Summer Update: I'm not dead, nor is my rage!

So, it's been a few months now; that student film I mentioned in April has been long finished, and what a wreck that was...

Anyway, in that time, I've come to a few rage worthy bits in my life since then, and it's about time I mentioned them. Some of them are common knowledge, but I can't help but complain, right? First off:

- iTunes is a bloated piece of shit; I'm currently on Windows 7, so I'm aware of possible incompatibilities, but really Apple, running 32 bit processes concurrently with a supposed 64 bit program? What a joke.

- Speaking of Apple, don't you love it when people use Macs, and then complain about not being able to do something that a Windows user has been able to from the start? I know I do!

- The VDSLRs are making their way, but no one has gotten it right yet. Big fucking surprise when "making it right" would just destroy their pro video sales. Ok, I'm not asking for XLR input, as I understand the body of a DSLR is limited, but seriously guys... Get rid of the god damn audio gain, allow shutter and ISO control (Nikon, you bastards), and cut the half-assed compression (Panasonic, we all know you're bullshitting us with the low bitrate on the GH1)

- Oh lawd, a repackaged consumer cam yet again. The HMC-40 is to the HMC-150, as the DVC-30 was to the DVX-100, except it doesn't suck quite as much. The sensor has been reduced to 1/4.1" 3MOS, and it takes an external XLR adapter for audio input, though it fortunately maintains the native 24p capability, which was lost in the apparent relative to this camera - the Panasonic TS300. The camera actually would be a great deal if it had a couple of hundred bucks shaved off. B&H has the camera listed at $2995, which is plain stupid considering the HMC-150 is about $3200 if you look around. Give me the camera for about $2300, and I'm sold.

- Back to Apple: I'm tired of the fans knocking on other products' abilities just because they're not made by Apple. I know several people who discredit Adobe Premiere, often giving a chuckle or concerned look whenever I mention that I edit on it. Yeah, take that as a personal blow, but objectively speaking, why should it fucking matter? These people will be the same person to say that the amount of money you spend doesn't matter if you can produce a good film regardless. Can I edit with and do I love FCP? Yes. Do I want to spend $3000 on a Mac Pro? No. (Don't give me that "buy used" crap; computers aren't cameras, and you can't rely on old tech very long; I can build a cheaper PC myself). Sure, Premiere's workflow is a little less friendly than FCP, but it has come a long way, particularly into CS3 and CS4, and anyone unwilling to admit that is lying to themselves.

- Another Apple whine (I have tons of these): Photoshop does not magically run "better" on OSX. I have not referenced benchmarks, so I'm not going to make a quantitative statement on this, but for pure functionality, Photoshop IS THE SAME ON BOTH PLATFORMS. Stop spewing this shit all over, I'm tired of hearing that "Macs are better for graphics", or that "There is no point in running Photoshop on Windows". The hilarious aspect is this: Most people making those claims can't design for shit. You want to talk about productivity and quality? I'm too lazy to reference this, but go over to CreativeCow and watch a tutorial. You'll see quite a few of the users running Windows-based versions, and creating gorgeous animations, composites, etc.

- And PC lovers, stop calling Apple gay or stupid for no apparent reason. OSX is not a terrible platform at all (though its security is lacking; don't worry Mac users, you'll get more viruses eventually), and has some great applications from the start. To Microsoft's credit, I do believe they would like to integrate more "creativity" programs in Windows, but given the drama over Windows 7 not even including a browser in the EU version, I say the EU can shove it, and let MS just integrate more programs regardless. I'm paying $200 or so for the OS, I want my basics... Anyway, I hate Apple myself, but as a company. Their products are generally good, albeit ridiculously overpriced (don't give me the APPLE QUALITY argument, I have run into just as many problems and crashes with OSX as I have Windows), and the culture they perpetuate is snobbish and idiotic.

I'll see what else I can gather for my rage. I've strayed a bit from video this time...

How To Fuck Up Your Student Film

It's been ages since my last post, but I felt now was a good time to report my own failures to this blog. Afterall, it's been a goal of mine to outline several experiments (whether they be successful or not...) here, and it's about time I do so. Anyway, I'm in the middle of a student film of mine; post production has already begun and unfortunately, while shooting the thing I realized a couple of errors:

• - I shot about 20 mins of footage as interlaced 60i (Of all people to do this, I fuck up of course...)
• - After those 20 mins, I switch the camera to a 24p mode (Not 24Pa, stupidly enough)
• - After another 10 mins or footage, I realize that I left the camera's 24p mode with 1/24th shutter... So now a good deal of footage ends up with MOTION BLUR EVERYWHERE!

Please, learn this lesson, fellow film students: Always shoot one format, otherwise you'll just give yourself a headache. How so? Well I wanted the whole thing to be 24fps, so I ended up deinterlacing the first 20 minutes, then motion compensating it (AVISynth - MVTools) to 24p. The result is somewhat artifacted, but it's better than having two mismatched framerates...

At this point, I have a separate file for the 20mins of converted footage, while another 10 or so mins remain a somewhat blurry mess.

On top of this, there are a few shots I did not consider achieving while on set, and editors know exactly what a shortage of shots can lead to. ("FUCK, I CAN'T CUT TO ANYTHING"), and the sound is a bit shitty at times. They say each problem is just a creative challenge...


Bullshit.

All I can say is FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

The new Zeta Gundam Blu-rays come out on December 19th, and although the pictures are only in standard definition, the color comparison is outstanding to say the least. JUST LOOK AT THAT FUCKING HIZACK... By the way if you can't figure it out already, the Blu-ray version is on the right side, while the existing DVD version is on the left.

Tutorials? WHAT?!

I've always intended to post entire tutorials for the world to see, but I never got around to it. Fear of technical inaccuracy/laziness to find accurate technical specs has prevented me from getting around to it, but let me start with something simple:

Cheap places to buy shit:

www.monoprice.com - Whenever you hear some dumbass at BestBuy tell you to buy Monster Cables, ignore them (or preferrably, call them out on their bullshit) and go here.
www.supermediastore.com - For all forms of storage media (among some hardware for it), go here. Don't fall for buying a 2GB flash drive for $20.
www.bhphotovideo.com - Buy all video equipment here, IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF NY. While they have great prices, you'll get raped in sales tax if you live in NY, so I suggest buying expensive shit from out of state (www.beachcamera.com, but the selection is terrible I'm afraid).
www.newegg.com - Everyone knows this one. For two months or so, they were charging sales tax in NY, but have since reverted their stance (my guess is that the "amazon tax" fell through or something), so I feel it's necessary to keep them on here. TigerDirect is also good, but I hate their shitty site layout, so it's not listed here.

If I'm missing out any cheap ass sites, do tell, people... Also maybe I'll put some DVD rip guide up or something...

AVCCAM: It better deliver

A few months ago, I essentially orgasmed over a (then) new camera called the Sony PMW-EX1. Since then, I've gotten to actually try the camera, and play around with some of its actual footage. Let me tell you, it's really beautiful, and the camera is great... Though I personally hate the ergonomics - or lack there of. I feel little need to whine about that here, since this blog isn't devoted to cameras, but it DOES devote itself to video quality, and there's something I've been following in the last few months that has just come out from Panasonic:

Panasonic's HMC-150

I'm very excited by this for a few reasons. I am a big fan of Panasonic's awesome, but aging, DVX-100 series, and despite my love for it, I simply will never buy one since, to me, HD is the way to go.

Now I've never liked HDV; the idea of 25Mbit MPEG2 makes me cringe, and HDV footage just sucks for the most part. DVCPROHD P2 is a bit hard for students (read: me) and low-end videographers to afford, despite being a great format and workflow. I've seen the footage, and it is beautiful. When the EX1 came out, I was excited for what was essentially a cheaper form of P2 media (SxS cards), while still using MPEG2 (albeit at a much more acceptable 35mbits... and yes, 35mbits does do the job), but it seemed like an easier format to manage in terms of hard drive space (not to mention interframe editing isn't as horrific as it used to be due to fast transcoding times).

That brings me to the HMC-150. It uses MPEG4 AVC, which many (hahahahahahaha) readers will know is my favorite codec. Consumer cameras have been using this for a while actually, and naturally, editing is not the smoothest operation around (though I haven't tried it myself), since the codec is much more processor intensive. So anyway, the HMC-150 compresses 1080p footage using a 21mbit (24mbit max) bitrate. This sounds lower than HDV, and it is, but MPEG4 AVC is fucking amazing, you can take my word for it. The greatest part? Footage is stored on SDHC cards, and with such a compression ratio, there is an estimated 3 hours to a single 32GB card. Now, 32GB cards are still about $60-70 depending on where you go, but compare this to a $500 SxS or P2 card (which only get MINUTES to a card, not hours).

Sorry Sony, you tried, but please kill HDV already.

I knew it would happen!

For all of you people who practically fornicate over CG animation over cels, the problem that I've predicted for years has finally surfaced:

Yup, that's right. Can't figure out what I'm talking about? Oh, right... The Yukikaze Blu-Ray box-set (and I'm going to stray away from comments on the show, since I haven't seen it) happens to be upconverted 480i.

I have been prepared for shit like this happen eventually, I'm just astonished that something upscaled was actually released, rather than it being impossible to release it (and thus ignoring an HD release).

Bandai Visual is behind the release, and the video is AVC, so no doubt the added bitrate and codec efficiency gives it an edge over the DVD release, not to mention the fact that it has been upscaled probably a bit better than a simple DVD upscale would be, but this does not excuse such production standards. That reminds me, who animated Yukikaze again? Oh, right...

Gonzo

The "masters" of anime production have fulfilled my greatest fear, and I even thought that they would be the first ones to do it. Apparently, they were such dumb fucks that they animated the entire show (Oh, let's not forget this is an OVA, shouldn't there be higher production values?) in SD. Jesus Fucking Christ, why did I know this would happen? Not only is this an upscale, but it's an upscale from an interlaced source, meaning there could be multitudes of poor edits, 60i effects, ghosting, etc... And no, not from being upscaled, but just from being left over.

Fucking hell, enjoy your shitty mastering, and cheap computer shortcuts.

EDIT: Seems Air TV's BD set is also an upscale (save the redone OP apparently), go figure.

A sad perspective of anime production

Anime is essentially a format in its own if you ask me. Generationally speaking, we can separate the difficulty of anime into categories based on their age. Not just of the series itself, but of the transfer/DVD.

"Older" Shows: usually identify will anything that was cel-based, photographed onto film, and most likely hard telecined for the original TV masters and original DVD releases. A possible exception to this rule are extremely modern cel based shows (Big-O, Inuyasha, and anything remaining the 2000s), whose DVDs often have component transfers and very consistent telecines.

"New" Shows: Usually refers to anything in the 2000s up produced with computers. The problems of hard-telecined cel based shows have been trumped with the consistency of a digital workflow; HOWEVER, inconsistencies such as differences in programs, resolutions, framerates, special effects, and budget lead to, in my opinion, far worse telecine issues with CG anime.

To diverge for a moment, CG anime (not to be confused with CGI animation; I'm referring to 2D animation that is colored on a computer) CAN be (I'm not saying I know precisely how it's done) colored in one program and animated together in another. There's a ton of issues that come up in the editing stage though, where editors may even work in 60i (presumably after the animation itself has been telecined) and then integrate purely 60i special effects, credits, etc. There are even cases where a 60i pan is performed across the animation, presumably because the motion was already telecined.

This of course causes another huge problem: HD capability. Already there are mere upscales for Blu-ray anime discs. Yukikaze's BD is an upscale (unsurprisingly from the "masters" of telecine, Gonzo) judging by the utter lack of detail and sharpness. The few pictures I've seen have shown combed frames in various places, which makes one wonder just how possible it is to easily resize these shows (presumably edited in SD... I'll get to why I can guess that later) to HD.

Take Full Metal Panic S1 (I refuse to buy the second and third season R1 DVDs due to horrible authoring). The DVDs are decent, with some artifacting, but the mastering is absolutely terrible. In any given episode, there is not only VFR, but 60i zooms, double telecines, and 60i fades. This would lead one to believe that at least the 60i stuff was added very late in production, most likely by the editor, and after the show was already output for SD. What will happen to this show beyond SD? The combs can be helped very manually, but the dissolves, pans, and zooms would have to be rerendered to look decent at all.

To get back on topic though...

"Old" Shows on Remastered DVDs: These are the best in my opinion. Since the older cel-based shows are entirely on film, most remasters (Evangelion being a nasty exception) are easy to IVTC, with some even being able to have Force FILM applied to them (Outlaw Star comes to mind). There *should* be no possibility for VFR in these shows.

"Really New" Shows: Since about 2005, MAYBE 2004, the mastering quality of CG anime has increased, admittedly. Gundam Seed Destiny for example, brought Gundam Seed's framerate to a solid 24fps (Gundam Seed was practically all 30p, with few exceptions), with one or two flashback sequences breaking the trend. Sunrise even rerendered several sequences (mainly the recycled OP animations) to playback in 24p. VFR is still abundant, but the break in framerates isn't as problematic as it once was, and 60i stuff isn't as common. Additionally, with many more shows being natively produced in HD, there is a push for high quality mastering.

There's my little rant, I hope I reduced someone's faith in anime DVDs.

That was a post I made yesterday on Doom9's forums. I felt it extremely necessary to show just how fucked up most digital shows are. Computers are better right? With all the money saved on not drawing cels, you'd think they could invest in some proper production and mastering. As I said, it's beginning to get better, but there are still numerous shows that suffer from, and will most likely continue to suffer from, interlacing issues.

Before anyone even bothers to go batshit insane on me and claim that the animation couldn't possibly have been created in SD, YES that's true. It would be extremely difficult to color in and animate in SD, I even suspect that many companies maintain their original production files (hopefully...). I mean really, even on non-HD broadcast shows, this is highly probable considering the amount of changes, uncensoring, reanimating, etc, that is done for DVD versions these days. To reiterate the point quite simply, this is not the animators' faults, this interlacing is the fault of the editors, video operators, and quite possibly anyone that adds special effects AFTER telecine.

Fuck all of the editors who insist on working in 60i, we need to ditch this shit called interlacing already.