Today, I wanted to discuss how you can utilize your existing camera equipment to improve your photos since time is not an issue. First and foremost is you need to understand the ins and outs of your current camera. All digital cameras have a number of buttons that allow for customization. Be it from adjusting the ISO setting, white balance, how the camera focuses, if the flash is on or off etc. . .

The first setting you should learn NOT to use is the standard AUTO format. This is the most common mistake most amateurs make. The auto mode is good in taking pictures but not great. If you want the everage shot then us AUTO. If you want better than average shots then use the custom setting or the semi-auto setting which includes a feature called SCENE.

SCENE is one common feature included in digital cameras that I feel is an excellent way to help improve your images. SCENE comes in various choices like:

Night SCENE

Sports SCENE

Portrait SCENE

Landscape SCENE

MUSEUM SCENE

Flower SCENE

Sunset SCENE

Fireworks SCENE and many more.

Each should be self explanatory and does wonders over using the default AUTO setting of your camera. To find out how to select the various SCENES on you camera, you need to refer to your owners manual. This might be a huge undertaking for you but is a must read if you have any interest in improving the quality of your photos.

Another feature that is crucial for any photo shoot is the ISO setting. This setting is used to determine how the camera utilizes the given amount of light it senses. Basically the ISO determines the cameras sensitivity to the given light. Thus typically a camera is set to ISO 100 for bright outdoor use and 400 for typical low light indoor use. These are just examaples and the actual ISO used can vary widely from 60 – 400 outdoors, 100 – 1600 indoors and 400 – 1600 or higher for outdoor night time shooting. Again these numbers are just examples and the actual camera and lighting condition will determine the best ISO setting to be used. At least uderstanding that you should have at least 100 outdoors and 400 indoors set on your camera can make a world of difference when taking pictures. The wrong or automatic ISO setting can turn a great shot into an average shot or ruin the shot altogether. An average shot means the right subjects are in focus but the color, contrast, shadow and highlights are not at its optimum image levels.

Another crucial setting that makes a world of difference is the white balance. This is a setting that in better cameras will require you to take a picture of a white surface in the desired photo taking surroundings. This will allow the camera to understand what a true white surface looks like in the given lighting conditions and adjusts all the colors accordingly. This means the reds show up red and the blues show up blue instead of red being dark orange and blue being green in some cases.

Many of the simpler cameras allow you to select outdoor, incandescent, or fluorescent as the lighting source as the selection for the white balance. Most point and shoot cameras will automatically show you the differences on the LCD display. Choose the white balance setting that looks as close to the actual scene that you see with the naked eye. By doing this once for every different lighting situation you come across, you will dramatically improve your final images in the end.

By utilizng, SCENE, ISO, and the white balance, you can dramatically improve the quality of your images very quickly. Practice using these settings and you will be glad down the road that you took the time to learn about these 3 crucial settings available at your fingertips.

By taking the added few seconds to only press the shutter button half way before pressing the button all the way will make the world of difference on if your photo will be in sharp focus or not. If the main subject in the photo is not in focus but something else is then this involves another topic that is more complex and will be discussed in a future posting.

The topic for discussion during this interview was on ACCESSORIES – “PIMP YOUR TECH”. We touched on a few exciting products geared towards kids, students and adults alike. The audio and video file of the interview will be made available for download in the next few days. You can go to www.digitaltips.org for some useful tips on consumer electronics.

About Colleen:

Colleen Lerro is a communications specialist for the Consumer Electronics Association.  Colleen has been with CEA for two years and manages promotions for the Accessories and Digital Imaging divisions, and also handles internal communications and media monitoring. Prior to joining CEA, Colleen earned her master’s in Public Communication at American University while interning in the publicity department at America’s Most Wanted. Colleen graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York College at Brockport with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in Business.

About the Consumer Electronics Association:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) unites 2,000 companies within the consumer technology industry. CEA is the industry authority on market research and forecasts; consumer surveys; legislative and regulatory news; engineering standards; training resources and more.

Recently, my cable TV signal was disconnected for good. I was getting frustrated with the poor picture quality and the high cable fees. I am located in Toronto, which means I was subscribing to Rogers Cable. I own an older TV that is still analog and I have never subscribed to digital TV. I never felt the added cost justified getting digital picture quality only since most of the digital channels where not really of interest to me. When the paid cable was discontinued, I figured I would have to invest in an antenna in the $30.00 -- $50.00 price range since only 1 channel (CTV -- channel 9) came through. I was surprised without any antenna that CTV looked as good as it did with paid cable. Another channel CBC barely came through. Very grainy with no color with sound or color with no sound. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

I looked around town for a good indoor antenna. I was not really able to find any real selection. Philips and RCA were the common manufacturers. Price ranging from $20.00 -- $50.00. The higher priced antenna seemed to be the better choice by reading the package specifications but I was not willing to spend $50.00 if I had to adjust the antenna depending on which channel I was watching since the antenna has an adjustment dial on the front. I decided to do some research on the Internet  and came across some interesting articles and postings. Most posting stated that I should stay away from commercial indoor antenna and just build one myself. I discovered a video on YOUTUBE which showed how to make an antenna using coat hangers and this seemed to capture a great number of channels. The problem I thought initially was my TV is analog and this DIY antenna setup was connected to a newer digital TV. Since I knew that an antenna for a TV are not all that different between analog and digital so I thought I would give this one a try. Before I gathered all the necessary parts to build this antenna, I gave this idea a little more thought and realized it works only on UHF channels which are channels above 13 on the old rotary dial. I would still need a VHF rabbit ear antenna to get channels 2 -- 13 which in Toronto means CBC and CTV. At least I wanted CTV which airs many great US shows like FRINGE and CSI New York.

antenna

I went to my local dollar store and found a rabbit ear antenna for $2.99. This came with two telescoping antenna wires attached to a plastic base with a ribbon cable of about 6 feet in length plus a 75- 300 ohm transformer to connect to the cable connection on the TV. I had to use a 2 way adapter between the transformer and cable since the connections did not match. The small piece in the image is the two way adapter. The white cable is what I already had to connect the antenna to the TV. When I connected this antenna to my TV, I was blown away at how great CTV now comes in. Far better than it ever did even with paid cable. Instead of being able to watch CTV and CBC only, I now get 9 channels since this antenna does support VHF and UHF signals.

• 5 CBC
• 9 CTV
• 19 TVO
• 25 CBC French
• 41 Global
• 47 OMNI1
• 52 SUN TV
• 57 CITY TV
• 69 OMNI 2

These are all the local channels and only SUN TV and OMNI 2 are slightly grainy. The rest are crystal clear and far superior to my paid cable channels I used to get. Eventually I will have to invest in a digital TV so that I can get some of the buffalo channels like WKBW, WGRZ, WIVB, WUTV  and PBS. For now, this $2.99 investment on my 28 inch TV is a shear joy. When connecting the rabbit ear antenna, there is no need to extend the telescopic wires out. Also, just orient the wires straight out to the side and place horizontally near the closest window. This will insure you get the best possible reception. Later, I will add the DIY wire hanger antenna that is described in the YOUTUBE video to improve SUN TV and OMNI 2.

I have read and heard from others that I can keep my current antenna if it was receiving good analog signals in the VHF and UHF signals. Some say, I have to switch to an actual digital antenna and the analog will not be good enough. So which is it? I have checked numerous sites for more accurate information and my brain is not as techno as it should be or too techno in this regard.

HERE is a good starting point. This is the US governments website and has simple to understand information about what sort of existing analog antenna you need to have to fully take advantage of the new digital signal. Most of you should be fine with what you they have already. The sticking point is that the location may have to change. Analog signals were easy to fine tune. By moving the antenna around the signal got better or worse just by looking at the TV screens image quality. The changes were instantaneous. Now with the digital signal, it takes time for the receiver to establish if the signal is received correctly or not and then translate this to an actual image, You will see a great digital picture or no picture at all. There is no longer a grey area which is a poor picture quality that existed with a week analog signal. This means the digital signal which consists of 1′s and 0′s are received in perfect order (great digital picture) or not (no picture). Keep in mind,the signal can degrade depending on weather conditions and this means your picture and sound may cut out completely during poor reception times showing you a blue or green screen The screen color depends on what your TV or digital receiver uses.

Anyone considering working with an existing outdoor antenna or plans on installing an outdoor antenna should request the help of at least two other people. Two people to help connect and position the antenna for mounting and one person to watch the TV and relay the results back to the people outside. Cellphones or two way radios are recommended. Shouting is not recommended.

The final conclusion is that your existing antenna that recieves both VHF and UHF signals is good for now. Check the government website mentioned above for details on how to tell if you have a VHF and UHF antenna. Basically a VHF antenna handles channels 2 – 13 and UHF handles anything above 13 to 99 therefore most people should be fine.

It has been over 25 years since the MIDI standard was established  giving birth to all sorts of synthesizer New Wave music in the 80′s . It  is amazing that the General MIDI Standard is still supported today with a number of newer extended formats available. I am disappointed in some ways that MIDI has not really become a household name defining music composition, electronic music programming and as a general form of study for music enthusiasts. My impression is that MIDI is still considered as some kind of BLACK BOX used by hardcore dance music creators or known as a file format used for ring tone use only.

MIDI is so much more than that and can truly be a wonderful tool to take advantage of. Here is a list of some scenarios that make good use of MIDI.

- A MIDI instrument (keyboard, violin, guitar, drums etc,) connected to a computer with sequencing and notation software will allow you to record your compositions in a digital format. Afterward, the MIDI can be automatically translated into a musical score that can be printed.

- A synthesizer keyboard can be set to emulate 100′s of different traditional instruments and also play some electronic sounds. These selections can e programmed and saved as a patch which can make live performances very easy to setup. The exact keyboard setup can be saved as a patch and then transferred back into the keyboard instantaneously via MIDI when required. No knob adjusting prior to each song. Just selection the new settings via the computer or transfer a set number of patches and preset a number of buttons on the keyboard for the performance.

- Non musical instruments can be programmed using MIDI like lights, and mixing consoles.

- Performance Control. Lights, curtains and other show aspects can be controlled by MIDI allowing precise timing to ensure special effects to create the proper mood of the performance is applied on cue.

- When recording or composing a song, the audio mixing console can use a favorite setting saved as a MIDI file. This allows changes over time to be applied to certain channels being recorded automatically without human intervention. This does not apply to MIDI instruments only but to the specific audio channels being recorded which can be digital or analog.

MIDI should not be confused with actual music. A MIDI file only includes a set of instructions and no music or sound. MIDI is heavily used in the entertainment industry but little is known within the general populous. MIDI over LAN could be a great way of allowing home automation and other benefits that could make a physically challenged individual more productive. MIDI is not just for music and I would love to see more non music related applications being made available in the future.

DRM

Digital Rights Management has been an issue since the day it was released. DRM tries to prevent the copying of the material or conversion to other formats. Users have always found ways to circumvent this DRM technology by purchasing specialized software tools or even utilizing some FREE software tools. Recently APPLE announced that much of their music library will be DRM FREE in the iTunes Store. This is welcome news and will allow more users to take advantage of the iTunes Store and download more paid music files. Users will always copy and use one file in multiple locations. This has always been the case even as far back as records and cassette tapes. Users will still continue to purchase songs from iTunes and other music download sites regardless of how easy copying a commercial song may become now.

HOW SMALL WILL MP3 PLAYERS GET?

I recently purchased a small MP3 player just for the fun of checking out a very small unit. The product is manufacturered by a company called Newsmy.

Newsmy B007 MP3 Player - Image: Newsmy

The B07 MP3 player with built FM reciever + transmitter from Newsmy is the size of a fat USB memory drive. I just had to see how well something this small with a built in LCD display can perform and even be functional. I was certainly surprised at the sound quality from such a small unit. It plugs into a USB port for recharging and the transfer of music. The unit I purchased came with 2 Gigs of ram. Amazing nowadays how much memory is available in these small packages. The FM radio picks up all the typical radio stations my home stereo system picks up and then some. This tiny little unit also has a built in voice recorder too. Really sweet. I will be posting a complete review soon on this little gem of a MP3 player.

The basic digital cable rate is $32.97 Canadian which does not include TSN which is where I would watch many of the Toronto Raptors Basketball games. I have to subscribe to the VIP package @ $42.99 Canadian. Recently a second channel called TSN2 was created that broadcasts some of the basketball games. TSN2 is not available as part of the VIP package. The next package higher is VIP Ultimate @ $98.95 Canadian. This does not even include the new TSN2 channel.

HERE is an article which seems to indicate why. Rogers currently does not carry the channel since it has its own channel called Rogers SPORTSNET which it wants to protect. Rogers has not signed an agreement with TSN2 to carry the channel yet. All other providers of cable TV in Canada have made TSN2 available months ago when the channel went live. I am hoping that the new TSN2 channel will be available in Toronto as part of the standard VIP package. If it is only part of the VIP Ultimate package or some other ridiculously priced package, this would be too expensive for me to pay just for the added benefit of 2 – 3 Toronto raptors games per month. The additional $55/month is better spent watching the Toronto Raptors live at the Air Canada Center instead.

There is now a channel online that provides All NBA games for one low price of $99.95 for the entire season. Check out the details HERE. This will allow me to watch every single basketball game around the league instead of just the Toronto Raptors games. Since each team plays a total of 82 regular season games, it works out to be just over $1.20 USD per game each season to watch every Toronto raptors game. This is the best deal going anywhere. In addition to the Raptors games, I can watch many of the other teams I would normally miss in Toronto.

Unless Rogers Cable does something soon to fix the issues with TSN2, I will be moving away from Rogers Cable and watch the Toronto Raptors online instead. The Internet is making it so much easier to watch basketball and all sorts of other programs either for FREE or at a very low cost. Rogers Cable will soon be left with very few Cable subscribers unless they change their selection, pricing and overall customer service.

Most of us though do not pick up TV using the old fashioned TV antenna but subscribe to what’s called cable TV. Does this mean that we need to rent a digital to analog converter box from the cable company or can we just buy one anywhere?

Once the cable signal becomes all digital, this means the physical wiring used by the cable companies will be able to carry a larger number of channels due to the increased amount of bandwidth available. This, over time should reduce the operating costs of providing basic cable service. Will the savings be passed along to the consumer or will the cable companies provide added benefits at no additional cost? Most likely neither will happen and the cable companies may even charge extra because they can to unsuspecting consumers.

Vuzix iwear AV310 Head Mounted Display

 What intrigued me was the unit will allow access to video from desktop and PDA devices using a newer O.L.E.D. technology. O.L.E,D. is new and is considered far more superior over the LCD technology in video image quality and video brightness. Since the O.L.E.D. technology is still in its infancy, full sized screens that can compete with LCD screens in price are still a few years away. 

I am also considering one of these since nowadays, it is easy to watch TV without subscribing to cable TV. Many TV stations are represented on the Internet and offer full program viewing online anytime.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. www.cbs.com/
2. www.pbs.org/
3. www.nationalgeographic.com/
4. www.youtube.com/
5. www.blogtv.com/

The last one is not a commercial TV channel but do offer some interesting home brew videos not available on YOUTUBE and are for the most part LIVE broadcasts.

The cost of the iwear AV310 is $250.00 USD therefore is not a huge expense. The only drawback is the unit is for single person viewing only. The screen you see is equivalent to a 52 inch TV in viewing size and again can be taken with you anywhere.

Here is great little video from megawhat.tv

www.youtube.com/watch?v=907Z__2ohKw

Demonstration of the Vuzix AV310 head mounted display.

As we get closer to the February 17, 2009 deadline in the US, all those affected will have to find a suitable solution. In the coming weeks, I will put together a complete “HOW TO DECIDE”  short explanation on making the right choice for you and your family. Just don’t throw away your existing TV just yet even if you upgrade to a new digital TV. There are uses for your old TV still and I will cover this aspect also in my “HOW TO DECIDE” posting.

My huge 28 inch SHARP (CRT -- Cathode Ray Tube) television is about 2 years old. It was a great buy at the time but became obsolete with the flood of lower priced LCD screens popping up only a few months afterwards. This TV like all tube based TV’s are analog and will require an analog to digital converter box. Not only that, I will have to upgrade to a digital cable service if I wish to continue receiving my current cable TV channels. Another issue with my current TV is designed for the wider digital format thus I would lose a percentage of image on the left and right side of the screen even if I used an analog to digital converter. 

The drawbacks with my cuurent TV is that the box is very heavy and requires alarge amount of floor space. LCD screens on the other habd can be conveniently mounted on a wall requiring no floor space and only extends out by about 10 centimeters or less. My tube TV extends out a whopping 55 centimeters.

As LCD digital TVs become wider and less expensive, other forms of technology are makings its way into the consumer marketplace. One of these newer technologies is called the pico projector. These are not exactly TVs since no TV tuner is built in but one can be easily added. There are two immediately available now. One  comes from 3M (MPro 110 projector) and the other from Optoma (Pico Pocket Projector). 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt1_4Hr_-FA

Video on the 3M MPro 110

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM7szOR918c

Video on the Optomo Pico Pocket Projector

By watching both videos, you will get an idea of how small the physical size is plus the actual image qualityprojected. The 3M projects upwards to 50 inches and the Optoma to 60 inches. 

Pros and Cons of LCD VS Pico Projectors

Pros LCD:

Screen have much better image quality, clarify and brightness.

Image is clear from corner to corner.

Built in TV tuner and nowadays a built in digtal TV tuner.

Built in speakers are suited for large room or group listening.

Pros Pico:

Very small and can be easily taken with you.

Can be connected to cellphones and pda’s.

Adjustable in viewed screen size.

Far lower in cost compared to LCD.

Cons LCD:

Very heavy

Can only be mounted on a wall where a physical stud/beam exists.

Limited angle of view depending on manufacturer and model.

Cons Pico:

Digital TV Tuner required (aprroximately $100.00 USD plus).

Limited image clarity.

Image fading around the edges.

Sound quality and volume limited without external support.

Overall:

In the end, it seems like a good LCD screen is the best option at this time. Until the pico technology matures and improves to provide equal or superior image quality over a LCD screen, it will be a device relegated to meetings and the gadget freeks.