Video For Windows and OpenDML
One of the best descriptions we've seen of the "2GB limit" issue plaguing some Video for Windows-compatible programs is provided by Richard Jones (rich...@activeservice.co.uk), the author of a series of MediaStudio Pro tutorials at www.activeservice.co.uk. Says Jones,
"The problem lies in VfW (Video for Windows).... Technically a VfW AVI file can be up to 4GB is size, but due to coding bugs in the VfW components that have never been fixed, the practical limit is 2GB (programmers who know about signed/unsigned integers will know why). Rather than just fix this, MS have introduced the OpenDML format which allows AVI files to be much bigger ("unlimited" in today's terms, though remember that when VfW was introduced for Windows 3.0, 2GB seemed like "unlimited"!)
But OpenDML requires different drivers and codecs, so the format you use depends on your hardware. OpenDML only appears to have been widely implemented for DV. (Most analog capture cards use VfW. -- Ed.)
For longer videos you need to stream multiple files as an unbroken sequence. You can either do this off the MediaStudio Pro timeline if [your video card] supports it, or use AVI_IO. AVI_IO can also capture long sequences to multiple files, and would be worth adding to your toolkit.
Free Tools- For Macintosh
EditDV Unplugged is an entry-level digital video editor based on Digital Origin's award-winning EditDV. EditDV Unplugged provides more powerful content creation, editing than other free tools available on the Macintosh platform, such as Apple's iMovie. Additionally, when used in conjunction with Terran Interactive's award-winning Media Cleaner EZ for Quicktime, users can quickly and easily produce streaming QuickTime content for delivery on the Internet, broadband networks and CD-ROM.
For Windows 98SE and 2000
FreeDV is the free version of Digital Origin's popular IntroDV™ which is featured in iCanStream's tutorial videos. FreeDV is the easiest way to make great-looking movies on your PC. Anyone can download FreeDV at no cost from this web site. Of course, Digital Origin hopes that many video enthusiasts will enjoy FreeDV so much that they'll upgrade to the complete version of IntroDV later. But FreeDV is a fully functional program all by itself, and there are no strings attached. You can download FreeDV and start making movies right now!
Low-cost Tools- Capturix 2000 is US$29 from www.capturix.com. It features:
| Movie Capture | Image Capture | Multiple Image Capture |
| Enables you to capture a video clip to a AVI File, from any video source even from your webcam. All capture routines works with direct access to video hardware drivers to prevent dropped frames. Other features included:
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Enables you to freeze and capture image from any video source. Even if you have selected other capture mode you can capture a single image, just press F11. You can save this image to BMP or JPEG file format. Other features included:
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Enables you to take timed snapshots or timed frames to make a movie or a group of image files. (eg. 1 frame every 3 minutes).
Also you can save this images in 6 different ways:
Other features included:
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Hardware Considerations
Real-time full screen, full definition video requires at least 21 MB/sec in 4:2:2. Although "Compressionless" systems exist, none are available at what most users would deem an acceptable cost, to playback video from disk without compression. And compression means quality loss. So, keep in mind that virtually all "affordable" systems entail some compromises.
Here are some examples of a streaming video encoded at different bit-rates for dial-up modem (42K/sec), shared network (100K/sec), Cable/ADSL (250K/sec) or LAN/ADSL (1Mb/sec).
Making Movies: Tutorials and Tips
See http://www.jhcampbell.com/gallery/digital/animation.html for a reference section with recommended books.
http://www.terran.com/CodecCentral/index.html is a one-stop reference site for video and/or audio compressor/decompressor ("codec") information. You need to have the same codec installed on your computer as the author of a video or audio file used to create the file. Thus, it is a good plan to produce your audio/video files using commonly available codecs. Refer to the above link to find out the best choices. Similarly, www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia has a discussion of the codecs (compressors/decompressors) used in Windows Media.
Apple provides a page describing the capabilities of QuickTime Streaming Servers, and a QuickTime Streaming Server FAQ.
Also, check out Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video, a one-stop program that handles audio, video, file conversion, compositing, titling, editing, streaming file preparation and more. There's also a page with a number of loops for Acid, downloadable manuals, tutorials and manuals (including one for the now-discontinued Stream Anywhere), info on sound looping with Acid, editing with Sound Forge, and much more.
Fact: Flash has limited support for importing video clips. Consider converting AVI (Video for Windows "audio/video interleaved") files to animated GIFs using GIF Construction Set before importing into Flash for best results. You can then trace the bitmaps using Flash if desired.
See also: Digital Video Toolkit part 1
MPEG editors - Encoders, editors and add-ons [29-Dec-00]
For Further Reading:
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