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Saturday Video Tech Questions

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 01:35:34 PM EST
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It's the weekend. Since traffic always goes down on Saturdays and Sundays, I figure it's a good day to ask readers who are around for some tech advice.

  • How do you take tv segment you've recorded onto a dvd and get it onto your internet server so others can view it? As an example, I am going to record the Rolling Stones half-time performance onto a dvd. Will it just play on the internet if I upload a portion of it to my server? Or do I need to convert the file to a different format using software? (I'm not concerned at this juncture about copyright issues, just tech issues.)
  • What quality video editing software easily allows you to make your own movie from clips on your hard drive and dvd's? And again, do you need special software to then upload it to the web?
  • What software do you need to turn a video segment downloaded from the internet into a format that play on a dvd player hooked up to the tv?

  • What do you need to download from a cable tv digital recorder (that doesn't have a dvd player in it) to a dvd player with a burner in it so you can watch the dvd you burn on a different tv or on the internet?
  • What do you need to create a newscast with the anchor telling the story on the left side of the screen as stopred video footage runs on the right?

I wasted hours last week attempting some of these things. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Now back to our regular link-based reporting.

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    Saturday Video Tech Questions | 10 comments (10 topical)
    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 02:10:18 PM EST
    Sounds like you need an editor. I use a mac and have done most of the things you ask. It is sometimes complicated so best to hire someone at first to get you started. But maybe it is easier on a PC. Look forward to the results. I am not a pro but this may help: Files need to be converted to streaming video. quicktime works for me DVD studio pro for mac or DVD authoring program same I do not think you can make a DVD directly form tv, You need a DVD authoring program to make a dvd. You need a Production program like Final cut pro or Avid.

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 02:54:07 PM EST
    If you are a PC user, then the latest verson of Vegas+DVD from Sony does all of this except part 4, and it's a lot easier for a novice to figure out than the alternatives - namely Premier. The downside is that the software is $647 for the version that includes DVD authoring. But if you want to pull off part 5, you are pretty much going to need high end video editing software, and the alternatives to Vegas are all harder to learn and more expensive. Plus most of them don't include compositing as part of the basic package. As for part 4. The how is going to depend a lot on the specific hardware you have. You would probably have less trouble adding a hardware mpeg video recording card to your pc, and skip trying to get files directly off of your cable tv's DVR - they usually go to some trouble to make this difficult. Full disclosure. I had a hand in writing some of the earlier versions of Vegas, back when it was Sonic Foundry's product. So I'm a bit biased. :) You can download a trial or read about the Vegas+DVD As for the first part. If you want to stream off of your server, then you are going to have to convert to a differnt file format. DVD's are MPEG2 and while that is theoretically streamable, the bitrate is so high that no-one does this. For PC users, the natural format to convert to is Microsoft's Window's media format, the conversion software is free (Vegas has native support), and it can be played back everywhere - Note that Mac's require add on software to be able to play it, Just as PC's cannot natively play Quicktime files. The other common format is quicktime, which is much harder to work with on a PC than it is on a Mac. (Basically, Apple ported Quicktime to the PC by basically creating a virtual Mac on the PC, it's a clever bit of code but a huge resource hog and it sucks at multithreading). And, of course, there's Real Media, which isn't native to either PC or Mac but supported on both with additional software from Real. You may have noticed that Crooks and Liars routinely gets their Windows Media content online first, with Quicktime following usually very quickly. This is pretty typical if you want broad viewership - you need to support BOTH Quicktime and Windows Media. Thought some time in the future you may be able to get away with only supporting MPEG4. The up and and coming format is MPEG4, also know as h.264, This has better compression than MPEG2 (DVD's are a specific subset of MPEG2 in a file called a .VOB). If you want to podcast to PSP or iPod video then you pretty much have to convert to MPEG4. Most cellphones that play video also play MPEG4 video. As an interesting side note. .MP4 files are actually really Quicktime files, but thats not what people usually mean when they say 'quicktime files'. Basically Apple managed to get the proprietary format designated as the standard for MPEG4 video files. Hope this helps, tj

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 02:55:59 PM EST
    simple way to turn anything into an already authored dvd http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=vso_DivXtoDVD when you gat to this page a few lines down will be a link for the free version, does real good quality, and will convert from pal to ntsc

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 03:14:18 PM EST
    also, when you get to that page, on the left hand side will be links for tools and guides to do about anything you need to do concerning video

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 05:24:44 PM EST
    Thanks, everyone, I'm going to check out all your suggestions. I probably should have mentioned that I have both pc's and an apple powerbook G4.

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#6)
    by Sailor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 05:33:24 PM EST
    One more suggestion; try Apple's Quicktime Pro; it's $30 dollar online to activate it and it has most codecs to translate between different formats. Specifically between MPEG4 and QT movies which are supported free on all platforms. (And usually friendlier to bandwidth than WMV format.)

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 05:36:07 PM EST
    Really, working in music and TV & film post-production, I think a mac running iMovie & iDVD is pretty much the ultimate solution. Someone mentioned Vegas, which works, but the whole mac experience with all the apps being sl closely integrated is very smooth. And FinalCut, Apple's full featured editor package, isn't that expensive, if you, ahem, know what I mean. I have spoken to John & Crooks&Liars, he's a good friend from our little LA bloggers secret society, and I need to show him how to do stuff with his mac, will make a big difference. As always, YMMV.

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 05:56:20 PM EST
    Yes, you need professional help ;) First you need to identify your computer system. You need a modern operating system, a fairly speedy, modern computer, lots of storage space and significant time to convert to different video formats. On an older system, after trimming movies captured with an EyeTV to my computer, I'd let my computer convert and burn a DVD overnight. Now, with a faster computer and faster burners, I can do it in about 1 & 1/2 hours. ? What kind of computer are thinking of using for this? Talk to the folks over at Crooks & Liars. They could give you some of the basics. DVD video files are huge and have to be converted to much smaller files to be viewed over the internet. To convert a video file, you first have to get it onto your computer. - To transfer the video from a DVD from your standalone DVD recorder, just insert the DVD and use an appropriate program to import the video file. - To transfer a video file from a cable TV recorder, the recorder will have to have a way for you to connect to your computer and an importing program that understands how the recorder stores it's files. - Videos downloaded from the internet can be converted to any codec you need if you have the right program. ? What kind of DVD recorder and CableTV Recorder do you have? Once on your computer, if your imported file is readable by your video editor, great. Otherwise you'll have to convert the file to something your editor can work with. The files are converted using codecs (compressors/decompressors). Some codecs are editable, others are not. Then you edit the file. Trim unneeded footage, add titles, photos, music and commentary. To do the side by side video you describe you need an editor that can combine two videos files and can mask out part of the video while letting the other file show through. Like the Picture-in-picture feature on some TVs. When you're happy with your video then you need to decide how to deliver it. - There are codecs optimized for email, cell phone, internet download, internet streaming, CDs, VideoCDs, DVDs and High Definition delivery. - A codec such as mp4 will give you a movie file that can enclosed in a Windows Media File or a Quicktime file and be viewed on both Mac and Windows systems. The latest H.264 Advanced Video Codec is a part of the open source mp4 family that can deliver great video whether destined for email or HD systems. It also take more time to convert the video than many other codecs. - Most video editors will let you export the video into the codec of your choice and produce a file you can upload to the net. Some editors will also produce the html code you need to add to your page. - To deliver the video on a DVD, you need a program designed for that, a DVD authoring program. It creates the menus and converts the video to a codec and file system that DVD players will understand. With a Mac, the freeware HandBrake software, the Flip4Mac plug-ins and the iLife '06 suite of software (included on new Macs or available for $79 for older Macs), I can easily do all this. - Handbrake captures DVD video onto the computer in an editable mp4 file. Quicktime can read most codecs used on the web and with the Flip4mac plug-ins work with most windows only codecs. - iMovie, now set up to do video podcasts, lets me edit the video, add titles and transitions, add photos cleaned up in iPhoto and music from iTunes. I can also add chapter markers so viewers can jump to whatever interests them. - Then I can send the video to GarageBand, now set up to do podcasts, to add commentary and import iChat interviews while "ducking" music volume under my voice so I can be heard. - Then all of this can be sent to iWeb for one-click publishing to my .Mac internet server in the correct codec. Or submitted to the iTunes Podcast Directory. I can link from any blog to .Mac or iTunes to deliver my video. Or files can be saved to my hard drive to upload to any internet server - I can also send all of this to iDVD to create a DVD playable anywhere. Or you can spend more time understanding codecs, framerates & bandwith; researching windows compatible conversion, audio editing, video editing, DVD authoring and ftp programs. Update: With a PowerBook G4 and a SuperDrive (can burn DVDs), the iLife '06 suite would let you do a whole lot of what you're trying to do. iLife '06 system requirements.

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#9)
    by squeaky on Sat Feb 04, 2006 at 06:15:58 PM EST
    This site also may be helpful: 2 pop once you get oriented.

    Re: Saturday Video Tech Questions (none / 0) (#10)
    by Andreas on Sun Feb 05, 2006 at 01:37:57 AM EST
    No suggestion for Jeralyn but here is a list of some of the main Linux video editing applications: Cinelerra CV Cinelerra (Heroine version) Linux DV ("Kino")

    Saturday Video Tech Questions | 10 comments (10 topical)