Hi, I wanted you folks to be the first to know about an "XL2 Feature Tour" movie we just uploaded- it's 35 minutes long and requires Quicktime 7, it's encoded in H.264 at about 400 kbps for the video (50 KB/sec) and AAC audio at 128 kbps (16 KB/sec).

I would appreciate some feedback on how long it takes the movie to start playing, if it plays consistently, and, oh yeah, about the content itself!! :)

We have not hosted a movie this big before so this is the first big stress test of our new server.

It's the link that says "Watch the XL2 Feature Tour Video" near the top of this page: www.dvcreators.net

Thanks and enjoy!

Josh

p.s. it will be on DVD soon

I can't even get the main site to respond. Maybe you got swamped with everyone trying to watch the video.

-gb-

Greg, you are right, the server was down... it's back up now. I'm going to see how things go over the next few hours, I may have to pull the video and wait until I can hijack it playing off Canon's site ;)

But it's back up for the moment... sorry for the inconvenience!

That was very nicely done. I liked it a lot.
Late
Jeff

Thanks!

Just FYI, it seems to be playing fine for everyone now...

Josh,

Thanks for posting this. I just got my XL2 a few weeks ago so your video increased my XL2 knowledge by 1000%. The settings section explaining all of the various settings for different styles, looks, adjustments etc. (knee, cine, etc.) was just what I needed.

Canon should buy partial rights to this video from you guys and post it on their XL2 page.

As far as the viewing quality - streamed just fine. Loaded quick through my cable connection, no problems at all. It was fully loaded when the video was only about 1/10th of the way through. You all did a nice job with editing the video as well and made it a joy to watch... again and again :).

I've bookmarked DVcreators.net!!!!

Quicktime 7 preview 2 is not recommended on production machines as it's integration with many other applications is not final. For me it screwed up Adobe Premiere Pro and upon searching the Adobe forums this is a known issue of the beta. reinstalling QT 6.5 release version fixed it but now I can't see any of these h.264 quicktimes. Anyone else seeing this behavior? JUst wish apple would get the final out sooner.

For now I plan on installing the QT preview 2 on my laptop. BUt I thought I should forewarn anyone using Premiere Pro and Quicktime that there may be issues.

Chris, feel free to move this to the appropriate forum if this is not needed here. I just know many will download QT7 as a result of seeing this message and that might mess up some other software.

Thanks,
Marty

(I will comment on the video as soon as I get to see it!)

love the video
love the women.
I have two XL2's but after watching your video I need to go out and buy another!

Did you use Motion for 2D text and graphic effects?

I just watched the video and it was excellent. Samples were great and really show off the camera. Top-notch! And it streamed excellent.

I want this camera... sigh.

Marty, thanks for the valuable heads-up on QT7 and Premiere Pro (we have a PP workstation here). I will encode an FLV version that should play for everyone, I am just experimenting with H.264 and that's why that was first.

We used After Effects for the intro and other animations, and used Motion for the diagrams, like the 2:3:3:2 pulldown, because you can animate along with the VO in real time, which gave it the edge over AE in those cases.

I agree with Derek, Canon should put this on their website! Can't you show it to them somehow?
I'm sure it would be good for them, really nice and informative video!

Either I'm blind, tired, or the link has been removed... Guess that's what I get for spending more time at the hospital with my wife, than on the computer! :) Joking, joking....

I'd love to take a look at this vid if possible....

The link was moved. Click the "shoot" button under the production section on the top menu. Then scoll down until you see a pic of the XL2, which is about mid-way through the page on the left. You'll see the link next to the XL2 photo.

Good stuff there, Josh. Finally got to see it here on the Imac. Looked really good and streamed well.

-gb-

Thanks for pointing out where to find it...

Nice video. Makes me want to definately buy an XL2 now. Thanks!

Am I missing something, guys? I don't see a link for this anywhere on the page.

Never mind. Helps to read through the entire thread, eh?

Either I'm blind, tired, or the link has been removed... Guess that's what I get for spending more time at the hospital with my wife, than on the computer! :) Joking, joking....

I'd love to take a look at this vid if possible....

Or... we've been updating our website, and we accidentally replaced our homepage :(

Woops! SORRY, another snafu... Sorry for your inconvenience again :(

It's back on the home page...

I got my XL2 a few months ago, and I'm just scratching the surface of its abilities. Then I see this thread about a feature tour, and I can't get it to stream! I downloaded Quicktime 7 on both my computers and the video caches ok, but once it starts playing it's studdering and blanking out.

Oh, how I wish I didn't have a crappy computer! (See what happens when you spend all your money on a kickass camera??) Anyway, I was wondering if there was any way I could download this tour instead of streaming it. After reading the rave reviews, it's driving me crazy that I can't watch it! Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

I thought it was funny how the skin detail feature didn't really do anything. Also, when discussing the myterious coring, you had a shot of the black screen menu instead of the girls. We can't see what effect turning the coring up and down has on the image.

Josh, excellent job! Beautifully done. You show the camera in its true light. I had no problem streaming the video. It fired right up and ran smoothly for the most part. Toward the end it did seem to studder a few times.

One thing I wasn't clear on... is this part of the DV Enlightenment DVD?

Jay

It's not part of the Enlightenment DVD (which I have by the way; very well done), which Josh produced before he did this project. I believe Josh said that the XL2 feature tour would be separately available through either DV Creators or from Canon.

Excellent overview of the XL2. Well done!

Regards,

Mark

Thanks for all your comments and compliments. The XL2 Feature Tour is not part of DV Enlightenment (but there is a short promo piece for DV Enlightenment at the end of the XL2 video).


Anyway, I was wondering if there was any way I could download this tour instead of streaming it. After reading the rave reviews, it's driving me crazy that I can't watch it! Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
If you just wait a bit, it will be fully downloaded and you can watch it from the top.


I thought it was funny how the skin detail feature didn't really do anything. Also, when discussing the myterious coring, you had a shot of the black screen menu instead of the girls. We can't see what effect turning the coring up and down has on the image.
On the DVD you will see the skin detail effect (as well as many other things like 60i vs 30p which is no difference on the web movie). We could not really get the coring top make a visible difference... have any of you? If so, what was the content?

I believe Josh said that the XL2 feature tour would be separately available through either DV Creators or from Canon.
The DVDs are being replicated now.

Josh,

I'm sure you've downloaded the Blue Barn Pictures XL2 Presets Manager (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=48293) by now.

Any chance we can talk you into working up some of the Custom Preset configurations discussed and/or used in the XL2 Tour video and sharing them with us?

Uh-oh, in all the years I've known Josh, I don't believe he's ever actually seen a PC in real life... he's a Mac guy through and through. But wait, he runs Edition Planet, which supports Pinnacle software, so maybe he has touched a PC once or twice. Hmm.

The video didn't stream for me but did download to my temporary internet files and then I copied it to my desktop. Next, I clicked on the file and then a grey box with a red X in the top left corner appeared and the contents read the following:

Couldn't open the file "XL-2_feature_tour[1].mov" because a bad public movie atom was found in the movie.

What in the world is that?!

Anyway it just won't play. I wouldn't have downloaded it anyway because I have issues in the past with certain versions of media players but thanks for the warning about QT7.

Josh,

I'm sure you've downloaded the Blue Barn Pictures XL2 Presets Manager (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=48293) by now.

Any chance we can talk you into working up some of the Custom Preset configurations discussed and/or used in the XL2 Tour video and sharing them with us?
Thanks for the tip, I have not! Will try it soon!


Uh-oh, in all the years I've known Josh, I don't believe he's ever actually seen a PC in real life...
Lol :) ... but I built a 3.06 GHz Pentium PC, it is pimped out with bright blue cathode tubes and an acrylic window! It is screamin' fast with Premiere Pro and After Effects...

Also, apologies to all those who have trouble watching... I have been waiting for a copy of the newest Squeeze Studio to encode a version in FLV, but nothing yet... Maybe I will just throw a Windows Media or Real version up in the meantime.

i saw the video. great info. id like a copy of the dvd also.

ps. macs rules

Windows media would be great and an older version of Quicktime would work too.

Great video,

I'd like to have a copy of it for reference. Unfortunately, it kept stalling and actually caused Safari quit a couple of times. Not sure why since I'm running on a G5 dual 2.5, OS 10.4.2 and have QT 7 and plenty o Ram.

I'd like to see it, but I won't install 7 untill it's approved for Avid.

I loaded QT 7 a few weeks ago and it messed up my computer. Delinks After Effects I guess you could say. So, I'll have to wait for another version too. Looking forward to seeing it though.

Mike

I used IE to stop the application quitting. Safari was buggy for me as well.
Couldn't you use something like SnapZ to make a copy for yourself as a reference? Just wondering. . .

I finally got it to load, but it only plays about 1/4 way through. Any idea when it will be available on dvd?
Bruce yarock

I also had problems at first, I then paused the video in the pop up screen and waited until the whole thing had transfered, then pressed play and all was well.

Hope this helps others in strife.

Learnt a lot.

safari worked just fine for me--took awhile to load, though.

this is a great video, just the sort of thing canon should be packaging with their XL2. the available information on getting the most out of that camera has been underwhelming.

i almost sold my XL2 three times now, for a range of reasons. but this video and the custom presets manager software (where is that mac version??) are helping me to hold onto the dang thing. i'm finally making friends with it.

thank you, to whoever made and shared this.....

the custom presets manager software (where is that mac version??) are helping me to hold onto the dang thing. i'm finally making friends with it.

thank you, to whoever made and shared this.....

Meryem, That would be Steve Duke of Blue Barn Pictures (http://www.bluebarnpictures.com/english/team/). And Steve would love to have a Mac version also, but he has to have the Mac SDK from Canon before he can do that. If any XL2 users haven't downloaded, and used the XL2 Presets Manager (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=48293), you'll thank Steve when you finally do, especially after playing with the presets (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=48287) Chris posted as a Sticky in the XL2 Watchdog forum.

I watched bits at pieces of the Feature Tour (for some reason it studdered throughout on my crappy computer), and I saw that the technique of blurring everything but the subject was addressed. I couldn't see any details on that subject. So I was hoping someone could tell me how to do this with my XL2. I want to get my actress in the foreground and blur the background. For some reason I can't get it with manually focusing. Is there a trick? Thanks in advance.

-Lauren

lauren, seach "DOF" or "depth of field" What you need to do is leave the aperture wide open and make the lens longer by standing back and zooming in. This will narrow the DOF. It is much harder to do this with a 1/3" CCD camera but it can be done. Check out some grabs from a documentary I am wrapping up. All these are raw interlaced grabs with natural light. They are from an XL1s (shot before the XL2 was released).


ash =o)

http://members.aol.com/ashvid/Grabs/

Thanks Ash! That was so easy! I love it when that happens. My shoot starts today for a short I'm doing, so thanks for the quick reply.

-Lauren

There's a little slide show on DOF here:

http://dvcreators.net/shooting/

(look under "tiplets")

(it is a little out of date)

Wow great video, got my cam yesterday and feel really comfortable with it today thanks to the tutorial. BTW, one question, any chance of sharing that "custom low-light" preset you guys used with the girl in front of the candle? SUPERB!

Miguel

Hi Miguel, thanks for your comments.

We just crushed the blacks in that one, the candle did all the work as far as the coloring...

video was great. Content was right on and did not drag out. As well it started quick for me.

Excellent video. It bears multiple viewings.

Don't waste your time using the QT7 player. Use VLC for Mac or PC. It's better and it's free.

Occasionally we switch out the links on our home page, so for anyone who would like to bookmark the XL2 Feature Tour on our website, click here and save the url as a bookmark:

http://dvcreators.net/media/demos/xl2featuretour/xl2featuretour.html

Thanks for all of your feedback so far!

Great demo Josh! I see you posted a little info about how you encoded it, but I tried the same encode with a ten second 30p clip and can't reproduce the quality. Can you give us the full detail about how it was encoded?

Please check out movie 4 on my website. It was done on a XL2 and encoded through Compressor 800kbps 480x270
I want to make a larger image without the image degrading.

http://web.mac.com/j411/iWeb/MICHAEL_HAMILTON/Welcome.html

Michael

Funny you should ask!

That movie was encoded with the same clumsy, obsolete tools we all had to use... until now!

There is a new video encoding/publishing software tool that just came out, that is my favorite I've ever used. (It should be, I designed it to work exactly the way I've always wanted!) Right now it is Mac OS X only, and just came out, so it is undergoing a lot of revisions.

I was going to post news of it once a few more features were added, but since you asked :-)

The video you posted looks great, to estimate what your bitrate limitations should be, use the Bitrate Budget Calculator:
http://dvcreatorslabs.com/dvccast/features/bitrate-budget-calculator

Then use SampleLab to find your TOQ:
http://dvcreatorslabs.com/dvccast/features/samplelab

Also, if you're in LA, I'm doing a free seminar in Santa Monica this Saturday:
http://www.dvcreators.net/events/free-web-video-revolution-seminar/