cameramonkey

actually, its not as cool as you think. what you SEE is the mount plate from a parasport Z1 helmet. behind that plate is the rough cut for the audible. the plate is bolted to the helmet, and the audible screws down on the back side to secure it. They also make those plates for pro tracks too in case you wanted to do it to one of your helmets as well. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Iffn ya think thats cool, check out this little doozy... All I need is my dremel, some gaffers tape, a hot glue gun and some epoxy, and I am dangerous. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

ask and ye shall receive. I fly a Bat with an XJaket. It works really well for me. My only complaint is I could swear the XJakets were supposed to be carbon fiber. However when I use a grinder on mine, it produces white dust. Last count I had, white dust means fiberglass, and black dust means carbon. I could be mistaken. Maybe its not supposed to be carbon. I love mine. I am strongly considering moving to a top mount with a roll cage. I dont like the limitations on the battery. early and late in the season, my small battery (the only one that fits in the dbox) freezes up about 10 seconds out and I lose power. SO here in Indiana in March/April and October/November, I have to top mount it anyway so I can put my big battery on it. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

wow... down to only 4 full time trolls? guess that means under my theory we only have to sacrifice a C-182 Actually, I get everything I need here. why go elsewhere? Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

yes, stay on the ground, and do mental drills while your wallet gets a little fatter . then find someone else that is looking to do rw but nobody else is on the load and go some 2way. Also, dont be afraid to ask. Many people will gladly jump with a newbie to have some fun instead of going head down. its a nice change. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Ouch. this isnt Mikey's year. He missed the Richmond boogie this past labor day. I heard it was because during the major overhaul/inspection thingie they were doing the monday before turned up a bent part, that couldnt be fabricated/replaced by Beech for like 2 weeks. I missed him Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

with this sport, most DZOs will act as a free intermediary. I have bought and sold several canopies by using the dz as an intermediary. every time it worked perfectly. the first canopy I tried to buy was waaay overpriced after my rigger looked it over, so I just shipped it back. Yeah, there are always idiots out there, but as long as you arent a bigger idiot, everything should work out ok. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I agree, archway is a helluva place. I was bugging my dzo (richmond, IN) to have live water training so I could get my B and go to the upcoming BIC to get my JM cert. I bugged and bugged and bugged, but no dice. then one saturday out of the blue I get a phone call from the dzo. she says that her parents (the former owners of the dz) were at archway flying one of the SDC Otters for memorial day weekend, and they were having LWT the next day. I drove my butt out there, and was made to feel very much at home. I even got to display my wonderful depth perception... /sarcasm. I was approaching from the front of the hangar, trying to get to the back of the hangar to the main landing area. I realized I wasnt gonna make it. so I went ahead and made my turn to final, so I could land on the tarmac. Well, I noticed I was gonna end up on top of one of the 172s parked there, so I made a braking turn at the last minute and flared to a perfect landing on the concrete. Apparently I made a few of the regulars quite nervous. One even came out to politely ask me what the hell just happened. I explained what happened, and they said "oh, ok. Just wondering. you didnt seem to be panicking, but that low turn made us really nervous. " you and me both pal I had beer and camped out that night, and got to jump in the nice cold lake the next AM. BRRRRR! I got to reminisce a little bit when I was watching road rules last week and they showed the one where they did tandems there. It was great to see some familiar faces again. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

dont hold your breath. I havent been in the wreck for over 3 years because of the many unrestrained trolls. Based on your scouting report that the signal to noise ratio is still high, I doubt VERY VERY seriously it will EVER improve. The only way it will go away is if they have a wreckdot boogie and (god forbid) several of the planes burn in on takeoff with a select group of jumpers on board. I say god forbid only because it would be a waste of perfectly good jump ships. Just proves that skydivers are like little kids.... cant be left alone without setting something on fire or starting fights. If you still beleive that the wreck will turn around, I have some oceanfront property in colorado I can sell ya. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I was looking for a different color pop top for my shadow racer. what color is that pop top? I dont know the exact size of my reserve, but its a tempo 150 if that helps. And what a coincidence, I was just getting ready for a repack ;) Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

OOOH! I almost forgot... when I said any desktop PC, I was wrong... let me stress the next sentence as best I can.... are ya listening? good... here goes. DO NOT BUY AN OFF THE SHELF, MASS PRODUCED SYSTEM FROM ANY OF THE MAJORS SUCH AS HP OR COMPAQ!!! I say this for one reason. CRAP. 99% of the systems that are off the shelf for the consumer have boatloads of crap memory resident software that gets in the way... you know, desktop gadgets, "productivity tools", alarm clocks, voice mail/speakerphone/fax software, etc. Those are the worst things to have running when you are trying to build a stable system for NLE. Sony almost fits into that category, except they seem to gear thier systems towards multimedia, so they arent quite so bad. Dell also doesnt seem to put as much memory resident crap on the PCs they build. I recommend having a system custom built from the ground up by a local mom and pop system builder. You (usually) dont get quite as much bang for the buck as far as bundled software goes, but sometimes those bundles just get in the way. Do you really need Barney's fun time software, or blue's clues corrupting your NLE anyway? Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

at least we arent having the usual die hard which is better argument, with neither side giving in that the other is inferior, or simply designed to do a different task. been there too many times. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

sorry didnt mean it literally. I just meant that anything, no matter how squishy or tiny, given the right amount of energy behind it can do ALOT of damage. I intended to mean that just because it seems light and insignificant, doesnt mean you can automatically write it off as a non issue.

I think you are right. In our efforts to discuss the merits of things in general, we have lost focus on the original scope. Sorry about that... I am REALLY bad at it. Basically, from what was explained to me, FCP has everything that Premiere has, and a few extras like multi channel color correction and other pro level tools. FCE only handles a limited level of effects layers, limited color correction, etc. Chances are, FCE will do everything a basic skydiver will need. I guess my main gripe about comparing premiere to FCE was the basic apples to apples argument. For what he will use it for, they will seem the same. I just hate when dissimilar things get compared as equal based on the low requirements. Last time that happened to me, I went to use a feature that I thought was there, only to be told it wasnt... "but we didnt think you would ever need that, so we didnt think you would miss it" For skydiving videos, I think FCE (on a 12" powerbook >with 512 or more ram

Oh, and I love how they have been dismissing the foam striking the orbiter as harmless. Sorry folks, even a nerf bat travelling at mach 3 can take your head off... (maybe not literally, but its no longer harmless) it isnt the size of the object, its the energy behind it. Look at the BB sized test projectiles they use to test impacts in space. they accelerate these things to impossible speeds, to the point they will almost go thru a 3 inch solid piece of aluminum. amazing. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

The 12" Apple Powerbook WITH a DVD burner is $1,999 US. If you understand the processing power needed for some of the edits in FCP, that system wont quite cut the mustard. Cant pack in quite enough ram, The hard drives are a bit small (yeah, firewire drives), and it lacks the processing power needed to do the job efficiently. They are recommending a minimum of a dual 1.2 G4 desktop system with 1-2 gig RAM (a little overkill for tandem vids). They suggest the G4 based (15") powerbooks as a "workable" platform, but not recommended for full time daily use. This coming from an independent FCP instructor as of tuesday of last week. I asked if the 12's can do it, and he demonstrated with his personal model. In seeing them in action, the 12 inch powerbooks CAN do it, but are a little bit slower than what I have seen a PC laptop (for less $$) do. Needless to say, i wasnt impressed Maybe I am being a bit picky and jaded... Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I agree. I spent half of last season doing the hair pulling. FINALLY got the system stable, and now it works flawlessly. I guess the key is if you go with a PC based system, either buy it pre-fab as a turnkey system, or you had better REALLY know what you are doing as you build the system. And when the company says "we recommend only X Y and Z, listen to them even if it means a little more cash. Its worth it in the long run. Hell, I am a professional network/computer consultant and system builder, and it took me a while to get the hang of building a stable editor. But it figures, just as I figure out how to get this system purring, I am ready to upgrade to another system Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Technically, yes, there is an issue with that, but the reality is that -probably- nothing would happen. You could also -probably- get away with using any CD for tandems, but it's certainly living on the edge if you got caught and the larger the operation the bigger the risk. Exactly. Fair use laws are pretty vague on that. Some argue that when the consumer buys the CD, they are allowed certain fair use rights (like making backup copies). Whether that carries over into them putting it on thier own video is really sketchy. Some might argue that if you put copyright restrictions on your video to prevent others from copying >your< work on the tape, then it is no longer the property of the tandem passenger.. its now YOUR tape. God I hate lawyers.... Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Lets see if I can return to the thread in a productive nature... CNN is now reporting an unoffical diagnosis of loss of heat shield material on the left wing. They elude to the item coming off the tank at launch could have knocked a tile or two loose. they point to the computer adding trim to compensate for increasing levels of drag on the left side. One of the symptoms of loss of heat shield material is increased drag in that area. Plus, they are now reporting an additional 30 seconds of "incorrect/unreadable/corrupted" data that continued to come in after the originally reported loss of contact. They explained that they still continued to receive data from the orbiter for that "extra" last 30 seconds, but in that time frame the data coming down was not being transmitted correctly. Kinda like somebody knocking your stereo off the radio station by one notch. you can still hear some of what is being broadcast, but not clearly. They are currently examining the data packets by hand to try to interpret what was being broadcast, and if they can even translate it to useable data. Also, they showed a spike of 15 degrees just prior to losing contact with some of the temperature sensors on the left side. nothing official yet, but makes sense. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

But nothing can protect you from the headache of the dispute. Also, I might be mistaken, but they might not protect you fully from things like buyers remorse due the the company sending you what you ordered, not realizing it wasnt what you thought it was. For instance if you did buy one of the greymarket cams, as long as you got the cam, you could still be stuck with it. Trying to explain to the CC company that yes, you did order a sony pc5, and they shipped you a sony pc5, but it wasnt the pc5 you thought it was could be a challenge. Especially when the price is considerably below what the "correct" item's standard market rate is. I could be wrong, but do you want to take that chance? I dont. To each thier own. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

One reason for PC/MAC based editing over a dedicated NLE solution is upgrades and flexibility. If your NLE doesnt do what you need, you are possibly screwed. If my editor doesnt do what I need, I just buy a plug-in, or 3rd party app. Also, I cant check my email with a dedicated NLE One nice feature of using a PC based system, is finding books and training for it. I can walk into any book store and grab an armload of Premiere books. I can also find all kinds of training software and classes for Premiere, Final Cut, Media Studio, etc. Not sure I can do that with a dedicated NLE. Also, If I dont like the book that came with my software, I can go buy a better one. And if built properly with the right hardware and software, it can be just as stable as a dedicated NLE. You can do the pc based system for less than $2000. just not on a laptop that you can carry around. THAT is where the bulk of the cost is in my example. I can do the same thing in a desktop platform for half that. Yes, NLE systems are good, and so are PC based. just depends on what you want. I guess it all boils down to what you find suits your needs and budgets best.

just remember two things... you get what you pay for, and there is no free lunch. just suck it up and save up till ya get that extra $300. it will be worth it in the end. (this coming from a former cheap bastard that learned the hard way) Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Not true. The film industry uses PC's a plenty. Or SGI's, and even *gasp* Linux based AMD/Intel render farms. I don't see very many Macs in Cinema. Still seeing about 50/50 in the photo side, though. For serious scalability - Not a Mac. ok, ok. I didnt mean cinematographer on THAT level. I meant in consumer/prosumer DV terms. In your level, they arent shooting on MiniDV, but they are in mine. I was talking more the differences between the works of Mike McGowan vs. Norman Kent (yes I know he uses alot of film instead of digital media). Or the average 10 minute tandem video vs. a 60 minute boogie video(with artistic background and story, not just a boatload of clips run together set to music). yes, lucasarts, pixar, etc. use MUCH larger setups and werent really considered for this discussion. the largest I was thinking was a group such as new tribe entertainment, etc. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Not to confuse the issue, but my hands on experience is if you are going to use premiere, DONT upgrade to XP... Go with 2000 pro. I have heard quite a few people having compatibility issues with premiere and XP. For instance, I talked to one guy who had the EXACT same PC as me, the only differences were he was using XP, and I was using 2000. My system was bulletproof (well, as much as you can on a mickeysoft product) and he could barely keep his running. He downgraded and now it works perfectly. My only other complaint with this thread would be the comparisons in editing software. you really cant compare final cut express with premiere. Premiere is MUCH more comparable to Final Cut Pro ($999) in features and performance. you may never use all of the premiere bells/whistles, but its kinda unfair to compare a light version (FCE) to a full version (Prem). I know because I jsut finished a mac sponsored seminar on editing in FCP. VERY nice software. Also, you should NEVER buy premiere for the PC. its too expensive. Buy a hardware video solution for 3/4 of the price and get the software bundled in "free". so far I have seen the bundled systems with 6.0 you can then upgrade to 6.5 for $140 (real time previews, etc). and if you dont need the hardware, sell it on ebay and get back some of the cost. My opinion is to check the pricing of the mac, and the pc. You will probably find the mac is more expensive. if you can justify the extra cost, by all means go for it. Macs are designed more for graphics and better suited for what we do. If you want a system for all around use, go PC. For ff vids, mac or pc, it really doesnt matter. most of us wont ever use the systems to the fullest, to the point that we NEED to compare the two closely. I am looking for a new video editing system. After all I have seen, I WANT a G4 Powerbook with FCP, or will settle for Premiere 6.5. but that is gonna cost me almost $4000. I will make due with a 2ghz PC laptop and move my copy of Prem and it will cost me $2000. it used to be that you would kick yourself for buying a pc over a mac. now that I have researched it, thats true only if you are a true digital cinematographer. basic editing users like we are wont notice much difference. just my .02 Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

also check the bbb.org online database. its not foolproof, but if you see them in the database, take EVERYTHING they say with a grain of salt. a positive listing doesnt always mean that they are good, usually the bbb not even knowing about the organization can be better than either "positive" or "disputes, but resolved". here's the way it works, you get screwed. you write the bbb. they contact the merchant with your claim. the merchant replies with their story. Note that they dont even have to work things out with you, just respond. Alot of times, the only time the bbb will give negative feedback to a company is when they ignore your complaint via the bbb. then the bbb puts an entry in their database as to the end result for future consumers to reference. its not foolproof, but sometimes when combined with other things, it helps. Had I checked the bbb listing for the company I had trouble with when I bought my camcorder, I would have thought twice before continuing with my purchase. here is what I am talking about: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=368397#368397 Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!