I am proud to announce that our little boy has arrived.  Benjamin Harry Schwam was born on Saturday Feb 16th at 12:22 pm.  He's 19 & 3/4 inches and he was 6lbs, 5 oz.  He's totally cute and he has red hair, which is awesome but was quite unexpected.  Not only that, he's got a lot of hair and I'm a little jealous.  He's doing great and so is his Mom.  Rebecca did a great job! 

So now I'll have lot's of "Daddy" stuff to blog about.  Until I find some energy to do so, check out these pictures...

Here's a picture of Rebecca and me, with Ben.  It's just after he was born.

Here's a close-up of Ben.  He's been with us for a few hours in this photo. 

This one shows off his hair pretty well.

I just finished a little snack and it made me think.  My wife and I make a great team.  She likes to make cookies and I like to eat them.  Awesome!

Hold on, hold on.  My wife and I are still expecting our son in about two weeks.  But yesterday my sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Grace! 

Yes, it will be a busy few weeks for my family.  As for us, we are getting excited and waiting for our big day.  I'm trying to get a lot of sleep in advance.

I've already written about trying to choose a camcorder, selecting the Canon HG-10, and problems with shipping.

Now that the camera has arrived, I've had a little time to play around with it.  Here are some of my first thoughts:

First, this may be obvious but, this camera is small.  It's not even the smallest camera out there but but I like the size.  Most of the controls feel good, especially the zoom rocker control, which was mentioned as a highlight in reviews.  When recording and playing back HD video with the 2.7in LCD, the picture is really awesome.  For the most part the camera seems pretty easy to use.  I did notice, immediately, that the scroll wheel that is used to do a lot of the menu navigation is a little weak.  I read about this in some reviews.  Everyone seems to agree that this is a cool attempt by Canon and a step in the right direction but it needs work.  Basically, the scroll wheel feels like a cheap plastic toy that could break easily.  I certainly hope it is stronger than it appears.

Unfortunately, I had some problems watching the video off of the camera.  First, the HDMI cable I purchased is the wrong size (see below).  So my only TV hookup was "low def".  The pictures looked good but not spectacular.  But I hope a new HDMI cable solves that.  So it was off to the PC for me.  I easily and quickly uploaded the files via USB to my PC's hard drive.  However, when I tried to playback the video using the included software, Corel Intervideo WinDVD SE, the picture was was a little choppy and was not synchronized with the audio!  I know HD video playback is hard on the processor but I have a dual core 3.2 GHz processor with 3GB of memory.  Plus my video adapter is an NVIDEA GeForce 7600 GS, which I thought was supposed to be pretty good.  I even used a 1 GB ready boost thumb drive and I turned off the Vista Aero features to try and help but no luck.  I am really surprised at this performance problem.  I expected it for editing but not playback.  This was a really big disappointment.  Could the problem be that I need to upgrade the software?  I also tried editing with the included  Ulead DVD Movie Factory SE but that didn't work very well either.  First, the PC couldn't keep up very well.  Second, I am not impressed with my first look at the software.  Again, maybe I need to upgrade.  The free software is probably not the best one on the market.

I also wanted to complain about some accessories I purchased at Best Buy.  I should know by now to trust my instincts and not listen to the people there.  First, I already mentioned the incorrect HDMI cable.  They told me that was the correct one, even though I said I thought the connector looked too big.  Second, they said that the camera bag I purchased would hold the camera and the accessories.  I was interested in a slightly larger bag but they told me not to bother.  Strike two.  Why do I listen to them?

I expect that I'll be very happy once I get my HDMI cable and can view my home movies on my 46" High Def TV.  Then I'll need to figure out how to edit these videos.

In my last post, I wrote about my decision to purchase a camcorder.  So here's what happened next.

So I ordered the device at around 11:30PM on Tuesday 1/29 from TigerDirect.com.  Since it was pretty late, the item would ship on Wed.  Since I splurged $3 extra, I got 2nd Day Shipping which meant I have my new toy on Friday.  Now I've ordered from TigerDirect before and I've had problems with them, so I know what to expect.  Still, I trust them because even when there are problems, they seem to be genuinely nice about it and are pretty accommodating.  And don't forget, the price was right - about $350 less then Best Buy!  So starting Wednesday I got my tracking information from TigerDirect and started following my package on UPS.com.  Yet another cool benefit to the Internet, I can watch my package get closer to its destination.  OK, it left the factory, good start.  It's headed to Philly, this is going well.  Thursday night I checked and it arrived in town, this is good!  Friday morning it is listed as Out For Delivery - this baby is on the truck!  It was raining that day so I left a note on my door for the drive to leave the package on my covered porch in the back.  Early afternoon I checked UPS.com again and low and behold my package was listed as...Delivered!  I was so excited that I even called home on my way from work to make sure.  Rebecca assured me that the package was on the back porch when she came home and now it was in the house!

Upon arriving home, I immediately opened the box and started checking out my new Canon HG-10.  Wow, this is small.  Cool, I can plug it in and test it without the battery being charged.  Wait, what is this!  Why is there a door covering a DVD burner on my HG-10?  Wait, why does my HG-10 say HV-20 on the side?  I was so excited to check it out that I never noticed that the box said HV-20...TigerDirect shipped me the wrong unit!  Arrrrrrgh.  So I called up TigerDirect and, like usual, they were cool about it.  They can't ship me my model until I return the old one, or they can temporarily charge me for both on my credit card.  I can understand that, they don't want me running off with both of them.  And they promised to send the correct model next-day.  Since it was Friday at 5:00pm, next-day means Monday.  I still need to send the wrong one back and get my credit.  But I'm expecting that to go well.  If not, I'll be sure to blog about it!

Oh well, no camcorder for the Superbowl party.  Now all I really needed to do was convince my wife not to go into labor until Monday night at the earliest! 

OK, it is getting late.  Tomorrow I'll write about my first thoughts on the Canon HG-10.

About a week ago I posted on my struggle to choose a camcorder.  Well after lots of research, conversations with friends, and a little bit of "oh, what the hell", I picked a camcorder.

I selected the Canon HG-10.  It's an HD model that uses an internal Hard Drive for storage.  The web site CamcorderInfo.com has a pretty thorough review of the model, its features, and issues.    Here's what lead me to choose the HG-10...

Storage - Hard Drive:  All I read about the cameras that record straight to DVD is that they are a pain to edit.  Since I plan to do some editing, that was ruled out.  The mini-dv tapes are still popular and seem to actually have the highest quality video due to lower compression then the other formats.  But, you can't quickly access portions of video and transfer to the PC is a pain.  The hard drive model has pretty good video quality (I think it is in the middle between dvd and min-dv) and offers some other features, like quick access (mentioned above) and the ability to record large portions of video without changing tapes of dvds.

Format - High Def:  This was a tough call too.  The quality is obviously much better, that's easy.  But it is quite a bit more expensive.  Also, I was concerned about editing (you need a strong PC).  Another factor is that I don't have a way to burn DVD's in HD.  So I can only watch the videos off of the camera in HD.  Well, I'm hoping the prices come down soon on those HD burners.  In the mean time, I'll save up my footage, and wait for prices to drop.  I'm told editing won't be too bad since my PC is Dual Core 3.2 GHz, with 3 Gigs of Ram.  That left price.  After some research, I got a good deal, so HD was the way to go.

After doing a lot of research, I settled in on the Canon HG-10.  Basically, I thought it had a great feature set, excellent video quality, and was rated well in low light conditions.  That's fairly important because in video terms, most conditions except outside are considered low light!  A few things I was disappointed about with the Canon was the manual focus (not a ring, it's menu driven) and no mic adjustments.  But everything else looked good.

I started looking at BestBuy.com where the price was listed around $1100.  I think Circuit City had it for about $50 less.  At some point it went on sale at Circuit City for around $850 and I started to get excited.  Some more research on the web and I found it for about $835 at Buy.Com, $800 at J&R and then $717 at 42nd Street.  There were a few other places that were pretty low too. But Tiger Direct had the camcorder for $759!  Bingo.  This was a little more then some a few of the others, but I have done business with them before and I don't mind paying a few bucks extra to a company that I trust (that's not too say I don't trust the others, I just don't know them).

It was around 11pm and I was pretty excited to find a good price on the model I wanted.  I went to sleep, figuring I'd sleep on it and order it the next day.  A little while later in bed I thought to myself...What if the deal ends tonight at midnight?  What if they run out of stock?  So around 11:30 pm I came downstairs and ordered the Canon HG-10.  As a bonus, I found out I had a $50 credit from a previous purchase!  Plus, shipping via 2nd day air was only $3 more than the standard, so I could get the Camera by Friday!  Sweet. 

This is getting long so I'll end the story here.  To read about a few problems that came next, along with my first impressions, read my next post.

I have an idea, I hope it will catch on like the "I've Been Tagged" (see below) series of blog posts.  It was inspired by my previous blog post, which was inspired by a recent post by Scott Hanselman.  I encourage all bloggers to write a post and mention 5 people that influenced their careers.   It doesn't have to be a chain, you don't need to be "tagged" to join in.  Just pick your 5 people.  None of the people I am naming have blogs themselves.  It's just a chance to say thank you.  You can pick anyone you want, it doesn't even have to be someone you know personally or worked with, just someone who has had an impact on your career.

So here is my list:  5 People That Influenced My Career.  I suggest Including a name, relationship, current title, and description.  (These are in order of when we met, by the way)

*If you aren't familiar with "I've Been Tagged", it is a series of blog posts where the blogger writes 4 or 5 things about themselves.  Then the blogger "tags" 5 other people by adding their names to the post.  Those 5 people do the same.  Sure, it's kind of like a chain letter but there is a purpose.  It has spread to include many, many people.

In a recent blog post, Scott Hanselman writes about a topic that I have always felt strongly about - honoring those who have helped us in our lives.  He writes about how he got to where he is now, noting that if it were not for the help of his parents and some teachers, his life might be quite different.  He suggests that we do the same, blogging about how we got to where we are.  And he mentions Paying It forward.

I've always like the concept of Pay It Forward.  This can mean different things to different people. But here is how it fits into my career...

As a kid, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  Some people seemed to know right away what they wanted to do for a living and that always frustrated me.  I guess around junior year in high school we start looking into colleges.  Time to pick a school, a major, and possibly a career that we'll have for the rest of our lives.  I had no idea what to do.  I wasn't a great student in the first place.  I spoke to some friends and family and decided that Communications seemed like a good major. 

Through college I worked at a movie theatre and decided that I wanted to put my degree in Communications to work in the film industry (distribution, not production).  It took a while but a few years after college I got a break and was off to work at Sony Pictures Releasing (at the time called Triumph Releasing). 

I was always interested in computers and programming but didn't have a head for all of the math back in high school or college.  But at work I looked for ways to get involved with technology and I liked it more and more.  I worked with Spreadsheets, Access Databases, helped with Operating System issues...whatever I could do to get some kind of experience.  I was loving technology.  I taught myself about Access databases, the best I could do on my PC with no programming experience, and wrote some cool programs using VBA.  I couldn't have done it without the help of friends.  In particular, my friend Marc spent a lot of time explaining stuff like programming and database normalization to me.  He often jokes how we'd sit on the beach and he'd be checking out the girls but I kept asking him about problems with the programs I was writing!   I guess my inner geek had been released.  But Marc always made time to help me.  And he encouraged me too.  While I was having fun with programming, he seemed to think I had some real abilities and encouraged me to change careers.  Other people helped too.  My friend Doug had a lot of experience with Access DB's.  I emailed him with some questions and he went above and beyond and really helped me with the programs I was writing.  I was really surprised at the amount of time and support he gave me.   People, some that I didn't know very well, went out of their way to help me learn and they got nothing in return.  It was very generous. 

Fast forward to around mid 2002.  I had been working as a programmer for a few years doing Java, JSP, PL/SQL, etc and had been hearing about Microsoft .Net.  It sounded really good to me.  I started reading some books and took on a side project.  Marc suggested that I check out Philly.Net telling me that I could learn a lot at the meetings. At my first meeting I was lost.  Some guy was talking about a bunch of stuff that was way over my head.  And then it happened.  As a side note, sort of unrelated to what he was really doing, the presenter said "oh by the way, did you know you could do this...".  The "this" that followed was something I had been struggling with for weeks.  My problem was solved with a 30 second comment that wasn't even related to the presentation! From there I was hooked on Philly.Net.  I attended many great presentations and picked up a lot of knowledge.  If it were not for Bill running Philly.Net, and all of the presenters who shared their expertise, I would not have progressed as quickly with my career.

A few years later, Bill Wolff started asking for help with Philly.Net.  I volunteered and now I am pretty involved with helping Bill run the group.  I'm often asked why I put so much time and effort into our community.  I see it as Paying It Forward.  Many people have helped me a long the way with my career.  Some directly, some indirectly.  Now I get a chance to help other people with their careers.  I've mentored several people in .Net and I put a lot of effort into making sure that the Philadelphia .Net Community is strong so that people can learn and share information.  Now I realize that the people who helped me did in fact get something in return.  They got the pride and satisfaction that comes from helping other people.  It's a nice feeling.

With the baby on the way, it's time to buy a camcorder.  This is proving to be much more difficult than I thought.

I was really excited about this.  I love gadgets and electronics and I'm pretty handy with them.  There are all kinds of "gadget-guy types" out there and I am a combination of two of them.  First, I have that "gadget instinct" - I can usually pick up a device and not only figure out how to make it work but instinctually tap into the high end features.  On many occasion I have helped a friend with a device that they own but I have never seen before.  Second, I actually read the manual.  I'm such a geek.  But I like to know what my equipment can do, especially when it comes to something complicated like a camcorder.  Also, I have some experience with this stuff.  I used to shoot and edit videos (some professional stuff and a LOT of weddings).  But that was at least 15 years ago and a lot has changed.  And I have owned a few camcorders too but the last was probably 8 years ago.  So I have experience but I'm seriously out of the loop.

The first and probably biggest decision is format.  MiniDV, DVD, or HDD? 

It seems like MiniDV (little tape) is the popular standard.  The downside is that they are slow to put onto the computer and you can't quickly access different portions of video.  The upside is that the picture quality is supposed to be the best, which seems odd to me.  It sure would seem like the quality on a DVD or Hard Drive would be better but I guess the camera use more compression with those formats.  Plus, you can only play these back with the camera, unless you migrate them and burn DVDs.  It seems that this technology is old and on the way out.

DVD seemed like a cool option.  Shoot video and stick it into your DVD player - couldn't be easier.  But this has drawbacks too.  It seems that this doesn't work with all editing software.  And some reviews say you need to "finalize" the DVD before watching it, and then you can't put it back in the camera to shoot more vide.  But, some people have told me this isn't true.  Maybe the newer models work differently...I don't know.  Plus, DVD has a short time span, I think 20-30 minutes on a DVD.  That could be a pain but probably not too often.

At first, Hard Drive (HDD) seemed like a bad idea to me because of the durability issue.  But many people seem to think that these portable hard drives are pretty strong.  It makes me a little nervous.  But the cool part is that you can store hours of video on the camera.  I was really surprised to read the the manufacturers use a lot of compression though, so the quality isn't the best.  But it's really easy to move files between the camera and the PC for editing and storage.  I still can't figure out if these formats work well with editing software.  I think that this format will catch on and some of the issues it will get better quickly.  But I am leaning in this direction.

Next comes the HD question.  HD is cool, no doubt.  But is it worth the extra money?  Buying electronics is always depressing because as soon as you buy something it is outdated and replaced by a better, cheaper model.  I am sure this is the case with the HD cameras.  They are still quite a bit more expensive then the regular models.  I don't know if it is worth a few hundred dollars extra yet, when all of the kinks haven't been worked out yet.  Plus, I don't know if I can edit the HD video with the same software.

Features, features, features.  There are so many options on these things that it is tough to weigh out all the pros and cons.  Some people like just the basics.  But I think I'll use some of the advanced settings.  I have a digital camera and I am always playing with the exposure time and aperture to tweak my photos.

So here is what I want in my Camcorder... so far.

• Size - Small to Mid sized.  Doesn't need to be tiny, but nothing too large.
• Format - I think I am leaning towards Hard Drive (HDD)
• High Def - NOPE, I think I'll wait on that.
• Video Quality - High
• Features - Bells and Whistles include:
• Good battery life
• Wide Screen Format
• Manual Control (focus, white balance, etc)
• View finder would be nice (for sunny day shooting)
• Good image stabilization
• Good in low light
• Mic and headphone jack
• etc
• Editing:  Must be compatible with typical editing software and not limited to manufacturers proprietary editing software.

And the winner is... I still have no idea!  Let me know if you have any suggestions.