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Headed out the door shortly to head to Sacramento for the 100th IAI International Educational Conference. I'll be there at booth #126 representing Ocean Systems. If you'll be in Sacramento this week, stop by and see us!

Wow, who'd a thunk it. We're officially 400 strong..."and groooowing"! That would've been hilarious if you could hear me sing it. Well, maybe not. Anywho, a big thank you to everyone for their support and participation in the Media-Geek community so far!

A small investment of time and knowledge from a great many, typically far exceeds the value of a large investment of time and knowledge from a select few; some of you have already helped to prove that point here. On behalf of myself and all of the other members who have benefited from your contributions to our community, thank you! (I know, you would've preferred cash. No need to write in and tell me.)

A new report from Sonic Foundry and the Center for Digital Education shows instructor and student benefits from a video-driven flipped classroom approach to learning.

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Let me start by saying that I am by no means trying to imply that DVR, NVR or any other digital or IP based video system cannot produce good quality video evidence. There are even 2 or 3 high-end, mega-pixel quality digital surveillance cameras and systems on the market today whose capabilities far exceed those of a traditional analog based system. However, to my point, it seems more often than not digital based systems are producing very poor quality video evidence regardless of the system's actual capabilities.

So why do DVRs typically provide poor quality video evidence? Here are a few of the common reasons:

"Who, me?" Yes, especially you.

Techsmith has announced the release of Snagit version 1 for Mac users.  Visit http://www.techsmith.com/snagit for complete details.

1. What is File History
File History is a new backup service introduced in Windows 8. By default this feature is off and to turn it on, user has to select a backup location – either a network drive or external storage media. Thus, it does not allow user to use the same disk. File History backs up files of the Libraries, Desktop, Contacts and Favorites folders. There is an option to exclude any folder(s) that users don’t want to backup. Notice that File History is unable to backup your folders synced with cloud storage service(s). According to Microsoft, “File History doesn’t back up files on your PC that you have synced with SkyDrive, even if they’re in folders that File History backs up.” Once turned on, File History automatically backs up the folders after every hour by default; however this interval can be changed easily in advanced settings. In addition, at any time, user can manually run the service. File History appears as fhsvc in the Task Manager and some associated dlls are fhcfg.dll, fhcpl.dll and fhsvcctl.dll.

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Let’s talk a little more about aspect ratio. Always a lively topic everywhere I go, and regularly misunderstood by industry leading CCTV equipment manufacturers, engineers, and other video professionals. Should we correct, when do we correct, how do we correct, and of course the why. I’ve done a few short posts on the topic in the past (here's one), but this will be in a little more detail. Still writing on the fly, just going to break it down into a few posts over time.

This really should come as no surprise to folks in our industry, as Apple's support of QuickTime on Windows has waned over many years. It's also important to understand that I.T. is going to take a global approach to the new vulnerabilities, and will likely force removal of QuickTime from all hosts they control/manage. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to explain to them why you are an exception, and to learn more about the available options and solutions to address your environment and needs. There are options.

An Adobe Systems tool that lets older software handle raw images from newer digital cameras is about to leave behind Apple's PowerPC-based Mac era.

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One of the many reasons Cloud solutions are so attractive is because of the substantially lower capital investment costs to implement them, when compared to building your own solution. Many vendors are willing to give away equipment & services initially, knowing full well that once you're in their ecosystem they'll get their money back, tenfold. How can they be so confident? Well, generally because it'll cost far more than your agency can ever afford up front in order to leave their ecosystem/solution. That's their business model.

It's 2:30 am EST and I'm testing browser compatibility.  What's wrong with this picture?   Anyway, I've tested most of the new member area functionality with IE7 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.7 and above; so if you're using the latest from either you're golden!

I've also tested IE6 extensively and noted a few issues related to layout, predominantly due to IE6 and IE5.5 not digging the use of PNG files  At some point I may go back and resolve these issues either through "creative code" or simply converting the images to GIFs, but that likely won't be for several weeks.  Hey, why not just update your darn browser already...they're both free you know!!!  🤪

An oldie but a goodie, IMHO.

Kind of like the frames of my glasses, which were referred to as "birth control" glasses when I was in the military. ?

Hope you have a great Friday. Be safe out there my friends. ?