Video Importing/Compressing/and other assorted questions

counterparadox · **counterparadox**

So, the Paradox got a camcorder for Christmas. ^_^ I've never been able to show off my work from my video production class to those of you here at the Infolink, but I should have some stuff up soon enough that is fairly impressive considering my limited experience and equipment.

Anyway, I'm currently trying to import mt projects from Hi-8 tape to my harddrive. Currently, all I have for software is Windows Movie Maker (I'm sure I'll break down and by Adobe Premier soon enough, but until then, Movie Maker it is . . . *SIGH*)

I selected the highest video importing quality possible, (768 KBPS), and the picture is amazing in the thumbnail sketch, but when
I put it full screen on my laptop, it's really grainy. I've played the same video cliup directly from the camcorder to a TV with a much larger screen, and it's not grainy at all, so I'm fairly certain that it's something on the computer end of things.

For anyone that has used Windows's Movie Maker, is there a certain way I have to export the video clips into a movie file, and THEN play them on screen? When I was using iMovie 2.0, I never had this problem (simply selected import (no quality setting necissary), and on displaying full screen the picture looked exactly as how one would expect it to look: Beautiful (so long as your shots were beautifuly taken . . . ))

So yeah, anything that I'm missing?

Also, how should I compress a large movie? I heard somewhere something about trying to limit either the KBPS while keeping the Framerate steady, or vice versa, but I don't remember. And I don't even know what program I should use to do such a thing. Anything free? Would Adobe Premiere solve all my needs? Quicktime Pro? I really don't know.

I'm a n00b when it comes to video file management, but a master at editing (And by master, I mean that I'm just anal; I have some sort of OCD complex when it comes to editing (spending 7 hours straight and alone in a dark editing room is something that I've done, and enjoyed; I've listened to the same 2/3 of a second worth of a song over 20 times to find the exact frame that a beat fell on in order to edit according to the beat, and done such a thing repeatedly for almost an entire song. My partners thought I was nuts, AND thought my work was awesome. So yeah, I'm just sort of anal about it.))

So yeah, I know there are a few of you that can help me in a number of different areas mentioned within this post (I'm looking in your direction WhiteHawk and Tyler) and would appreciate any assistance. Thanks guys ^_^
_________________
anime is teh s uck

Play City of Heroes/Villians? Look me up, Pinnacle server, @C Paradox

Beefy · **Beefy**

While I'm not an expert on working with video, nor do I claim to be, hopefully some of this will help.

How do you get the video from your camcorder to your computer? Does your camcorder have a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port, or do you use a regular composite (yellow RCA) cable to connect to a video capture card or device?

For my capturing/editing software I use Pinnacle Studio 9. The video and audio are captured together in DV-AVI format. DV is a good capturing/editing format because the quality is good and the size isn't too big.

Once the editing is done, it's compressing time. If you want to use QuickTime, QuickTime Pro ($29.99) is a must, but it's only half way there. QuickTime's file format (.mov) is only a container, like AVI, you can have any numerous codec combinations for your audio and video.

AVI codecs: video: DV, DivX, XviD; audio: DV, mp3, wma (Windows Media Audio)
MOV codecs: video: Sorenson 3, Indeo 5.1, H.263, apple video; audio: Q2, mp4, mp3.

The most common codecs are DivX/XviD w/ mp3 for AVI, and Sorenson 3 w/ mp4 or mp3 for MOV. There are also Windows Media and Real codecs, but I won't be covering them because I never use them and thus don't know much about them.

Any of your good video codecs (DivX, XviD, Sorenson 3) have a feature called two-pass encoding. The encoding program will look through the video on the first pass to see where the scene changes are and how fast the motion is, then on the second pass actually go through and compress the video. These codecs also give you the option of compressing in just one pass, but the quality and file size aren't as good when compared with two passes.

As I mentioned earlier, if you want to go QuickTime, QuickTime Pro is only halfway there. QTpro will let you encode movies with the Sorenson 3 Standard codec, but they will only be one-pass. If you want to do two-pass Sorenson 3, you will need to buy the Sorenson 3 Pro codec (full version $299.00; upgrade version $199.00).

If that's out of your price range you can still do one-pass Sorenson 3 with QuickTime Pro, or you can go AVI. DivX and XviD are the two most popular MPEG-4 codecs for AVI. XviD is free, while DivX is $19.99 for the Pro/non-adware version. XviD lets you do two passes, while DivX lets you do as many passes as you want.

Once you have your audio and video codecs selected you need to choose a bit rate. 1100k - 1600k is usually good if your video is 640x480. 700k - 1100k is good for 480x360. It all depends on how much action/movement is in your video. If your video is someone standing giving a speech, then a lower bit rare will be fine. If your video has lots of fast movement and explosions, then a higher bit rate is better. If you're getting blocks in your video when you play it: reencode it at a higher bit rate.

Keyframes: the way these fancy new codecs work is not to have an entire image on every frame, but to have the entire image for one frame (called a keyframe) at the beginning of the scene, then the following frames will just have data of what has changed from the keyframe to the current frame (these are called motion vectors). The more action in your video, the more keyframes you need. The less action, the less keyframes are needed because they will just take up space. Two-pass codecs that examine the video on the first pass will remember where the scene changes are and put a keyframe there on the second pass.

Other tips: crop your video! When using video from tapes or even DVDs, the edges of the video might be bright or have tearing. It's very important to crop those out otherwise your encoder will spend valuable bits on the edges instead of the rest of the image. This will make your video look like it has been encoded with a not high enough bit rate. The video will be fuzzy or blocky on scenes with fast motion.

Sorry for my long-winded post. If you want more information on how video compression works, I recommend reading the DivX user guide. It has very good details about the inner workings of video compressors, and it has pretty pictures. The DivX user guide and guides to use DivX/XviD with some popular programs like Ulead, Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premiere, and VirtualDub can be found here.
Any of you other video people feel free to correct me or add anything.
_________________
"Robots don't say 'ye'."
"I'll show ye!"

WhtHawk · **WhtHawk**

Here are the basic need to knows:

1. How are you getting the footage into your computer (Firewire, USB, or other capture device)?

2. How much editing do you want to do with it? Do you want to splice out boring pans where you forgot to turn the camera off, or do you want to make a tricked out techno dance video?

3. How do you want to distribute the video, and to whom. Are you burning CD's for the family, or DVD's to get peoples attention? Will they be played in a computer; if they are to be played in a set-top box (ie vcd/dvd player) how old?

4. How much money are you willing to spend? In the end, it comes back to what you want to do and how much money you want to do it with.

The more detailed you can get the better. If could give make and model numbers for hardware it would eleminate confustion. There are a lot of products on the market for home video editing now a days, and many are more than suited for what it seem you want to do.
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To do two things at once is to do neither. —Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C.

counterparadox · **counterparadox**

I'm using a Sony TRV-460 nice new shiny camcorder and importing the video via the USB cable that came with it. I will eventually aquire Adobe Premiere, I'm sure, as I can get a good discount on it since i'm a student (I can get it for around $250, as opposed to its $700 price tag for a non-student or teacher.)

I doubt I'll buy the Adobe Suite package (Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, student pricetag of around $700 if memory serves me), but Premiere will be fine for my wallet as I've been planning on it.

Editing-wise, I want to have as much control as possible. I REALLY like making music videos, and to do them right, I edit to the beat. So I like to have control down to the frame. Which, even iMovie 2.0 had. But one of my possible career directions is filmmaking. No, I'm not in school for that, but a lot of directors today didn't go to film-school, so that doesn't bother me. I don't plan on putting out, say, Matrix-quality productions anytime soon, but I do want to get my skills up and master basic shot-setting skills and even a top notch program or two (like Premiere). I should be able to take a course on Premiere at my college this next semester if my streak of luck continues (40 students interested, 12 get accepted) so between that and tutorials I'm sure I can learn the software.

So basically, I'm doing this for fun. But this isn't just some crappy hackjob by a twit with a camera. I like making GOOD stuff. I take pride in my work. Once I work out some compression kinks and figure out webspace or something, I can show off what I've done and you'll see that, despite limited software abilities, I make kickass stuff. I hate to brag, as I hate people that boast, but I have made some really good stuff.

As for distrubution, I would like to have the flexibility t o send things over the internet, make CDs, and if I ever get a DVD burner, then make DVDs. But mostly having a super-high-quality vid on my harddrive and then a secondary file-size for any web-sending would be ideal and fit my needs perfectly.

Does that help? IF you need to know anything else, just ask. I'mk trying to help you to helpo me ^_^
_________________
anime is teh s uck

Play City of Heroes/Villians? Look me up, Pinnacle server, @C Paradox

WhtHawk · **WhtHawk**

I can solve your video quality problem in a jiffy. Get a Firewire/iLink/IEEE-1394 (what ever you want to call it) cable. If you're computer dosen't have a card, spend the $30 bucks I'll take to get a good one. USB produces far inferrior results to Firewire (it's USB 1.1 not 2.0, it does not have enough bandwidth to display high-quality video, their description as streaming video is much the same idea as over the internet). There is a bonus too, Firewire can control your camera, USB isn't able on every camera I've seen. Plus, firewire can remember the timestamp on a tape and make a batch capture off a tape without you running the camcorder.

From what you posted, you're quite serious about editing so I'd reccomend Premiere or Final Cut Pro. (I don't know if you can get a student discound on Final Cut or not.) They are the two most common applictions encountered in professional editing. Several television stations keep both loaded on their computers for different people or different effects since their advanced features do have their own subtilties. I don't have enough experience with Final Cut Pro to give specifics, but needless to say, it will be quite a while before most people run into that problem.

For Codecs, DV (the camcorder's native format) is sufficient for light to medium editing. As the edits become more complex, you'll want to switch to a bulkier but lossless codec such as HuffYUV. For distribution, Premiere comes with an MPEG encoder which will allow you to produce VCD, SVCD, (both MPEG-1) and DVD (MPEG-2) footage. You can also tweek the settings for playback on computers (the actual format specifications for VCD and what not are not very linent. Tweeking the settings for optimal preformance on a computer frequently exceeds the limmits in the standard setforth for the format). I'm not sure about the current version, but 6.5 also includes advanced export tools for Windows Media format and Real Media format. (two good distribution codecs that are free (with premiere), but arn't sutible for editing.) With Firewire, you can set Premiere to record the rendered timeline to a tape in your camcorder so you could just plug the camcorder in and play, or pop in the tape if someone had a Digital8 tape deck Wink

Otherwise DivX or Xvid are good choices for computer based distributions. Some DVD players even support DivX Video.

That should be a good start, feel free to ask for clairfication, I posted in a half-daze. Below are some tips for making sure to get the most out of your camcorder:

**TIP**
When using your digital video camera, record onto all your tapes from beginning to end with the lens cap on before you use the tape. That way your tape has non-stop time coding along the entire tape. A broken Time code will confuse your computer.

Don't begin recording video at the very beginning of the tape; jump ahead about 5-10 seconds (you know how much that is since you just added a time code to all your tape, right?). When your computer begins an automated capture, it will want the tape at speed before it begins capturing (even with firewire) that way you can set a batch capture from your camcorder and not worry weither it got that first sceen. I'll tell you from experience that the first 3-4 seconds on a DV tape is impossible to get onto a computer.
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To do two things at once is to do neither. —Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C.

counterparadox · **counterparadox**

Well, seeing as this is the first time I've even heard of most of these formats, it'll take me a while to learn what everything is. Only question I have is what do you mean by 'batch capturing'?

Aside from that, is there any website that lists all of the various encoding formats, with info about each?
_________________
anime is teh s uck

Play City of Heroes/Villians? Look me up, Pinnacle server, @C Paradox

Beefy · **Beefy**

WhtHawk · **WhtHawk**

Batch Capturing, which requires firewire, is a process where you use your computer to preview several sceens on your camera that you want to transfer to your computer. You set a start and finish marker, called in and out respectivly, for a each sceen you want to record. The computer remembers the tape's timestamp at your in and out markers and adds them to a list called a "batch" or "job list". When you start your batch capture in Premiere, the computer will automaticly que the tape to the first 'in' marker on your list and automaticly record video until it reaches the 'out' marker. Then it will que the tape to the next 'in' marker on your list and repeat the process until the entire 'batch' of clips is recorded. Since the computer can only record in real time (1x), you can set an 'in' marker, then fast forward to the end of the sceen and set an 'out' marker, for what you want to edit with and leave the computer to do somthing else while it records.

It is a very nice feature when doing family movies. That way you don't need to sit infront of your computer to be manually start and stop the camera for every sceen.

It does requrie that you have an unbroken time-code on your tape or your computer will be come confused if it needs to traverse a messed-up area on the tape.

That article on CODECs seemed to be less than informative to people whoe arn't well versed already. I'll post more after I get some sleep. Night.
_________________
To do two things at once is to do neither. —Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C.

Beefy · **Beefy**

counterparadox · **counterparadox**

The site was indeed helpful. A bit over my head, but I understood at least half of what they were saying.

I may be a n00b to encoding, but I'm not an idiot ^_^

You guys are awesome, honestly.
_________________
anime is teh s uck

Play City of Heroes/Villians? Look me up, Pinnacle server, @C Paradox

Hokage113 · **Hokage113**

Can i download Record of Lodoss War closing theme from Toonami Arsenal?

Nobuyuki · **Nobuyuki**


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