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HD Video for under $200?
08.18.08
Last month Kodak announced its entry into the hot mini-camcorder market, obscurely named the Zi6. Kodak’s big splash with the Zi6 is that it offers HD video for just a little bit more than the standard-def Flip camcorders.Now, Sanyo has had an “HD” flash memory camcorder on the market for a while, though reviews have been definitely lukewarm. The difference between Sanyo’s offering and Kodak’s is that the Zi6 has a retail price of $179 vs. Sanyo’s $600+ pricetag.As I’ve mentioned before, my interest in these small flash memory camcorders has been piqued, primarily because it seems as though their balance of quality and convenience makes sense at the less-than-$200 pricepoint. By comparison, the somewhat more fully featured Sanyo Xacti’s seem like they don’t quite offer enough overall quality for the price.I’ll admit I was intrigued when I read Kodak’s announcement for the Zi6, but I’m also skeptical about how high the high def can be at $179.CNet recently reviewed the Zi6 and they confirm some of my skepticism, while still giving it a good review of 7/10. It seems that the lens may not be up to the same quality of the sensor, with the reviewer noting that the HD images seemed soft, but was still sharper when scaled down to YouTube video resolution. The review also criticizes the paltry 128 MB of internal memory which is enough for only a few minutes of HD video. Luckily, the Zi6 takes SD memory cards, though adding thing adds to the overall cost.I’d really like to get my hands on one of these and put it through its paces. I’ll have to see if any camera or electronics store will have them out for testing. Otherwise I may just have to bite the bullet and order one.In any event, it seems like the trajectory of digital video is clear, and HD video shot onto memory cards is where we are going. As long as that video is easily edited on your average Windows PC or Mac, then I consider this to be a good thing.
5:32 pm | Comment
WTF? Pacifica Docks Free Speech Radio News $13 Grand a Month
07.29.08
Being kind of distracted the last few months, I missed the news that the Pacifica network has cut its contribution to the Free Speech Radio News budget by $13,000 a month.For those not familiar with these two organizations, Pacifica is the nation’s first community radio organization, currently owning and operating five stations around the country, along with a satellite network interconnecting community stations. FSRN is a daily half-hour news collective the formed out of the ashes of Pacifica’s radio news program in the late 90s as a constructive protest against censorious policies being carried out by Pacifica during a protracted struggle over control of the network.In my opinion FSRN is the best daily half-hour of news on the radio in the US. Because it is worker-run we hear regularly from reporters all over the world who are from these countries and regions and in touch with their local issues in a way that no American or western reporter could. To me it represents the ideal of community radio, where people have the opportunity to speak for themselves and their communities rather than only have their voices represented by someone else. As a collective the editorial control remains in the hands of all members rather than being consolidated in just a few.In the end a settlement was reached over control of Pacifica ousting the former board which apparently had improperly consolidated control and was considering selling one or more of its stations. With the election of a new board came a reuniting of FSRN and Pacifica, as the network began carrying the program on its satellite network and providing funding.Relations between Pacifica and FSRN have not always been rosy. FSRN is worker-run collective that is not under Pacifica’s control, and I’ve often heard rumblings that Pacifica would like again to have its own daily news broadcast under its direct control.However, I don’t know if this recent budget cut is representative of such an initiative, or just simply a result of fiscal problems.According to an article in NYC Indymedia’s The Indypendent, there are indeed finance problems at Pacifica that seem to stem from earlier and ongoing conflicts within the network:Pacifica has lost several lawsuits filed by former employees, with others still pending. Some of its own producers allege the network may be paying its legal fees by pulling money from reporters who gather the news.“They are taking money we bring in, in order to pay for mismanagement,” said founding FSRN producer, Aaron Glantz, who helped produce the Winter Soldier Hearings, where veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars spoke out publicly, for Pacifica in March.Now FSRN is actively trying to raise funds through donations and, possibly, grants. I hope that they are able to make up the shortfall in order to continue production. By comparison to most nationally syndicated programs FSRN gets by on a shoestring. The annual $156,000 that FSRN is losing from Pacifica looks like the coffee and bottled water budget for a recently canceled NPR program that aired on many fewer stations.Good reporting takes time, and therefore it takes money. If we want to hear incisive, thoughtful reporting, especially from people and places less heard from in the mainstream, then it needs to be funded. Even if a reporter isn’t working full time, every moment she spends reporting is one that she’s not working making a living elsewhere. For all of the feel-good boosterism we hear about so-called citizen journalism we can’t forget that in-depth reporting is more than showing up on the scene of some event with a cell phone or digital camera.FSRN doesn’t have the same (cult of) personality-driven allure of Pacifica’s more well-known syndicated news program, Democracy Now. It’s too bad, if not unexpected. Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that cutting FSRN’s budget is an enormously myopic move on Pacifica’s part. At the same time, it’s also an object lesson as to why remaining independent was a smart decision for FSRN. Pacifica can revoke their share of the funding, but they can’t just shut it down. FSRN started without Pacifica, and I’d like to think the show can continue and survive without Pacifica.The continued survival of FSRN will require the continued support of the community stations that carry the program. Many stations–like my old home WEFT–started carrying FSRN from the very start, contributing money directly. Perhaps its time for this to happen again, for stations and their listeners to support FSRN directly so that it doesn’t need Pacifica’s money.In my fantasy world this would allow stations to disaffiliate from Pacifica in protest while keeping FSRN on the air. However, this is truly just a fantasy since Democracy Now is perhaps the most sacrosanct program on community radio, and nary a community station can afford to threaten its ability to carry it by dropping Pacifica affiliation. To do so would spark armchair activist riots in college towns and progressive urban enclaves all over the nation. But I digress….Right now Free Speech Radio News needs financial support, and I urge everyone who supports grassroots radio journalism reflective of the true spirit of community radio to contribute what they can.
11:45 pm | Comment
Catching up with friends
07.22.08
My pals on the internets have been keeping busy informing the masses about what’s really going on with overlords of our media environment. If you don’t keep up with Matthew Lasar’s Ars Technica articles or John Anderson’s DIYmedia missives, here’s some recent posts you should check out:Matthew reports that FCC Democrat Jonathan Adelstein is now on board to approve the Sirius/XM satellite radio merger, but only with significant conditions. This makes him commissioner #2 after Chairman Martin. Matthew also digs up some interesting dirt about Commissioner Tate tapping industry lobbyists for advice.John comments on the “glimmer” of hope that the FCC would take real action against Comcast for its BitTorrent filtering being downgraded to a “mirage.”After about a day and a half of happy-buzz, Martin and the FCC clarified their position - Comcast will not be substantially penalized in any meaningful fashion for its data-discrimination practices. There will be no further investigation, no priority inquiry, not even a monetary forfeiture: instead, the FCC will require the company to “disclose” its bandwidth-management practices and “encourage” Comcast to adopt more “protocol-agnostic” methods of shaping the traffic that flows over its pipes.Back in June John noted the current trends in FCC enforcement action against unlicensed broadcasters, observing that “the FCC is on relative track to meet its record-breaking enforcement effort of last year.” However, the FCC isn’t collecting any more financial forfeitures, andAlthough the FCC is getting more diligent about reducing the time between finding out about a pirate and making contact with the station, there is no obvious correlation between a diminution of stations on the air as a result.
11:20 pm | Comment
WFMU’s Free Music Archive–as discussed Friday on the blog and radioshow–is featuring a whole mess of music from artists around my new hometown of Chicago.
Happy downloading and listening! (0)
FCC Hearing on Broadband and the Digital Future Going On Now
07.21.08
If you enjoy a good FCC hearing now and again, you can watch the hearing live online:http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#jul21If you don’t quite have the four and a half hours to spare you should be able to watch an archive on the FCC website within some reasonable timeframe after the hearing is over. If you prefer a digest version, I intend to play some excerpts on this coming Friday’s radioshow.If you prefer a text digest, at least one Twitter user is live-tweeting the hearing from Pittsburgh.And, I write this under the assumption that somehow anything at this hearing will make a difference….
4:21 pm | Comment
One small step for logic and reason: 3rd Circuit Tosses Out FCC’s Janet Jackson Superbowl Fine
07.21.08
I believe I can see the house of cards that is the FCC’s current approach to broadcast indecency starting to fall apart. Today the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the FCC’s $500k fine against CBS for the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl half-time show. In its ruling the Court said the Commission’s policy on indecency, especially with regard to fleeting indecency (Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed for 9/16 of a second) is “arbitrary and capricious.”A major component of this decision is the Court questioning the FCC’s change to treating fleeting indecency much more severely after a consistent record of otherwise “restrained enforcement” since FCC v Pacifica. The FCC tried to justify its crackdown based upon the fact that the Super Bowl half-time incident was visual in nature, whereas its past “restrained enforcement” only regarded spoken indecency.The Court soundly rejected that argument:“In sum, the balance of the evidence weighs heavily against the FCC’s contention that its restrained enforcement policy for fleeting material extended only to fleeting words and not to fleeting images. As detailed, the Commission’s entire regulatory scheme treated broadcasted images and words interchangeably for purposes of determining indecency. Therefore, it follows that the Commission’s exception for fleeting material under that regulatory scheme likewise treated images and words alike. Three decades of FCC action support this conclusion.”I think this decision does not bode well for the survivability of the FCC’s indecency regime against fleeting indecency and expletives, whether it’s Bono’s f-bomb at the Golden Globes or a woman’s bare buttock on NYPD Blue. Although the true future of this regime is now in the hands of the Supremes, it seems to me unlikely that the SCOTUS will rule entirely opposite of the Circuit Courts in finding the FCC’s approach to “arbitrary and capricious.”Matthew Lasar and I discussed the state of indecency before this Third Circuit decision on the July 11 radioshow. Matthew said that one worry some media reform activists have is that a Supreme Court judgement against the FCC’s indecency regime might take aim at the foundational decisions establishing the FCC’s domain over the airwaves, such as Red Lion v FCC. Eric Alterman and George Zornick outline this concern in an article for the Center for American Progress.Yet Red Lion is much bigger than indecency, and it should be possible for the Court to rule against the FCC’s current indecency regime without throwing out the totality of the FCC’s regulatory power over broadcast. Just because the big broadcasters hope to use their case to chip away at Red Lion doesn’t mean the Court will take them up on it.At the same time, I’m not exactly a fan of the Red Lion decision. Although this is a topic for a much longer treatise, my problem with Red Lion is that it relies primarily on the scarcity of spectrum argument, which is a double-edged sword. While it justifies what is in reality merely limp-wristed FCC enforcement of the public interest, it primarily serves as a method for the dominant broadcasters to retain their oligarchy on the airwaves, keeping potential new entrants–like LPFM–at bay, while reaping enormous profits without paying back one red cent of rent on that valuable spectrum.Were the FCC something more than a toothless captured regulator and it were willing and able to make good on the public interest bargain promised by Red Lion, then I might be more concerned about that decision’s survival. Instead, clinging to this decision smacks of begging for crumbs–something I have almost no stomach for.However, I’m not arguing or even necessarily hoping for the Supreme Court to eviscerate Red Lion if it rules against the FCC’s indecency regime. The most likely alternative to Red Lion is an even more toothless FCC armed only to act as security guards for the nation’s media elite. A more rational approach to broadcast spectrum regulation based on public interest and not scarcity is necessary if Red Lion is lost, and I have little confidence we’ll see such an approach in my lifetime.So, hooray for (fleeting) boobies, and let’s hope they don’t fuck it up for broadcast regulation in total!
1:03 pm | Comment
Free Music Archive
07.18.08
On today’s radioshow I interview WFMU station manager Ken Freedman about the station’s very cool Free Music Archive project. The idea of the Archive is to take the fundamental idea of sharing Creative Commons-licensed music online, as seen with sites like Archive.org, and add a curatorial element. According to Ken, the goal is to replicate the editorial judgment inherent in radio, a record label, music venue or gallery where the artists, songs and pieces have been carefully chosen. Thus the Archive staff and affiliates are engaged in proactively inviting artists and labels to contribute music rather than just opening uploads to anyone.As someone who has tried to pick through numerous music sharing sites I have certainly been frustrated by trying to find artists and tracks that suit me. In our interview Ken points out that these open access sites tend to be dominated by people making electronic music or jam bands, which seem to be two groups inclined to be more inclined to use the internet or to share music than, say, modern classical composers and performers.Over the last ten years WFMU has really solidified its reputation as a cutting-edge freeform music station driven by taste and artistic value. And it’s achieved that by carefully selecting the DJs it puts on air and giving those DJs full control over their programs. On top of that the station has been on the forefront of using the internet and webcasting to both better serve it’s local audience and to reach a broader, global audience.As one might guess, much of WFMU’s aesthetic appeals to me, and so I am very much looking forward to the debut of the full Free Music Archive. Like a favorite record label, publishing house or rock club, I have come to trust that ‘FMU is likely to steer me towards interesting, challenging and appealing music that I might not otherwise encounter. Simply, I expect them to sort through the chaff and present to me the wheat, even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea (to mix my metaphors).I don’t think that the Free Music Archive is intended to be or will be a challenge, substitute or replacement for open submission archives. The internet continues to be a big place and there’s plenty of room for both approaches.One delicious irony of the Free Music Archive is that it was seeded by a grant from the state of New York that comes from the money received in the big payola settlement of a few years ago. I love that an archive of Creative Commons music is being funded by the entertainment cartel RIAA-members.The Archive is not yet online, though Ken says they’re currently planning for a launch date of November. However, they’ve been posting selected tracks on a project blog.You can listen to my interview with Ken Freedman about the Free Music Archive at the radioshow page. To learn more about WFMU and the station’s unique approach to internet broadcasting listen to my first interview with Ken on the Nov. 11, 2005 edition of the radioshow.
2:31 pm | Comment
Wired Gadget Lab on Flip Mimo: Good, maybe not work extra bucks
06.17.08
Those of you following these little flash-memory pocket-cams like I am might be interested in Wired’s Gadget Lab review of the new Flip Mimo, which is a smaller, slightly more feature-rich version of their signature $150 Flip camcorder.Though slimmer and prettier the Gadget Lab concludes:It’s a solid little cam that’s easier to transport, simpler to re-charge, infinitely sleeker, and about as easy to use at the Ultra (once you get accustomed to the touch buttons). But at $180, the price just doesn’t seem quite right.Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to muck with the video function on one of my digicams yet. Though I went to my brother’s wedding this last weekend in scenic Baltimore, the battery on my cam crapped out early with no good opportunity to recharge. I did, however, discover while playing around on the ride to Midway Airport that the video on my Treo 755p smartphone sucks rocks.
2:02 pm | Comment
Reconsidering Solid State Video
06.07.08
The face of digital photo and video is changing as we speak. Well, not really the face, so much as the skin and innards. Until very recently video = tape and photo = memory card. Now, tape is on its way out, and digital still cameras are getting much better at doing video, too. One of the most unusual aspects of this process is that it’s happening at the low end, not the cutting edge. While it’s true that many HD video shooters are now using some kind of (expensive) memory card, for the most part tape or some kind of disc still rule professional production. But at the consumer level, especially at the $100 - $200 solid state memory is winning.This development has been on the horizon for quite some time, but it’s really only in the last year that inexpensive flash memory camcorders and point-and-shoot digicams have provided a decent enough quality and user experience to surpass the traditional tape-based camcorder.The reasons are pretty obvious. While a miniDV camcorder was absolutely miniscule compared to the behemoths of the analog age, new memory cams are the size of just one or two videotapes. There’s an old adage in photography: the best camera is the one you have with you. This extends to video, too, if the type of video you’re shooting is a lot like snapshots–recording interesting or important moments for posterity or fun.The second reason is price. With no moving parts and Moore’s Law chugging away in the background, the silicon pieces that make up a flash memory camcorder get cheaper every day.I have to admit that I’ve resisted this trend for a while, due to both good reasons and snobbery. On the side of good reasons, flash memory is actually more volatile than videotape, and until recently the cost-per-minute of memory cards was extremely greater than miniDV tapes. With a memory card you have to make sure to upload the files, and keep backing them up if you want to preserve your footage. With tape you can capture what you need, or not even bother to transfer your video to a computer for months or years. Just keep the tape in a safe place and it will be ready when you are. Doing that with a memory card just isn’t practical.My final good reason is that the video files that come off these little flash memory cams is highly compressed and not designed for editing. I’ve blogged about the problems this presents with the more expensive HD camcorders, and these problems remain. But at the $100-$200 end of things that concern is pretty much moot. If you have a recent vintage PC or Mac pretty much any recent editing program, from iMovie to Premiere, will handle their standard-definition footage.So what are my snob reasons? Well, the video quality of a $150 Flip camcorder isn’t great. Most miniDV cams are better. That said, the Flip really is awesome for a $150 camcorder that fits in your pants pocket and is still better than most old school analog cams. Another snob reason is that there’s no audio input or headphone jack. In fact, most of these flash memory cams don’t have much in the way of controls or jacks at all, besides record, stop and USB. But, then, that’s what’s making them so appealing.My snob reasons are in same category of arguments that pixel-peeping dSLR freaks espouse on internet message boards all over the place, arguing why their $2000 Nikon or Canon makes their pictures so superior to your $200 Kodak. Of course, the thing they’re missing is that the SLR with the 200mm zoom lens doesn’t fit in your pants pocket, and sometimes won’t even fit in a daypack.A reasonable person will see that the question isn’t what’s better, but what’s the best tool for the job. Reading more about very positive real-world experiences with camcorders like the Flip is making me more interested in trying them out myself.Funnily enough, I own a small pile of point-and-shoot digital cameras, all of which have some sort of video function, and I’ve never really tried out their video function. That’s probably a pretty good place to start, given I don’t have to buy anything new for that trial.If you’re interested in trying out one of the new $150ish pocket camcorders, Gizmodo has a nice comparison of six recent models. Spoiler: the ever-popular Flip Ultra wins.I have more thoughts on the convergence of digital imaging and video that I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks.
4:58 pm | 2 Comments
Goodbye minidisc, Hello Zoom H2
05.29.08
 I’ve finally broken down and abandoned my beloved minidisc for mobile audio recording. I held out for as long as I could, which wasn’t hard. Until recently the format that never caught on (in the US) was the best portable digital audio recording format, especially when Sony finally unveiled Hi-MD four years ago finally allowing us to upload our recordings directly to our computers, not just download from them.Then, about three years ago, recorders using memory cards came on the scene offering more convenience and equivalent sound quality, although for more money. Already invested in minidisc gear going back to 1997 I was tempted, but the continued good service of my MD recorders kept me from straying.But things change. Come 2008 my most recent (circa 2006), and most expensive minidisc recorder has developed issues, and as far as I can tell Sony has no plans to release any new minidisc recorders. However, new ones are still available.With a trip to NYC planned along with an appointment to do an interview at Neighborhood Public Radio I broke down and bought a Zoom H2 “Handy Recorder.” I’m not going back.Because of my professional occupation in educational media I’ve had the luxury of messing around with flash memory audio recorders from Marantz, M-Audio and Zoom, so I’ve had a chance to try out features and get to know their benefits and problems.I was especially intrigued by Zoom’s first recorder, the H4, for it’s comparatively low cost, but inclusion of such pro features as XLR balanced mic jacks. The most interesting things about the H4 is the quality of its built-in stereo microphones. Unlike any under-$1000 recorder that came before, these mics are clearly not afterthoughts and meant to be used.Then, last year Zoom came out with an even less expensive model, the H2. While you give up some pro features, like the XLR jacks, you gain two additional microphones and the ability to record surround sound. At first I thought this arrangement represented a hollow bit of bling-bling at the expense of quality. But then I read reviews that found the quality to be quite good. I also started talking to other folks who adopted early and sang its praises.While I like the XLR jacks on the H4, my prior experience left me feeling lukewarm about the actual quality of the mic preamps. Using a basic dynamic mic (like a Shure SM58) the level runs low on the H4, with a fair amount of hiss. Condensers work better, but aren’t always a good fit for field recording. On top of that, the H4 looks like a tazer, which makes me wonder if anyone ever gets harassed at airport security with one in their carry-on. So, I ordered the H2 for under $200 and put it to the test with an interview. I am impressed. I can barely believe that four decent quality mics are mated to a good digital audio recorder in a package the size of two iPods can work so well at that price. I do have to admit that the construction feels light and cheap — the plastic isn’t too different from what you’d find on a $19 CD discman at the discount store. By comparison, my minidisc recorders have metal cases that inspire more confidence.The killer feature for me is the ability to record the four mics separately into two two-channel stereo pairs. These two stereo pairs are recorded into two separate files that are otherwise completely sync’d. This is great for doing interviews in the field where you want to record both yourself and your subject without having to move the mic around like you’d have to do with a handheld microphone.For the interview features on last week’s radioshow, I positioned the mic on the table between myself and the interviewee — we sat on opposite sides. What I ended up with is two stereo .wav files, one in which I was closer and louder, and another where the interviewee was more prominent. I sync’d them both up in multitrack software (er… GarageBand) and mixed them together, muting my file when I wasn’t talking.I had to produce the entire show on the road. So instead of lugging a mixer and mic with me as I’ve done in the past I just used the H2 to record all my voiceovers, too. The overall quality isn’t as nice as my large-diaphragm condenser mic through a mixer, but it’s so damn close.All the better, now that SD memory cards with 2 - 4 GB run $15 - $20 the price-per-minute for storage is even competitive with Hi-MD, where 1 GB blanks cost about $5. With a 4 GB card I have 6 hours of full uncompressed CD-quality recording available to me — great for conferences or other events. If I’m willing to live with MP3 compression, that 4 gig card will deliver 20 - 60 hours of record time.The age of direct-memory recording is here and truly feasible for audio. Video is just starting to become reasonable, depending on how patient you’re willing to be. A little part of me will always love minidisc, just not the part that likes dragging and dropping 60 minute audio files in less than a minute.
10:59 pm | 1 Comment
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