A Few Thoughts On My Mini

ok, the only thing aside from my enjoyment of anime, sci-fi movie, Final Fantasy, and Ralph Bakshi films (to name a few things), are gadgets. for the past couple of years i became somewhat enamor with my mac minis ever since i got the first one back in May 2006. so much so that i could not be satisfied using my 17" Gateway monitor featuring a Sony Triniton (near flat) CRT in the beginning. a month after buying my Core Duo 1.66Ghz, 1GB system i went out and got the 23" cinema display - a purchase worth more than my mini.





now i have always admired Apple's product from afar, but with this mac mini i would truly begin my love-affair with Apple. now, i'm not a mac-head by any stretch, but this little thing, with all the apps a user could ever need and want, was just the perfect little package. after learning of its technical specs (ever since the days of the PowerPC G4) i felt impressed how this squarely shaped laptop (without a keyboard, mouse, video display, and battery) can pull the necessary weight to run some pretty hefty media projects.

though the mac mini is marketed as a desktop CPU, underneath the hood lies the layout of a laptop. think about it. all the components inside are all laptop grade - the processor, hard drive, memory modules, the cd-rom, and the video processor are in line with Apple's MacBook (without a keyboard, mouse, video display, and battery of course). and yet amateur video editing can be accomplished with ease and simplicity.

to be fair, perhaps, the mini isn't a big deal. these days even budget laptops PCs you can pick up in Wal-Mart can perform video editing and other multi-media tasks on par with the mini. so there's more to it than the hardware aspect. after all, todays Macs are built using an Intel architecture, so ipso facto Macs are PCs despite the Apple logo.

both of my mac minis came with Mac OS 10.4, Tiger, and for some reason every app that operates under this O/S feels so much better than their MS Windows counterparts. for example, i run Handbrake on my minis to convert my DVD collections into movie files i store on my home file-server. Handbrake is about the coolest app to use and it runs so beautifully. i loaded Handbrake to my bother's new HP laptop that he got from Best Buy a week ago. thinking that the Windows version was just as easy to run, much like it does on the mac, i found that it didn't work right. at first i couldn't get it to read the DVD-rom. then, when i thought i figured it out, it caused the system to freeze. i don't pretend to know what happened, but there it is. now i'm sure there's a good reason why it didn't work, but who cares. it runs great on my mac, and my brother is just going to have to learn enjoy his movies off his DVDs.

during the course of editing "Dyson's Revelation" i used the installed iMovie HD 6. the rough cut of the video was so much better than i first imagined with respect to editing and piecing other aspects of the video together. the initial experience was rough, but after some time i learned of better techniques, and corrected the mistakes i was making. in the end the process became smoother and manageable allowing me to concentrate on the project itself.

i had hoped that someday i would graduate from working on iMovie to Final Cut Express 4 (FCE4), but before that would happen i felt it necessary to get a better system. in August 2007 i made a new purchase for a Core 2 Duo 2Ghz,2GB memory mac mini. following that on November i bought FCE4. to my surprise my 2Ghz mac mini ran FCE4 well enough to edit the final version of my video. however i have yet to fully experience FCE4 in with all of the settings set to high. i have had to cut down on the real-time playback feature in the canvas screen to 1/4 frame-rate, and the video quality to "Low". this made reviewing my video, prior to exporting it to a movie file, though do'able, rather annoying. i truly enjoy working with FCE4, but on a mac mini without a real GPU with its own dedicated video memory, it's just not enough.



if you're wondering what happened to my 1.66Ghz mini, it's enjoying a good life as my new media center in my living room attached to a beautiful 32", 720p, Sony Bravia LCD, and wirelessly connected to my home network thanks to my Airport Extreme.

so i'm looking on Apple's store site and checking out the macbook pros (MBP) under their refurb area, and i must say they have some pretty impressive deals on 2.4Gh with 2GB of memory, and an NVIDIA GPU equip with 256 MB of dedicated video memory for less than $1700. it looks like i'll have to work some O/T to get one, but it's about time i got a laptop, and if i'm going to get one it might as well be a MBP. like iMovie to FCE4, it's time to graduate to something better, and add it to my list of enjoyments.

peace,
@riel

A New Destination.

it's kinda cool to achieve something that you never though you could, or that you has it in you to accomplish. and in the midst of your accomplishments you come to realize the fun and enjoyment you got, not from the finish product, but from the process you went through to get to the final product. it's like that saying, "it's not the destination, it's the journey." which is why i'm getting that moist feeling about engaging on my next video project.

this feeling has also transfered over to my PS2. it took me a long time to get one, but after my disappointment from Anime Boston (AB) this past weekend, i decided to treat myself to a new toy. after all, what the point of having Final Fantasy and Kingdom Heart games on the shelf and no system to play them on. but that's for another post.

getting back to the original track - one of the feelings i kept getting during the making of "Dyson's Revelation" was the feeling of wanting to share my video with my friends, and with perfect stranger on YouTube and AB. the comments i get helps to motivate me; get me excited to move forward with the next. it's too bad that i couldn't have been there to experience sharing it with a larger crowd of attendees.

my good friend stacey has made an interesting suggestion - why not submit the video to Otakon this year?

i haven't been to Otakon since 1998. stacey missed out on AB this year due to her new job working at a call center. but she seems to think she'll be able to attend Otakon this august.

anyway, in the interest and desire to attend an anime con, and to share my video with others, i have decided to make the effort to attend Otakon. i'll be submitting my video in the next couple of months, but not before i make a few improvements. i have learned a few interesting functions of Final Cut Express 4. some that may enhance the aesthetics of the video. though i think "Dyson's Revelation" is something to be judged on substance than style. i just don't have the talent and/or equipment to make it look mind-blowing like some of these pro-tool video editing jockies.

i may not win some AMV contest, or even be finalist, but to share with others my hard work, and feel proud about it is all i need to take next the journey.


peace,
@riel

Anime Boston 2008: A Bust!

a very disappointing day for me. i got out bed, took a refreshing shower, got dressed, headed out to Boston for the con, picked up a McGriddle from Micky D's, and proceeded to Anime Boston (AB). when i got there it was about just before 11:00am; about the same time i arrived last year. back then it only took 2 hours on the registration line to get my badge w/ swag bag, and admittance to the con. this year i stood in line for almost 4 and 1/2 hours, and i was just past the half-way point of the line. i was able to get a hold of the weekend schedule and found that the AMV Drama overflow (the video room to show off all the entries that didn't make it into the contest) wasn't to be until Sunday. i left sometime around 4:30pm, and went home.

i left feeling pissed cause i was really hoping to see my video played, and i wasn't going to be around to see it. i would have stayed to watch the main event with the finalists, but most of my day was spent waiting to get registered. i wasn't going to spend $30 and enjoy only a 1/3 of the day. i spend that much time at the dealer's room alone. another thing that pissed me off was that Digital Disc was there; i was so looking forward to buying some Final Fantasy music.

i probably should have check the AB site more often, if they posted the schedule, i would have planned my weekend a little better. probably wouldn't have mattered. if i knew that the AMV Drama overflow was to held on Sunday, i still wouldn't have been able to make it.

there's always next year.

peace,
@riel

Anime Boston 2008: A Must!

well tomorrow is the big day. Anime Boston(AB) 2008. my sole interest this year is going to be my entry of my amv, Macross Plus AMV - Dyson's Revelation. unfortunately my video did not make it to the finals. i was a little disappointed at first, but its not gonna stop me from heading out to AB. i'll be taking my camera there to snaps pics of all the cos-players, and take video of my amv being played in one of the video rooms along with all this years entries. i'm looking forward to the main event when AB will premier the amv finalists. unfortunately friday is the only day i'll be attending so i'm gonna try to make the most of it.

i have seen some of the entries on YouTube and must say that i can see why i was pushed off. most of these videos are awesome. it blows my mind how anyone can take stock video off a DVD and add special effects with great editing over music.

now i'm just a guy who took up editing video as a new hobby. my amv was first project, and hope it not to be my last. considering my lack of prior training and knowledge of this type of work, i think i did a pretty good job on it. at the very least i pick an high-flying anime and mashed it up with a good song that worked very well together.

it was weird during the rough-cut process how uncanny both of these medias fit. i only half-kid when i ask the question about Phil Collins predicting the coming of Marcoss Plus. originally i wanted to joke and dare ask a more relevant question as to whether or not Phil Collins is a closet Macross Plus fan-boy. i mean he says that the lyrics of the song "in the air tonight" came to him during the recording of his first solo album, but it's too coincidental after watching Macross Plus. i don't care if there is 10 years separating them.

i was hoping to blog my experience of my amv over the past 5 months when i started this blog, however, i have learned that blogging is really not my thing. and its too bad, cause over the course of the past 5 months i wanted to write a newbe's review of all the apps that helped make this amv possible; iMove HD 6, Handbrake, MPEG Streamclip, Quicktime Pro, and Final Cut Express 4. and perhaps i will as i have ideas of other amv's.

until i commit to my next project i first have to get a bigger external HDD. editing videos take up a lot of space for production and storage. also i really need to get a better system to edit my projects. my mac mini was under the "little train that could" mode. i'm surprised how well it manged Final Cut Express 4 with the use of a adequate video processor using shared memory. good thing i got mine built with 2GB. i'm thinking however getting a refurb MacBook Pro. now that the new MBP have come out with the fancy mutli-touch pad, the refurbs are at really great deals.

down below is the final cut version of my amv. enjoy




peace,
@riel