Record Your Life Story to Create Your Own Living Legacy

When I was a child, I remember my grandfather used to tell us all sorts of funny and exciting stories of his adventures across the world, how life was like for him growing up with his family, and other interesting quips about his life. Unfortunately, he passed before any of his wonderful tales were recorded. While we're still left with fond memories of his story times, we would have loved if he recorded them so that we can re-watch them and pass down to our own children some day.
When a loved one passes on, everything changes. While we hold them dear to our hearts, it really would have meant a lot to us to have kept some of these great times on recorded video. In today's world, this is now completely possible and even easy to accomplish using basic computer equipment and a little bit of skill. Here's a few tips to get you started.
1. Develop a list of stories or passages you'd like to share on camera. This usually works best when you sit with some loved ones to help develop a core list of the top stories you want to use. When recording, you're going to not want to read from a paper, but talk naturally, as if you were re-telling the story again, but this time to the camera.
2. Look for supplemental material such as old video tapes, audio tapes, photos, slides or other images that you can insert into the video to reference parts of the story. This is a great way to immerse the viewers into what you are talking about. If you've ever seen a documentary, very rarely do they focus on the narrator the entire time, but supplement what they're saying with videos, images and sound to help the viewer gain a better understanding of what times were like in the story.
3. See if any other family or friends would like to join in and offer their take on any story. This can add some funny moments, especially for embarrassing stories!
4. Think of a clever introduction to your video, as well as a nice looking closing sequence. If editing on a computer, you can inject title slides into the beginning and end of the footage which can include text for things like credits, Title of the movie and so on.
5. Make sure you have the right equipment. The minimum you'd need would simple be a camcorder, or even a smartphone camera. However, for best results, we recommend recording it as almost a voice over, using a studio microphone for best clarity. This is something our in-house editors are very familiar with, and lots of families go this route.

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5 Tips on Keeping Your Digital Media Safe Into the Future

Keeping your digital files save from accidental deletion or other disaster is becoming a higher priority for all of us as technology moves forward. As more and more of our personal data such as videos, photos, accounting, business files, etc. are moved to a digital format, we need to be prepared in the event that your hard drive fails, or you're unable to access your media for whatever reason. Losing all of your digital data is a nightmare scenario for a lot of us with important files. What can we do to ensure it's survival?
1. One way to keep your data safe that is gaining popularity is to use a cloud storage solution. With cloud storage, your data is stored in the cloud (online) with redundant backup systems to make sure your data will always be accessible and safe. However, if the internet is turned off for whatever reason, you will lose access to these files unless you have them stored locally as well. While cloud storage is convenient, you should NEVER depend on them as your only backup source, always keep a local backup source in conjunction with cloud storage.
2. Make at-home backups on a regular basis. For best results, we recommend placing your data on at least two or three drives, stored in different geographic areas. (Maybe keep one drive at your parents house, and another drive in a safe deposit box). This will ensure that if one drive goes down, you can still access the data from your secondary source.
3. Don't forget mobile devices! These days, some of the best photos and videos I've taken have come from my smartphone, so it's a smart idea to back this data up just as consistently as you would on a computer or laptop. Some phones include features to automatically back up your data when plugged into your computer.
4. Remember that your backups are only useful if you have the required software to read it. This means future-proofing your files. If you have word processing files from some completely obsolete program, it would be wise to then copy the files to a standard versatile TXT file, which you'd likely have much more luck opening in the future. A good rule of thumb here is to stick to file formats that can be read by open-source software today.
5. Keep an eye on your storage media, whether they be hard drives, flash drives or DVDs. If one of your backup drives fails, replace it immediately, before Murphy's Law kicks in. In the longer term, you'll want to move your data off various kinds of storage media as obsolescence sets in and move it onto newer ones once the newer technologies mature. Floppy disks went to the glue factory a decade ago, for example, and are quickly becoming unreadable. Writable CDs and DVDs are headed down this path; if you have data backed up on these, get them onto hard drives or solid-state media now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8295205

DAT Tapes Vs Audio Cassettes: What's the Difference?

DAT tapes are often confused with standard analog audio cassettes, mostly due in part because they look the same, but that's where most of the similarities end.
Most of us are pretty familiar with the old audio cassette, as they were a large part of our lives growing up in the 1970's through the 90's. These cassettes were recorded in analog, which is a recording method that stores signals as a long continuous wave on the media. In the case of the audio cassette, the wave is the fluctuation in the field strength of a magnetic recording.
DAT tapes, on the other hand, uses a digital recording method to capture data onto the tape. DAT falls into the same type of recording that is used on CDs DVDs and digital sound files like MP3 or WAV. Recording in digital is different from analog in that while analog is a continuous signal, while digital is not. Digital recordings use specific values to represent information. With sound, this means representing a sound wave as a series of values that represent pitch and volume over the length of the track.
Some audiophiles argue that because analog recording methods are continuous, they are better at capturing a true representation of sound because digital sound can miss subtle nuances. However, as digital recording processes continually improve, digital devices can use higher sampling rates with greater precision. Although the signal still isn't continuous, the high sampling rate can create a sound very similar to the original source.
Can Digital Recordings Sound as Good as Analog?
Early recordings in digital often sacrificed sound quality, or fidelity, in favor of reliability. One of the main drawbacks of an analog format is that analog media tends to physically wear down over time. Vinyl albums can warp or get scratched, which will inevitably have an impact sound quality. Magnetic tape eventually wears out and is vulnerable to magnets, which can erase or destroy information stored on the tape. Digital media like compact discs can reproduce sound indefinitely, as long as the disc is taken care of.
However, due to the way it's recorded, one of the benefits of analog recordings is that if the tape is partially damaged, you'd likely still be able to salvage much of the undamaged and even parts of the damaged recording with proper skill and care, while If a digital recording suffers even a small scratch, you could lose the entirety of the sound for that damaged portion.

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Wireless Headphones: 4 Best Reasons Why You Should Go Cordless

Have you ever wanted to watch your favourite TV show, but you find that you can never really get into it because of all the noise that's going on inside your house? Perhaps you have wanted to watch your favourite movie, but have decided against it because you wouldn't want to disturb anyone in the house. With cordless headphones for TV, you would be able to enjoy watching your favourite show minus the outside noise.
There are many who are hesitant of buying themselves cordless headphones for TV mostly because they find that it is unnecessary. But wireless headphones have become popular over the recent years, and have gained a fan base. There are certainly a lot of disadvantages of these wireless headphones compared to their "old-fashioned" counterparts.
No more cords
The most obvious advantage of owning a pair of cordless headphone for TV is the absence of the cords. How many times have you tried watching a TV show using a regular pair of headphones, but the cord was too short? You found what you had to move the chair all the way, or had to sit close to the TV because of this. With a pair of wireless TV phones, you can sit right in the comfort of your own couch. You can even enjoy the advantage of working out without the hassle of those wires getting in your way.
Noise filtering
Often times, all that background noise can be such a nuisance and keep interrupting you from concentrating on watching your movie or show. With the aid of cordless headphones for TV, you would be able to filter that sound and enjoy your viewing experience to the fullest with uninterrupted sound.
Easy-to-use
While most people fear technology because if it being too complicated for them, cordless headphones for TV are actually easy to use. You do not have to be a degree holder in Engineering in order for you to figure it out. All it takes is just a simple programming of the volume, and you are good to go.
Comfort to the ears
Cordless headphones for TV come in different shapes and sizes. Depending on the type of headphones you want, you can certainly find one which would be most comfortable for you. Make sure to find a pair that would fit your ears perfectly, and allow you countless hours of listening comfort.
While cordless headphones for TV have their many advantages, they can also have their downsides. This is why it is necessary for the would-be-shopper to assess whether or not these wireless headphones would fit their lifestyle, or not. They certainly can create a whole new experience of watching TV. One can get a good deal for these headphones online, or at the local mall. It is always important to read and do a little research beforehand.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8291680