Editing 550D Videos

The bad thing with the Canon 550D is that the videos generated are humongous. At 1280 x 720 50fps, we're doing almost 6MB/s. The generated MOV files are just too unwieldly to handle.

So I've been requested to make another birthday video. To get the video segments on Windows Movie Maker, the MOVs have to be converted into either mpg, wmv or avi. First software of choice is Freemake. The coverted AVIs are pretty laggy on WMM, and the converted MPGs have no video, even though then work fine on VLC. So I turned to online converter Zamzar. This time the generated MPGs work fine on WMM. Only downside is that Zamzar has a 100MB file limit.

Workaround is to get Freemake to convert huge MOV to smaller AVI, then get Zamzar to encode it to MPG. Still getting to video post-conversion - total waste of time and bandwidth. A closer look shows that Zamzar MPGs uses mp1, while Freemake uses mp2. This tells us that WMM doesn't like mp2 MPGs. Good thing the latest version of Freemake can do custom mp1 conversion. We don't even has to mess around with multi-format Zamzar conversions. Just use Freemake, as long as you're using 25fps MPEG1 for the video and 48kHz and 320kbps for the audio.

Another hiccup. After importing all the videos and still photos and putting in the slides and transitions, WMM refuses to save the final video. Says that the source files are missing. What do you mean the source files are missing?! As a workaround, I had to do the edits on WMM, then save the segments one by one. The resulting video files are out of sync, laggy, blurry, and full of green artifacts. Again, Freemake to the rescue. I still used WMM to generate the photo and text slideshows, but I used Freemake to trim the videos, and merge all the files into one.

Movie 2010.11.21 - The Social Network

Seeing that this is directed by David Fincher, I had high hopes. And I wasn't disappointed. The storyline may or may not be true, but I've read enough articles to guess that most of it probably is. Very good acting all around. I was pleasantly surprised that JT can actually act. Or maybe he's just like that in real life. Too bad the Winkelvoss brothers and Narenda didn't take decisive action and sued Zuckerberg to kingdom come for stealing their idea. That would've rid us all of this timewaster called Facebook. And instead, we'll have Harvard Connection (if all of us are bright enough to get admitted there). Um, where was I again?

The last scene had Zuckerberg looking up his old girlfriend on Facebook and adding her as a friend. He then proceeds to refresh the page again and again, waiting for her acceptance. A bittersweet ending, but we all know that's not real because Zuckerberg has a backdoor to everyone's account anyway.

Book 2010.11.20 - The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol is a really huge disappointment. Makes me wonder how someone who wrote The Da Vinci Code can write The Lost Symbol. Well, if you've read Angels & Demons and The Deception Point, you'll have some idea. Dan Brown's writing style remains pretty much the same after all these years. After three books, nothing new is left for the latest one.

A good movie is where if you miss 5 minutes of the show, then you've lost most of the plot. A good book is where if you skip 5 pages, then you won't understand what's happening next. With The Lost Symbol, I've been speed-reading and skipping paragraphs and pages, and I still don't enjoy what I'm reading. Reads more like a tourist information on DC landmarks. Story is about a prodigal son who blackmails Masonic dad to reveal the Order's secrets to him, or else he will release a video he took of prominent politicians participating in a Masonic ritual. It's up to Robert Langdon to stop the bad guy from releasing the video. One word: EMP.

So there. Now that you know the story, you won't have to read the book.

Book 2010.11.11 - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Strange that the book wasn't entitled Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell. Anyway, I first took notice of this book when it came out in 2004. It was the black book cover that got me, and the fact that it's about magic. I tried to read the book then, but it was so thick, and I just didn't have enough time to read all 782 pages.

Fast forward to 2010. I'm still too busy to read the book, but now I've got the book in mp3 format. On my daily commute to work and back, I would listen to the audiobook on the Nokia E75 though the Bluetooth loudspeaker. At night, before going to bed, I would listen to a few pages on the SGS. Took me a few months, but I finally finished all 213 mp3 files.

The story is set in 19th-century England where magic has slowly dwindled out of fashion, and Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange brought it back. The joy of reading this book is not in the plot, but in how the story was told. It's a rambling tale of selfishness, friendship, jealousy, war, forgiveness, and love.

I hope there's a sequel. It's not right for Jonathan Strange to go mad and be isolated in eternal darkness, when all he wanted to do is bring down the gentleman with the thistle-down hair, and rescue Arabella. I heard there's a movie coming out. I hope it does justice to the book.