Consumer Video Education Blog

The big buzz word going around today is becoming green.  Exactly what is that?  Well, becoming green is a combination of reducing your energy consumption (which also reduces your environmental footprint) and recycling. 

I have done considerable research on this subject for a couple magazines and other trade newsletters and blogs.  Professional video and multimedia people are conscience about the environment and there has been considerable interest in this trend and several requests were made from across the country about tips on how to become more green.  Although the average consumer may not have as much equipment or use as much consumables as a business would, there are several things that you can do to help save the environment and some cash at the same time.

• One of the biggest energy wasters in the average home is lighting.  This should be a no-brainer.  Swap out your regular light bulbs for Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s).  The can be purchased literally everywhere; discount stores, hardware stores, even the corner convenience store.  At first look, then may seem expensive, but the fact that they last 8 times and use 1/4 of the energy of conventional light bulbs, their payback is real over the life of the bulb.    Look for multi-packs and sales to further savings.  How much can you save?  If you are consuming $25 per month for lighting and you changed all of your lighting to CFL’s, you could realize a monthly savings of $15 or more!  Really.  
• Removing wall transformers (commonly know as ‘wall warts’) when not in use.  These are everywhere.  Cell phones, cordless phones, portable GPS systems, the list goes on and on.  Companies are doing this because it is easier and cheaper for them to use one of these external transformer/power supplies that it is to build it into the product.  The problem is that we have a dependency to be lazy and leave them plugged in when the cell phone is charged.  This wastes electricity, even though nothing is attached to it.   Feel the transformer, is it warm?  That tells you that is is using electricity.  And unless you are using that to heat your house, you are paying the electric company money for nothing.   When you cell is recharged or any device that goes unused for any length of time, unplug it.  Over time, this electrical savings could add up to several dollars a month (all depends on how many you use).
• Any device that has a clock in it or uses a remote control uses electricity even when it is off.  TVs, VCRs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, CD & DVD players, stereo units are just some of the electronics that are guilty of this energy waste.  Solution?  Unplug these type of devices if they are not used for extended periods of time.  Daily use may not be worth the disconnection and many cable & satellite boxes and DVRs may result in loss of service is unplugged for any length of time, so I would not disconnect them. 
• Transportation.  There are several easy things that you can do to get better gas mileage and others to simply cut down on travel, all resulting in savings at the gas pump.  The first is to check your tire pressure.  Increase your pressure to the maximum pressure as indicated on the sidewall of the tire.  Doing so will increase the rolling resistance of the tire, meaning that it will take less power to roll the car and use less gas in the process.  The next thing is to clean out the backseat and trunk.  For every 100 pounds of additional weight in your car, it could mean 1 mile per gallon less in fuel economy.  So store the golf clubs, the case of oil and all the other sporting equipment somewhere else, not in the trunk.  Other “common sense” things like keeping your car tuned-up, oil changes, staying below the speed limit and avoiding quick starts and stops all will add to the savings at the pump.

All of the above suggestions will not only make you more “green” but will help you keep more of your hard earned dollars in your pocket and not in the wallets of the utilities, big oil and foreign oil producing countries. 

Now, some things that you can do to help the economy and not necessarily reduce your personal expenses, but will affect your monetarily in the long run.  Recycling.  There are several types of recycling that you can do to reduce the amount of trash going to over-flowing dumps and putting toxic products into the environment.

• No. 1 and No. 2 plastics are all recyclable.  They take over 100 years to breakdown in a land fill, so toss them in the blue recycling bin.  Those plastic bags that you get from most grocery and department stores are No. 2 plastic, BUT most communities do not allow them to be recycled (which I cannot understand).  You can, however, recycle them at almost any store that hands them out.  They will have deposit boxes at the entrance of the store to collect them.  Many stores are now deducting 5 cents (per bag) from your total bill if you reuse those plastic bags for your purchase.  You can also use the eco-friendly reusable bags and bypass the plastic all together (you will also get a 5 cent refund for using them).
• Batteries, especially rechargeable batteries are considered hazardous waste and should not be tossed in your trash.  Many businesses that sell these type of batteries (like Home Depot) will also have bins that you can deposit your batteries, doing the environmentally correct thing.  There is no charge for this service. 
• Ink Cartridges.  Home computer printers use ink that is contained in cartridges.  When empty, most people just add them to their trash.  Again, the remaining ink is toxic and should be disposed properly.  How?  Many office stores (like Staples) have collection boxes at their entrances for disposal.  Some cartridges (HP, Lexmark and Epson) are reusable and can either be refilled (some Walgreens offer that service for less than half the price of a new cartridge) or given rebates ($3 from Staples) if you hand them in when you make a purchase.

There is more things that the average person can do to reduce the amount of energy that we use and  to reduce the amount of waste that we produce.  All reducing that carbon foot print.  Look around your house or business and see if you can find any that you can do to help the earth.  And watch the savings in your utility bills.

I will be adding more ideas for you to “get green”

You have probably seen all of the public service announcements warning you that as of February 2009 you will loose your over the air TV reception unless you have cable or satellite. What you probably don’t know is that only cable will provide your local channels for free as part of all packages BUT if you have a satellite system, you have to pay for a “local channels” package and would only include a small number of the closest network channels costing $5-6 per month.

In order for you to receive the “free” on-air channels you have to either purchase a Digital TV converter box (if you have an older TV without a ATSC (digital) tuner) or purchase a new TV with a digital tuner. In addition, you will also have to have an antenna to receive the new channels. The new digital channels are located in the UHF band (where the old channels 14-83 currently are located) so if you have an antenna that can receive UHF channels now, you are all set for receiving the new digital channels. I personally have one of those circular, flying saucer shaped antennas that were originally designed for RVs and mobile homes and have tested it with a digital TV converter and works perfectly! Located approximately 30 miles south of Boston, Massachusetts, I have a hard time receiving stations from that area with a current TV, but with the digital converter, I receive every Boston station (some transmitted in HD) like I was hooked up to cable. In fact, when I first plugged in the converter and did the auto channel scan, I was surprised to find that I was within range of 27 digital channels. And everyone came in in all its digital picture quality and stereo audio (some in 5.1 surround). What a huge difference.

Now some advice. If you haven’t already signed up for the government’s offer of the $40 coupons to buy a digital converter because you either forgot or figure that because you get cable or satellite, do it anyway. What happens if your cable goes down (due to storm or malfunction)? How about because of a severe storm, you can receive satellite? You will be without TV, period. You know all of those little portable TVs that you probably own (or 2 or 3)? They won’t work either. No standard TV will be able to receive a digital TV broadcast with out one of those converters. So do yourself a favor and sign up for at least one of those $40 coupons (many digital converters are going for $49.95, leaving you to pay about $10 after using the coupon). The link to get one (or two) of those coupons is: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/index.html . Just remember that these coupons expire in 90 days. So don’t just stick them in a drawer somewhere and forget them.

Which converter should you buy? Doing some research, I found the Insignia NS-DXA1-APT (only available at Best Buy) the best of the low-cost ($49.95) converters. Independent tests showed it to have the best picture quality. Other features are that it has a analog feed-through (so you can use it now along with regular (analog) TV and an on-screen program display.

This subject has been at the top of the list of many consumers who purchase DVDs from local video production companies. DVDs that contain dance recitals, graduations, school events, etc that have purchased from local video companies or received from a friend or parent may have trouble playing in your DVD player. There are several reasons, but the main cause is the media (blank DVD) that is used to record the event. Many people simply buy that is locally available or what is on sale and lack the knowledge that there is a difference in the quality and playability of DVDs.

Currently, many office supply stores and discount houses are selling what is labeled as 16X DVDs. What this means is that you can record the program at up to 16 times normal speed. At this rate, a one-hour program could be recorded in 4 minutes! This may sound like a great time saver (it is), but very few consumer DVD players have the capability of playing this 16X media.

The common misconception is that if you record the program at a slower speed, it will work better on most DVD players. That is not the case. Each blank DVD is digitally encoded to include the type of DVD that it is and that includes the maximum speed. The DVD itself is also constructed differently with a different dye (the bluish/purple stuff on the backside) and other internal components. The problem is that most DVD players that are in our homes were built BEFORE there were 16X DVDs and what happens is that the DVD player doesn’t know what to do when it sees the digital data (the program) and sometimes has problems “seeing” the digital information in the new-type dye. 16X type media should only be used in computers that have DVD drives built in.

The sad fact is that some older DVD players have problems play DVDs labeled 8X (the previous generation of blank DVD media). These machines have been manufactured at least 5 years ago and have the same problems with 8X medial as with 16X media. Some higher-end DVD from some manufacturers exhibit less problems playing in older DVD players than many cheaper and store brand DVD media. Again, more established video production companies know this and have taken the steps to ensure that their DVDs are the most compatible they can be and to minimize difficulty in playback.

Keepsake Video and KVI Media has been using 4X media to produce DVDs that are 99.5% compatible. Unfortunately, all DVD manufacturers have stopped making these 4X DVDs over 1 1/2 years ago and are no longer available. At that time, we purchased the remaining stock of 3 different suppliers and are quickly running out of those much sought after DVDs.

So in conclusion, if your DVD is skipping, stopping, showing digital pixels or simply not playing, try playing the DVD in another DVD player or your computer (if DVD equipt). If it plays without
any problem, the problem is what is described here. My suggestion is to purchase one of those inexpensive (under $30) DVD players from your local discount store. They will play just about anything. This is the best way to go since the problem will never go away and if you want to watch the DVD that you have already purchased, it is an easy solution. In some cases that $30 for the new player is less than the DVD that you bought and most local video production companies are no longer producing VHS tapes. If they are, is only be special order and are more expensive to purchase.

Ed Wardyga
Keepsake Video/KVI Media
copyright 2008

Welcome.

This blog is being created and maintained to provide education to the general public on video related matters.

This blog will be updated frequently and cover such matters as DVD playback problems, differences in video formats and HD, what to expect with the upcoming DTV (digital TV) conversion, and many other video related subjects.

Questions are also encouraged and can be emailed to CVEB@kvimedia.com

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Thank you for your interest.

Ed Wardyga
Keepsake Video Inc / KVI Media