meet the founder of Cyber TV Studio in a Suitcase^TM  
A Biographical Sketch of Mr. Charles (chuckmeister) Littman

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Today is (Aug 2001) the 20th anniversary of the
IBM PC.  So, What was my 1st computer?
It was RAMAC, for those of you into trivia. Yes
it was only a generation away from the original
ENIAC. It was the first nation wide system and 
was purchased back in the early 50's with the 
only source back then that had dough: USAF.

It was a system used in base supply to keep
account of parts and materials bought & used.
Got to meet a lot of nice new computerites 
back then from Loring AFB Maine, Plattsburg
AB NY, Dover AFB Delaware (which is still 
there) Ramey AB Puerto Rico, Eglin & Patrick
in FL and Andrews AB in Washington DC. 

The conversion team spent about 4 weeks at
each base; a by gone era never to return.
There's many a pleasant memories here....   



Mr. Charles Littman began working in the field of photography in 1957. Later at the
University of Massachusetts (1962) he won the National Ansco Photography Contest.
His presenter in Boston was Dr. Edwin Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation
and if you read the sr71.htm page, he was a pioneer of the super secret SR-71 Blackbird
Aircraft of the CIA and later USAF. After Mr. Littman had served two tours to South
Vietnam and five consecutive tours to Southeast Asia as an USAF alert photographer;
he was assigned to Honolulu, Hawaii. It was in 1976 that Dr. Land approached Mr.
Littman with a role in the development of instant color photography.   Later, Mr.
Littman's business name 'Supercolor of Hawaii' would be sold to Polaroid and to
this day 'SUPERCOLOR^TM' is used extensively by Polaroid on all its marketing and
product labeling. Polaroid and Mr. Littman formed still another joint venture in
1977; 'Mr. Camera' where they tested and developed instant 8 X 10 color portraits.
Mr. Littman's academic achievements in photography and electronic imaging
continued at University of Nebraska , Air Force Institute of Technology (1965),
Roosevelt University of Chicago (1966 & 74), Eastern Washington University (1985)
and University of Delaware. Even though he was a much decorated military veteran
from 1965-1986.  It was about 1986 while stationed at Hickam AFB Hawaii that
MSgt Littman got a weekend job with a local wedding photographer that specialized
in Japanese couples having a Hawaiian style traditional wedding. Of course at a 
photo studio, there is usually only One photographer, the owner and everyone else
is his assistant, helper, secretary, limousine driver, lighting crew and etc.   I was the 
1st assistant and although sounding nice it was my job to look and dress formal
and professional because I would take these three heavy metal contraptions the
couples were now caring to the wedding... a Sony Betamax.  There was the TV
looking  camera that was large and bulky and carried on the shoulder, then there
was this portable tape machine and finally a power source that was heavy and 
had to lugged around.  All of these were tethered together by a large bulky cable.
You were limited to how far you could go by the power cord that had to be plugged
into an outlet as batteries did not exist yet.  Maybe 15 to 20 feet tops...   not much.
I can remember that as I was constantly hunting for wall outlets and later using 
outdoor orange power extensions.  All of the recording both video and audio took 
place inside the hand carried recorder case, the camera head was 'dry' and just had 
a lens, a zoom and a focus ring (nothing was automatic yet either!).  In those days
every little improvement was earth shaking news!  I remember one time being 
dispatched in the limousine to get some more video tape.  I hope a lot of you are 
reading this carefully... I go into the store and ask any one know about this new
video recording tape. Man steps forward and says he is JUST back from Minneapolis
and a 3M seminar on magnetic recording tape.  I said does he have a 30 minute
Betamax variety. He says, you don't want that.  I said why?   He said that it's too
thin, and stay away from extra long and stick with the standard 20 minute version!
From that point on I NEVER trusted another so called expert about using Long 
Tape versions such as 180 minute Hi8 (1988) and 210 minute S-VHS (1990) and 
now swear by my  270 minute DV tapes (1999) Sony DV270ME2... This BetaMax
was very awkward, heavy, attention getting or a Wedding distraction depending on
who is involved here but, it produced very acceptable pictures on a common TV set.
It was quite a learning experience.  A couple years later I was medically discharged.
Mr. Littman was therefore forced into disability retirement, but remains to this
day an active consultant to the Pentagon on video through the aegis of the U.S. Army 
demonstration team 'Golden Knights,' the USAF ' Thunderbirds' and the US Navy
'Blue Angels,' where he helped pioneered the use of 8mm/Hi8mm & now Digital Video
format videography as both a publicity tool and a pilots instant review and critique.
Mr. Littman has been retained in the past as a BETA tester with Sony, JVC, Panasonic,
Sharp, NRG,  Canon and Porter Case of South Bend, Indiana.  Mr. Littman has spoke
& lectured at national conventions, Videomaker Expos exhibitor, appeared at Videonics/
TDK road show, taught to various state agencies and the military across the country.

Currently Mr. Littman has been recognized as the father of a whole new branch of
Video with his revolutionary "Cyber TV Studio in a Suitcase" concept of Real Time Video
and the use of the radical procedure called 'Editing-On-The-Fly'  technique whereby a
completely edited tape is accomplished at the same time as the event occurs.   No Post
Editing Is Required!    He has posted almost the whole concept at a huge website called
        http://www.supervideo.com      Right Next to the colored Spheres.
Mr. Littman is in the midst of developing an emerging technology that'll make civilian
& military flying safer worldwide by the use of a very sophisticated electronic digital
imagery system and an ingenious use of wireless digital real time video. This concept
has tremendous application against terrorism and In Flight Safety.
Mr. Littman is married to a senior international flight attendant, has two grown sons
                        and currently resides in Hawaii, Chicago and Florida.
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 PROGRAM NOTES
You are encouraged to go to the web site http://www.supervideo.com and download any updates that 
maybe posted to the page from time to time. The entire section of dvnews.htm is of  weekly interest 
to this SuitCase concept.  I think from the home page of the entire section of How To Make An 
Excellent Customer Tape and How To Set Up An Edit Bench Area is of extreme importance to the 
Cyber SuitCase user,  not only on site,  but  back at the studio where duplication  take place.

Now that FireWire comes in lengths of 1 foot, 20', 50', 70' and even 100' we now use DV cable as our 
main connection between camcorders, mixers,  monitors  and other pieces of editing equipment.  
The new 'chuckmeister FLIGHT3' will be our Laptop Control system.  The FLIGHT3 with 7 FireWire  
connections and 9 USB 2.0 sockets is our 1st and only choice.  We need good resolution and this field
Laptop Video Editor has High Definition UXGA resolution.   Our latest processors are the 64bit Intel
and AMD low heat portable versions. Our HDD is now reaching 120GB and up to 3 can be ordered
on board by 2005. Details on the FLIGHT3 are at          http://www.supervideo.com/dvlaptop.htm

Current state-of-the-art camcorder for our SuitCase is the 3CCD 4 MegaPixel BLACK Mamba2 2005
camcorder found at  http://www.supervideo.com/MXmouse.htm
Flash memory chips over 1GB are now arriving finally after a three year delay. The Mamba2 has both
USB2.0 as well as FireWire connections and 3.5" View Screens, Mega OIS stabilization and XLR audio.  
They also have jacks for head phones & microphones, S-video outputs and special Pana accessories.

All of this fits comfortably and safely in a 2 piece Porter Case "chuckmeister" roll-aboard!

Please contact me for my latest monthly e-mail report for contacts.  Underwater & Japan Only cam
accessories not found in USA.  Tapes sources are Jeff at VGS and with Dave at Tape Resources. See
Jeff at VGS for long S cables, JVC Dual Deck & clamps and for tape restoration and making bad tapes
look new and sharp.       Others are listed at the FYI page in your SuitCase manual
such as Radio Shack,  Porter Camera & Porter Case for the 2 pc SuperVideo Dynamic Roll Aboard .

I understand many  will still have 8mm & even VHS equipment that will have to be used for the time
being in this concept before you will have enough money to purchase DV quality A/V gear.  I therefore
have kept my Instructional Video with analog in mind.  You can, of course, substitute at any time and
at any place in the concept & insert DV & still use S-video for connections, editing, monitoring adequately. 

Using the Black Mamba2 that has all aspect twisting screens you save yourself the added expense of
buying and using small monitors to set camera angles,  shot cropping & even focusing! With a single
Codec you can capture any old analog tapes to your new digital master.  On the copy table, the mixer
input and output and on cameras themselves, everything can be changed to the new digital format. 
Using light weight and thin profile light stands and camera brackets reduces much of the bulk found
in multi cam shoots.  The camcorders should be high enough to miss your audience walking in front
of the camera. Pan and tilt devices with remote control will give your shoot the look of a multi person
crew when you only have yourself there in control.            Simplicity & Professional & Smart.  
The Concept is detailed here at    http://www.supervideo.com/history.htm 

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