Smaller/cheaper HD camcorder coming from Canon!

Dear Canon, I'm ready to be a beta tester for the U.S. market. Feel free to send your latest iVIS HV10 HD camcorder my way!

This new Canon model (HV10 - which I think stands for "High Vision" if I've read the katakana on the Canon website correctly) is claimed to be the smallest/cheapest HDV camcorder to date. The HV10 can record in standard definition DV mode, or high-definition HDV mode on a mini-DV cassette. They claim their CMOS chip can capture full 1920x1080i HD resolution video. And it has true optical stabilization, rather than just digital stabilization.

In terms of size, the camcorder is a mere 2¼" wide x 4" long x 4¼" high. That's about the size of your hand. It can take 3.2 megapixel stills on a mini SD card (not included).

The camcorder will be available in Japan starting September 2006 for the equivalent of $1,300. It appears to come either in silver or black. I personally prefer the silver, but I suppose it will be moot. No plans for a U.S. release have been announced, though if Canon is listening, I'm willing to be the first to try it out on this side of the Pacific.

Soccer Ball Titles for Windows Movie Maker

With the World Cup frenzy and a request on the Movie Maker Forums, I created the following set of Movie Maker Soccer (a.k.a. Football) Titles. Most of the XML came directly from HitTheBongo's set of baseball titles. I didn't change much other than the names and the images.

Click on the soccer ball above which will download the custom soccer ball titles. Run the self-extracting executable (soccerball) and it will install the custom XML code and the image files you'll need.

To use the new titles, go to 'Tools' > 'Titles and Credits' > 'Title on the selected clip' > 'change the title animation'. Under your list of one line titles should be 4 new ones called:

Soccer Ball (spins out, video shrinks)

Soccer Ball (spins out)

Soccer Ball (zoom, no spin)

Soccer Ball (slide to side)

I've got some ideas for additions, but I wanted to get these out to those that were requesting them. The bulk of the credit should obviously go to HitTheBongo.

Windows Movie Maker 2.x - Effects Icons

If you are creating your own custom effects in Windows Movie Maker 2.x, you need to specify an icon number. Rather than guessing, you can use the following images to figure out which of the standard 36 icons (0 through 35) you want to use. Click on a thumbnail to see the full image.
Effects Icons 0-11
Effects Icons 12-23
Effects Icons 24-35

Windows Movie Maker 2.x - Transition Icons

If you are creating custom transitions in Windows Movie Maker 2.x, you need to specify an icon number. Rather than guessing, you can use the following images to figure out which of the standard 92 icons (0 through 91) you want to use. Click on a thumbnail to see the full image.
Transition Icons 0-11
Transition Icons 12-23
Transition Icons 24-35
Transition Icons 36-47
Transition Icons 48-59
Transition Icons 60-71
Transition Icons 72-83
Transition Icons 84-91

TV Ratings in Windows Movie Maker

My TV Ratings title overlays have been updated to work in WMM 2.x and WMM 6.0. Check the latest post for the download.