Panasonic continues to be the leader in broadcast quality camcorders, with over 80% of the NCAA Tournament being recorded on Panasonic camcorders.  P2 based camcorders now have surpassed 250,000 units shipped worldwide since the format was released to the public approximately 9 years ago. Panasonic announced some interesting new products at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2012.  The annual conference was held from April 16-19, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV and seeks to serve the diverse broadcast needs of sports networks, TV broadcast stations, and professional videographers across the world.  Each year this conference brings exciting developments to the world of professional video, and this year was no different. As high-speed, high-capacity formats continue to evolve, SD cards have surpassed P2 Cards as the standards for storage.  To continue the camera revolution for this new format and style, Panasonic has introduced a format, called the MicroP2 Card format.  The MicroP2 card format is a format that continues to build on the rock solid abilities of older P2 cards, withstanding

high vibration, temperature and humidity reliability, all now being delivered in the same form factor as a standard SD card slot. To allow higher capacity cards to be used in order P2 based cards, Panasonic also has announced the availability of the new MicroP2 Adapter, which is simply a P2 card that’s fitted with the new MicroP2 slot inside the card, to allow higher capacity 32GB and 64GB SD cards to be inserted into P2 based cameras.  This format change will ease the transition from P2 card based workflow to SD card based workflow for many broadcast stations all over the country. As Wedding video producers, we already have adapted the SD card workflow as our primary medium of choice.  We use the Panasonic ag-hmc40 as our primary camera.  The HMC40 uses SDHC cards up to 32GB in size, which allows us to shoot and record nearly 4 hours of video without changing cards.  We have enjoyed the high quality and stability that these pro-sumer camcorders have provided for our growing business. Do you have a thought or a question?  Leave a comment below!

Identifying high quality DVD-R disks

Have you ever made a really important document or movie that you burned on to a disk, only to bring it over to the work computer to use in an important presentation and realize that the precious disk you burned didn’t work?  This situation has haunted me in school and once again out in the real world, which is why it’s important to identify quality DVD-R / DVD+R media when burning your important movie clips and documents to disk.

What is a DVD-R?

For those of you who are somewhat new to computers and the whole idea of making a portable copy of a video clip or files to take with you, a DVD-R is a disk format, that is written to once, and can be read many times.  DVD-R disks are capable of holding up to 4.7 Gigabytes of data, or 120 minutes of DVD quality video.  DVD-R’s are commonly used to burn home movies to disk, and then that disk can be taken to a home DVD player hooked up to the tv in your living room, and played for family and friends.  DVD-R’s can also be used to burn a backup of important word, excel, powerpoint or just about any kind of file that exists. The DVD-R format was first created by Pioneer in 1997, and a newer standard called DVD-R DL or dual layer, came out in 2005.  DVD-R DL disks can hold up to 8.5GB of data, or 240 minutes of DVD quality video.  If you would like to burn a home movie that you would like to play later on your home TV, then the DVD-R format is the best format to use, because it is the most commonly supported format on modern DVD players in your home.  For those of you who have Blue-Ray players, nearly ever Blue-ray player out on the market is backwards compatible with the DVD-R format, so you will still be able to play your old disks on a newer player.

Is the DVD-R name really important?

These days, not much.  Companies such as Memorex, and Imation to or a few often are outsourcing the manufacturing the production of their disks to third party companies in indonesia and malasia.  The Brand on the outside of the label is usually just a formality and is merely a marketing technique and price point that people have come to expect.

What makes a good quality DVD-R disk?

Essentially, the key factor that makes a high quality DVD-R disk is a low failure rate.  In other words, out of the 100 disks that come in a 100 pack of Memorex DVD-R’s that you burn on a computer such as a new i7 quad core Macbook Pro, less than 5 of them have errors or fail.  Generally speaking the higher the bulk of disks that are purchased, the higher likelyhood there will be failed burns in that spindle.  If you burning DVD-R disks, then buy individually wrapped DVD-R disks, unless your using a very high quality brand such as JVC Taiyo Yuden DVD-R disks.  Taiyo Yuden disks are known for their precision and high quality, and very low error rates when burning files to disk, and are an excellent choice for small businesses and individuals who make money with content burned to DVD-R’s.

The future of DVD-R and other forms of media

While DVD-R disks continue to be the most commonly available format on the shelves of stores today, there are several new standards that are now available.  One newer standard is the BD-R format.  BD-R disks hold up to 25GB of data per disk, and they can support video quality of up to 1080p, with multiple audio streams.  BD-R is also treated with a high quality finish that resists scratches a lot more than the standard DVD-R disk.  In order to burn a BD-R disk, you have to have a Blue-ray Disk burner, and you have to have a Blue-ray burner or Blue-ray player in order to play or view the BD-R disks.   Another trend in the world of video is eliminating the disk all together, and store your disks on a separate computer or hard drive in the other room, or even subscribe to a service that has many movies and tv shows already on their system.  The most popular company that is streaming content to day is Netflix.  Netflix offers over 15,000 movies and TV shows that can stream to your home TV, for only $11 / month.  No kidding!  A few years ago in order to save money and get the content that we want, my wife and I bought an LG 50PS80 50 inch plasma TV, specifically because the TV has the streaming Netflix interface built right into the TV.  As a result, we have cancelled our $60 / month cable TV service and we enjoy streaming content over the Internet any time we want.

No matter which format you choose to use for your home movies, make sure you do your research, and browse the different DVD-R formats on Amazon before you make your next purchase.  If anyone has questions, feel free to Contact us, any time.

Task List feel good

I love the feeling of getting things done.  When I can go to sleep an night with a sense of accomplishment, I feel very satisfied with the work that I do, for my full time job or with other jobs around the house.  There’s a satisfaction I wake up each morning, do my devotions, take some medication, then I focus on a task list that I have in front of me to get done what I need to for that particular day, and nothing helps me stay on target for my goals for that day than a task list.

My task list is broken down into tasks that I need to do immediately when I wake up in the morning, then I have tasks for my full time job, then after that I list out things that I try to get done at night, such as working on laundry, taking out the garbage, etc.

Task Lists and your productivity

Taking on a task list is a simple way that anyone can be more productive and focused in what they do during the day.  I’ve tried using a few different forms of task lists.  I always have a spiral abound notebook on my desk and that traditionally has been the place where I list out my tasks.  Lately I’ve also experimented with the sticky notes application in Mac OSX, and also the task list applet that runs inside of gmail.  Each one has their positives and negatives.  I like the paper copy because it’s always in front of me when I’m at my desk, and there’s a sense of focus and accomplishment in taking your pen and striking through that item on the list.  At the end of the day, you can look through all of the things that are struck through and have a sense of accomplishment.

On the other hand, having a task list in a place like gmail, which 99% of the time I have open on whatever computer I’m on, allows me to synchronize and coordinate my tasks when I work on different computers, which I do more and more these days.

Task lists and co-worker productivity

A task list is also a great place to list out things that you want other people to do on your behalf.  For example, a task that I would list out for my wife would be to edit a wedding video that we just filmed for a couple, and by having it on my list, that keeps the job in the front and center of my mind.  One feature that I really wish that gmail tasks would give me is the ability to create tasks for other people so I can ensure that their getting things done that need to get done as well.  The closest I’ve found to this being possible is creating a calendar event of whatever thing that has to happen, then sending reminders to the person about how this task should be done by X time.   If the task takes multiple weeks to complete, then you could also set up sub-reminders on every Friday saying this task should be 25% complete, then 50% the next week, and so on.

Enterprise Task list applications

For enterprise level task and people and project management, a CRM or customer relationship management software is something to consider.  Sage ACT for example is a CRM that allows you to create business objectives, and functions, where multiple people are involved in a project, and a project manager can distribute tasks to each team member involved, and monitor the productivity of the entire project from a high bird’s eye view.  Tasks can all have due dates and times so that projects as a whole stay on time and on budget for getting things done, and each member of the team can then focus on their one niche specialty and do that well.

No matter which tool or service you use, I hope that adopting a task list helps you to get out there and accomplish the goals of your business.

Debt Regret

I’m proud of a lot of things that I’ve done in my life, and I also have regret, and today I want to talk about debt regret.  One of the biggest regrets that I have about the education that I chose and the business that I chose to start, is that I chose to go into debt for both of those items.  After all was said and done, my entire education to DeVry University when I graduated in 2004 totaled up to be about $37,000, and I ended up with about $18,000 of debt to pay back.  It’s now 2012 and I still have a few years to go to fully pay off the debt.

If I can offer one piece of advice to anyone looking to go off to school or start a business, I would strongly encourage you to do it debt free.  Here are some key sub-points to get started with your business:

1.  Learn to save $1000 to get started.  This is a point that I pulled from Dave Ramsey’s book, he calls it the “baby emergency fund” and it’s Baby step one on the road to financial success.  The same applies to a business, save $1000 for initial expenses, or enough cash to rent equipment to do enough jobs to triple your initial investment.  In other words, you should be able to make $3000 from the initial $1000.

2.  Keep costs low by working from the cart table.  In other words, work from home, the garage, the car, never take out a lease or buy property unless you can do it in cash.

3.  Borrow tools and resources, not money.  Friends and family can be a great resource when you need to borrow something like a circular saw, a carpet shampooer, or an old computer, until you can afford to buy one from profits in the business.  Grow slowly, spend slowly, get rich slowly.

4.  Craigslist and e-bay.  Craigslist.org and ebay.com are two great sites to test the waters on your business services, for virtually no investment.  99% of businesses can post to craigslist.org for free, and posting on e-bay w/ paypal takes only 6% of the total revenue of the transaction, so as long as your margins are high enough, you can make a profit on just about anything you sell.  Both sites are also great for purchasing slightly used or discounted computers, office supplies, all the way up to cars and properties.

5.  Rent equipment.  This is probably an obvious point, but any time you can get away with renting equipment for the day or for the week, that’s a much more effective way to keep costs down without going into debt.

6.  Learn from the wisdom of others.  One of the things that I did when I started my Wisconsin Wedding Videography business, is I called other videographers that did the same kind of work that had more experience in places several states away, and asked them a few questions for 10 minutes, just to pick their brains on what to do and what not to do.  Every single person I talked to on the phone was willing to give me 10-15 minutes, and who could be more helpful than people that do the exact same thing as you?  Local business associations and the local chamber of congress can be helpful too.

7.  Learn to find the sweet spot.  When we first started editing wedding videos, we edited on iMovie ’09, on a macbook pro laptop, with entry level handheld consumer camcorders.  Today we’re mostly editing on quad core Macbook pro machines using iMovie ’11 using well reviewed Panasonic HMC40 Camcorders.  The camera is where the investment needed to be made for the video quality and professional bit rate, but we were able to keep our videography packages priced very low because we didn’t have the $10,000 or $20,000 in equipment from the start.  To our surprise, iMovie has continually been good enough of an editor to get the job done, while keeping our costs low.

8.  Think about new marketing concepts.  When we started our business, we tried investing in marketing through wedding shows and associates, and they gave us almost no return or potential clients.  After learning at the school of life, and following the trends of our potential clients, we’ve learned that 90% of brides that search for wedding services start on Google.  Guess what, we’re there too.

9.  Find consultants to branch out.  Life happens.  As it turns out my wife and I are pregnant, so we are now planning our shooting and wedding schedule this year, we will need consultants for filming and editing from August – December.   Having people to go to when life happens is essential to keep a business running when your feeling 100% and when your feeling like blinking takes energy.

10.  Have patience.  Building a business and referrals and a network of people takes time, and it all may not come together in the first or second, or even the fifth year.  Stick with it, have patience and have fun!

Learning on the go with Podcasts

Without a doubt I can say that I am a road warrior.  I work full time for a company based in Florida, yet I work out of my house and mostly out of my car, fixing computer systems in Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Upper peninsula of Michigan, and the eastern half of North and South Dakota.  It’s not uncommon for me to spend 4 or 5 or 6 hours on the road per day.

During those times I occasionally listen to music, but for the most part I’ve regularly been listening to podcasts.  For those of you who are not aware, a podcast is a pre-recorded show or event that is recorded and is published online in an RSS feed that is available for downloading on the internet.  Many podcasts are in a series for teaching on a particular subject, or are on a schedule such as a daily or weekly news show.  Some of my favorite podcasts include AC360 – Anderson Cooper’s CNN daily news show, The Dave Ramsey Show, 48 Days to the work you love by Dan Miller, SEO 101, the Affiliate Buzz, and the Smart Passive Income.

The term “podcast” is the merging of the term “broadcast” and the world famous “iPod.”  Steve jobs first introduced the term podcast at WWDC in June of 2005 when he announced the integration of Podcasts into iTunes 4.9.

As of today Podcastalley.com is reporting that 91,664 pocasts are available for download, listening and playing, and most podcats have many episodes.  Affiliate Buzz for example is the longest running podcast on the topic of affiliate marketing, currently hosting 319 episodes, that are all 30 minutes long.

If you have any kind of a commute, then I suggest that you give podcasts a try.  I challenge any of the readers of my site to listen to 3 episodes of a podcast and evaluate if the content is worth your time.  When I started listening, I wasn’t sure if they were right for me, but now I actually look forward to long rides in the car, so I can listen to more podcasts and learn something new every day.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1.  If you don’t have a car that’s manufactured in 2007 or newer, then your going to need a way to connect your iPod or cell phone or player into your car, and I suggest upgrading your car stereo to a cd player that has an auxiliary player.  When I was at best buy the other day, there was one car cd player model that was just $50, plus installation

2.  Choose podcasts that help you accomplish your goals.  For example one of my goals when I was reviewing the Panasonic HMC40 and other professional camcorders was to learn the art of wedding videography back in 2009.  Listening to Stanford’s Chemistry 101 podcast probably wouldn’t have helped much.  Focus on things that will help you accomplish your spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial goals.

3.  Give it time.  A lot of times it take several episodes to get into a series, before you can see the value of return that you get from them.

So go online and start learning!  You’ll never know what you can find until you try.  Have a great week everyone.

Chris

How many people have vowed to lose weight through some new form of discipline, diet or excercise routine?  Millions of Americans make a vow every year to do something different, something better, or something just to change their lives.

I myself have made some goals that I want to accomplish this year, mainly in business goals and accomplishments, but in the past I’ve I’ve tried to lose weight, through choosing to do something different.

Ironically the simplest solutions are sometimes the best.  I’ve had good success in losing weight safely and comfortably simply by drinking water.  I recently heard Dan Miller, author of 48 days to the work you love, share his simple formula for losing weight.  His concept is to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables, and drinking 1/2 of your body’s weight, in oz, of water.  In other words, if you weight 200 pounds, then you would divide that in 1/2 (100 pounds), then drink that amount of water in oz, so you would drink 100 oz of water per day.  That breaks down to a little over 8 – 12 once glasses of water per day, which should be easy to accomplish, if you stick to it.

What are your goals for this year, and do you intend to drink wanter in order to try to lose weight? What things have worked well for you?  I welcome all thoughts and comments.

The Country Inn Boomington West

Growing up my family decided to go on mini-vacations 2 or 3 times a year.  We went on budget vacations and went to hotels.  My Mother and Father with my brother and I, my Aunt and Uncle and their two daughters, and my Grandparents with their third daughter all got together, usually in winter and decided to go to a hotel for a weekend.  I grew up in Eastern Wisconsin, so common hotels that we stayed at were usually within an hour.  Sometimes in the Milwaukee area, and frequently in Fond Du Lac, WI.  Going to a hotel, and just chilling out, playing in the pool, and playing shuffleboard.  Here’s a video that outlines the Hotel.

Now that I’ve grown up and I have my own family, I”m starting to learn the neccesity of having min-vacations, even as our family is working hard to try to pay off debt.  My wife and I just had our 4th anniversary and we took a budget vacation staying at the Boomington West Country Inn and Suites.  Traveling and taking vacations on non-busy times helps you get a great rate.  We also were really blessed  We also enjoyed going to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater. It was one of the best experiences of our lives.

What I’ve learned from all of this is to Budget for vacations, but at the same time, don’t be afraid to spend money.  Taking a mini vacation has helped me to free my mind from all the business of work and getting things done, and I’ve learned to simply let go.

Ultimately I believe in giving Glory to God in all circumstances, and that means giving Glory to God through vacations, through budgeting and through finances.  What have you learned through vacations and budgeting?  I welcome all comments and thoughts.

Plants, Pets, and Starting a business

Starting a business can be a dream come true.  One of the biggest gifts and opportunities that everyone in America, and in many other free countries around the world, is the opportunity to become their own boss and do their own thing.  However, being your own boss and running your own business can be tough, and here are some questions to ask yourself, before taking the plunge.

Can you keep a plant  and a dog alive?

It may seem like a silly question, but keeping a plant alive is a matter of having discipline, to water the plant, preferably once per day, and keeping it in your house near a place where it can get sunlight.   Many people have amazing dreams and are pumped up about a new business idea, then when the money doesn’t come in like they have hoped, the business fizzled out.  Take the test yourself, and see if you can water a plant once per day for a year.

A similar challenge to the plant is the pet analogy.  An easy pet would be a goldfish, a harder pet would be a dog.  Dogs also require daily food and water, and to be exercised, and played with, and loved.  I’m guilty of not always taking the best care of our pets.  Taking care of a dog is even more responsibility to a plant, and can be another simple measure of how much discipline you can have on a daily basis.

The art of Budgeting

If your capable of taking care of a plant, and a pet, then then you have the basic discipline built inside of you, for taking care of the daily tasks of life.  Doing simple tasks such as plant duty is a form of time discipline and budgeting.  Another key area is financial budgeting.  If you had to save $1000, could you do it?  Do you have the self discipline to save when times are good, so that when times are bad, you have a rainy fund?  In our Wedding Videography business this is especially true because business is booming from April – October, but November – March is very slow, so it’s important to budget for times of being slow in our summer service business.  Knowing where your personal finances are at, and knowing how to save there is a good sign that you have the financial budgeting abilities to start and run a business successfully.

Take your business for a test run

One thing you can do to test the waters before jumping in and starting a business, is to offer your services to some friends for free or at cost, then get their feedback on how good the end result is.  When we started Freedom Videography in 2008, it was the year of weddings, and my wife and I started by filming my brother’s wedding, and then we filmed 5 other weddings of friends and family that year, then collected their feedback.  Those key testing periods helped us evaluate our skills and it gave us a good perspective to see if we can run a business like this.

It doesn’t matter if your going to be a plumber, accountant, engineer, electrician or anything else, if you have the discipline to budget your time, and you can perform daily routine tasks, if you can budget your finances, and save when times are good, then test your services on some friends, then in my opinion, you have the basic ability to run your own business, so go do it!

Chris

Defining healthy goals

Starting around high school my parents always thought it was a great idea to get together around the family table, on new year’s day and sit down and write out our individual goals for the year on an index card.  Most years I wrote down a few usual ones, such as “lose some weight” and “save for a new computer.”  After a few years, it got more specific such as “lose 20 pounds” and get a job making $10 / hour.

Over the last 10 years I’ve since learned from the few very wise business folks, such as Dave Ramsey, the author of Financial Peace, and The Total Money Makeover, and most recently, Entre Leadership.  I’ve also tried to be a sponge to the wisdom of Dan Miller, author of “48 days to the work you love” and “no more dreaded Mondays.”

One of the key points about goals that I’ve learned from these great men, is that a Goal should be specific and measurable.  A terrible “goal” is the first one I mentioned in this post, “lose weight.”  Marginally better, is “lose 20 pounds.”  This one is specific, but not measurable.  A good goal should be specific and measurable, such as “Losing 20 pounds by losing 1 pound per week for 20 weeks.”

As the new year is now here, see if you can come up with 5-10 specific measurable goals for your business and your personal life.  What goals do you have for the coming year?

Posting your goals in an easily seen place

One of the best ideas that I’ve heard about accomplishing your goals is to put them in a very visble place.  My parents for example, post their index cards on the bathroom mirror so they see them when they wake up and get ready every morning.  In the past I’ve kept my index card in the top drawer of my desk, and sitting on top of my desk.  Some more recent good ideas that I’ve heard lately include modifying a picture of your desktop to write your goals right on top of the picture, using a sticky notes application that’s open all the time, or to create a simple index.html “starter” page to open whenever you open a new browser. Wherever you post your goals, make them specific, measurable, and highly visible and you will drastically increase your likelihood of reaching them.  Instead of reaching for the ceiling, reach for the stars, and even if you never reach them, you will have reached farther than you ever have before.

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I am thankful to be in America

As I am writing this I’m sitting in a Country Inn Hotel in South Dacota, relaxing, with 2 laptops in front of me, watching Anderson Cooper’s AC360 show in the background, knowing fully well that I will almost certainly not be attacked tonight.  on AC360 Syria seems to literally be falling apart from the oppression that appears to be coming directly from the Government.  Earlier I listened to a story about a 13 year old boy that was mutilated and tortured for seemingly no reason other than the government trying to strike fear into their own people.  It’s horrible.  It’s emotionally discouraging on an international scale, and every time a story like this comes on, whether it’s torture in Syria or drug wars in Mexico, I pray a prayer of thanks to God and say Thank You America

I would rather live in America with 50% unemployment than any other country with 99% unemployment, because that I believe that America is strong enough to endure the best of times and the worst of times.  As the Christmas season is upon us, let us all say Thank You America, and give thanks for the blessings around us for life, liberty, and the opportunity to pursue what makes is happy.  Let us be thankful for religious freedom, free from persecution, and let us be thankful for peace any and all times that we have it.

Merry Christmas and a wonderful happy year to everyone.