Posts Tagged Video
Use Windows Media Encoder to capture the Windows desktop
Posted by Steve Wylie in Online presentations, Presentation IT, Speaker support content, Video and motion graphics on December 7, 2008
Microsoft’s free Windows Media Encoder is capable of recording the Windows desktop or a specific application, which you can then use to demo an application, website, or process in a visual format – often known as screencasting.
A popular commercial software package, Camtasia, also performs this function, however Windows Media Encoder does a good job, at no cost.
You can download Windows Media Encoder from Microsoft’s website at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx.
Once installed, start Windows Media Encoder and choose ‘Capture Screen’. This will launch a wizard which will guide you through the process of choosing your capture settings, including the quality of the file you want to create, and the source to capture – the entire desktop, or a specific application window.
Windows Media Encoder, New Session
If you want more control over the quality and file format settings, you can select not to start the capture at the end of the wizard, which will allow you to customise the configuration further before capturing.
Note that Windows Media Encoder will only capture the screen to Windows Media Video format – which is fine if you want to upload it to the Internet, but you may need to convert it to another format if you need to later edit the capture, or incorporate with another video.
Define: “High definition”
Posted by Steve Wylie in Video and motion graphics on August 7, 2006
1080i and 720p, 2k and 4k “digital film”, 35mm optical film, and 576p are all bad enough – add to that, the fact that most equipment can’t handle those higher-high-definition formats, so companies like Sony and Panasonic are “modifying” them to create sub-standards which are backwards or forwards compatible – but never quite work that way – CineAlta, ProHD, DVCPro 100, HDV… the list goes on… then you get to ingest, where you have to choose your storage format – MPEG2 HD, uncompressed HD, WMV HD for storage and archive – do you record to hard disk, tape, or flash media? What about data transfer? HDSDI? FireWire? Ethernet?
The industry is in the messy phase of trying to sort through which formats are garbage and which formats are feasible in the long term – add to that the fact that processing power is changing so quickly that a format which was unthinkable 12 months ago is now considered too basic by today’s standards.
I think it’s clear that multi-platform systems are the only path for content development, production, and presentation applications – systems which are, in essence or reality, a PC with multiple codecs which is capable of ingress from a variety of methods or formats, and perform faster-than-real-time encoding to a single format for storage and replay, and can then also export to a variety of formats and using a variety of data transfer methods – let’s face it – it’s time to throw out your VTRs and buy PCs.
D-VHS
Posted by Steve Wylie in Live vision systems, Video and motion graphics on March 22, 2006
Back in 1996, the year that the DVD format was released, JVC finalised the specifications for the D-VHS format – a digital tape format that used MPEG2 to store SD and HD content with many DVD-like features.
With support from Hitachi, Matsushita, and Philips, the D-VHS format boasted the ability to record up to 3.5 hours of High Definition content at a bitrate of 28.2 Mbps or between 7 and 49 hours of Standard Definition content at bitrates ranging from 14.1 Mbps down to 2 Mbps.
D-VHS also supported 5.1 channel and 2 channel PCM audio, and full compatibility with all ATSC broadcasting formats for HDTV support – this was its major advantage over DVD, which is only just waking up to high definition content through HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
The format only supported bitstream recording, which meant that analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion wasn’t native to the standard – however IEEE1394 (commonly known as FireWire) was incorporated as a standard interface for D-VHS and most D-VHS decks included encoders and decoders that permitted analog interfaces.
Backwards compatibility with S-VHS and VHS was a bonus, however the confinement to a linear storage medium (tape) would always be a serious disadvantage as compared to optical, solid state, or hard disk mediums – which support random access so we don’t have to rewind and fast-forward to get to the content that we want to play back.
Quick guide to anamorphic video
Posted by Steve Wylie in Video and motion graphics on March 10, 2006
What is anamorphic?
Anamorphic video is footage that was recorded at a native wide aspect ratio, but has been vertically stretched to fill a 4:3 resolution format so that it can make best use of the available resolution.
Why use anamorphic?
If you purchase a movie on VHS tape today, you will most likely see black bars above and below the viewable image – this is referred to as letterboxed footage, and is produced to automatically correct the aspect ratio of a video to 4:3.
Of a total of 768×576 pixels available in PAL 4:3 video, letterboxing reduces the actual resolution of the video, and so reduces the final quality and definition of the viewable image. By stretching widescreen video to fit the entire 4:3 resolution, and then compressing the video back down when it’s replayed, you’re able to utilize the full available resolution and still maintain the aspect ratio.
Due to a lack of support for automatically resizing anamorphic video on most tape formats (such as VHS, Betacam SP, and DVCAM), anamorphic distribution on tape is usually only utilized for professional formats which are designed to be used in conjunction with processing equipment that can resize the image as it is played out from a VTR (videotape recorder).
Where can I see anamorphic footage?
The DVD format accommodates anamorphic footage, supporting the automatic resizing (or aspect ratio correction) on DVD players, which can automatically letterbox footage for playback, but allows 16:9 ratio DVDs to utilize the total 720×576 pixels available to DVD recordings.
Why use letterboxed anamorphic?
The 16:9 aspect ratio is an industry standard, along with 4:3. DVD and similar formats – along with much consumer equipment such as widescreen LCD and plasma displays support ARC (aspect ratio conversion) between 4:3 and 16:9 images.
However, many films and artistic video productions rely on an even wider aspect ratio to enhance depth of field and create dramatic and aesthetic effects. The aspect ratios used in film are many and varied and there are no real standards. If consumer and professional equipment was to support any possible resolution it would become expensive and complicated to configure and use – certainly not a feasible option for consumer equipment.
As a result, most films that are recorded in a wider aspect ratio are stretched to the same degree as if the footage was 16:9, and then the rest of the ratio is corrected using letterboxing. It’s a compromise that combines standardisation and the best possible quality on consumer equipment.
In a professional environment, most wide aspect ratio footage is anamorphic to a 16:9 ratio and then letterboxed further to correct as required – even though most professional equipment could cater for resizing to any aspect ratio – mainly out of desire for standards and consistency.