Chapter12

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTIONIn the previous chapters, you learned about video components in multimedia. In this chapter we will focus on some of the video formats and standard that are regularly used. You would also be given explanations, regarding the types of codec formats and video file formats that are currently available in the market. At the end of this chapter, you will also learn about several basic techniques for processing video with the use of the Adobe Premier software, which is the video application software used extensively today.

12.1 VIDEO FORMATS AND STANDARDS As what we have learnt, video broadcasts are based on frame rate per second or fps. Do you know that video is played on different frame rate per second depending on the country? For example, in the United States, video is played at a

CChhaapptteerr 1122 VideoFormats and Software

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. state four main types of video formats and standards;

2. identify several examples of codec formats and video file formats that

are currently available in the market; and

3. learn several basic techniques of processing video using the Adobe

Premier software.

OBJECTIVES

CHAPTER 12 VIDEO FORMATS AND SOFTWARE 213

rate of 30 frames per second. This is based on the guideline or standard, prescribed by the committee of the country, which is the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC), while countries like United Kingdom, Australia and most countries in Asia, use the PAL broadcasting system or Phase Alternation Line. Unlike the NTSC system, the PAL system uses 25 frames per second for videos and television playback. Hence, majority of the television sets and video recorders have multiple systems capability (multi system ready). This gives the audience the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of both the systems.

The four main formats and standards for broadcasting and video are, NTSC, PAL, SECAM and HDTV. These standards may be converted or interpreted among each other but usually, the conversion process causes the quality to drop, and there are some processes that require specific hardware. Therefore, it is important to understand each of these standards, and identify where your multimedia project will be played, or presented.

The following are brief discussions on the video formats and standards that are available currently;

(a) NTSC

NTSC or National Television Standards Committee is a standard based on specifications fixed by the National Television Standards Committee, 1952. It is used in the United States of America and Japan. These standards define a method for encoding information into the electric signal that ultimately creates a television picture. According to NTSC standards, a video frame consists of 525 horizontal scan lines that is produced every 1/30 of a second.

NTSC is also known as, Never Twice the Same Colour.

(b) PAL

PAL or Phase Alternate Line is a standard that is used in Britain, European countries and most of the countries in Asia. According to Vaughan (2001), PAL is an integration method that adds colours to black and white television signals. It produces 625 lines at a frame rate of 25 frames rate per second (fps); each line requires a time of 1/50 per second to be produced (50 Hz).

(c) SECAM

SECAM or Sequentiel Couleur avec memoire is a standard that is used in France, Russia and a few other countries. Although it is almost the same as PAL and NTSC, the broadcasting technology and method of SECAM

UNIT 3 MULTIMEDIA COMPONENTS II: AUDIO & VIDEO214

Advanced Television Systems Committee is an International Organisation involved in the development of standards for digital television. Visit its website at http://www.atsc.org.

distinguishes it from the other standards. To tackle this problem, the majority of television sets sold in European nations have components that can accept both the PAL and SECAM systems.

(d) HDTV

HDTV or High Definition TV is a new standard of television technology. HDTV provides clear and quality sounds and pictures just like 35mm movies. The main difference between the old television standard and HDTV is its high resolution. HDTV consists of 1080 active lines compared to the current television pictures standard of only 486 active lines.

12.2 CODEC FORMATS Codec format is defined as an algorithm to compress and decompress. It is a mechanism that is used to compress digital video. In the previous chapters, you learnt about the methods and techniques of compression. In this chapter, we will view several digital video formats that are currently available in the market. Among them are CinePak and Indeo, which can be used in various platforms such as Macintosh, Windows or Unix. Examples of other codecs are JPEG, MPEG and Sorenson. You can choose any of the codecs that are available in the market to produce videos. (See the table quoted from the multimedia book, Multimedia Literacy, by Fred T. Hofstetter, on the following page).

To obtain more information regarding video formats and standards, refer to Chapter 12 of the book, „Multimedia: Making It Work, 5th Edition,‰ by Tay Vaughan, 2001.

REFERENCES


12.2.1 CinePak

CinePak format was formerly known as, Compact Video. It is the most popular codec for the Quick Time file. CinePak is a lossy compression format. If you use the CinePak format, you must ensure that the original video source that has yet to be compressed is of high quality.

CinePak can support frame differencing. It is asymmetrical whereby it requires a longer time for compression. For example, a video that is only 15 seconds will take up to an hour to be compressed. However, the video produced is smooth and its file size is satisfactory.

12.2.2 Indeo/DVI

Besides CinePak, Indeo (also known as DVI) is a codec format developed by Intel. Generally, Indeo can be in lossy or lossless compression forms and can support frame differencing. However, it is less asymmetrical compared to CinePak.

Indeo requires more processing time for decompression. This causes the video produced to be less smooth compared to CinePak. Indeo is a special codec format for the VfW (Video for Windows) file, but Quick Time 2.0 can also support this format. Therefore, it has become the second most popular codec format for digital video.

12.2.3 JPEG

When you view a JPEG format, you may think that it is one of the file formats for graphics or images! In fact, it is the same as the JPEG graphics format. Sometimes it is dubbed as JPEG motion. You must remember that video comprises of a set of frames, where each image in a frame can be compressed using JPEG compression. JPEG assumes that each of these video frames as static images. This produces a rather large file size and a sizeable drop in terms of quality with a corresponding large compression ratio.

Compression using JPEG entails specific hardware, but the process of decompression can be implemented without hardware, but with software support particularly QuickTime for Apple and Video for Windows.

Choosing suitable codec is not an easy task. Read the quotation below regarding the Comparison of Codec Formats, to help you make the right decision.


Figure 12.1:different codec

format


To obtain more information regarding video codec, visit its website at http://www.icanstream.tv/CodecCentral/index.html.

12.3 VIDEO FILE FORMATSAfter the video has been digitised and converted into a digital video file, you should choose a video file format to store the video clip. For use on the computer, the main choice is the Microsoft's Video for Windows (.AVI), QuickTime and some versions of MPEG. Although there are many file formats such as the AutoDeskÊs FLC, most of the digital video files comprise of formats from MPEG, AVI or QuickTime.

Figure 12.2: Main digital video file formats

Give ONE difference between Indeo and CinePak.

Exercise 12.1


12.3.1 QuickTime

QuickTime is among the best video file formats and it is developed by Apple Computer. Both the MacintoshÊs system and Windows support this file format extensively. Most of the Windows's 95/98 systems can play the QuickTime video, but it may require a device installation software if the version of QuickTimeneeded to play the video is later than the version supported by the computer system.

Although, you may be forced to equip your computer with the required QuickTime installation software, QuickTime is still the main choice for cross platform multimedia development.

QuickTime does not require a high cost as the files required to replay video clips in QuickTime format are circulated free of charge by Apple computer.

12.3.2 Microsoft's Video for Windows (.AVI)

Microsoft first introduced Video for Windows in 1992. Its aim was to prepare a standard for video under the WindowsÊ operating system. Although the AVI format is not the best format in the market, however, it is the most widely used. This is because most of the personal computer owners in the world use the WindowsÊ operating system. Therefore, you do not require any additional software to play AVI files in the WindowsÊ system environment. For systems that are not in the WindowsÊ environment such as the Macintosh computer that does not support the AVI format, you need special software that can be obtained fromMicrosoft to view the video clips.

The Microsoft's Video for Windows program is based upon the .AVI (Audio Video Interleave) file format where the audio and video is "interleaved." This enables audio and video to be played simultaneously.

12.3.3 MPEG

MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) is gaining popularity in tandem with the increase in computer systems. MPEG-1 encodes video-clips on 352 x 240, 320 x 240, 176 x 112 or 160 X 112 screen sizes only, but it can be played on full screen at 30 fps with neat frame rate and satisfactory image quality.

There are many MPEG versions in the market such as MPEG 1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. MPEG-1 is the original format designed for quality VHS pictures at CD-ROM data rate. It is a cross platform format supported by both the Macintosh's system and Windows. MPEG's main problem is that its compression


The explanation above about MPEG may be limited. Visit its website at; http: //www.mpeg.com., to obtain more information.

The website at http://www.digitalvideosolutions.com/index.htmcontains many interesting topics on digital video including Codec, formats and video standards.

method is asymmetrical and thus, needs expensive software to encode this format.

MPEG-1 compression standard usually has a compression ratio within the range of 26:1. It supports random access, meaning that the users can play the video clip at any part that is required.

MPEG-2 was introduced in the middle of 1990Ês and has better quality compared to the MPEG-1 format. It enables data to be transferred, at a speed of 5MB per second for quality multimedia broadcasting, and up to 10MB per second for studio quality. MPEG-2Ês standard also enable basic video modes to be used such as, fast forward, reverse play and slow motion.

Now, a new format has emerged which is the MPEG 4 that promises good quality at a low data rate and the capacity to encode playback at a different data rate. Adobe Premiere (a topic that you would study later) supports the coding format of MPEG 4.

Before using MPEG, make sure that the system you are using can support MPEG's version. Just like AVI and QuickTime formats, you probably need a installation device. Besides that, for some versions of MPEG such as MPEG 2, users may need to install encoder hardware to the computer system.

The extract below explains about audio and video streaming.


Audio and Video Streaming?

Streaming audio is the sound that is delivered to the user as it is being received from the website that you are visiting. The audio file is broken up into small pieces (streams) and then sent from the server to the client's machine, the browser on the client's machine uses a helper application (like Real Audio) to reassemble the audio stream. This is different from downloading a file to a hard drive and then playing it after the entire file has been downloaded. The advantage of streaming is that there is usually no waiting (or very little) from the time the mouse is clicked until the time the sound starts playing. The same approach could be used to stream video files across the Web. According to recent reports published, the streaming technology industry is the fastest growing industry on the net and this trend is expected to continue and grow. The key providers, as far as streaming technology is concerned are: Real Networks, Apple and Microsoft.

Real Audio is streaming audio technology developed by Real Networks. The RealAudio player (the client software) is available for free from Real Networks' Website. RealAudio is capable of sending audio files in two different formats.

1. Stereo 8 KHz sampling rate for 28.8 kbs connections (-2.5 KB/sec.) and

2. Stereo 16 KHz sampling rate for 56+ kbs connections (~5 KB/sec).)

Another emerging technology in creating audio content for the web is the use of compression techniques and namely MP3. In order to create streaming audio or video files, the multimedia designer firstly needs to create the digital audio or video file format (acceptable file formats are .Wav, .aif, avi, .rnov, .mpg) and then using a RealAudio producer or similar type of software the digital file format is broken into streams ready for broadcasting over the Internet.

(Source: „Designing Interactive Multimedia Systems,‰ Mohammad Dastbaz, 2002: pg173)

Figure 12.3: Audio and video streaming

1. Explain the differences between MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.

2. State TWO advantages of QuickTime.

Exercise 12.2


Have you ever watched a computer using support software such as MPEG or viewed a short video-clip on web sites such as CNN.com? If you have never viewed video-clips on web sites, visit CNN.com's website at: http://www.cnn.com/.

12.4 VIDEO SOFTWARE Lately, the role of video has been receiving a lot of attention in multimedia systems. Including the video element in multimedia presentations is one of the effective ways to deliver information that other media failed to do. The reasons for this development are:

Demands from users for video;

Multimedia technology has progress to a stage where video is easily integrated into multimedia systems; and

The emergence of sophisticated hardware such as video capture cards, video RAM and AGP cards.

According to Tannenbaum (2001), there are three basic levels in the use of moving images in the interactive multimedia applications such as capturing, editing and presenting. There are various software that can help you to implement these basic functions. Depending on the difficulty levels of the equipment and the functions offered, these software are probably expensive. Professional video clips require a studio, cameras and professional sound engineers. In fact, in large multimedia project cases, contracts are usually given to professional film studios to produce videos.

Most of the video capture cards also provide several basic software that can capture and store digital videos. Video for Windows and AppleÊs QuickTime are among the earliest videos that are available in the Macintosh and WindowsÊ environments. For more professional results, Adobe Premiere provides more choices and functions. Other than Adobe Premiere, you can also try other video software such as Video Fusion and UleadÊs Media Studio Pro. Although this video software are expensive, each has their own advantages and uses in producing high quality digital videos.


Besides Adobe Premiere software, Lumiere, and UleadÊs Media Studio are also famous video editing software. Visit UleadÊs Media Studios website at www.ulead.com to obtain more information.

Now, we will discuss one of the popular video software that is available in the market, which is the Adobe Premiere.

12.5 ADOBE PREMIEREAdobe Premiere is popular video application software in desktop computer platforms. The new premiere interface supports professional video work, audio equipment with studio quality, and editing tools with long formats.

Another productive feature of this software is that, it has good media management tools such as palette transition that is used during the transition process. In addition, this software also offers extensive hardware and software support where it allows users the flexibility to carry out their tasks. This is because Adobe Premiere integrates very well with other AdobeÊs family such as, Photoshop, After Effects and Illustrator. With this integration, users can carry out the task of developing videos more efficiently where the project being developed can be transferred among these applications.

By using Adobe Premiere version 5 and above, users will be faced with an interface that has various media management tools and dialogue boxes. It is very easy to use and suitable for common users as well as professional video makers.

To know more about the method of recording and editing digital videos in the Windows and Macintosh environments, refer to Chapter 35 in the book, „Multimedia Literacy,‰ by Fred T. Hofstetter, 2001.

REFERENCES

With Adobe Premiere, users can edit long or short video formats, online or offline more productively and effectively for the purpose of broadcasting, film production, story boards or preparation of web based videos.


12.6 GUIDELINES FOR USING ADOBEPREMIERE

Before we learn the basic features and techniques of Adobe Premiere, we must remember that Adobe Premiere is the most widely used video application on desktop computer platforms. Nevertheless, all editing programs are generally almost the same, it uses metaphors that resemble the traditional video and film editing.

The following are several features and basic concepts of Adobe Premiere.

12.6.1 Selecting Initial WorkspaceWhen you first use Adobe Premiere, you will see a screen display as shown below in Figure 12.4. You must select Initial Workspace. There are two choices here and that is, A/B Editing and Single-Track Editing.

Figure 12.4: Initial Workspace

12.6.2 Determining Project Setting

After selecting Initial Workspace, a dialogue box Load Project Settings will emerge such as shown in Figure 12.5. Each time you start a new project on Premiere; this dialogue box will be displayed. Here, you need to determine the most suitable setting for your video's project. For example, Multimedia QuickTime for Macintosh users and Multimedia Video for Windows, for Windows users.


12.6.3 Adobe Premiere’s Main Screen

After deciding on the Project Settings, you will come to the PremiereÊs main working environment screen as shown in Figure 12.6 below.

Figure 12.6: PremiereÊs Main Working Environment Screen

There are five different key areas on the screen as explained in the following sections.

Figure 12.5: Load Project Settings


(a) The Project Area

Figure 12.7: The Project area

The Project Area tracks all the different AVI/MOV files that contain raw footage which are used to generate videos. In this illustration, the Project Area contains five different files that have been imported into the bin. Each file contains a raw footage which is a cougar, an elephant etc. Bin is like a folder, which is a collection of materials or files.

(b) The Monitor Area

The Monitor Area contains two video windows. The left window is known as the source window; it allows you to see different AVI files so that you can identify the IN and the OUT points of the video clip that you wish to use.

The right window is known as the Program window; it enables you to view the movie while it is being developed on the timeline. Both these windows contain standard controls for play, stop, repeat etc. Figure 12.8 shows the monitor area.


(c) The Timeline Area

The Timeline Area, as shown in Figure 12.9, is the area where you collect audio and video clips for the final movie.

Even though the timeline area shown above has space for two video tracks and three audio tracks, it actually can accommodate dozens of clips if required.

Figure 12.9: The Timeline

Area

Figure 12.8: The Monitor

Area


(d) The Transitions Area

The Transitions Area enables you to choose various types of transitions so that you can place it on the timeline area.

(e) The Navigator Area

The Navigator Area enables you to see the whole project at a glance no matter how large the project is. It also enables you to decide the zoom level on the timeline area.

Figure 12.10: The transitions area

Figure 12.11: The Navigator Area


12.6.4 Capturing Video

After you have captured the raw footage with the camera, you should load this footage into your computer. To do this, connect your camera to the computer with the FireWire cable. Choose File -> Capture -> Movie Capture from the Adobe Premiere menu. You will see a window as shown in Figure 12.12 below.

Figure 12.12: Capture window from Adobe Premiere

The control button at the lower part of the Capture Window allows you to control your camera. You can rewind, fast forward and play. Generally, you should do the following:

Press the Rewind button at the window to rewind the tape in the camera.

Press the Play button at the window to start playing the tape.

Press the Record button in red colour, to start capturing the section or the raw footage to the hard disk

After the section or footage has been played / recorded, press the Stopbutton. Premiere will ask for the fileÊs name that you wish to use for this section.

You can capture all your footages into a large file or capture it into several smaller files. Make sure that you know the size limit of the file for the operating system and editing software package that you are using. You should also make sure that you have adequate disk space to store all footages captured.


12.6.5 Video Clips

You might not want to use all the raw footages that you have previously captured. You probably want to choose the part or the scenes that are suitable for your project only. Therefore, you would need to 'clip' these areas that you want to use in your movie. To do this, follow the following steps.

Firstly, you must import the file containing the raw footage into your current project so that Premiere can use it. If you capture the footage in Premiere, it will be imported automatically. Choose File -> Import and identify the AVI or MOV files that you wish to add to the project. Adobe uses the "Bin" concept to keep AVI and MOV files. "Bin" is like a folder, which is a collection of files. In large projects, you probably have several "Bin" to keep the various types of sections.

To assist with your understanding, we will use the cougar file as shown in Figure 12.13 as an example of the imported file that you wish to Âclip.Ê

Figure 12.13: This project area contains five AVI files that have been imported into a Bin.‰

Drag the cougar file from the Project window to the source window.

Press the Play button to view the result being played on the source window.

Mark the IN and OUT points at the clip that you wish to use in the source window.


The small bar placed on the time code shows which section of the raw footage that you have chosen for the Âclip.Ê After you have chosen the Âclip,Ê you can then add it to the timeline (Figure 12.4).

12.6.6 Timeline

Once you mark the clip by choosing the IN and OUT points in the source window, you can add the clip to the timeline. Just drag the image from the source window to the timeline. The display that you would see is as shown in Figure 12.15 below.

What is displayed at the timeline now is your movie, containing a 5 seconds duration clips.

Now just repeat this process by dragging several clips to the timeline. The result is as shown in Figure 12.16.

Figure 12.15: Timeline


What you have learnt so far is only an example of how to generate a simple movie by gathering several clips and placing them at the timeline. Nevertheless, it is better than just the mere raw footage. This is because you have picked the best parts from the raw footage to be gathered in the timeline.

To play your movie, click the Play button at the program section in the monitor area or click the time section in the timeline area to move the pointer, and then press the spacebar to start playing from the selected point.

12.6.7 Transitions

Sometimes, simple cut from one clip to another clip is sufficient; at times, you might wish to use more sophisticated transitions from one scene to another scene. For example, you might want to use dissolve, wipe or fade transitions. Premiere has many types of transitions. You only need to choose one type of transitions from the transition area and then drag it to the spot between the two clips on the timeline.

Figure 12.16: Timeline

with three clips


Once you are at the desired place in the timeline, right click on the transition if you wish to adjust it.

When the movie is being played, you cannot instantly see how the transition should actually be seen. This is because the transition requires more processing time for it to accomplish its impact or effect. Premiere will tell you that additional processing is still required, by indicating it through a small red bar placed on the transition (see Figure 12.18). To activate the additional processing, you must Render the timeline. From the Timeline menu, choose Render Work Area. Once the processing ends, you can play the movie to view the transition.

Figure 12.17: Dozens of transition types

Figure 12.18: Timeline with the placed

transition


Just like audio, digital video integration for desktop computers has opened a new page for multimedia applications. Apart from requiring a video capture card that can communicate and read the analog video sources, video integration in multimedia applications also require software that can capture and edit the digital video for storage.

In the world of multimedia, digital video editing is not only used to increase titles and impact of animation, it is also used to generate web animation, post process and combining morphs in large productions and also to enliven static images. With the availability of various sophisticated video application software such as Adobe Premiere in the market, it not only helps but also draws out your talents to produce a more creative, attractive and dynamic pieces of work.

1. In your opinion, what are the advantages of digital video editing?

2. Which of the following video file formats utilise the least storage space: AVI, QuickTime or MPEG?

3. List FOUR types of CODEC formats that you know.

4. When you open Adobe Premiere, you need to ensure Initial Workspace first by choosing either A / B Editing or Single-Track Editing. State the differences between both these options.

Exercise 12.3

SUMMARY

Chapter12

Technology

Chapter12