Episode 41 - cue the trumpets……vDTS8888 (206)350-7400
The amazing piece of software called DTS8888 is discussed and Scott tells you why you shouldn’t use it. Next is why you, and yes, I mean YOU, need to get pumped up about legislative issues.
Visual Date and Time Stamp can be found at http://dts8888.com/vDTS/vdts.htm Make sure you tell them you heard about it from The Curbside Investigator. (I don’t get anything for the plug but I want them to know where the business is coming from)
Whenever I see this issue come across the yahoo groups, I consider the “edited testimony” issue. I rarely see the courtroom these days, but I still take the approach any and all footage I collect might end up in front of a judge. Superimposed time/date = edited frames = extra testimony. Even when edited/abreviated video is desired for court presentation, your original tapes could still be called up and it better be good. For most, this leaves Scott’s straight-to-DVD method (combined with rock-solid videography techniques) as the best option for footage editing and maintaining the T/D stamps - It also indicates to the court that you’re good at shooting footage rather than good at editing footage.
The testimony argument goes for removing audio (later) too: “Why did you have to cut out the audio after you took the footage Mister PI Guy? What are you hiding from the court? I think we should see and hear the original footage…”. I can think of only a select few instance where audio would ever be necessary, and I’ve yet to have such an occasion in nearly 15 years - you’re best bet is not to record it at all. If you’re camera dosn’t have an option to cut the audio using a dummy plug or a level control, having the mic disconnected internally/physically by a trained tech shouldn’t be ruled out as an option.