Adventures in VideoLand

I’ve got a bunch of video captured with various forms of ancient technology: it sits on Hi-8, 8mm and VHS tape.  After some research, part of the new computer spec was to buy a capture card to grab and encode the video (PVR-150), and a video editing/DVD burning application (Adobe Premiere Elements).

I dabbled a couple of months ago and immediately found problems: the video capture on the PVR-150 in MPEG format played back fine on video players like Windows Media Player, but looked awful in Adobe Premiere.  This week I found my way back to the Adobe on Hauppage forums to sort this out.  You can enjoy the threads here:

Happauge PVR-150 Forum thread

Adobe Premiere Elements thread#1 (note with this forum structure you need to click on show all messages, or you only see very little of the thread)

Adobe Premiere Elements thread#2

Bottom-line is that the PVR-150 and Adobe Premiere Elements seem like a lousy video capture solution, due to vagaries in MPEG formats.  The solution of choice is the Pyro A/V+Premiere Elements.  Whoopsie.

Another downtown building in Vancouver+ V1.1

Since Bentall V construction is progressing to completion in 2007 (adding 13 floors to the original 21) I’ve added it to this update.  It’s in left-centre with the diagonal feature.  I’ll also be adding “The Melville” as it’s distinctive profile is almost complete on the skyline.

 

Back from Alaska

I’ve posted some photos here. Overall it was a great cruise, we went on a floatplane trip from Ketchikan into the Misty Fjords area, including a landing on one of the Fjords. In Juneau we took a helicopter ride on to the Mendenhall Glacier, and from Skagway I travelled to my old stomping grounds of Carcross, Yukon.

SkyBridge completed

…well, almost. Low LODs yet to do, but otherwise complete.

…meanwhile back in the Real World

I’m off on Sunday for a week on an Alaska cruise leaving from Vancouver. We’ll have stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. In Ketchikan, weather permitting, we’ll take a floatplane through some of the Misty Fjords area. We’re planning a heli trip in Juneau, and I’m planning to take the train from Skagway back to my old stomping grounds of Carcross and Spirit Lake in the Yukon. I used to live in an old cabin by Spirit Lake, but the cruises didn’t run tours up there in those days. I imagine it’s changed a bit.

We’re travelling Harbour Air from Victoria harbour to Vancouver harbour to get to Canada Place, and West Coast Air on the way back.  So that’ll be my first opportunity to fly on some of the floatplane schedules I’ve modelled.

So flightsim development is on hold until I get back. Once Holger has Tongass out, he’ll have a bit more time (between all his other projects!) to finish off his changes to Vancouver+ for version 1.1.

SkyBridge at night

SkyBridge is nearing completion. Here’s the night view.