I had some fun with the Fastec Imaging HiSpec2 color hi speed camera shooting a “fake” lacrosse commercial. The commercial was a copy of the Paul Rabil 111 MPH spot that my buddy Dave sent me on YouTube. It looked as if the real commercial, shot by Maverik Films New York, was captured using a Phantom camera. You can watch more of their work by clicking here.

Dave’s son, Dylan, plays lacrosse in New Hampshire. We traveled to a local lacrosse field and set up to shoot the commercial. I brought the HiSpec2 color camera, a set of Vinten sticks and the Sony VAIO laptop computer running the hispeed capture software. I had a Nikon 16mm f2.8, 55mm f1.2, and 200mm f3.5 lens.

We shot for just two hours! No lights, just the sun. We had to wait a few minutes for clouds to clear and have consistent sunshine. Dave brought some water so that we could wet down Dylan’s hair and lacrosse strings to get the “hi-speed sweat effect”.

When we finished on the lacrosse field, we shot in the locker room for the first two shots on the spot. I used the Canon 5dmk2 shooting at 30fps with a Canon 85mm f1.2 lens for just these shots. We were in and out of the locker room in about ten minutes! For locker room lighting, we used a clip-on light with a bare 60 watt light bulb (you can see it on the lockers in the background). The key source was a florescent worklight with 1/2 CTO gel gaff taped to the lamp. No KinoFlos on this shoot. This “commercial” had a zero budget thanks to my friends at Fastec for letting me play around with the camera system.

If you are wondering about pricing, this camera can be rented for about $500/day and you can buy one for around $20k. A Phantom may shoot better pictures, but the rental on one is $2,500/day or you could buy one for $150k! Do not quote me no these prices, you can ask Fastec directly by clicking here.

I really wanted to shoot this spot to prove that a very expensive hi-speed Phantom is not necessary for doing this sort of work, as long as 720p HD is enough. When shooting this sort of stuff for the web or even broadcast television, the Fastec Imaging low-budget HiSpec cameras may be the perfect solution.

I will post my version of the Paul Rabil 111 MPH Maverik Lacrosse commercial at the bottom of this page. The following video below is the actual commercial shot (with a big budget for sure) by Maverik using a hi speed camera system. Watch this video first, so you can see what inspired Dave and I to get out and shoot our own version with Dylan.

I am not the only one out shooting spoofs on this great commercial spot. Watch the video below for an attempt to imitate the look and feel of the real commercial. I loved the sweat stains!

At some point, these high speed cameras will become more available for almost anyone who wants to shoot at fast frame rates. The above YouTube video was inspired by the very well shot and attention stirring professional lacrosse advertisement. I am looking forward to see what people do with these cameras when the price drops.

Now, here is my version of the Paul Rabil Maverik commercial. Dave, Dylan and I shot this entire thing in a couple hours and I edited it using Final Cut Pro. I used the Eureka “Vapor Across” transition for the white flashes. I made a few changes to the shots and enhanced the sound a bit to match the white flashes. The last few fast action shots at the end of my version were shot at 718 FPS, but I speed them up in post 2,000 percent to get them back to normal real-time speed!

Be sure to download the video in the links at the bottom of this page to view the commercial spot on your computer screen at full resolution 720p HD. The video will play much smoother off your hard drive. These Fastec Imaging cameras are silky smooth when it comes to slow motion playback.

This video is also available on Vimeo. Click Here to view it.

I buy cameras with manual function control. All the cameras I use at work do not have a shred of automatic function on them. I want to be in full control at all times when operating a camera.

But what happens when you cannot be with your camera at all times? What happens when the shot lasts hours and hours? What happens when light changes, color temperature changes, distance from subject changes very slowly and it is impossible to adjust as time elapses?

Enter: Green Square and the use of a timer remote controller.

I first experienced the convenience of the full auto mode (located on top of camera via dial setting) on the Canon 5dmk2 DSLR camera when I shot a three week, day to night time lapse at Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. I wanted to capture “Ice-In” as the lake froze over. I needed a camera that could capture the stars at night and expose a bright cloudless day, without me being there!

The only manual setting I used was to slide a switch on the lens to “MF” for manual focus. I did not want the focus drifting at all in the low light.

Take a look at the video below. This time lapse was a true, “Set-it-and-forget-it”:

People on time lapse forums across the internet are looking for the “Holy Grail” of day/night time lapse settings. If you use Green Square auto, you run the risk of annoying flicker. There are post NLE filters for this, but I have never used them and do not own any. And so far, I am very impressed with the Canon 5dmk2 in full auto mode. For those of you who do not know anything about DSLRs or how to set them up, this camera in green square mode might be a perfect fit to shoot image-sequence time lapses.

Using manual settings are a must when shooting astro-timelapses. I set the Canon 5dmk2 to snap a photo every 40 seconds throughout the seven hours of darkness. The 5dmk2 is set to long exposure to take in what little light is in the sky. My exposure settings are as high as 30 seconds, but sometimes less if I want to take a photo every 20 seconds.

The video below demonstrates what happens when you take a photo every 40 seconds throughout the night with a 30 second “sensor burn” exposure. At the end, you will see the video go white. This is not a transition. The sun has broken dawn and since the camera was set to full manual, the settings forced the camera to continue taking a 30 second exposure with locked aperture blades.

I am running tests shooting day to night astro-timelapses for an epic video project that I will be releasing this fall. I am using the Green Square with some great results. I am also using the Kessler Oracle and Elektra Drive stepper motor system on my CineSlider dolly. Very impressed with this kit.

Yesterday, I set up the Canon 5dmk2 on a Bogen Magic Arm attached to the railing in the left field roof Coke-a-Cola corner. I work the large broadcast camera in that position so I was able to watch the 5dmk2 during the six hour timelapse.

I set the camera to snap a 21.1 mega pixel .jpg picture every seven seconds. I locked the focus to manual, but everything else was factory default using the dial set to “green square”. I weather proofed everything with zip-lock bags. The power was provided by the Canon a/c adapter and I used the Canon remote timer to trigger the camera to snap the pictures. The lens I used was the Canon 16mm to 35mm f2.8 “L” series lens. The lens was locked at 16mm. The shutter speed, iso, white balance and aperture fluctuated as the day turned to night and the stadium lights fired up.

I was quite impressed how the 5dmk2 camera tracked iris, iso, shutter and white as the night progressed. I had shot with my Sony EX1 in timelapse mode in the past using full auto and it did not work out as well. I had issues with the EX1 shifting color temperature.

Check out the video below for the tester six hour timelapse boiled down to a minute and a half. I did not add any de-flicker filters or grading to the clip. Music is by Nine Inch Nails.

As you are reading this, I have the Canon 5dmk2 setup to shoot a 24 hour timelapse in green square mode from the high home camera basket at Fenway Park. Great cloud formations happening as I type this blog during my dinner break in the media room! What happens at Fenway Park at night when the lights go out? Lets hope the green auto mode works as well as it has in the past. The one thing that I cannot get the camera to do in auto mode is longer exposure to add some motion blur to the action as people move around in the stands. Suggestions?

UPDATE April 26th, 2010:
I have finished up the 24 hour time lapse at high home at Fenway Park using the “Green Square” mode and auto focus. The test below was entirely shot in automatic mode where the 5dmk2 and the lens made all the decisions for focus, exposure, iso, aperture, and white balance. I wanted to try an experiment in full auto mode just to see what would happen. I have not found the “holy grail” for day to night timelpasing yet, but the green square mode works ok. NEVER use auto focus. I knew this going in using video cameras for time lapse, but wanted to test it out on the DSLR. Set your focus on a point in the frame and lock it down with a bit of gaff tape.

You will see the image “pulse” in and out as the camera is taking out of focus frames. I used an “L” series 16mm-35mm f2.8 and it did not track as well as I hoped. Again, NEVER use auto focus when time lapsing.

In my next tests, I will take the advice of many people who tell me that “Aperture Priority” is the best way to avoid flicker, and the camera adjusts well to drastic light changes. The “AV” (aperture value) mode on the Canon 5dmk2 dial locks the iris and uses shutter speed to correctly expose the picture. I am not certain where I will run the aperture, but I will have to run it at f2.8 wide open to expose anything at night. It will be interesting to see what happens at f2.8 with full sun!

More test to come on this page from Fenway Park.

I met a bunch of people whom I had only known using social media like Twitter or my website. I was happy to place the @twitterID with a face. Many great individuals around the world and I found this NAB to be very valuable to build up relationships with people in the trade.

I still have one day left to chat tripods and television (Wednesday), so if you are in Vegas, please swing by the Vinten booth in the Central Hall for a quick hello. If you are interested in a new tripod, I would love to demonstrate the perfect balance feature on the Vision series pan head.

I edited a real rough video blog of my experience around the NAB event and tried to highlight equipment that I was interested in learning more about. I used my Sony SR11 with the Sony V1 wireless lav mic system. You will notice that I lost the mic clip early on, so I had to get creative attaching the thing! I will shoot Wednesday as well speaking with the Letus guys and a few other companies making excellent equipment for television and filmmakers. Special thanks to my buddy TJ for his help the first day.

Video blog sponsored by Vinten.

Philip Bloom is not in this video because he became very ill whilst in Vegas. Hope you feel better Mr. Bloom!

I have just finished setting up the Boston Garden to cover Bruins NHL hockey this afternoon. After the game, we strike the television OB truck and I drive back home. I then pack all my gear to catch a flight out of Logan Airport Sunday morning non-stop to Las Vegas.

I am not going to gamble. At least not at a casino… I am going to gamble with some serious cash buying into a new camera system. Digital cinema, broadcast HD, high-speed…. not certain yet. Or maybe I will hold onto my money and just wait.

This will be my second NAB. Last year, I had a great time at the convention chatting with people I met through my website or Twitter working at the Vinten and Letus Booth. I got to stand behind products and people who I have a great amount of respect for. I created videos for Vinten to showcase their new products and I had my laptop with me to show off the “Letus Look“.

This year’s NAB will be very similar. On Monday through Wednesday next week, I will be mostly in the Vinten booth. Vinten is my NAB 2010 sponsor and I am honored to be representing them. I use Vinten products everyday to earn a living and I was excited to work for them and represent their quality products. I was discovered by Vinten a few years ago when I posted a positive article about the Vinten Vector 70 pan head to the internet. I use this super smooth, perfectly balanced, and very responsive fluid head to track high speed objects in my broadcast sports coverage.

Take a look at the Video below to see some of my work at Fenway Park in Boston.

I will have a Sony HDR-SR11 with a Sony UWP-V1 wireless mic system to capture what I think is cool at NAB. I am planning on wondering around the floor interviewing people and getting some information onto my website for those who could not make it to the event. I will also be posting some video to my site from the Vinten stand as well talking about some new stuff they have for 2010. I will edit at the stand on my Mac Book Pro using Final Cut Pro and hope to upload the content on event WiFi or at the hotel after hours.

I will also spend some time with Letus, JAG35, Kessler Crane, Zacuto, KinoFlo, LitePanels, 3Ality 3DTV, Vision Research, Fletcher Chicago and BH Video. If you are interested in seeing some footy I have shot using equipment from these companies, just let me know. I may borrow an iPad just for this purpose!

I am looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting the Twitter tweeps I chat with daily. Speaking of Twitter, that will be my main form of communication all week, so keep an eye on my feed @tomguilmette. My Sunday night, Monday night and Wednesday night plans are not firmed up, but I am attending the Vinten party on Tuesday night in the Voodoo Lounge for sure.

In other news, I have a Kessler Crane CineSlider with ElektraDrive and Oracle motion controlled time lapse demo unit and have tested it out. Amazing product, but I have not had enough time to create a video review yet. I will be chatting much more about this innovative and unique device after NAB!

My clients are demanding gear and I am tired of renting a camera for a specific job. I own the PMW-EX1 and that gets used quite a bit, but it is not a true broadcast camera. High end clients want high end cameras, even though I can fool many people by shooting with inexpensive gear.

Television is my life and I finally have enough contacts and work to justify this investment. I just need to figure out what type of camera system I want to purchase. The problem is, I work in broadcast television, use broadcast cameras but I don’t necessarily want a $60,000 broadcast camera.

I must decide, art or commerce? Experimental or a sure bet? A new direction or the same one?

Buying a Sony PDW-F800 would be a great camera for what I do. But, I do not necessarily want to keep shooting sports or sports features. I have the Letus Ultimate and b4 relay, so I could mount any prime lens to the XDCAM for the shallow depth of field. I would buy a Canon 21x lens and a Canon 4.5 wide angle lens. I would use Anton Bauer batteries and the super sweet Sony HDVF-20a high resolution viewfinder. I would try to push my gear and my talents to work on documentary or high end feature work with the Sony F800. This makes most sense to me. Plus, as far as I am concerned, the F800 is a real shoulder mounted camera.

Buying a RED ONE would be exciting. I have shot on RED and it is a futuristic, specialized creative tool that has a workflow that actually works for me. I like the free RED software for dealing with the r3d files. I shot a few things at 120 FPS and that alone was the reason I wanted to buy the camera. I could get into a different side of commercial television. The RED camera is only $17,500. However, to get it all fitted for my preferences, like shoulder mounted with bomb viewfinder and a full compliment of high end glass, would put me up to my budget cap. Plus, this camera purchase would be a stepping stone to the EPIC.

Finally, I could try something totally drastic and buy into a Phantom. This would require a business loan and all of my budget to get this to happen. There are very few people shooting at high frame rates with a Phantom camera in the Boston area and I could bite into the market.

I wanted to know what the people on Twitter who follow my tweet stream thought about my potential camera purchase. I posted this on twitter a few hours ago: “Tweet your opinions now on: RED ONE, SONY F800, PHANTOM & be part of future blog debate on my site.” I had many people respond and I will post the tweets below.

Many people on twitter are pushing for the RED. Adam makes a good point about how the camera system can cost more than you think when you start buying high end glass and accessories. Also, a friend of mine owns the RED and he has been going though firmware updates since the day he bought the camera. Good or bad? I do not know, but if I buy a Sony F800, it will just work right out of the box and has been proven to be a workhouse in the field.

I have shot on HDCAM for many years. The format that the TV station I work for uses is 1080i. The HDW-730s shoots great looking HDCAM at 135mbps, but you need a deck to play it back and this is a weak point with all the moving parts. They are now moving over to master everything on 1080p and they are using all XDCAM optical disk. I was recently very surprised to find a HDW-730s HDCAM on eBay without a lens selling for under $16k! This tape-based camera a few years ago cost $70k!

Christian, XDCAM 422 is here to stay, in my opinion. It is not a tape format, nor is it solid state. XDCAM optical disks are cheap and a great way to have the “videotape” in hand to store on a shelf. The format is very robust and has been accepted as a primary acquisition HD format by many television stations and networks. The workflow for XDCAM 50mbps 422 is wonderful and does not tax an edit system or storage because of the increased compression. But, even with this compression, the stuff looks great. In fact, a guy that works at the same television station I mentioned above thinks that XDCAM 50mpbs 422 looks better than HDCAM! I agree with him after shooting with the PDW-700 a few weeks ago and looking at the source footy.

Rob, the RED footy looks much better than the 5dmk2 because of the color space and the aliasing issues found in current DLSR cmos chips. Plus, you can shoot at over 4k on a RED ONE and have much more creative control in post to manipulate the images.

I hear, “it depends on your use” a lot when I post the question, “what camera should I buy?” I agree with this. But for me, that is a very difficult question because I am not certain what I want to do with the camera! I want to do it all, but cannot have it all.

Tom, I know you shoot with the RED ONE on a regular basis. How have you dealt with the firmware updates? Have they put you out of work while the camera had to be serviced? Have you found any bugs in the system that caused you problems when in the field? How happy are you with the accessories and making the camera fit for your needs?

As far as being obsolete in a year, I just look at the cameras we use at work today to cover professional sports in Boston. They were manufactured in 2002 and they are high definition. They are all Sony cameras and they have held their own over the years and worked though the abuse of field use.

And yes, I have played with all three of these camera systems. I really love the F800 because it is what I know best. I can control it the best and feel the most comfortable with it. But it can’t shoot 4k or at high frame rates!

Chris is right, it is a matter of art vs. commerce. I really want to take the plunge and spend all my money to start shooting at high frames rates. But for all that cash, using a camera that is so new and constantly improved (low light, more fps, less noise) I need to be sure that I can trade up if I buy in.

Lots of people say go RED, but will this camera open up new doors for me or will I struggle to get clients who will let me experiment and shoot outside the box. I do really want to experiment.

The thought of using a NANOflash is a interesting one. I could buy an inexpensive camera and capture high bit rates with the nanoflash for clients who want more picture info for stuff like green screen.

Yes, the most important thing is what will bring in the most income. But a close second would be “what camera will stoke the fire in me to get out and shoot for fun?” I love shooting on my days off and experimenting with ideas.

Buying a RED ONE now, will help me get into very interesting digital cinema technology down the road.

If I buy the Sony F800, I am all set to accept the workflow and edit the footy. Final Cut Pro works with XDCAM files nativity and easily. I have the Sony PDW-U1 USB deck and it is a great tool for the money. You can even write-back to an XDCAM disk and use for data archiving.

The F800 is a beautiful camera for broadcast television. I shot with the 700 a few weeks ago with the Boston Celtics and was blown away by the sharpness, color and image.

I mostly do run-and-gun, but high end commercial work could be in my future as well. Plus, television stations I work for latched onto the 35mm lens adapter “film-look.” I have made a lot of money with the Sony PMW-EX1 and the Letus Ultimate. I still make money with the camera system. These same clients would be willing to hire me to shoot specialized footy for promos and features at high frame rate and in insane resolution. The creative services departments would have a field day!

I can always rent whatever I don’t buy for those specific jobs. But my biggest fear will be buying into a camera that will not pay off and will turn into a dead format. I am staying away from videotape, so I should be ok!

I will be spending sixty plus thousand dollars in the next few months on a camera system. I will probably wait until NAB this spring to chat with Sony and look for some sort of a show deal.

Thank you for all your help. The information in your comments are tweets are helping me to decide what to buy. These are three totally different cameras. I must find the balance between art and income. Please post more comments below to further the debate.

As of right now, I want a full sized PDW-F800 XDCAM. But then I see footy shot at night with the new updated Mysterium X sensor and my swing back over to RED! What would you buy?

I am about 80 percent television technology guru and 20 percent sports fan at the moment. I love using the top of the line high definition camera equipment that costs more than my house. I get pulled deeper into the job when a newer camera is given to me or I see a Phantom high-speed or 3D camera entering the game. Sports is a breeding ground for new television tech and I am on the top of the wave. The problem is, I’m shooting the wrong subject matter! I want to be 50 percent television technology and 50 percent natural history documentary creator.

I’m not complaining, but I’m defiantly not living my dream!

I work atop the left field roof at Fenway Park covering the Boston Red Sox. The perch is on the fifth level and it is the most exposed position in the entire ball park. I track a mating pair of red tailed hawks as they search for food and build a nest. I watch storms move in from the West. I am the first to see lightning and the first to run from the roof when I witness the buildings around me getting struck. That part is fun.

But I am at Fenway to cover a baseball game, not in Africa waiting for an animal to appear at a water hole.

I am one of 10 cameras inside the ballpark that bring the action into your living room and we are documenting sports history. I am paid to track the ball through the play and lock onto players in the dugout or on the field as the announcers talk about them. I have shot nearly 800 games.

Take a look at this ten minute video blog I shot over the summer of 2009 from the $100,000 Sony HDC-910 broadcast HDTV camera with 75x Canon telephoto zoom lens. You will understand why I often stand behind the camera at the ball park wishing I were covering wildlife in the middle of nowhere… with the same camera.

My director, Mike, gives me a lot of freedom as a camera operator as I shoot the game. I must thank him for letting me try new things and shoot stuff other than what is happening on the field.

Video footage courtesy of New England Sports Network.

First of all, they guys at VholdR let me borrow the 720p version ContourHD camera. I liked it so much, I paid $330 at BH Video to buy the 1080p upgraded version. I am not being paid by VholdR to write this blog. I am doing it to help you decide if this camera is right for you. I need to get my hands on the GoPro next.

Please look at these other blogs about the ContourHD cameras if you are new to my site:

ContourHD 720p Road and Trail Test
ContourHD 720p Indoor/Outdoor Test
ContourHD 1080p – A Day in Television

I took a few minutes today to drive around with both the ContourHD 720p (model 1200) and ContourHD 1080p (model 1300) point-of-view cameras mounted to my car. I chose a car as my mount because I had to lug around my Mac Book Pro running the software to configure the 1080p camera to record at the five different formats/frame rates. There is just a “hi” and “lo” switch on the back. You must dial in the switch to the specific settings using special software.

I wanted to get about one minute of video in all the formats/frame rates that these two cameras can record onto the microSD cards.

The ContourHD 720p camera is able to record in two different flavors: SD (848×480 @60FPS) and in HD (1280×720 @30FPS)

The ContourHD 1080p camera can record in five. Full HD (1920×1080 @30FPS), TALL HD (1280×960 @30FPS), CONTOUR HD (1280×720 @30FPS), ACTION HD (1280×720 @60FPS), and FAST SD (848×480 @60FPS).

I have included the original untouched files directly off the ContourHD 720p and 1080p camera’s microSD chip below for you to download and test out. They vary in size from 40MB to 225MB so a fast internet connection is a must!

I am testing out these cameras in full because I will be using them on a shoot in Florida this week and I do not want any surprises. I plan on just shooting 1080p and 720p HD @30FPS using the supplied 2GB cards and my new 16GB card. I will have my computer with me at all times!

I have found that the audio on the newer 1300 model camera is much better when it comes to heavy wind. I am still having trouble with a slight hiss and audio “interference” noise when using the camera in a quite room. If you turn the speakers up, you will hear it. VholdR told me that this was a problem on earlier models, but I found it on the new 1300 model as well.

I also found that the factory default (and not user adjustable) color and contrast setting on the 720p camera looked pretty good, even at the lower resolution when compared to the 1080p version. The 1080p version was smoother and packed with resolution, but the picture was almost too flat. The newer model 1300 does allow you to adjust the picture setting using the free “Easy Edit” software, but I have not yet deviated from the factory set default settings.

I found the 1080p camera to be much more noisy (grainy) as far as the video goes in the low light of my edit suite. The 720p version seemed to be cleaner. The cameras also did not really match color temp wise. You will see this much better in the XDCAM EX 1080p video blog edit download at the bottom of this page.

I have changed the audio gain setting in the 1080p camera from default 33 to 42 and found that it seems to work well at that level. I also changed the “bit rate” setting from “default” to “max”. This has changed the bit rate on the 1080p 30FPS footage from about 1MB/sec to about 1.7MB/sec (according to Final Cut Pro). I will be using this resolution and frame rate most of the time and I want the bit rate as high as possible for less video compression.

A problem I ran into was trying to get the “ACTION HD” 60FPS footy into 30 FPS but running at slow motion. I searched the VholdR website for help on how to use Compressor, QuickTime, or another piece of software to achieve this. I could not figure it out. Final Cut Pro would not let me bring the 60FPS file into my project.

So, I need your help. Please download all the files below, but specifically the file titled, “ACTION HD”. It was shot 720p @60 frames per second. Let me know if you figure out a way to bring the file into Final Cut Pro as a 30p files running slow motion.

The guys at VholdR just emailed me the bit rate setting for the formats on the ContourHD 1080p.

Here are the bit rates but note they can vary drastically from frame to frame because it will try to conserve space if there is little or no activity to encode (e.g. static frames with little variance in colors will be lower bitrates even if the setting is Max).

Please download these original H.264 .mov files taken directly off the ContourHD memory cards and uploaded to the server. Have fun with them and see how they work with your NLE.

RAW FILE DOWNLOADS

ContourHD 720p (model 1200)
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

ContourHD 1080p (model 1300)
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

More Downloads:
1080p @30FPS (XDCAM EX) version of demo video posted at top of this blog. yikes…611.4MB!
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

I am gearing up for a big job this weekend. Take a look at the gear I will be using!

I know I have the RED ONE, new Gamecreek MSG New York TV truck, Letus Mini and ContourHD video blogs to finish, but check out this one shot a few minutes ago!

Take a look at the new Letus Light Weight Support Rods! (LWS) I will be using.

Then, just over a year ago, I watched a video in full screen, high definition video over the internet. I was amazed. I did not think the technology was at that point and that it could be possible to post high quality video to a world wide audience with the click of a button. The HD video website is called Vimeo, and they are simply, hands-down, THE BEST.

Other websites followed, like Exposure Room, giving people a free method of HD delivery to the masses.

But, sometimes the Flash encoding on Vimeo and XR does not meet up to my high expectations. Vimeo has a great comment and community system setup, but occasionally, the video quality suffers as it is encoded into Flash. I am not certain why, but some of my videos look better than others (compression wise) and I am exporting them the exact same way out of Final Cut Pro. I also found that when uploading video to Vimeo, it is best to do it around 10am EST. If I were to set an upload at 10pm EST, the up speed is super slow and sometimes the encode screws up. Lots of people set the video to upload and encode before they go to sleep. Perhaps this is directly related to the number of encodes going on at the Vimeo servers at a given time.

Now, a new HD web video option is available and from my first experiences, it looks better than Vimeo, YouTubeHD and Exposure Room. Perhaps the Flash encoders are even more powerful at Facebook.

I know that this technology has been available with Facebook since the end of 2008, but I think that the company may have upgraded their encoding servers or Flash codec. The HD video looks very good on the site right now.

When I click full screen on my iMac computer, the Facebook HD looks far better than anything I have ever seen. I have posted an embed of the first video I have uploaded to Facebook HD. I think the embed will only play in standard definition. In order to view it in HD, you must click the “Facebook” logo in the upper left of the window and watch it from their site. Unfortunately, I think you must be a member of Facebook to view HD. It is free, so sign up now, just to try it out.

I hope Vimeo can use similar encoding technology and improve their website. Perhaps, because Vimeo got so big, so fast, they are trying to sort things out. Time will tell.

UPDATE: Looks like Vimeo is working on this problem. Click here to see the mp4 conversation at Vimeo.

Let me know what you think. When you post a comment, please let me know what type of computer you are using to view the HD video and tell me how it played out on your screen (ie. choppy, smooth, ect)

I must say one last thing about web video. All the video on my website is hosted by my server and all of the videos are in 720p HD quicktime. This is the clearest and best way to view HD internet video, in my opinion. But it takes a toll on the web hosting, server bandwidth and you need a decent computer to view it. A lot of people are looking for third parties to host HD video for new and old computers.

Perhaps, Facebook will allow HD embeds with their great Flash encoding in the future for people who have video intensive websites.

To address some of the concerns about who actually owns your content on Facebook, I cut and pasted a little part of the May 1, 2009 terms and conditions.

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how we share your content through your privacy and application settings. In order for us to use certain types of content and provide you with Facebook, you agree to the following:

1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (”IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (”IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account (except to the extent your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it).
2. When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).

So as far as I see it, you are in control of your content and allow Facebook to send it where they please. But, if you want that roller coaster to end, you simply delete the content and all is well. The content no longer is used on or by Facebook.

VIDEO BLOG: The “on-air mention”: The On-Air Mention

All professional sports camera guys love this. Even if they say…ahhh big deal. I am talking about the “on-air mention.” It does not happen very often, but when it does, it usually follows a sick camera shot or replay.

I captured another sweet puck follow to glove save at the end of my Sony “Supermo” hand held lens. The Sony HDC-3300 HD Super Motion is by far, the best hand held camera I have ever used in my career to date. It cost $270,000 plus the cost of the lens! It shoots at 90 frames per second and it is the fastest camera on the broadcast and in the building!

Here is a quick piece of video from tonight’s Stanley Cup Playoff game on the New England Sports Network broadcast. The On-Air Mention