It's the End of an Era

DV Shop One is a wrap!

 

Paint by Numbers

Paint splotches on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

One of the joys of renovating is picking the paint colours. No way to better
guarantee the silent treatment laced with seething anger with spouses and
co-workers is to try and pick paint colours.

After much hand-wringing and late nights filled with anxiety attacks, we
managed to pick the new colours for DV Shop 2.

Which colours did we go with? Here's the cryptic answer: In the wheatfields
by Grenadier Pond, my thoughts turned to Amsterdam, and that mysterious
overcoat. Riddle me that, Mr. Benjamin Moore!

I must have inhaled too many paint fumes...

Coolest Tile Remover Thing Ever

When you have 800 square feet of tile and thinset that you gotta remove, who
you gonna call? Scraper's Edge, that's who.

That's Sandy Sharma from Scraper's Edge riding a tile zamboni, performing a
minor miracle. If you've ever taken out tile flooring, you know what a pain
it is. Your DV Dudeness has had the honour of taking out possibly the world's
strongest (and ugliest) tile floor once, and still has nightmares about it.
This job for the new DV Shop would have taken an experienced tile person 1
to 2 days to take out. Sandy was in and out in 3 hours.

So, for those faithful readers of this blog - if you ever have to remove
tile from a commercial location, Scraper's Edge has the DV Dude's Seal of
Approval.

And as a bonus, you get to see the coolest thing I've seen in a long time -
the tile zamboni. And it's got joysticks too!

Google Map Driving directions from DV Shop 1 to DV Shop 2

View Larger Map

It's a quick drive from our current location to our new one, opening January 2011 at 3422 Dundas St. in the Dundas Runnymede Plaza.

Black Rapid : Changing The Way People Carry Their Cameras

Black Rapid, a Seattle based company, has created some great new innovations in camera straps with a special design just for women. Here is the 411 from the company website:

After years of shooting the Seattle music scene, weddings, and other dynamic environments, photographer Ron Henry had a flash of brilliance that would turn the camera world upside down. No more straps sliding off your shoulder. No more fumbling around, wasting time, or neckaches. Like a few of history’s most inspired inventions (the wheel, pre-grated cheese, the bug zapper, etc.), the concept is so simple it evaded everyone… until now.



Your camera hangs upside down, ready to maneuver into position at a moment’s notice via a sliding ConnectR that allows the camera to move freely while the strap stays put. Like a true revolutionary, Ron shared the wealth (so to speak) and started BlackRapid Inc. to ease the pains of the people. In a class of its own, the R-Strap is here to stay.

Check out some great product videos below:


NEW LADIES' CAMERA STRAP | RS-W1 by Black Rapid | Full Version from Mad Pants Productions on Vimeo.



BLACKRAPID RS-7 Basic Setup & Features from Mad Pants Productions on Vimeo.



BLACKRAPID DR-1 Basic Setup & Features from Mad Pants Productions on Vimeo.



BLACKRAPID MODS ACCESSORIES Basic Setup & Features from Mad Pants Productions on Vimeo.

Graffiti Gone Wild

You know the junk in the back alley has been sitting there too long when this happens...

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Muzak

One of the fun things about taking over a space, whether it be a house, apartment or store, is discovering what the previous tenant left behind. In the case of DV Shop II, the bank left behind their Muzak system.

Yes, there really is a company called Muzak. I always thought it was a generic term, but no, we now have a genuine Muzak box. It didn't seem to be working but lo and behold, while flipping breakers one night, suddenly the dulcet tones of "Hotel California" began to emit from the ceiling speakers. And we discovered a Program Selections list, because we just don't have one Muzak channel, we have several, such as:

1. Foreground Music One: Familiar Adult Contemporary favourites. A moderate
tempo program featuring well-known popular artists and their current and
past hits.

2. Expressions: Combines light hits from yesterday and today with
instrumental versions of hit songs, easy Jazz and melodic acoustic music.

11. Moodscapes: A contemplative mix of acoustic music and natural sounds
designed to promote health and well-being.

There are 18 more channels, but you get the idea.

Muzak Quik Trivia:

The brainchild of World War I veteran General George Owen Squier, the Muzak company was founded in 1922 as Wired Radio, a service that piped music to businesses and subscribers over wires. Liking how 'Kodak' was a made up name, in 1934, Squier decided later to change the service's name to 'Muzak'.

Ted Nugent tried to buy Muzak to shut it down. Muzak's existence so irked Ted Nugent that in 1989 the guitarist offered to buy the company for $10 million just so he could destroy its tapes.

Read more of the fascinating history of Muzak here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzak_Holdings

And long live Muzak fan Johnny Fever!

Graffiti Or Inspirational Thoughts

Look Into The Light

Nearly every day clients ask us when Apple is going to support USB 3, and we have to answer that we don't know. Alleged emails from Applemeister Steve Jobs indicate the answer may be... never.

And the mirage of Firewire 1600... appears to be exactly that. So then, what is Apple up to?

Light Peak could be the answer. Besides having the coolest name since FireWire, on the surface it seems very interesting. Your Dudeness of DV heard about Light Peak a while ago, and a little bird told him Bell Canada was very interested, but the grapevine has been very quiet on this in the last 18 months.

But that seems about to change, with this article from AppleInsider today.

Signs On Dundas

Sean and DV Dude Are Watching This Right Now

And giggling, they are.

Sean's Notes From The Edge: "Having a field day testing field monitors!"

The Marshall 5-inch HDMI LCD in now in stock! We compared it against our other Marshall displays and were very happy to see that it lives up to the Marshall name!

The glossy 5-inch LCD delivers a lightweight, bright and crisp image!

When mounted to the top of an HDSLR it's barely noticeable!

A must have for any video shooter! Only $549! (It's on my x-mas list! Thanks Santa!)

We've also put our HDMI Splitter to the test today. It can easily output a signal from our 7D to the three demo Marshall displays without breaking a sweat.

Please note: Sweating electronics should not be used and disposed of forthwith (sorry, couldn't resist)

Demolition Derby!

The demolition work for the new store started last night. We're erasing the last remnants of the TD Bank - the old ATM room, the cash cage office, old ugly carpet and tile, etc.

Once this destruction is done, the hard work building the new store begins.

Lights! Camera! Who Called The Cops?!!

The new store was the site for a movie shoot today, with acclaimed director
Pete Henderson of Steam Films doing a personal short film.

Besides the on-screen drama, there was some behind-the-scenes drama as one
of the tenants in the plaza did not like having a movie shoot in the plaza,
and called the police. Oh the drama! Never a dull moment at the DV Shop.

FYI - Pete Henderson and DV Dude have a history - they attended film school
together.

Big River Man

If you've ever felt like your life sucks and you can't get anything done, you need to watch this movie.

Big River Man - Trailer from KNR Productions on Vimeo.

What a Concept!

We've all seen concept cars at auto shows, but this is unique - Canon showed
off a concept camera, an 8 MP camera that can shoot 4k video. Canon added
that it has no plans to build this.

Ah, perchance to dream...

Let There Be Light!

The 411 on Various Lighting Types from WikiBooks:

Video/Film recording lights use many different bulb types. Some are standards from Edison (tungsten) but others are cutting edge of the 2000s (LED). Most bulb types use a filament-ignition process to produce light. A wire of some electrically excitable material is put under voltage in a oxygen-depleted environment, causing it to 'burn' without lighting afire. Fluorescent bulbs and LEDs function rather differently from filament bulbs.

Tungsten

A tungsten light is basically a more powerful version of a common household lightbulb. While a household light bulb may only take a few hundred watts at most, lights that are used to light film sets are easily 1000 watts (1K) and often over 20,000 watts (20K). The tungsten light bulb naturally produces an orange hue, similar to indoor lights. Tungsten lights have a color temperature ranging from 3200 to 3400 Kelvin. One typically uses a CTB filter to balance the color temperature with outdoor or HMI light.

Redheads

Redheads are a specific type of open-faced light made by Ianiro. They are very compact and come in 600 and 650 watt versions. They are also known as Mickey-Moles (when made by Mole-Richardson). The term is often used to loosely describe smaller, open-faced lights.

Blondes

Blondes are a 2k open-faced light. Because they are open-faced, they tend to put out more light than a 2k fresnel.

Halogen-Quartz

Halogen-Quartz bulbs, often known as "Halogens" or "Quartz" are a staple of lighting. Halogens rarely posses a color temperature outside of 3200°K. These same bulbs are often used in car headlights, portable worklights, and recently in house-decor lighting. The bulbs come in wattages ranging from 15W-3500W. Additionally the are manufactured in a wide range of enclosures, bases, and connectors. Common are the "T", and bayonet base. Halogens emit significant amounts of heat during operation, so much so that oils on the glass surface of the bulb case lead to un-even heat distribution and rupturing (through thermal shock to the glass) or heat build-up and exploding gas within the bulb.

HMI

An HMI light is used very often to light film sets. One requires a ballast in order to power and creates a loud noise when turning on, so it is set protocol to yell "striking" in order to warn others on set to both ignore the noise and avoid looking at the light. The HMI light is a different type of light bulb than the more common tungsten. An HMI emits ultra-violet lights and emits a blue hue. HMI lights produce a color temperature around 5600 Kelvin. One typically use a CTO filter to balance the color temperature with indoor or tungsten light.

Fluorescent

Fluorescent bulbs were not used for lighting film and video until recently. This was because of problems with flicker and a tendency to emit more of a greenish hue. The Fluorescent lights used in film now are made to be flicker-free and come in both daylight and tungsten balanced bulbs. "Kino-flo" is one of the major companies involved in making fluorescent bulbs and fixtures for film and video production. Fluorescent lights tend to be very soft, but do not put out much light in comparison to other lighting instruments.

LED

Until the last five to ten years Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have seen little implimentation. Recent advances in production costs and chemical advances used in the diode junctions have led to inexpensive LED 'bulbs' as well as even color temperatures in multiple bulbs. LEDs are manufactured in all colors, and white comes in many color temperatures; 3200K being the most common, but ranging from 3000K to 5600K+. Diodes, due to their engineered design tend to have a very directional light. The front lens is parabolic, focusing the light to a small dot even several meters away.

Sean's Notes: Comparison Zoom H1 and Zoom H2

H1 Recorder:
-2 mics for stereo recording
-Entry Level Recorder
-Perfect for meetings and journalism
-Accessory kit is optional (USB Cable, Windcover, case, tripod, AC Adapter)
- Uses Micro SD Cards
-Easy to use!

H2 Recorder
-4 mics for stereo and surround sound recording
-full feature recorder
- Can be used as a USB Mic
- Built-in Chromatic Tuer (for voice and guitar)
- Accessory kit included (Windscreen, USB cable, headphones, audio cable, stand, Mic hand stand etc)
- Auto Record feature
- Many customizable options
- uses SD/SDHC cards

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

A Few Accessories Can Make Your Camera 80% More Gangster

Dude looking sad shooting with a lonely 7D.



Add a few accessories...





And voila!



The coolest Dude on the block!

A Coke By Any Other Name...

99 cent deals at our local convenience store.

Coming Soon To a Theatre Near You: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Fox just bought the rights to this stellar piece of fiction. Maybe Edward Norton will play the lead.

And Did We Mention The Free Parking?

One of the biggest determining factors in the selection of the new DVS location, after factoring in size, cost and the condition of the building, was parking. Being on the South side of Dundas street, we have okay paid parking right now but whenever we mention that the new place will have lots and lots of free parking, not to mention wheelchair access, that seems to put a smile on everyone's face. No more getting towed for being parked on the North side of Dundas between 4 and 6. No more broken parking ticket dispensers. No more altercations with a 6'3" parking cop.

Vive le parking libre!

Your Tuesday Morning Dose of Craziness

If you were reminiscing this morning over Fruit Loops and Jack Daniels about the insane craziness of Will Sasso doing Kenny Rogers on the late-great Mad TV, the clip above should give you a little pick-me-up this morning.

Where are you Will Sasso?

DV Shop 2: The Next Generation

As DV Shop hurtles towards its 10th anniversary, a number of changes are
coming, but this is going to be the biggest one - a new store. We can
officially announce our that our new store is going to be located at 3422
Dundas St. West (at Windermere), a five minute drive from our current
location.

The new location was formerly a TD Bank, and yes the vault is still there.
We may use it as a "Time Out Room" for any unruly customers or staff.

Below are a couple of "before" pictures, and we'll be posting updated pictures as we
renovate. A lot of work is ahead.

The new location is twice the size of our current store, and will allow us
to do a lot of things we've been meaning to do for years but didn't have the
space.

DV Shop 2: The Next Generation. Bigger. Brighter. Better.
Coming January 2011.

There's No Such Thing as a Silly Question

In the past 9 1/2 years we've been asked some interesting and unusual questions. You can read some of our all-time favourites in the "DVS Questions Hall of Fame" here

The Curse of the White Shirt

I like white shirts. I look good in white shirts. But I don't wear white
shirts because I always get stains on them within seconds of putting them
on.

But I'm getting older, and one would like to think better at basic motor
control. Surely at this point in my existence I can go all day without
spilling liquid on myself. So I bought a new white shirt and promptly put it
in my closet and delayed wearing it for months.

But today, I thought, today I will wear my new nice white shirt. Damn the
torpedoes, carpe diem, all that stuff.

Sure enough, within 5 minutes of leaving the house, I had a coffee stain on
my nice new white shirt. Go to the store, open up, and walk out the front
door to go back home and what happens? A pigeon decides to evacuate his
bowels all over my hair, my jacket and of course the front of my white
shirt.

I am never going to wear another white shirt as long as I live. I hate white
shirts. Damn them to Hades!

The Ballad of Chuck and Buck

Chuck n Buck

Our famous Euro spokes-mannequins. From France.

(It's a long story.)

(P.S. Have your picture taken with Chuck n Buck when you visit the store and we'll post it here.)

Coolest Trailer of the Year

Somehow, I managed to never see the original Tron movie. I have never played
the video game. But after seeing this trailer, I GOTTA SEE this movie.

Looks freaking cool. I'm not a CGI worshipper, and I think we're doing way
too much CGI, but here it really works.

If you haven't seen it yet, view the trailer here -
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/disney/tronlegacy/

Even if the script sucks, it will be nice eye candy.

Notes From The Video Dept: Buying a New Camera "It's The Best of Times & The Worst of Times"

"Which camera should I buy?" has never been a harder question to answer as new shooting trends and HD formats seem to be emerging fast and furiously. No one wants to be an early adopter of a camera or format that could be a pricey boat anchor by next year. Mention Laserdisc, Red Ray, DVD camcorders or the price of those original P2 cards and you'll hear feral growls all around.

Summer 2010, we saw the hottest trend and biggest growth market was DSLR video while traditional video cameras gathered dust on the shelf. Price and image quality were two key factors. The Season Finale of House sealed the deal and provided the validation DSLR video shooters had been clamoring for. Professional, broadcast quality video could be shot on a DSLR. Period. The only question that remained was how would the traditional video camera designers respond to the challenge to their market share?

While these video wars play out on the R&D battlefield of Sony, Canon and Panasonic, the rest of us are left to muddle along or watch and wait. But back to the here and now and the choices currently on offer.

Shooting video on a DSLR is often described as "Wild West Fun" but it's not for everyone. One interesting way we've heard it described is to think of DSLR shooting versus a regular camcorder like the difference between driving with a stick shift versus automatic. If you've never learned how to drive a standard and you're suddenly thrown into a sports car and told to drive stick, the results could be mixed. The footage looks awesome, if you know how to get it. Most people adapt fairly quickly with practice and perseverance but others just want to get back to driving auto so they can enjoy the ride without struggle and distractions.

The view from here is that DSLR filmmaking is not going to disappear any time soon. If it's something you want to try and it suits your workflow, it's a great option. If you'd rather stick with a more traditional camera but you want the DSLR look, options are emerging that look promising. Another trend on the video horizon is 3D with Panasonic announcing a consumer 3D camcorder to debut in October. So it appears future-proofing is a thing of the past. What the future holds nobody knows.

Whatever your camera of choice, the main thing is to just get back on the road and enjoy the ride.

Guest Post: Notes From The Video Department "Send Help, We're Lonely"

Things have been pretty grim down here in the Video Department since the current trend of shooting HD video on DSLRs like the Canon 5D MK II hit. Curse you Philip Bloom! A ray of light has slowly emerged in the form of a sexy little handicam-slash-DSLR, the new Sony NEX-VG10 which arrived last week. Also highly anticipated is Panasonic's AG-AF100 which is slated to be coming in December and the buzz started building at NAB 2010 and continued to IBC 2010.

Panasonic AG-AF100 / AF101 from UrbanFox.TV on Vimeo.

A New Face

After over 9 years of being a Mom and Pop operation, The DV Shop has finally
added a new staff member and we'd like to welcome Sean Miki to Team DV Shop. Next time you stop by be sure and say hello.

Sean has a good background in Apple and photography, as well as being a fan
of Monty Python, so he should fit right in.

Besides helping with the overflow, Sean should help us get caught up on the millions of things we've been meaning to do here.

What the #$!% is this $&!%???

I have somehow managed to not to watch a single episode of the cultural
phenom known as Jersey Shore. But wanting to keep up with popular culture,
I set up the PVR to tape the season premiere to see what all the fuss is
about.

Well, I lasted about 15 minutes before hitting the erase button.

What the #$%@!!

Why are millions of people engrossed with this ... (desperately trying to
come up with the perfect adjective) ...pitiful excuse of a television show?

Why is The Situation worth millions? Why does Snookie exist? Why are the
lives of these uncharismatic losers worth the attention of a television
crew, let alone a network?

The mind reels.

Shameless Self-Promotion Entry #1

When I'm not busy running The DV Shop, my hobby is photography, and every
August I put up a new photo exhibit.

This year's show is "Return to Death Valley", a series of pictures I took in
and around Death Valley in April 2007 on the Canon 5D.

This is my second photo exhibit on Death Valley. The first was from photos I
took in 1999. That trip was marked by coming down with Norwalk Virus, so I
spent most of the time vomiting and other unpleasantries. Needless to say I
didn't get very much photography done, and I always pledged to come back and
do it right. So I did, and the second trip was thankfully devoid of any
toilet drama.

For those who can't make it to the store to see the pictures in person,
click here or visit the gallery of past photo shows by clicking the icon on the blog sidebar.

Sony starts to shine

When Sony announced they were buying the photography assets of Minolta, I
expected big things from their new photography division. I figured their
first models would be okay (and they were) but the second generation would
live up to Sony's reputation of stellar quality and innovative features.

Well, their second (and third) generations were, ahem, un-inspiring. Very
un-Sony like.

But things were starting to look interesting at the PMA show in February
2010 with prototype models under glass that looked very intriguing.

And now they are delivering. First with the NEX line of compact cameras, and
now with the announcement of the a33 and a55 DSLRs, Sony is finally being
Sony in the photography world.

Now if they would only stop being allergic to 24p in movie mode.

Canon and Nikon - watch out.

Nikon finally gets it right on video

Nikon today announced their newest DSLR, the D3100. What's interesting about
this is Nikon finally gets video right on this, with AVCHD and autofocus.
We'll see how the auto-focus works in movie mode once we get our demo model,
but we're glad they are adapting the AVCHD codec instead of their ancient
motion JPEG codec they were using.

Shipping late September 2010, with a list price of $699 with kit lens.

We expect more Nikon announcements in September as we head into Photokina
season.

Nothing Kills Retail Like Greedy Landlords

I spent a lot of time on my recent vacation looking for a new store. The
lease at our present location is coming to an end, and we desperately need a
larger space. We outgrew our present location about 6 years ago, and have
been cramming more and more stuff in to the point of suffocation. So we're
on the hunt for a bigger space.

While on the hunt, it reminded me of what an "interesting" sub-species of
the human race the Landlord is. In my adult life I have rented a lot of
premises for various jobs I have done, and I gotta say, Landlords are a
peculiar lot. As you tour place after place, it becomes fascinating trying
to figure out the psychology. Do they really want to rent this space? Would
it really kill them to close the gaping hole that rats and god knows what
else could crawl into? Leaks that haven't been fixed in years? Would it
really kill them to spend half-a-day cleaning the place up?

And don't get me started on real estate prices. We briefly considered buying
a building, but that dream quickly died a quick death. You would be amazed
at what a small, lousy building $900,000 buys you in Toronto. I predict a
big drop in commercial real estate - pricing is psychotic.

This time around though, I gotta say, I was impressed with the real estate
agents. Professional, knowledgeable, and helpful. Can't say that has always
been the case, but all around a good bunch of agents this time. Refreshing.

I'm sure any landlord reading this will have counter-arguments about how
horrible tenants are, but if they want to vent they can launch their own
blog.

This is a Test of the Emergency Broadcasting System

Back from vacation, refreshed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and this is
what awaits. Boxes upon boxes. Phone is ringing off the hook. And all the
positive calming energy that one has been immersed in for the past few weeks
is dissipated by noon. Back to reality. Back to paying the bills. If only
mortgages, car payments, leases and utility bills also took a vacation.

The vacation was a good one though, and very productive for DV Shop, as it
will become apparent in the coming weeks. Change is coming. Stay tuned.

And welcome to my blog.