Classical guitar duet. This is the 2nd practice recording.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Left: Joe

• Guitar: ROMERIGO 罗美里哥 S 11
• Strings: LaBella 2001 Classical MHT (new strings, less than 24 hours)

Right: Angelo

• Guitar: Esteve

Sound recording device: ZOOM H1 Handy Recorder. Input level: 60; WAV: 44KHz/16bit.
Video recording device: Samsung TL350/WB2000 digital camera. 1920 x 1080 @ 30p HQ.

ZOOM H1 Handy Recorder, click to see more

It comes with a 2GB microSD memory card. Nice!

I put my 8GB microSDHC memory card in it. Works fine. Great!

This recorder is very light. It takes only one AA battery.

The handhold part looks too plastic for me. The battery cover feels cheap!

______

Later on, I find out some problem in the recording test.

Problem:

1. Use Windows XP to format a 8GB microSDHC memory card as FAT32.

2. Put this card into ZOOM H1. Then power ON.

3. Takes almost 1 minute to start up. The screen says “card access” and can NOT save a recording file.

Solve:

1.  Hold the “delete” button. Then power ON to format the card by ZOOM H1.

2. Turn OFF and turn ON again. Everything works as it should be.

Conclusion:

Always use ZOOM H1 to format the microSD card. (Hold the “delete” button to power ON)

______

2 road side sound samples recorded in  WAV original file, 44KHz/16bit.

ZOOM0005.WAV 2,339,072 bytes

ZOOM0006.WAV 4,242,176 bytes

Music recording: classical guitar duet. Input level: 60; WAV: 44KHz/16bit.

Siciliano_ duet_2_ZOOM0009.WAV 36,850,432 bytes

See the video reference of this recording.

How about comparing ZOOM H1 to big daddy Rode NT4? Just a thought.

Handy ZOOM H1 & big daddy Rode NT4, click to see more

Classical guitar duet. This is our 1st practice recording.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Left: Joe

• Guitar: ROMERIGO 01, 罗美里哥 01（2008试制版）
• Strings: LaBella 2001 Classical MHT (more than 6-month old strings)

Right: Angelo

• Guitar: Esteve

Sound recording device: Sony ECM-MS907 microphone + Sony MD, MZ-RH910
Video recording device: Samsung TL350/WB2000 digital camera

Video is recorded in 1920 x 1080 @ 30p HQ.

Cars pass by right in front of this camera. Let’s pause the video to see if we can tell who’s in the cars.

Can’t believe how clear the picture is in each frame of this HD video until see it with my own eyes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

click to see this picture in full size, 1920 x 1080

click to see this picture in full size, 1920 x 1080

Click here to view the embedded video.

click to see this picture in full size, 1920 x 1080

click to see this picture in full size, 1920 x 1080

click to see this picture in full size, 1920 x 1080

Download MP4 source file, SAM_1001.MP4, and play back locally to compare.

See also,

Samsung TL350 / WB2000 camera review

Samsung TL350 / WB2000 photo and video gallery

Here are some Pros, Cons, Tips and Other Thoughts for Samsung TL350 / WB2000 camera.

Pros:

• 1920 x 1080 @30p HD video;     — Record vivid color full HD video. Each frame is a beautiful picture. No streak!
• MP4 container (Video : H.264,  Audio : AAC);     — Smaller video file size. 1920 x 1080p HQ video writing speed < 2MB/s. A regular 1GB SD card can do the job. Not to mention class 4, 6, 10 SDHC. Original MP4 file can be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo directly.
• up to 1000fps slow motion video;       — No matter how fast is your fan running. I can clearly see each fan blade.
• high speed photo up to 10fps;     — Moving too fast? Take 10 pictures in one click. Capture the split second moment.
• auto power-on interval photo shooting;     — Auto power on & off. Take a picture, say every 15 minutes to see the change from sun raise to sun set. Make a nice time elapse video.
• Dual Capture in full size;     — Take 10.2M pixel pictures while recording 1080p HD video.
• 5x optical zoom while shooting video;     — Watch it closer in HD!
• 24mm wide angle lens;     — Much wider angel than my Canon 1080i DVD camcorder.
• take panorama picture;     — Hold the camera. Turn a 360 degree. Get a amazing panorama picture. Just that simple & easy!
• 3″ AMOLED display;     — Best camera screen ever!
• decent internal stereo microphone;     — It’s good even for music recordings.
• embedded a handy software to preview pictures and videos;     — Shows up a read-only drive when connected to a PC. It does some simple editing too.
• ultra compact “camcorder;”     — Treat it as a camcorder. It’s a ultra small size one. Better video quality than most 1080p camcorders out there.

Cons:

• No 60fps video;     — Samsung opts out 1280 x 720 @60p. This is my single biggest disappointment!!!
• No external microphone jack;      – Can NOT connect  a external microphone to improve sound quality. No way to avoid the lens zooming noise.
• 20-minute video recording time limit;     — ONLY 20 minutes per video file regardless resolution. Yes, press a button to start a new recording.
• No manual focus while shooting video;     — There are auto focus and smart scene detect function. But we don’t have manual control.
• No HDMI cable;     — Buy a  Samsung HDMI cable if you want to connect your camera to you big screen TV.
• No separate battery charger;     — Battery is out? Too bad! Don’t go anywhere. Charge the battery with the camera.

Tips:

• Don’t use the POWER button if you just want to see the photos and videos. Press PLAY button instead to turn it ON and OFF. This will turn on the screen ONLY, not the lens.
• Press OK button to pause and continue a video recording. Keep it in one MP4 file.
• Copy and paste the embedded software in this camera to a local drive and run it locally. It’s portable. Green!
• Microphone is OFF while zooming by default. Turn it ON!

Other thoughts:

• Battery life is not impressive. Buy a backup battery. It’s better buy a separate charger too.
• OK low light video performance. Not much noise. But it could be much better. I hope the new version can get close to Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7/TZ10.
• More than 10x optical zoom would be nice.

Samsung TL350 / WB2000 photo sample

Samsung TL350 / WB2000 photo sample

I ordered this digital camera, Samsung TL350, from crutchfield.com on Monday. $299.99 shipped. I got it on Friday.

Before I bought this camera, I did some research. To compare TL350 with Samsung’s previous release TL500, check this comparison chart, http://snapsort.com/compare/Samsung_TL350-vs-Samsung_TL500 We can actually compare any two given cameras on snapsort.com. It’s very useful and powerful.

The clarity and color of the 3″ AMOLED screen is simply amazing! The best digital camera screen I’ve ever seen. It’s obviously better the Sony DSC-T90 I bought more than a year ago. Note that this is NOT a touch screen.

Can’t wait to share some photo and video samples.

Take a close look to the window screen.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

The scene is like this. I take the picture right at this window. There is a tiny little dot sitting at the middle of the windows screen. I can’t detect it with my naked eyes.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

Highest video quality test.
* Full HD 1920 x 1080p HQ 30fps.
* MP4 video file (Video : H.264,  Audio : AAC). Upload original file, SAM_0014.MP4, to YouTube directly
* File size: 837,523,891 bytes, about 1.8MB/s

The “1920×1080HQ” is the highest video setting on Samsung TL350. I think “HQ” stands for “High Quality.” Try a 7:30 minutes long video recording on a 8GB SDHC card (class 6). No lagging! Pretty good. Very sharp picture quality. Actually, it looks too sharp, almost unreal for me.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Take a 10M-pixel picture while recording 1080p full HD video.
* full HD 1920 x 1080p 30fps
* 5x optical zoom
* picking up music from my car stereos and noise from the len while zooming in or out
* taking 10M-pixel picture (3648×2736) while recording video
* MP4 video format. Upload original file, SAM_0023.MP4, to YouTube directly
* file size: 29,612,503 bytes, about 2MB/s

The “1920×1080p” is the 2nd highest video setting on Samsung TL350. I’m surprised that the file size per second rate of this video is slightly higher than the “1920×1080HQ” setting. I guess that the MP4 video compress rate depends on complexity of each frame in video. In the first video, the background is very simple and stable. So the compress rate should be higher.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

What if a car pass by? Check out this video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Based on these 1080p samples, the full HD video file size is around 1.7~2M/s. Use 1.8M/s to calculate.

• 1.8M/s x 60s = 108M per minute
• 1.8M/s x 600s = 1080M, which means about 1GB/10 minutes
• 1.8M/s x 3600s = 6480M, which means about 6.4GB/hour

A empty 8GB SDHC card (typically counts 7.6GB) can handle 1 hour and 10 minutes 1080p HD video.

Maximum video recording time limit

30fps (1920×1080, 1280×720, 640×480, 320×240) : 20 minutes regardless resolution
240fps (432×320)    :     5 minutes : 40:00 slow motion play back at 30fps
480fps (224×160)    :     3 minutes     : 48:00 slow motion play back at 30fps
1000fps(192×64) :    10 seconds   : 5:33 slow motion play back at 30fps

I took video samples for each video setting up to their time limits. The follow MP4 file size data are base on real world samples:

30fps
1920×1080 HQ,   2,117,128,839 bytes,     approx.   1.97GB/20-minute
1280×720,            1,238,573,062 bytes,    approx.   1.15GB/20-minute
640×480,                330,181,109 bytes,     approx.   314MB/20-minute
320×240,                109,304,325 bytes,    approx.   104MB/20-minute

240fps (432×320),   348,842,589 bytes,   approx.   332MB/5-minute
480fps (224×160),   293,127,813 bytes,   approx.   279MB/3-minute
1000fps(192×64),      11,583,384 bytes,   approx.     11MB/10-second

More picture:
Impossible to read this sign from where I stand. But the camera does a good job. Click on the picture to see the full size original one.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

Downtown Los Angeles, 5PM, August 4, 2010
Here is a Panorama SCN mode picture. I hold the camera in my hand. I’m sure my hand shakes a bit. But the picture comes out OK. Honestly, I don’t know how to take a panorama picture. This is my first try.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Barnes Park, 5:40PM, August 5, 2010
Try Panorama SCN mode in Barnes Park, Monterey Park, California.
1. This shot is more than 180 degree.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

2. Start from the dark side, left side. The shadow under the trees looks good, but the sunshine part is overexposed.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

3. Start from the bright side, right side. The green grass, blue sky and hazy mountain are pretty good. The tree shadow is too dark.

Samsung TL350 photo sample. Click to see the full size picture.

Conclusion: To take a good panorama picture, start from a point where is not too dark and not too bright.

Check out this park on Google map, http://www.panoramio.com/user/joeno1

Hollywood Boulevard, August 7, 2010

240fps slow motion video sample. Resolution: 432×320

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In door low light HD video test. It’s a huge touch screen wall inside Hard Rock Cafe, Hollywood.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

See Also:

• http://vimeo.com/joeno1

Specifications from Samsung’s official website

• http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/photography/digital-cameras/compact/EC-TL350ZBPBUS/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=spec

Clear pictures of Samsung TL350 / WB2000

• http://www.dcresource.com/news/newsitem.php?id=4094
• http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Samsung-TL350-First-Impression-Digital-Camera-Review-21549.htm
• Where to buy?

I just found a professional end user review.

• http://www.flickr.com/groups/tl350/discuss/72157624654473650/

guitar 1: Joe (left 1), more than 6-month old strings, LaBella 2001 Classical MHT
guitar 2: Angelo (left 3)
guitar 3: Willis (left 2)
guitar 4: Jimmy (right 1)

This is the 3rd practice recording of this Canon in D.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is the 1st practice recording of the 2nd Movement of D Major Concerto.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

barbeque, beer, chat, play the guitar, solo & quartet..

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the FIFA World Cup champion pattern:

Argentina : 1978 + 1986 = 3964
Germany : 1974 + 1990 = 3964
Brazil : 1970 + 1994 = 3964
Brazil : 1962 + 2002 = 3964
WHO?: X + 2010 = 3964

Q: Who will be the champion of FIFA World Cup 2010?

A: Solve this equation:
X + 2010 = 3964
X = 3964 – 2010
X = 1954

Q: What happened in the 1954 FIFA World Cup?

A: West Germany beat Hungary 3 to 2.

Q: What does this suggest?

A: Germany is “doomed” to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

A football is round. Here is the prove from CalTech.

The final score sometimes depends on luck.

Spain has a fabulous team this year. But look at their first game.  They are just out of luck.

This pattern is not a fixed prove. We can use 3964 minus the year of every past champion team. It’s not hard to find out it doesn’t work out every single time. That’s why we still keep our faith watching each team fight its way through.

The final result will be revealed soon.

FIFA World Cup References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_FIFA_World_Cup_Final

Original idea from:

http://e.iciba.com/space-4309461-do-blog-id-1200121.html

http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=27542&topic=27573

It will be nice to provide a “shortcuts” like extension which combines as many as Google application shortcuts, then user has option to switch either one ON of OFF.

So we don’t have to install pipes of extensions icons beside the address bar.

A Chrome extension called “My Shortcuts” does a pretty good job. But there is still plenty of room to improve.

The goal is making useful things short and clean.

Posted on Google Sidewiki:

http://www.google.com/sidewiki/entry/JoeNo1.com/id/PmzAnbzhOVXmWQpaF-8AjAWVlDA

It was YouTube’s 5-year old birthday yesterday.

What a prestigious Internet big brother and such a great video sharing website!

I can’t believe YouTube spammed my mailbox today.

I received 10 identical emails from service@youtube.com within 5 hours.

Here is the evidence.

YouTube spammed my mailbox today

The title of these emails are “New Monthly reports have been generated“

Logically, I’m supposed to receive an email like this once a month.

I like to have this reports so that I can see which of my videos are getting the most views and revenue.

But getting it once a month is enough, or once a week at most.

Good thing I’m using Google’s gmail. All spams are sorted in one single thread. Nice and neat!