My Summer Vacation

by Dirk Fischer, Educational Technology Consultant

Remember when I wrote: "Well, I am finally going to bite the bullet and put together some web pages on video: video production, video editing, video anything"? Well, I never could get around to it <cough> editing <cough>. Seems my editing chores for Speaking of History ... Doing Oral History Projects took much longer than anticipated. Editing is like that take your estimate of the time needed and DOUBLE it and then add a bit more for Murphy's Law.

Some updates:

Technology speeds up again! Many duplication services can now duplicate your DVDs, VCDs and SVCDs without the original being on "authoring" media or digital linear tape. Check your Yellow Pages or the web for a duplication service near you and ask if they have the capability. It does exist.

I see that many schools getting heavily into video have decided to use dedicated editing "appliances" like the Casablanca Avio or Kron. The reasons being, they work out of the box and you only have to learn one editing system for all grade levels. If this sounds like a solution to your woes, let me know and I can set up a workshop or demonstration of these systems.

Now that the price of CD-RW (CD Read/Write) drives has dropped, making your own VCDs (Video CDs think VHS) and SVCDs (Super Video CDs think S-VHS) is doable. Notice I said "doable" it's still not easy if you want to use the free tools (like VCDEasy available on the Net). The purchased tools (like Nero and Easy CD Creator) are getting less technical and more user-friendly. I'll be keeping my eye on them.