I've long maintained that no one I know actually uses Media 100 anymore, but lots of them "used to." I've even called out the application's faithful here on this very blog, but to no avail. I was about to give up on the software, when I read this.

Nick Griffin over at Creative Cow is another person who used to use the software, but after a rather nasty separation, he seems inclined to give the old gal a second chance. (Griffin actually compares Media 100 to an old girlfriend.) He says everything old is new, with support for 99 video tracks, and 24 audio tracks. Yet, the software felt familiar on Griffin's hands, and imported projects from past Media 100 versions flawlessly.

The software also boasts full Quicktime support, and therefore will edit footage captured by Apple's Final Cut Pro natively. Other Media 100 features include Panasonic P2 support, and the ability to edit multiple formats on the same timeline. Click READ below for a link to the full review.

Wanna get into video editing, but can't afford the latest studio bundle? Never fear, Ubuntu will have you logging, trimming, and printing in no time!

The popular Linux flavor is planning an April release for a new distribution aimed at video production enthusiasts and professionals. The software package features Cinelerra as an editor, Jahshaka for compositing, and audio suite, Wired. The Ubuntu Studio wiki also states the building of an "alt" DVD authoring program as one of the team's goals.

I find this information cool, but I must confess, I've never tried any of the apps included here. I have always intended to try one or the other, mostly for comparison to the expensive software I regularly use, but the thought of having to install another OS just to get a crack at them seemed daunting. However, with everything bundled into a nice tight "distro" April can't come fast enough.

READ via Download Squad

I've been meaning to post this for a bit now, but things have been a bit hectic lately. Anyway, our friend Richard Baguley over at camcorderinfo posted the results of his poll on video formats. He asked readers to vote on which format they will consider when buying their next camcorder.

The results clearly favored HDV. It seems to be a popular choice which, given the DV tape standard, seems familiar to users. Surprisingly, AVCHD, the new format from Sony and Panasonic had a strong showing. I was also glad to see almost no one is considering those damn DVD camcorders. Click READ below for the complete results.

An upcoming documentary, The Truth About Elvis, takes an in-depth look at the conspiracy theory that The King lives. director Dan Bliss wants to separate the film from tabloid fodder, and make sure people the style and imagery of a true and earnest documentary. To do that, he's enlisted the help of the Panasonic AG-HVX200.

Bliss says the camera is a perfect fit for all the traveling 'Elvis required. He also praises it's ability to to shoot lengthy interviews with the help of a P2 Store portable hard drive. Using a Powerbook, Bliss would offload the footage to an external firewire drive, then back up each card to DVD. The system offers storage redundancy, and is a pretty good work-around for the current limitations of P2.

Of course, this isn't the first time we've posted on the success of the HVX in real world applications. Still, it continues to amaze as a an affordable option for "film" and television. Click READ below for more info about the film, and the work flow surrounding it.

Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis have unveiled their latest creation. Joost pronounced "juiced" is a web based video browser that aims to TV up the Internet. Users download the Joost software, and browse channels much like regular TV.

The system generates revenue through advertising, though in a less obtrusive way than television. Joost is also in the process of signing deals with content providers, making things nice and legit. Of course the system has a peer to peer element, meaning users will be sharing video with one another.

Joost will mark the third venture from Zennström and Friis. Both file sharing software Kazaa, and telephone over Internet provider Skype have proved lucrative for the Scandinavian duo. Time will tell whether or not they've scored a hat trick in the increasingly crowded video content market.

I just goes to show, if your video is stupid enough, and...um video-y enough you could be famous... or at least win some cold hard cash. Stupidvideos.com announced today, their award for Best Original Video of 2006. The winners Invisible Engine, a comedy troop from LA won $15,000 and untold recognition throughout the blogosphere.

The troop put together a little skit about a mouse stealing a tank which I admit made me laugh quite a bit. Stupid Videos says they awarded "Mouse Tank" the prize because it shows "what everyday users can do with just a camera and some creativity." (And a mouse in a remote control tank.)

Click READ below for a link to the video

Late Show with David Letterman music mixer Harvey Goldberg likes doing things the old fashioned way. He has a background in studio mixing, which helps a great deal with his current job. Every night, Goldberg is in charge of mixing both the house band with Paul Shaffer, as well as the musical guest... and he's still rockin' it analog.

Goldberg uses a massive (by broadcast standards) 80 input console, which he divides down the middle, allotting 40 per band. He has conceded to record everything digitally to a pair of 24-track RADAR units, which he feels are " the closest thing there is digitally to the warmth of an analog tape deck." Surprisingly, Goldberg says he has a harder time mixing the CBS Orchestra, than whatever band he met 20 minutes ago.

All this info was provided by Dan Daley over at Studio Daily, who had a chance to talk with Goldberg. Honestly, his article will be appreciated by by those of you who are much bigger audiophiles than I am. Still, it's interesting to read about all the gear, setup, and intricacies of a show like Letterman. For a link to the complete (and fantastic) interview from Studio Daily, click READ below.

Long time Apple host card maker ATTO debuted it's new Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) adapter Tuesday at Macworld Expo. Designed for the Mac Pro, the PCI Express card gets high-end users connected to RAID storage over one of the fastest connections possible. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that's great for video editors.

I won't bore you with all the details of SAS technology. Suffice it to say, SAS offers speed improvements over traditional SCSI, while eliminating some of it's hassles (now, what did I do with that terminator?) At around 3Gb (Gigabits not bytes) per second data transfer, SAS is a relatively affordable option for HD video editors, and provides reliability as well.

ATTO has been supporting the Mac platform for nearly 2 decades, and generally make great products. You can bet their new cards will have been tested specifically for the Mac Pro, and will perform as advertised. Click READ for a link to the product page.

Ahh to be young again! Full of dreams, uninhibited, not a care in the world...except for how many DV tapes it will take to record you friend Joey's birthday party...

My Life As A Child is a 6-part documentary series where children record their lives on video from a first person perspective. The Learning Channel selected 20 youngsters ages 7 to 12 for the project, checked out some video gear to them, and let them tape for 4 months. The footage they captured makes up the 6 one-hour episodes, and marks a first for TLC in melding user generated content and television. The show claims to be "frank, intimate, and eye-opening" as children share their perspectives on growing up in the 21st century.

I couldn't find any hard DVGuru info about the production (camera info, production notes, behind the scenes info.) Still, I can't help but be a bit fascinated by the fact that this sort of thing wouldn't have been possible 7 or 8 years ago. The relative price of camcorders, this generation's experience with video, and the popularity of "viral" video content all seem to culminate in a project like this one.

My Life As A Child airs on Monday, February 26 at 7PM (ET/PT.)

Manufacturer Snell and Wilcox claim their Kahuna switcher is the first machine capable of combining both HD and SD sources. Other combo switchers support only one format at a time, and usually require a reboot to move from standard to high def. Kahuna was designed for flexibility from the ground up, which makes it a great choice for stations like Thailand's iTV.

Independent TV of Thailand just installed the Kahuna, and will use it in a strictly SD capability for now. As they gradually gain HD equipment, the switcher can be upgraded via software to handle 'dual' definition. Once iTV makes the complete jump to High Def, they simply shut off the SD features, and use the Kahuna in HD.

Anyone who works in live TV can tell you the importance a good switcher. for those of you who haven't had a chance to experience the shear joy that is broadcast (wink, wink) a switcher is a machine that controls which of nearly a dozen sources is currently on the screen. With the push of a button, the tech director can switch (hence the name) from video tape, to a satellite feed, to a studio camera and back again.

Switchers are an absolute requirement for virtually all TV worldwide, including HDTV, which is not an easy pill for most stations to swallow. The prospect of having to replace all your equipment at once would simply be financially impossible. That's what makes the Kahuna so cool.

Click READ for a link to the Kahuna information page including a video presentation.

Taste Digital Media has offered royalty free sound, image, and video libraries for years. Their recent addition of an HD video background library seems to cover all the bases, and serves as an indicator of just how prolific HD video production has become. The best part is, they are cheap too.

Taste offers 13 volumes of it's HD library, containing 10 to 15 clips each. Total cost per volume is a mere $49.95, and all clips are completely royalty free. The library covers water, clouds, metalics, and abstract effects, and the whole thing is presented in 1080 wide-screen lossless PNG Quicktime format.

Via StudioDaily

It's funny being a video technology blogger. most of the year, you find yourself scraping the web, looking for stories your readers will find interesting. Then CES happens. I'm drowning in a sea of press releases, product demos, and tech announcements.

As could have been easily predicted, there's a bunch of Digital Video Recorder(DVR) stuff coming out of the trade show this year. I thought I would round up some of the more important announcements in the world of digital time-shifting.

TiVo finds a home at Comcast. The DVR pioneer has had a tough go since breaking up with Directv. This deal has to be good for them.

Dish Network announces DishDVR advantage. The satellite provider is taking the guesswork out of the DVR, by offering them first party, and not hiding them in the bill, or charging extra for them. Dish Network is also offering a complementary High Definition DVR to new subscribers.

Avid offers HD DVR software for the PC. Pinnacle PCTV To Go offers users the chance to place and time shift their HD content on their home computer.

Diego offers DVR direct to the consumer. The company originally supplied it's Moxi set-top technology exclusively to cable providers. Giving this stuff direct to consumers had to make the big content providers a bit nervous.

Sling Media announces Sling Catcher. Sling Catcher is actually technology that will be used in two new products. Sling Projector allows you to take your media, as well as all other functions of a standard PC to your living room set, while Sling Player lets you watch your TV on someone else's set.

for complete coverage of events at CES, Click READ to visit our friends at Engadget.

As most of you are aware, both the PS3, and the Xbox 360 have a means of providing consumers with HD movie playback. I harped on this issue for a while, ultimately deciding neither was ready for the big leagues. Now the holidays have come and gone, and our friends over at Joystiq have me rethinking things.

They link to a Wall Street Journal article talks about the current state of affairs in the HD format war. Their main focus is on the potential future of universal players(both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) from LG and HP. I do think these catch-all devices could be the solution consumers are looking for, but there was some additional info in the article I found even more interesting.

According to the article, there is a combined total of about 695,000 Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players in the wild. Of those, a mere 25,000 are stand-alone players. The rest are comprised of either the PS3, or the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player.

I have to admit, this number surprised me. As I think more about it though, it really makes sense. The video game system/movie players represent both the low price end of the spectrum, and a value-added product. (I minored in sales.) In short, you pay less and get more. Consumers are savvy enough these days to know a good deal when they see one, and PS3 and Xbox 360 provide a descent stopgap until these dual format players reach the market.

READ via Joystiq

It looks like more problems for Blu-Ray, and Sony this week, as several people are complaining about horror film 'The Descent' not working in their machines. The disk is one of Sony's new 50GB mega discs, and features a boatload of extras, including one of the first ever picture-in-picture directors commentaries, and a bunch of BD-Java encoded content.

It seems both the Sony BDP-S1 and Pioneer Elite Blu-ray players are choking on the disk. Problems range from not being able to use the interactive special features, to just getting a black screen. Each of the player's respective manufacturers says an update will fix the problem, and is on the way soon. Hopefully they'll have everything ironed out before LG's combo player hits the shelves.

My wife says buying an HDTV doesn't count as a New Year's resolution. I argued the point with her for 20 minutes, but she insists I pick something more constructive for '07. After much deliberation, I deiced my resolution for the new year will be to stop setting myself up for failure...and look into a new TV.

Dennis Barker over at Electronic House wrote a great summary of all the latest TV tech we can expect over the new year. According to Barker, we can expect "microdisplays" to bring 1080p into the realm of the common man. DLP and LCoS (AKA D-ILA's awesome cousin,) two rear projection technologies. allow for more affordable 1080p HD with a relatively thin footprint. In other words, they cost less than Plasma or LCD, and don't take up much more space.

Of course, if you are still set on a flat screen, be careful, and get your facts right, as the boundary between the two technologies continues to blur. LCD keeps getting bigger, and better, while the price of Plasma seems to be coming down a bit. For more info about advances in microdisplays, flat panels, and even the old CRT tube, click READ for a link to the complete article