to do very early title animation and motion graphics- Think wiggling letters on The Electric Company and the opening title of Logan's Run.

The Scanimate is basically an analog computer connected to a scan converter. This means that high-contrast artwork is placed onto a light table under a "high rez" camera. In the late seventies, that meant it was about a 500 line vidicon camera, but was not interlaced video, for reasons I'll get into below.
The image then appeared on a "high rez" CRT, (cathode ray tube) which in turn was scanned by a regular monochrome NTSC video camera. The reason for this "re-scanning" is that the analog computer could do all sorts of wierd and wonderful things to the sweep on the CRT, thus animating the artwork. The only trick was that the "animator" actually had to "program" the move by wiring up a complex analog circuit and adjusting any (and sometimes all) of about 250 knobs. The wiring was done at several "patch panels" where you had access to the innards of the analog "CPU" waveforms. You had horizontal and vertical sawtooth waveforms, a variety of oscillators which could phase lock to the horizontal or vertical sweep or each other, and summing amps and multipliers. Ramp generators could be fired off in sync with a specific timecode on videotape, and each ramp could "multiply on" an oscillator, offset, or whatever you needed to wire up to "bend" the raster to the client's content.

The original raster could be "sectioned" so that if the artwork had up to five words, the words could be individually animated. The second camera's output (the one viewing the CRT) was colorized according to the greyscale values it saw, and that image could then be layered by keying it over videotape of previous "passes". The passes were recorded on 2" IVC helical analog video recorders, which could (sometimes) manage an embarrasing number of generations before the client noticed it. You could never get away with it when you needed to.

The client(s) would sit on couches at the rear of the room, and at least at Image West, there were two Scanimates, one on either side of the room. A video switcher and monitors were at the front of the room, and through a door were the video tape machines, which were 2,000 pound monsters that ran on megawatts of power and required compressed air.

Because the Scanimates produced output in "real-time", the clients could literally sit down and say things like "Make it move a little faster", or "Can you make it more of a teal color?", and the animators would tweak it, get an approval, tape it, and the guy would walk out with his master. It was hundreds of times faster than cel animation, and so $2,500/hour to command the entire facility was a bargain. If the client wanted something more complex, of course it took longer, and cost more. If he couldn't make up his mind, we could keep trying this and that, and he paid for his own indecision.

link
Thanks Jesus!

Setting up an automated workflow to convert files for Apple TV on OS X - vellery.net

2007-05-03T15:12:00.001-07:00

Link

Video to film- via inkjet printer!

2007-04-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

A very cool hack that is surely the seed for a new product- A method of Transferring video to 16 or 35mm film using an inkjet printer.

Found Via BoingBoing

HD For Indies - Final Cut Studio 2 details

2007-04-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Mike has more details about Apple's next generation production big-box than you'll know what to do with. Some things that excite me: The new color correction application that incorporates recently purchased Final Touch, Zspace animation and virtual cameras in Motion (I guess I don't need after effects any more) and "open format timelines", mix formats, resolutions, framerates, all in a timeline and it doesn't matter- it just works.
HD For Indies, nab 2007 notes from apple sunday press

Run Lola, Ruuuuuuuuuuuuun! at daniel shiffman

2007-04-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Processing guru Daniel Shiffman has set up a system with thousands of 60x32 pixel cells, all playing Run Lola Run, each one frame ahead of the next, spread out across a bank of displays.
Check out the video.

Link

WIRED: Visual history of the television

2007-04-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

From Bakelite to Plasma: TV Through the Ages -

MAKE: Cellular automata video synthesizer kit & Videothing CONTEST!

2007-04-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

We're so excited about the new video cellular automata kit from MAKE magazine, that we're going to hold a contest to see who can make the coolest implementation of it- bend, hack, unexpected use or just a sweet case design, the sky is the limit.. Get the kit here and send your entries (pics, video, descriptions!) to wiley at mediatronica dot com. *

The winner will be chosen by a panel of Video Thing participants and the prize is your choice of a neuros mp4 recorder or an elgato eyetv hybrid! The deadline for submissions is July 1st of this year.

From the Make page:
We have a new kit for sale in the Maker store, the Cellular automata video synthesizer kit. This easy to contstruct kit is a fun way to play with cellular automata and video synthesis. When complete you will be able to uncover endless visual and sound patterns on any TV with a composite NTSC video input. The kit provides a pre-assembled, pre-programmed Video Critter Mini board, three potentiometers, and a push button. Just solder up the potentiometers and button to the circuit board, add an enclosure, and you're done!

(* this contest isn't sponsored or endorsed by Make magazine, but we love them and hope they will smile on it as a celebration of all things MAKE)

MAKE magazine Link

BoingBoing post about the kit

Wikipedia: Cellular Automata

Elgato's Turbo 264 USB stick painlessly coverts vidz to H.264 - Engadget

2007-04-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Elgato's Turbo 264 USB stick painlessly coverts vidz to H.264 - Engadget

More Apple TV early reports

2007-03-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

VideoThing's Mike Curtis' new blog: Apple TV Hacker!

Macworld: Video: Macworld Video: Exploring Apple TV

Warranty Voiding at MacDevCenter

Apple TV reportedly hacked for XVid support

Apple TV Dissected

QuickTime gains 720P Apple TV high-definition export mode

2007-03-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm going to get an Apple TV after all...

In an undisclosed and largely unnoticed update to its QuickTime video playback and conversion software, Apple has quietly added an “Export to Apple TV” feature capable of creating high-definition videos viewable on the Apple TV accessory. Unlike Export to iPod, which currently creates sub-DVD-quality 640 by 480 videos, Export to Apple TV creates not only full DVD-quality 720 by 404 videos, but also 1280 by 720 videos. These videos are viewable in iTunes, but cannot be transferred directly via iTunes to an fifth-generation iPod.

Link

picturephoning.com: Neochroma enlarges tiny mobile phone displays to desktop monitor size

2007-03-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Via picturephoning.com: a prototype stereoscopic (?) phone attatchment that enlarges mobile phone displays to desktop monitor size.

Torch Computers for artists

2007-02-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

Torch makes large VESA mount displays with small form factor computers for multimedia art installations. No logos, hidden cables, and nice white or black enclosures. Look pricey, They do custom work as well.
Link
Found via Paul Slocum

Retro Thing: A New Super 8 Movie Camera!?

2007-02-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

Retro Thing: A New Super 8 Movie Camera!? first in about 20 years, has some interesting features - read on...

Numark 3 screen lcd display

2007-01-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

The Numark VM03–MKII is a 3–screen/6–input LCD video display monitor designed for any video monitoring application. The advanced design of the VM03–MKII allows the user to monitor video sources in either a rack–mount (3 rack spaces required) or tabletop setting.

Link

Found via Create Digital Motion

CDM's 2006 Best-of list

2007-01-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

Create Digital Motion has a good year end best-of list of products for 'visualists', a term they use in reference to multimedia artists, VJ's, and motion graphic pros. CDM blows us out of the water as far as the VJ, processing, and mograph stuff goes and is worth a look for anyone who works deep in any of the pro-video realms.

Link

50 dollar helmet video camera

2007-01-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

The Tony Hawk Helmet Camcorder straps to any helmet and comes with a 32MB memory card recording up to 30 minutes of video and sound. It weighs less than 1/2 lb and uses just two AAA batteries. The Tony Hawk Helmet Cam also features auto focus and 640 X 480 resolution, plus a built-in microphone with a 12 foot range.

Link

AACS Cracked

2006-12-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

From Reuters:

A hacker known as Muslix64 posted on the Internet details of how he unlocked the encryption, known as the Advanced Access Content System, which prevents high-definition discs from illegal copying by restricting which devices can play them.
The AACS system was developed by companies including Walt Disney Co., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Sony Corp. to protect high-definition formats, including Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray.

Link to Technorati Search for AACS

STEPHEN BECK

2006-12-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

Stephen Beck has been building video synths and making multimedia art since the late 60's, and he's our latest video thing hero (I'm going to kill those ads and bring back the hero links this week, btw).
His work 'video weavings' actually got displayed on theDiamond Vision giant video screen at Shea Stadium during a Mets game in 1982.

It comes from the magic squares devised by Arabian thinkers of the sixth and seventh centuries, when they mastered algebra and applied algebra to their art. The religion of Islam forbids any representational image. It's a totally different concept of visual expression than what we have; you're just not permitted to portray an object of creation. It's largely based on portraying what we would call mathematical harmonies. Their wonderful arabesques and domes and patterns are all manifestations of mathematics, which in our day and age we would find in some equation in a book, which perhaps makes it less vivid, and less important to many people. People ask me sometimes, 'Is this mathematical? How does this relate to mathematics?' And I say, 'It is mathematics, just like music is mathematics.' You have implicit structures of harmonies and ratios. Instead of music, where there is vibration of air, here it's the vibration of light, with different colors and patterns. You don't have to relate to it as a drab mathematical theorem or equation. It takes on a much more vivid presence.

Link
Found Via Cory Arcangel

TVease.net Hannibal Deuce

2006-12-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Hannibal Deuce Plus is Linux-based MythTV DVR box that does pretty much evertyhing you could want a settop box to do. It rips dvds, it'll Torrent videos off the net and store them, has wireless connectivity and can run multiple tuner-cards for DVRing mutliple simultaneous channels.
link
found via BoingBoing

Consumer Electronics Daily News: iProjector to Make its Debut at CES 07

2006-12-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

The iProjector is a unique video projector that lets you view video and pictures from your iPod, DVD player or computer. It also features multiple video inputs so you can attach game consoles and play just about anywhere.

Other features include: Docking and charging station for iPod Video, iPod Photo or iPod nano, 800x600 native resolution, 24-bit color, 1000 ANSI lumens brightness and a projection size of 30 inches by 90 inches.

Nothing big here since you can already plug a 5th gen ipod into any projector with RCA inputs, but the addition of a dock is cute. If the price is right it could be a nice package though.
Link

Neave.tv ...Carlitopolis

2006-12-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you guys have checked out neave.tv yet, but it's a really great flash viewer for online video that lets you view stuff in a channel based "TV" format.
Anyway, this is great video that floated up on my player that I can only hope was of a live performance.
Neave.tv ...Carlitopolis

Circuit Bent Sega Megadrive

2006-12-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

This guy circuit-bent a Sega Mega Drive and stuck it in a wooden enclosure. Colorful glitchy weirdness.

Link
Found Via Paul Slocum

Make 3D worlds extrapolated from a pile of photographs

2006-11-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Create Digital Motion � Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth Transforms 2D Photos into 3D Worlds; Hands-on

Good geekery!

New fangled 2K+ camcorder comparison

2006-11-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

SI-2K vs Red One

For those who haven't been keeping up on new camera developments, Silicon Imaging will be releasing their SI-2K camera in the next few months, and Red Digital Cinema will be releasing their Red One probably in the second quarter next year. I (Mike Curtis, rare contributor here) wrote a ridiculously long article (about 12,000 words) going through how the specs between the two compare.

Both of these two cameras are doing some radical new stuff as compared to traditional camcorders:

-modular/configurable form factor, moreso than regular camcorders
-data centric, tapeless recording
-full raster, 10 (now Redcode is 10 or 12) bit wavelet based proprietary RAW codecs to 2.5" hard drives
-12 bit RAW uncompressed recording as well
-record to small form factor disks, then copy to a computer/other hard drive
-emphasis on the post solution with a desire for widespread native NLE support
-under $20,000
-variable frame rates
-720, 1080, & 2K resolutions all from same camera
-windowed/cropped sensor mode for lower resolution, smaller lens coverage, but higher frame rates
-higher than video frame rates
-progressive imaging
-multiple lens mounts available

Anyway, if you are trapped in a mine and have some time to read, and are interested in these kinds of next generation cameras, check it out.

-mike

2006-11-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

Video the Vote

Shadowplay by Joy Division | C505

2006-10-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

This video project was inspired by the famous album cover art of 1979 album, Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures" designed by Peter Saville. Original video footage is from Joy Division's TV performance of "Shadowplay" on Granada Reports. The video footage was animated with the same topographic style of the album cover design.

Link
Found via Rhizome

Sharp demos 4Kx2K 64" experimental LCD

2006-10-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sharp's very, very sharp experimental screen | CNET News.com

Somebody asked me how you would monitor a 4K signal - if not using the Viewsonic monitor (like Red had at the IBC booth) that is slightly sub 4K, or using the incredibly pricey, really for theatrical display Sony 4K projector, perhaps something like this would be used in the future - a 64" 4K LCD panel, DCI spec resolution - 4096x2160 (which is twice 2Kx1080 in each dimension). That
s about 9 megapixels. Another company was showing a similar resolution panel at IBC, I can't recall the name though.

This unit is experimental only, however, and not planned for resale at this time. They were also showing off a million to one contrast ratio screen.

EyeTV Hybrid

2006-10-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

One of the guys here at work just got the Elgato Eye TV Hybrid and I'm really impressed with it. It's a usb dongle for the mac that gets HD tv off the air and lets you record it and automatically outputs to ipod, dvdstudio pro, idvd, transport stream, toast, and just about anything else you can think of. It uses the mac remote and has it's own layer in frontrow. It also provides you with analog hd inputs in case you feel like plugging in your game console and playing/recording it on your computer. I'm not a big TV watcher, but this is an unbelievably slick device/software package, and I totally want one now.

Opinion: High-Definition Video--Bad For Consumers, Bad For Hollywood - News by InformationWeek

2006-09-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Cory Doctorow from BoingBoing on how consumer HD video products are being used as a carrot to con people into accepting a bevy of DRM that will severely cripple how they can use the content that they purchase.
Link

ProLost: Less is more

2006-09-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

ProLost: Less is more

Digital Heaven

2006-09-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Digital Heaven

LoVid

2006-09-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

LoVid create artwork using homemade video synthesizers that remind me a little of Peter Blassers audio synths. The use of patchwork fabric enclosures give the devices a weird kids-toy quality kind of like Chumby.
Lovid will be performing tomorrow (9/18) on south street seaport in the speigeltent, then will present at iEAR in Troy New York next week.

Apple to release iTV video streaming box in 2007 - Engadget

2006-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Codenamed iTV, Apple is releasing a Mac Mini-like settop box in the first quarter of 2007. The presentation listed "wireless component" as a video out option, as well as HDMI. We'll continue to watch this device as more information is released. Shipping price is listed at $299.

Apple to release iTV video streaming box in 2007 - Engadget

Images at iLounge

Motion DSP, pixel restoration/enhancement, free on youtube - The Digital Video Information Network

2006-09-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

Motion DSP, pixel restoration/enhancement, free on youtube - The Digital Video Information Network

Ways to make video look better through post processing.