Tips on Videotaping Meetings.

             First thing you have to determine is will it be stationary or manned camera. If is a stationary, you should have a decent tripod to mount the video camera. Then you look for a location where the camera can capture the whole assemble or members. The location must be free from traffic from people who might trip from your tripod or cables. It also has to be closer so you can pick-up the voices of the members during the session.  For power, the ideal is use an AC adaptor connected to the wall. You don’t want to run out of power because your battery died on you.
             If it is manned, a tripod is better because you can pan smoothly on the speakers and play around the zoom button if needed. Battery is ideal because you might decide to move to a different angle and location. You should have extra fully charged batteries. Once the warning light goes on, change the battery right away and don’t wait until the battery dies to make sure there is a continuity of the scene.
              Check your camera’s audio. Do sound checks and make sure the volume is up. Avoid placing your camera near a fan, air conditioner or any source of a humming sound. It will be the most annoying sound in your movie. Also clean your lenses because even a fingerprint will distort some images along the way. It is also advisable to mark the beginning of the tape by standing in front of the camera stating the tile of the meeting, the date and time, just like filming movies using the clapper board. Make sure that you have enough tapes or disc or memory cards to capture the length of the session.  Finally when you have ejected the tape, make sure you set the safety tab to avoid accidental erasures and label the tape immediately.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE TAPES?

               It all depends on your organization. Some save those tapes until the next general election. Others who have the time and because they would like to recycle the tapes especially memory cards or rewritable discs, they can transfer it to their old VHS tape or DVD recorder. VHS tapes are cheap and have 6-8 hours recording time. Same thing applies to DVD-rewritable discs. DVD discs are also cheap these days. It has a better life span and quality. Another alternative way is if you have software like iMovie, Videomaker or any software that captures video. You can also save it to your external hard drive. Hard drives are not expensive; in fact you can buy 1Tb for only $100. An hour of video files is about 13.5G therefore you can have 90 hrs of footage.
              Looking back to the tapes we recorded during our KAPEHAN days of 1985 brings fond memories of our past leaders and present and those who passed away. I remember during one of our sessions at Felix Salazaar’s residence, we were interrupted by the news in the Philippines that General Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile announced their support to Corazon Aquino and the People Power in EDSA. The breaking news echoed to us and our reaction was jubilant as if we were in EDSA ourselves. All of this was videotaped.  It was just like watching the history channel and the only difference is you were there, you were part of it and it is your history and it is.

Arnel Pineda, a Filipino lead singer of  the famous American rock band Journey. Clarice Pempengco was invited by Ellen 
Degeneres on her show when Ellen saw her Star King performance on YouTube.

In fact, Pempengco made minor appearances in local television shows and TV commercials, but essentially had fallen off the radar after her stint at Little Big Star. It was not until 2007 that Pempengco gained worldwide recognition after an avid supporter, started posting videos of her live performances on YouTube under the username FalseVoice. The videos garnered millions of hits making Pempengco very famous.

Also nobody could have missed the famous performances of the CPDRC inmates in Cebu that made millions of hits on YouTube, dancing to the different tunes, music and marches, making it one of the “must see” tours in the Philippines.

What is YouTube? It is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. It was created by three former PayPal employees, namely Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, after having difficulty sending videos to their friends on the internet.

The company is based in San Bruno, California and uses Adobe Flash Player technology to display a wide variety of user generated video content including movies, TV and music videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although some companies and organization use them as part of the YouTube partnership program.

Unregistered users can watch the videos, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos that are considered to contain potentially offensive content are available only to registered users over the age of 18. The uploading of videos containing pornography, defamation, copyright violations, and clips that promote hatred and criminal activity is prohibited by YouTube’s terms of service.

Uploading videos to YouTube by standard account holders are limited to 10 minutes. It accepts most common formats including AVI, MOV, MKV, MP4, FLV, DivX and OGG. These include video codec’s such as MPEG, MPEG 4 and WMV.  It also supports 3GP allowing videos to be uploaded from legacy mobile phones.

YouTube started with one quality level but now it has a range of quality levels and formats for viewing in mobile phones. You can upload High Quality (HQ) 480×380 and High Definition 1280×720.
Now is the time to show your work and your creativity. Remember, it does not cost you anything to post on YouTube but the outcome of your clips may reward you.

Before cashing out our savings, make sure you know what you’re buying because there is always the rule of thumb when you purchase items especially electronic products. “You get for what you pay”

The facts are:
- HD television set prices are going down;
- HD television are expensive to repair;

Here are some important specification to look for:

Resolution: Almost all sets 40 inches or larger have 1080p resolution, which is 1920 by 1080 pixels. The 1080p resolution will give you the maximum detail available for almost all HD content. For some smaller HDTV sizes, 1366 by 768 pixels is often a lower-cost choice. A 720p set has to scale 1080p images down to match its native resolution, and this interpolation may introduce imaging artifacts and the image may not appear quite as sharp or have the depth of the picture on a 1080p set.

While 720p models are available in many sizes as a lower-cost option, they remain prevalent in the 40-inches-or-smaller category. All else being equal, I recommend that you pick a 1080p model, which will better match much of the content you can now get from broadcast, streaming, and satellite services, and will match the native resolution of a Blu-ray Disc player.

Contrast: This spec refers to the difference between the darkest images and the lightest images that a screen can produce; in general, it is determined by how dark the blacks are. Contrast is probably the most important factor in determining image quality after resolution. If the blacks are gray and the contrast is lower, the whole image can look washed out. If the blacks are deep and strong, however, the image will look sharper and the colors will pop.

Example are smaller LCDs which has a contrast ration of 800:1 will not match the one with 8000:1 ratio.

Unfortunately, manufacturers' methods for measuring and specifying contrast are almost useless for helping you predict how the screen will look. Manufacturers use full-screen measurements, all black and all white, in a darkened room. An all-black or all-white screen is not what people watch, and in computer terms it conveys precisely zero bits of information. When you have actual content on the screen, you get internal reflections, ambient lighting effects, and other optical crosstalk that results in the light from one section of an image affecting the light levels of another.

Video connections: You have to get the image from your disc player or set-top box into the TV set, and to do so you need to use a video connection. Only three connectors (HDMI, component video, and VGA) can deliver

HD-resolution images, and of those, only HDMI is capable of providing full 1080p HD over an HDCP-protected connection.

HDMI: This is a digital connection, so it delivers the image data exactly as the player or set-top box sends it. HDMI can also carry sound (eliminating the need for extra cables) and it may let you control more than one device with a single click of the remote. The newest version of HDMI is 1.4, which adds more features such as the ability to carry a network connection, but it is not yet available on many devices. HDMI is definitely the connection of choice, as it gives you the most accurate transfer of the image data, and it also supports the HDCP copy-protection features that can help guarantee that you get the best-quality image from your source. One note: Making HDMI cables doesn't involve a lot of magic; a $12 cable bought on the Internet is likely to perform just as well as a $120 cable purchased in some stores. Try a cheap cable first, and if it works, you're done. If it doesn't, you can then try a more expensive cable to see if it solves the problem.

Component video: This connection relies on three separate RCA connectors, marked red, green, and blue. An analog connection, it can handle 1080p signals, but it cannot carry the HDCP copy-protection signal required for some devices. In theory, it may not be as good as a digital connection (especially over a long distance) but you're not likely to notice the difference.

S-Video: This is a round DIN connector that offers slightly better quality than composite video connections do.

Composite video: This is a single RCA plug, typically yellow. Cables with this plug often also have the standard red and white RCA plugs for stereo audio channels.

How many connections do you need? Most HDTVs today offer at least three HDMI connectors, while many provide four, and some have even more. Get as many HDMI connections as you can; doing so will allow you the most flexibility in attaching devices. For instance, you'll probably want to connect a set-top DVR, a Blu-ray player, a camcorder, or other gadgets. If possible, use HDMI for your high-definition connections, and try to buy an HDTV that has one more connector than you currently need, to allow for the future expansion of your home entertainment system.

If you have too few HDMI ports on your set, you can always add a switch that will multiply how many devices you can connect to a single input on your HDTV; It cost around $99 dollars but this device adds a level of complexity and one more remote control to track.

So there you go, a lot of specifications to know but it is worth it.