Sandstone Productions Blog

The Fix For That Glitch in Your AVCHD File

2012-01-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

In a previous article about file backup “Back up! A simple guide to archiving your video footage” I mentioned that some AVCHD files can add a glitch in your videos after being archived. This isn’t intended to be a technical-heavy white paper on the AVCHD format. If you want that then try Wikipedia. This will be a simplified Who, What, When, and Where look at the problem and offer some ways to fix it.

The Who: AVCHD is a file format used to record HD images. It uses MPEG compression to squeeze all that HD goodness onto your little memory card. You may have heard of MPEG. It’s also used in DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and satellite TV systems.

The What: AVCHD can not record a file that is bigger than 4 GB. (I would tell you that this is due to using the Fat32 file structure for saving files, but we aren’t getting technical today). This isn’t a problem with short clips, but on long clips your video file will shoot past the 4 GB barrier. To get around this, the camera spans. Basically it will keep splitting the files into 4 GB or less chunks. When you play the video back the camera will seamlessly jump from the end of chunk 1 to the beginning of chunk 2. This way you can record continuously until your card is filled up.

The When: So what’s the problem? You shoot, the camera spans, all is good. But your camera also saves instructions on your memory card on how it split up the chunks. The problem is when you move your video files off the memory card to back them up, edit them, give them to a friend, and so forth. Once they leave the folder structure of your card any video files that where split up lose the instructions on how to playback seamlessly. So now if you play those video files there will be a glitch between chunk 1 and chunk 2.

The Where: Actually this is The How, as in “How do I fix this?” You could copy the entire contents of your memory card to a folder on your computer. This would keep the folder structure in place and a lot of software will see it as a card and import the files correctly. I personally don’t like this option as I like to rename and organize my files for both working on projects and archiving. (See the “Back up! A simple guide to archiving your video footage” article for more details.) So I’d recommend the following two options.

1. First, check your software that came with your camera. Some manufacturers provide a copy utility that reassembles those video chunks for you and saves it as one big file on your computer. How quick and easy is that?

2. If your camera didn’t come with a copy utility than all is not lost. There is third party software out there that lets you manually rejoin the video chunks. A quick Google for “AVCHD file joiner” brings up some options. You’ll just have to work a little harder at it since you will have to preview your footage and manually select the chunks that go together.

And that’s it. You should now be AVCHD glitch free.

The Worst Videos Ever - What Bob taught me about video and marketing

2011-12-08T17:55:00.001-08:00

Early in my career I made videos for the regional manager of a car company. We'll call him "Bob." Bob had to keep all the dealers in his region up to date on the ever-changing leasing, financing, and sales incentives. "Model A has 4.5% for 64 months or 2.9% for 36 months or $3000 cash back with only 7%, but only if it includes Package B and rust proofing..." You know, the kind of stuff that makes your eyes glaze over.

Now Bob was terrible on camera. Just awful. Even with a teleprompter he couldn't get two lines out. But I think Bob was also a genius. He would write and star in these crazy scripts about mummies, aliens, and mad scientist. Somehow he would convince coworkers from around the region to costar with him. His corny scenes were filled with what can’t even be called bad acting - and explanations of the new incentives.

The dealers LOVED IT. They would talk about it at the water cooler. Some watched it more than once. They actually looked forward to the next video coming out. Incredible.

Bob taught me two important lessons. The first one was that the creative use of video can make any subject entertaining. Sure, it took a little more effort. A little more time. But the entertainment value of his videos was the hook that reeled the dealers in. That is something that can't be replicated by any other medium.

The second thing Bob taught me was that you have to first get and keep your target audience's interest before they will listen to your message. And I mean the kind of listen where you comprehend and remember, not the in-one-ear and out-the-other kind. Bob knew his topic was boring. If his videos were just some graphics and a talking head spouting numbers I'm sure many would have zoned out. Wouldn't you?

The success of the videos was simple. The dealers paid attention. They learned how to take advantage of the regional promotional and marketing efforts. The result? The car company sold more cars.

So Bob, wherever you are, hats off to you. You made financing fun.

Back up! A simple guide to archiving your video footage.

2011-11-15T23:08:00.001-08:00

Ain’t technology great! Video cameras now record to a hard drive or some kind of flash media. It’s instant access and has hours of record time and you can just delete old footage and reuse it and, Oops. You just deleted that irreplaceable shot! Welcome to the dark side of file-based recording. Ain’t technology great?

So now we must create back ups. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can either spend a little time now to do it, or lay awake all night trying to decide how to explain to everyone that you trashed the video. Luckily keeping your video archived doesn’t take an IT degree. In just a few simple steps you can confidently hit the "Format" button.

1. Make A Plan
And stick to it. This can take a little thought as you figure out what will work best for you. My suggestion is to make it as simple as possible. If it is too complicated or cumbersome that you don’t do it then what’s the point? Since my plan involves a couple of steps and several different drives I wrote a neat little cheat sheet. It outlines the steps in my back up process. It prevents that dumb “Now what was I doing again?” blank look at my screen.

2. Be Organized
This is key. If you aren’t organized than as files start to pile up you’ll loose track of what is new, what is old, and what you have or have not backed up already. Start with where you store your files. For my family videos I created a main folder on my hard drive called “Family Videos.” Original, I know. Inside that folder are sub folders for each year and inside the year folders are more sub folders for each month of the year. Then all videos that were shot during that month go into their respective folders.

Next, I rename all my files. For one thing, it’s much easier to find something if it is labeled with a descriptive name like “Trip to the zoo.MTS” instead of 00142.MTS. Another thing is it prevents conflicts from duplicate names if you have more than one camera.

One word of warning before renaming your files: Many cameras record to AVCHD. Due to how AVCHD works long video clips are broken up into multiple smaller clips. Renaming these clips will cause a glitch in the playback where the two clips meet. Refer to your camera’s documentation for the correct procedure for transfering your video clips to your computer. (Hmm, note to self. Good idea for future article.)

3. Copy and delete
Here’s my process for my family videos: I back up my files at the end of a vacation, a big event, or the month if there hasn’t been much video activity going on. I copy all the files from my SD card to the “Family Videos” folder on my computer. I use TeraCopy for this. It not only copies everything to my computer but then checks and verifies that each file was copied without errors. Then I rename my files and drag them into their appropriate folders.

Now it’s time for the actual back up. You can either do a simple file copy or use backup software. I back up to three different hard drives. Three drives may sound like over kill but I find it a good trade off between redundancy and convenience. Storage is cheap. You can buy a couple of 1 TB drives that will last you a long time without a big hit to your wallet.

My first drive I backup to is the one in my computer so that I can have quick access to my files. The second drive is my Archive drive that is stored in the house in case I lose my computer drive. The third drive is my Off Site drive. This is in case I lose my house! You can keep it at work or a safe deposit box. I keep mine at a nearby relative’s house. The price is right and I can access it on weekends if need be. Once - and only once - my video footage is on all three drives I format my SD card. Then it goes back into my camera case ready to capture more of those once-in-a-lifetime precious moments.

Reflections on my DIY - Can a Do-It-Yourself project save your business money?

2011-11-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

I really like the idea of the Do-It-Yourself project. DIY is fun, it’s challenging, and you get to brag to everyone that you did it yourself. And you saved your business a ton of money
instead of paying for it, right? Right? Earlier this year I finished a couple of DIYs and was asking myself that same question. And I had to admit that in most cases that the answer was no.

Your DIY could be any service or product you want to have for less. For me it was my DIY HD monitor for a shoot I had the next month. I needed a small one that I could attach to my camera for monitoring focus, framing, and exposure. While researching prices I found a site where people were making their own.

“I made one for less than half the cost of the XYZ monitor” DIYer_Pro posted. “and it only took me a couple of hours!”

Awesome! I watched the tutorials on YouTube and ordered the recommended parts. Had I kept reading I would have seen that DIYer_Pro had a garage stocked better than Home Depot, his dad owned a CNC machine, and his uncle was an electrical engineer for NASA. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating - his uncle didn’t work for NASA. But his brother had a machine shop. I had a dremel and some duct tape.

Ten months later I finished my monitor. After spending countless hours on it the monitor was a little heavy for the camera, a bit awkward to use, looked home-built and cropped the image so that I couldn’t see the full frame. Sure it works, but I know it is not professional enough to be used as intended. For not much more than the cost of all my parts I bought a DP4 by SmallHD. It’s smaller, lighter, shows the full frame, is easy to see focus with and has a special mode to check exposure. Professional.

My DIY cost my business both time and money. So next time I’m tempted to start one I have a few questions I have to answer first.

1. How will it represent my business? When customers see my DIY what does it say about me? Does it make my business seem amateur? Could I lose a sale because my competitor looks more professional and is perceived as being better?

2. Is the money saved worth the time invested? How much is your time worth? It seems DIY projects always take a lot more time than I think they will. Is all that time invested worth the sometimes mediocre result? What alternative things could I do with that time that would be more benefiticial for my business?

4. Am I able to do it? It’s real irritating to put a lot of time and money into something only to come to the sad realization that you can’t do it - and then have to hire someone who can. Trust me.

5. What is my total cost? Once I added up all the parts, the unexpected expenses I had, and all my time spent, my DIY monitor cost way more than if I had just bought one.

Not that all DIYs are bad. If you have the time, the right tools, and the talent or skill to do a professional job then it can be a great success. But most of us are better off to forget the DIY. Your business image and pocket book will thank you.

5 Tips for Choosing the Right Video Production Company

2011-02-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

So your company needs a new video and you’ve been delegated to put it together. Only problem is you may know as much about video as I know about neutron physics. (Yeah, absolutely zero.) The first thing you probably did was an internet search and received pages upon pages of listings. Most of them sounded like they could do the job, but how do you find the video production company best for your project?

Tip #1: Organize Your Thoughts

Take a moment and think about why you are doing this video. What is its purpose? Who is your target audience? How will they see it? What end result do you expect to achieve? Also think about what might be involved in creating your video. What locations are needed? When will they be available? What are the schedules of the people who will be involved? What is your deadline? And that's just for starters. We're going to ask you a ton of questions to get an idea of how to produce your video. If you don't have a clear idea of what you're looking for then your quotes will be all over the map.

Tip #2: Compare Samples

Compare video samples from different companies. Don’t just watch their demo reel. You should also watch entire videos from recent projects. This will give you the best example of the quality of video you can expect.

Tip #3: Give Us a Budget

I don’t know why this is the hardest information to pull from a client. I think they are afraid that if they tell me their budget is $x.xx amount then their quote will magically be exactly $x.xx. Many times they are looking for a good deal and want to see what we would charge first. Sounds good, but it can work against you. The truth is, a video can be done a hundred different ways. Knowing your budget lets us figure out the best way to create your video. As we discuss it with you, we can combine your video goals and your budget to give you the most on-screen bang for your buck. We can also provide alternate suggestions for those areas that would take a lot of money for negligible effect.

Your goal here is to get accurate quotes that you can directly compare. That isn't going to happen if we are left to imagine what you're budget is and outline our services accordingly.

Tip #4: Get it in writing

All of it. Cost, scope of work, formats, deadlines, payment options, deliverables, copyright ownership – all of it. Never assume that what was talked about is part of your quote. When you are reviewing your quote if you feel anything is not clear or is missing ask about it. Lets get any misunderstandings ironed out now before the work starts.

Tip #5: Make your choice based on two categories - Objective & Subjective

The Objective – If you have followed the first four tips, you should be able to accurately compare each company against the cost and type of services offered.

The Subjective – Next compare each company's quality of work, experience, and video style. Which one fits your project the best?

Finally, compare your top choices in each area. The right video company for your project is the one that best meets your requirements in each of those categories. Now, about those neutron physics...