[Linux-aus] [LACTTE] WordPress Melbourne Recording Equipment Grand

[Tim Ansell]

Hi Aaron,

I'd love to help you get all your events recorded. I'm in Sydney but can
offer advice (and maybe even kit) to help you out. One of my personal goals
is to make it as easy as possible for user groups to get high quality
recordings.

Firstly some general tips;
-------------------------------------------------------
By far the two most important factors effecting the viewability of
recordings are;

   - Audio quality
   - Slide capture quality

A secondary concern is the capture of the actual speaker. I consider this
an nice to have but it does add a lot of complexity.

For improving audio quality is easy and pretty cheap, you want to do the
following;

   - Use a wireless lapel condenser microphones on the speakers (and learn
   how to mount it properly).
      - Most speakers have trouble using hand held microphones, keeping it
      a consistent distance from the mouth is hard without training
and it means
      you can't use your hands for other things.
      - In room microphones pick up a lot of background noise, including
      people speaking in the audience.

      - Use proper connector / capture device. If you are connecting the
   microphone to a computer use don't plug it into the microphone port using a
   cheap adapter. Get a device like
   http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/art-usb-dual-tube-pre which
   allows you to adjust the gain.

   - Buy good equipment *(If you don't get a proper capture device like
   mentioned above, then it this won't make a difference)*. Spending the
   extra $100 on a good receiver and microphone is well worth the money


For improving slide capture quality is a much harder problem and often
expensive;

   - *Don't use a camera pointed at a projected screen.* Cameras are just
   not designed to work in this type of environment and will produce extremely
   poor results.

   - The best solution is to use a frame grabber device between the
   presenter's laptop and your projector.

   The reason a frame grabber is great is that no special software needs to
   be installed on the presenter's laptop and you get exactly what is
   projected without issue with lighting and other non-direct issues.

   - The goto device was the TwinPac 100 but these devices are no longer
      sold and sourcing them is quite hard. They also use the dead Firewire
      technology and are standard definition.

      - Epiphan sell USB VGA capture devices which some people have had
      success with, but I've had nothing but trouble. As they are not a
      pass-through device you'll also need a VGA splitter.

      - I'm working on a hardware replacement for the TwinPac, but don't
      have a device you can buy commercially yet. If you are really
keen you can
      purchase a prototype board to play with.

      - A less great solution is to use something like Hangouts or WebRTC
   to capture the presentation on the presenters laptop. This only really
   works if you have control over the laptop that the presenter has to use.
   Doesn't work very well for technology groups.

---------------------------

There is a lot more that I'd like to add, but don't have time right this
second. Will send another email later today.

Tim










On 15 October 2013 11:16, Bianca Gibson <bianca.rachel.gibson at gmail.com>wrote:

> On 15 October 2013 11:08, Aaron Rutley <aaron at elevenmedia.com.au> wrote:
>
>> - Our main (large) monthly meet-up is at Inspire9 (Richmond) however we
>> also have smaller meet-ups at YBF
>>
>
> Melbourne Python Users Group is also at i9, and I think they host several
> groups I don't go to. i9 would be a good place to store it and have people
> pick it up from for Melbourne based groups, they are right next to Richmond
> train station. Most of the groups I'm aware of meet in the CBD or inner
> suburbs.
>
>
>> - We also have other meetups in Bendigo, Endeavour Hills & we'd see the
>> equipment being used at other events like PressJam & Beach Press.
>>
>
> OK.
>
>
>> - We'd be happy to manage the loan of the equipment from LA
>>
>
> That's great.
>
> Cheers,
> Bianca
>
>
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>
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