High Definition Soaring

As an experiment in using high definition video and images for soaring
education, I've put together a site:

hdsoaring.blogspot.com

with a few installments for your viewing . The intent is to use the
fine detail available with high definition video (both live and with
graphic overlays on still images) to review one or more aspects of
cross country soaring. If you have a video iPod/iPhone you can copy
the "small" movies to your device. The medium size movies are for
viewing on a computer, while the one LARGE movie is a full 1920x1080
movie, just make sure you have a fast connection as this might take
several hours to download.

I'll be adding more installments on a once a month basis or more if I
can.

Please leave comments on the site or here. Let's see more people
posting high def stuff!

Kemp

An excellent and concise lesson. Very clear with HD.
Watched "looking further out", and relate to the label "anxious pilot"
in the mirror! We've all seen this scenario before.
Jim

Kemp,

I watched the Crater Lake medium video. Very nice! I would have made
the same mistake you did (and pointed out), going for the better
looking clouds that were more on the lee side. Live and learn, or
here, listen and learn. Thanks.

Keep it up! (the movies and the glider)

Marty

I only watched the "looking out" clip in HD: nicely done.
(Download time: 14 minutes to Germany :-)
First time i saw that area from a gliders cockpit.

THX and CU
Markus

As an experiment in using high definition video and images for soaring
education

I have thought of this idea and wondered why nothing is available on
the www that I am aware of, that addresses cross country training. A
wanna-be cross country pilot like myself would LOVE to see more of
this. Kemp, great job..... Beautiful video and very nice graphic
overlays and commentary. Can't wait for your next one.
Craig

Kemp wrote:
As an experiment in using high definition video and images for soaring
education, I've put together a site:

hdsoaring.blogspot.com

with a few installments for your viewing . The intent is to use the
fine detail available with high definition video (both live and with
graphic overlays on still images) to review one or more aspects of
cross country soaring. If you have a video iPod/iPhone you can copy
the "small" movies to your device. The medium size movies are for
viewing on a computer, while the one LARGE movie is a full 1920x1080
movie, just make sure you have a fast connection as this might take
several hours to download.

I'll be adding more installments on a once a month basis or more if I
can.

Please leave comments on the site or here. Let's see more people
posting high def stuff!

Great stuff, and please keep it up. I grabbed the large copy of Looking
Further Out and, aside from taking an inconveniently long time to download
(around 20 minutes, I think), it worked wonderfully. For future
installments I'll probably stick to the medium size just because I prefer
instant gratification to ultra-high resolution, but the 1080p stuff really
is gorgeous. The quality of it is astounding, not only the high resolution
but the clarity and lack of graniness in the picture. What kind of
equipment did you use?

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software

I really like this from a couple of viewpoints.

The lessons will help any early solo pilot (e.g me . I
particularly liked your "annotations" and the general pace
of teaching. I would have liked a *little* more commentary
along the lines of "I went over here because I felt
these things made it preferable", but please *do* continue
the "but I should have gone there because that was
better in the event".

When trying to give people a feeling of *why* we want to fly,
currently the best available is a large number of scratchy
videos not much better than youtube quality. While much better
than nothing, they leave too much to the imagination.

Thanks, and I hope you can stand the cost of the download
bandwidth!

Thank you all for the feedback so far. Some comments:
- The HD video sequences were filmed with a Canon HV20 on a Manfrotto
mount. The mount is too heavy and I've bought a lighter Giotto mount
since. The HV20 is tape based. Disk based recording has a 10,000 ft.
altitude limit so those are out; the chip recording systems are almost
there, but don't quite have the visual quality (but probably will in
another year or so). There are also issues of mixed editing of chip
based video and tape, not an issue for most people.
- The movie editing for "Looking Further Out" was done using iMovie on
a mac. It is greatly preferred to edit HD on a mac as it is
problematic on a PC. The Crater Lake movie was done on Keynote, a
presentation program on the mac with voice overlay, then output as a
movie.
- The ratio of work time into each piece vs. output is currently
around 80:1. I look to reduce this to 40:1 as I find the format that
works for me. The point is that it's a fair amount of work, and
although I had some great technical support, to be realistic, you need
to practice and plan what it is you're trying to do. But it is well
worth it.

Kemp

Kemp wrote:
- The ratio of work time into each piece vs. output is currently
around 80:1. I look to reduce this to 40:1 as I find the format that
works for me. The point is that it's a fair amount of work, and
although I had some great technical support, to be realistic, you need
to practice and plan what it is you're trying to do. But it is well
worth it.

For what it's worth, when I do my little amateur videos that aren't nearly
as nice as yours, I generally take around one hour per minute of finished
product. Given the much higher quality of your output, 80:1 seems entirely
reasonable. I'm sure that you'll get faster with practice as well. I look
forward to seeing more from you.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software

On Mar 1, 6:59*pm, Kemp wrote:
As an experiment in using high definition video and images for soaring
education, I've put together a site:

hdsoaring.blogspot.com

with a few installments for your viewing . *The intent is to use the
fine detail available with high definition video (both live and with
graphic overlays on still images) to review one or more aspects of
cross country soaring. *If you have a video iPod/iPhone you can copy
the "small" movies to your device. *The medium size movies are for
viewing on a computer, while the one LARGE movie is a full 1920x1080
movie, just make sure you have a fast connection as this might take
several hours to download.

I'll be adding more installments on a once a month basis or more if I
can.

Please leave comments on the site or here. *Let's see more people
posting high def stuff!

Kemp

Very nice.
I've tried to download the big one, but maybe the connection betwen
US and Brazil is a little bit clogged and had to settle for the small
one. I have a channel at Youtube, with several cross country flights,
the longest one 400 km one-way, if you want to check go to Youtube and
search for "PUOFT ". But it is in portuguese language...

Sergio