bonnie & jason

Canon HV10 review: New thoughts

I had previously put down some initial thoughts about this camcorder and now that I’ve had some “time behind the wheel,” I have a new perspective about the battery, the size, and finally, usability.

I had mentioned that the battery life isn’t so good.  I didn’t expect it to be given that it is so small.  So I bought a generic oversized battery that sticks out a fair amount to see if that would work better.  I’ve bought generic batteries for my cameras in the past and some have been fine and some have been horrible.  Well, the first one I got was promising.  I put it in the camera and it lasted much much longer than the stock battery.  But I couldn’t get it to recharge.  After talking with the ebay seller, he agreed to replace it for me.  So after going through the return procedure, I got a new one which again, refused to charge.  The funny thing was that the ebay guy had no problems recharging his.  Anyway, I ended up buying an external charger so I could charge one battery while using the camera at the same time. It turns out that the external charger was able to charge the generic battery and I haven’t had any problems since!  Weird.

Even though the generic battery was quite a bit bigger than the stock battery, the camera still handles the same and stays true to it’s pocketable form factor.  That said, I had a bit of buyer’s remorse when Canon announced the new HV20.  It has a number of features the HV10 doesn’t have and isn’t much more expensive.  However, I’m such an amateur videographer that the extra features probably wouldn’t really make a difference to me, whereas the size and form factor of the HV10 certainly make it easier to bring along on video worthy trips… especially since I’ll also be carrying my big ole’ still camera.

Finally, on the subject of usability, again, I’ll have to admit to my clear beginner status in videography and say that it works pretty well as a point and shoot camcorder.  On those occasions when I’ve had to adjust for white balance, exposure, etc. I haven’t had a problem.  The controls fit pretty well in my hand and even the zoom control, which is still a bit touchy, is easier to finesse now that I have some practice under my belt.  The real problem usability-wise isn’t the camera itself, but how to share the footage with folks.  As a blogger, I’m naturally inclined to share, so I’m struggling with a few items in this regard.

First, it’s pretty time intensive to get the footage from the camera to the computer.  Second, editing in HD is extremely hardware intensive and my poor desktop is barely up to the task.  Third, it’s practically impossible to share anything in HD since the files are so large.  Even HD DVD/blu ray aren’t really feasible at their high costs for not only writing but also playing the discs.  Finally, even though Youtube works, I’m not really a huge fan since it takes forever for it to process your video and the end result is pretty crappy as it has to be compressed to stream over today’s limited bandwidth. 

So remind me why I bought an HD camcorder?  (To tell you the truth, I probably have three times as much video from my crappy Canon S400 digital camera actually shared than from the HV10.)

What’s a guy to do?  Well, first of all, I probably need to get better at editing video.  The quick solution is to buy a Mac and use iMovie HD (or final cut express) as it seems to be much more user friendly that the crappy free software (Pinnacle) that came with the camera.  (Unfortunately, funding for this solution has not yet been identified.)  Second, eventually, HD DVD/blu ray drives will become standard in computers and in living rooms so I’ll at least be able to share full HD content via disc.  I’ll just have to be patient on this one.  Third, I’ll just have to live with the realities of low-res, high-noise, high-compression Youtube for the time being.

It’s not all doom and gloom though.  I’m saving all the raw footage tapes so when the technology catches up, I’ll still have everything in HD.  Who knows… maybe by that time, camcorders will be in hyper-HD and I’ll be in the same predicament again!  Oh well, the price you pay for being on the bleeding-edge.

So to sum up, the HV10 has been a great camera for me.  The battery problem was solved with the addition of an external charger.  The size is still right for me despite the lure of the HV20.  The only real issue is the post-processing work which isn’t really the camera’s fault to begin with.  *sigh*  More to come when the Mac fund takes priority over the Alissa college fund.  =)

A little scare

Along with losing the hair on the back her head, Alissa is also getting a bit flat back there from sleeping on her back so much.  To keep her from becoming a total block head, we went to babies ‘r’ us and bought a sleep positioner wedge.  It’s supposed to “ease breathing” and “enhance digestion” but we just got it so the memory foam would cushion her head better.

With the slight angle, some people said their babies slid down through the course of the night, but most just positioned it close to the end of the crib so the baby would stop when their feet touched the wall.  We did the same.

Well, at about five this morning, Bonnie woke up with a start and said, “oh no!” or something like that, but in a way that made me leap out of bed.  (Of course, the first thing that came to mind was SIDS.)  Don’t worry, nothing was really wrong, but Alissa was kicking furiously, apparently not happy about her swaddle blanket covering her face and also upset about her new sleep position.  Somehow, and I still can’t quite figure out how, she managed to go from sleeping on the wedge, to sleeping laterally along the bottom of the wedge.  So, not only did she slide all the way down off the wedge, but she also managed to get turned 90 degrees.

Anyway, I picked her up, reswaddled her, calmed her down a bit, and she went back to sleep (sans wedge).  It took me a little while to get back to sleep as I was still pumped up on adrenaline from hearing Bonnie’s “oh no!”  Even writing about it now is making me feel a little jumpy.  I should know better, though, as Bonnie will sometimes, “oh no!” at rather trivial things.  But when it comes to Alissa, I guess it’s hard not to be alarmed… especially when you think it might be SIDS related.

I remember when we first brought her home, we used to check on her while she slept all the time, even though we had splurged on the movement/sound monitor (BTW, worth every penny in peace of mind).  Of course, like all new parents, we were also concerned about her eating, pooping, breathing, umbilical cord, temperature, skin peeling, diaper rash, etc. etc. etc.  Recently, however, we’ve been very lucky to have a baby who eats, sleeps, and plays very well and haven’t really had anything of significance to worry about.  As a matter of fact, what we were most worried about is if we are lucky enough to have a second baby, that he/she will have a very high standard to be compared against!  Silly, I know.

Anyway, I’m sure there will be lots of little scares along the way… I guess it comes with the territory.  Hopefully they all end up being nothing more than little scares.

As for the wedge, I guess we’ll try to figure out how to make it work… maybe I can velcro her PJ’s to it.  If not, I guess she’ll just have to style her hair to hide the flat spot.  =)

Who meebo?

Dennis has introduced me to yet another cool internet thing… meebo.  Initially, it just seemed like a nice way to use all the various IM programs at once via a browser vs. having to install a stand-alone application.  In this regard, it actually works very well and is simple to setup.  But I also discovered they have a cool widget so people can chat with you directly from your website!  As you can see, I’ve added that widget to the sidebar.  I’ve also added it my photography website so potential clients can chat with me if I happen to be online (which is a lot more than I care to admit.)  In any case, it seems to work well here too, allowing users to see if I’m available and to provide their name if they’d like.  Pretty cool!

I have noticed that it sometimes takes a little while to see that I’m online.  And I’ve had it crash on me once.  But for the most part, it’s very easy to use and install.  So if you’re reading this and it says I’m online, feel free to drop me a message!

UPDATE: I got rid of the Flickr widget since I’ve started making all those pictures private.  That seems to have made the meebo widget “discover” that I’m online much more quickly.

Chick-n-coop?

Last night, Bonnie was in the mood for Vietnamese.  As usual, she already has the exact dish in mind before we even leave the hosue.  (In this case it was grilled chicken over vermicelli.)  At first, we were thinking about hitting our favorite Vietnamese place, Vietnam Village, in San Bruno.  But we didn’t feel like driving down there and thought it was about time we found a suitable replacement closer to home.  (Thus far, our attempts have been lacking… no one has Vietnamese sandwiches like Vietnam Village.)

Anyway, a quick Google search later, I found this place called Bahnwich that specializes in Vietnamese sandwiches!  Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.  So we hop in the car and make the short drive up Taraval only to find that it’s closed.  Doh!  It looks like a family run place as they are only open till 6 or 7 every day.  So now what?  Well, my earlier search had also suggested New Loi just a block up on 19th as well.  But they were closed too!  And after walking a couple blocks down, we realized there weren’t any other Vietnamese options.  Argh!  Looks like our Vietnamese cravings will have to wait for another day.

But along the way, we happened across the Chick-n-Coop which I had often driven past but never paid much attention to.  Looking inside, there appeared to be lots of old style booths and tables and even older patrons, but it was well lit, clean, and had lots of space, the better for which to manuever the stroller.  Anyway, we decided to give it a try and see what they had to offer.

I was actually pleasantly surprised what I saw.  Lots of hand carved meats were available from roast beef to pastrami to turkey along with tons of rotisserie chicken as you would expect from the name.  I was very happy with my meat loaf special and Bonnie was happy with the baked potato and roast beef sandwich.  (Sorry, the picture makes everything look horrible… I hate that phone camera.)  This guy, Kevin, has a pretty good review. (I “borrowed” his picture too as I only had my phone camera handy, thanks!).

Also, the service was good, the prices were reasonable, and the ambience was kid-friendly.  I’m sure we’ll be back at some point.  But not before we try Bahnwich!

Review: Kingsford Complete Grilling Cookbook

Most of you know that I work on the Kingsford brand of charcoal and am myself a charcoal griller.  Well, as part of brand building activities, Kingsford has helped publish a complete grilling cookbook, now available in stores and online.  I haven’t tried all the recipes yet, but the book does a pretty good job talking about grilling technique as well as providing tasty recipes with which to practice said technique.  Also, I do know that we did have our in-house R&D grilling experts test out the recipes before we “blessed” the book.  I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes myself.  If you have any requests, let me know and I’ll see what I can do!

 

 

Review: Avent Via Breast Milk Storage

We bought these thinking they would be more economical than disposable bags in the long run.  For the most part, they work ok.  They stack on top of each other and they have attachments so you can pump/feed directly into/from them (we haven’t used this feature.)  I do have a couple complaints though.

1. You need to screw the tops on really tight to make sure they don’t leak in case the fall over.  And they do fall over fairly easily if you stack them three or even two high.

2. Milk fat kinda sticks to the sides/top once refrigerated so you need to swish the milk around for a couple minutes to make sure you get all the good stuff.  (However, if you heat the milk inside this container before emptying into the bottle, it works fine.)

3. It’s really hard to read either the oz or cc markings on the side of the container.  They’re practically useless.

4. They recommend you only use the bottoms a few times before throwing away.  I find this to be fairly self serving as we’ve used them probably hundreds of times now with no problems.  (Except once… a bottle nested into a container and deformed it while going through a microwave sterilizer session.)

So, would we buy them again?  Probably.  Can they be significantly improved?  Definitely.

Review: Graco Mosaic Stroller

People tend to spend tons of money on two things in life… babies and weddings.  It’s nice that I’m on the receiving end of weddings but I’m trying my best not to get sucked into the giving end of babies.  So you won’t be surprised that in shopping for strollers, we totally dismissed those Bugaboos (or even the MacLaren/Peg Peregos) and instead, looked for something simple, manueverable, and not too pricey.

We ended up with the Graco Mosaic for a few reasons.  First, if folded down nicely while still sitting on it’s wheels.  I thought this would keep the stroller cleaner and prevent it from getting too beat up.  Second, it was pretty light and easy to steer.  We avoided the full travel system strollers for this reason… you can practically stow your whole life in one of those.  Third, the price was right.  I think it was just under $100.

Now that we’ve had a some experience with the stroller, I can say that it’s pretty much lived up to our expectations.  I can open and close it with one hand (although it seemed to have a break-in period).  Bonnie can get it in and out of the trunk.  It handles well over typical city-living terrain.  Finally, the cup holder and storage area have worked perfectly for quick trips to Trader Joes or the Mall. 

The only thing I’m not sure about is how long it will last.  So far, I don’t see any obvious weak points, but let’s face it… it’s a $100 stroller.  The build quality seems to be ok but we’ll have to wait to see if it holds up to the next few years of abuse.

So if you’re looking for a simple stroller that does what it should, I would recommend the Graco Mosaic.  If you’re looking for something fancier with bells and whistles, give me a call for wedding or baby photography.