Are you ready to get into
digital video? It's never been as easy and inexpensive to
shoot, edit, and share your videos -- whether you want to
just quickly burn a few copies of the family party to DVD
with a minimum of fuss, or are ready to do some editing and
trimming of your family vacation footage before showing it
at the next gathering. Yes, you too could be creating
holiday highlight DVDs, posting birthday clips on the Web to
share with distant relatives, and even carrying along
favorite clips on a portable player or even mobile phone.
The good news is that
improved technologies and intense competition have lead to a
variety of inexpensive options for doing video. The
stumbling block, however, is that there is indeed a
sometimes overwhelming array of options to choose from. But
don't lose heart -- it's easy to get started and get some
experience with what's possible (and fun) for you. Then the
picture does get clearer -- your decisions about how you
want to shoot, edit, and share your videos will help you
focus on the kinds of equipment and software best match your
intended purposes.
So let's walk though the
process of working with digital video -- choosing a
camcorder, capturing into a computer, editing, creating
DVDs, and sharing in other formats. We'll look at your
options for getting started, and some new possibilities and
trends that are starting to appear.
The digital
video revolution has been driven by the appropriately-named
DV format. DV is actually a family of video
tape formats for both consumer and professional use, though
where we're talking about consumer DV tape, technically
known as Mini-DV. In addition, DV is also a digital
video compression format, defining how the video is stored
on the DV tape. DV is handy because it's lightly compressed
and therefore high quality. It's also great for editing on a
computer -- the same data format stored on the tape is also
used for video files on your computer, so you can get video
from camcorder to computer (and back) without any delay or
conversion. DV is today's core video format -- current
computer systems and software should have no problem playing
and editing DV material.
Your first
choice for doing digital video, then, is a DV camcorder. The
small tapes allow the camcorders to be quite portable, and
the tapes hold around an hour of video, so they are
convenient to save and store as master copies of your
original footage.
Mini-DV tape cassette
with FireWire / 1394 cable
I should also
mention two other consumer tape formats. Sony offers the
Digital 8 format, which stores DV format video on the
familiar 8mm tape format used for analog camcorders. This is
a transition format, convenient if you already have a
library of analog 8mm tapes, since the camcorder can play
them back too. Sony also has the MicroMV format, tiny
tapes that permit the design of even smaller camcorders.
However, the video is stored in the less-editable MPEG
format, so you need to be sure you know what you're getting
into.
But why put up
with tape at all? It's clumsy to search, with all that
rewinding and shuttling just to find the right time code to
play or to cue up for recording. Why not move on to disk or
solid state memory formats, like we are used to in portable
media players?
Especially if
you're interested in shooting and sharing, without much
editing in between, you even can shoot directly on DVD.
Today's DVD camcorders use the half-size 8cm mini-DVD format
to record around a half hour of good-quality video. You then
can pop out the disc and play it any almost any DVD player
(disc drawers have a recessed center area to fir the smaller
discs).
However, DVD
camcorders can be a bit more bulky to enclose the circular
disc, and they record directly to DVD-completive MPEG video
format, so you'll need compatible video editing software.
There's also the issue of different DVD formats, as needed
to be compatible with the rest of your equipment. We'll
discuss these details a little later.
Don't Spend Too Much on a New Camcorder - Get it from B&H
While DVD
provides the immediate gratification of direct playback,
today's portable media players point to a third alternative
for even more accessible and portable camcorders -- don't
use tape or disc media, just record direct to storage cards
or hard disk. After all, today's digital still cameras can
shoot short video clips to memory, so why not have
camcorders do the same?
For example,
the small and light JVC Everio digital media
cameras (www.jvc.com/presentations/everio)
can record to SD memory card, 1 inch Microdrive cards (tiny
hard drives in a memory card format), or to a built-in hard
drive. You can record some 15 to 30 minutes of
good-looking video to a 1 GB memory card. The 4 GB
CompactFlash (CF) Microdrive can store
one hour of good-looking video using ultra fine mode
(DVD-quality 8.5 Mbps), or cram up to 300 minutes in economy
mode (lower res 352 x 240 at 1.5 Mbps). A 30 GB hard disk
can store 7 hours at 9 Mbps and up to 37 hours at 1.7 Mbps.
Recording direct to memory
or hard drive is much easier than working with tape or even
DVD discs -- you can just record without worrying about
cueing up the tape. But there's still the issue of what to
do with the video once you have filled up the memory. Tape
and DVD are easy and inexpensive to archive, unlike memory
cards and hard disks. Like working with all those photos
from a digital camera, you'll need to be more organized
about pulling the clips off the memory into a computer, and
then you can back up the original clips as data files,
preferably to DVD. Similarly, you'll also need to be careful
on long trips to make sure you pack enough storage cards.
The bottom line on
choosing a digital camcorder: choose DVD for the quickest
path from shooting to sharing, choose DV for the best
quality if you're going be doing much editing, and choose a
memory-based camcorder for the smallest size and weight,
understanding you'll need to be more organized in saving and
editing the footage (and you'll pay a price premium for the
miniaturization). Again, be aware that for the
best quality you should shoot with these camcorders using
DVD-compatible MPEG-2 format, and not the even more
compressed MPEG-4 format typically used in digital still
cameras.
Now that we've
gotten digital camcorders straightened out, be warned that
there's a new generation coming with high-definition video.
A new format called HDV is starting to become
available in (high-end) consumer equipment (www.hdv-info.org).
HDV is
real high-def video, but stored on standard DV media. The
format is still MPEG-2, but with up to 6X higher resolution
than standard 720 x 480 DV, in wide-screen 16:9 aspect
ratio, and more aggressively compressed:
- 720p (1280 x 720, progressive), approximately 19
Mbps - 1080i (1440 x 1080,
interlaced), approximately 25 Mbps
HDV video data can be
imported into a computer much like DV using a FireWire
interface, but it requires updated software and, obviously,
significantly more processing power to handle the increase
in resolution. The new generation of consumer video editing
software is adding HDV support, so you can start playing
with it, but you'll probably want to upgrade your system
before doing intensive work.
In the bad old
days of working with analog video, "capturing" video into
your computer was a major pain, requiring dedicated cards
and custom software. Digital video just blows away the
problem: you are no longer capturing, you now just are
transferring digital files over a cable from the camcorder
to the computer. And the processing and disk speed of
today's computers should have no problem keeping up with the
compressed video data rates.
DV camcorders
typically use a FireWire connection (also known
as IEEE 1394, or called i.LINK by
Sony), with a hot pluggable interface that also can be used
to expand with external hard drives and DVD burners (www.1394ta.org).
Apple Macs come with FireWire built in, while PC users may
need to add a FireWire board to your computer. (While you
are upgrading, get a dual board that also includes USB 2.0
interfaces.)
Today's
operating systems and video software should have no problem
working with DV camcorders over FireWire. You not only can
capture your digital video from the camcorder into the
computer, but the interface also allows you to control the
camcorder from the computer, to review and cue the tape.
And once you're done editing, you can export your final
video production back from the computer to tape to share and
store.
The original
USB interface was nowhere near fast enough to use with full
rate video, but the more recent High-Speed
USB 2.0 interface offers transfer rates similar to
FireWire (www.usb.org). The
new USB 2.0 "Video Class 1.0" interface standard, supported
in some new cameras and software, adds FireWire-like device
control of the tape transport.
This focus on
digital, however, does not require that you leave analog
behind. Digital camcorders include analog video and audio
output jacks, so you can play your videos directly to a
television, or even record them on a VCR. You also can use
your camcorder to preview video as you edit, playing back
from your software, through FireWire, through the camcorder,
out the analog jacks to see the video playing on a
television display. Some digital camcorders also include
analog input connections, so you can transfer and preserve
your old analog VCR tapes to digital DV format, or use the
camcorder as a converter to pass live analog video playback
to the computer in DV format.
If you're
shopping for equipment and software, you can find bundled
products that include both FireWire add-in boards and
compatible video editing software. You can also buy external
analog to digital (A/D) converter devices from companies
like ADS Tech with FireWire and/or USB
interfaces (www.adstech.com).
Some of these just convert to DV over FireWire, while others
compress directly to formats like MPEG-2.
Once you have
captured your digital video as files on your computer, there
are lots of options for editing them. You may want to do
some simple trimming to remove the less interesting
portions, maybe add some titles, and a few fun transitions
or effects. Or you may want to get much more involved,
enhancing the video and audio, building multiple layers of
picture-in-picture effects, and mixing the audio with
voiceover and background music.
On Windows, you can get
started using the free Microsoft Movie Maker
for Windows XP (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker,
bundled with new systems). The step-by-step interface is
great for firing up occasionally for quick and simple
editing, but you'll be limited as you grow and want to do
more creative editing.
Between starter video
editing tools and full-up professional editing lies a middle
ground of tools for hobbyists and enthusiasts, with products
like Pinnacle Studio
(www.pinnaclesys.com)
and Ulead VideoStudio
(www.ulead.com/vs)
available for under $100.
These products are
designed for people who want to get started easily and be
able to bang out quick edits, but also want some flexibility
for fine-tuning and enhancing their movies. As a result, the
new versions of these home video editing tools are growing
in two different ways: both automating editing for novices
through movie-making and tape-to-DVD wizards, while also
adding more advanced features to provide additional creative
headroom as even hobbyist users gain more sophistication.
If you're
interested in more headroom to go further with video
editing, families of products like Adobe
Premiere Elements (www.adobe.com/products/premiereel)
and Sony Vegas Movie Studio+DVD (www.sonymediasoftware.com)
provide an accessible interface to
learning real video editing in the consumer version, backed
by the depth of the full professional tool.
The recent versions of
even these consumer applications offer capture and editing,
import and export of a variety of video file formats,
built-in DVD authoring and burning, and native editing
support for MPEG-2 and even MPEG-4 clips. In this case, the
software has caught up to all the hardware formats -- it's
now possible to import and edit both MPEG-2 clips, including
from DVDs (not copy protected), and MPEG-4 clips.
While many
video editing applications provide built-in support for
directly creating DVDs, you also may want to use a dedicated
DVD authoring tool, for example to combine a group of clips
into a single DVD.
Consumer DVD
authoring tools on Windows include Sonic MyDVD
(www.mydvd.com) and
Ulead DVD MovieFactory
(www.ulead.com/dmf)
are available starting at around $50, and often bundled with
DVD burners.
These kinds of
DVD authoring applications also are available as part of
larger media creation and disc burning suites, including
Nero Ultra Edition (www.nero.com)
and Roxio (now Sonic)
Easy Media Creator (www.roxio.com/en/products/emc75).
These
applications are focused on simplifying the authoring
process: you import material from tape or video files, and
the tool automates the menu layout and navigation using
built-in menu design styles. They also allow you to cut out
the editing process for simple transfers to DVD -- you can
capture directly into the DVD authoring application, import
clips from other DVDs, do simple splicing and trimming, and
then burn the final DVD. Even easier, you can go directly
from tape to DVD like a set-top recorder: the software will
capture from the tape, break it into scenes, build the DVD
menus, and burn the disc, all in one hands-off operation.
Of course, the
tradeoff for this simplification is a loss of control over
the look and navigational design of your DVDs. For more
control and DVD features like multiple audio and subtitle
tracks, you can step up to products like Adobe Encore DVD
(www.adobe.com/products/encore),
Sonic DVDit (www.sonic.com)
and Ulead DVD Workshop (www.ulead.com/dws),
available in multiple versions for around $200 to $400.
However, you
actually do not need a computer to convert, copy, and even
edit your videos. Today's set-top DVD recorders, especially
with built-in hard disk drives, allow you to capture video,
assemble and trim clips, set chapter points, and create
finished discs with nice menus -- all in your living room,
and without involving your computer. It's also possible to
come back later and re-edit these DVDs on a computer. You
can create DVDs on the set-top in VR (Video Recording)
format, which includes information about the DVD format to
make it easy to continue to edit. Then you can burn a final
disc in standard DVD-Video format, which will be more
compatible for sharing with others.
Next, it's
time to burn that great DVD that you have authored. But hold
off just a bit longer -- instead, first export your DVD as a
"DVD volume" saved as a folder on your hard disk. Since the
folder contains the same files that will be burned to disc,
you can use a DVD player application like CyberLink PowerDVD
(www.gocyberlink.com)
or InterVideo WinDVD (www.intervideo.com)
to play back and test your DVD design, without the delay
(and cost) of burning a disc.
When it's time to actually
burn, you will be faced with the confusing of the
unfortunate jumble of competing DVD formats. To start with,
DVD has two basic recordable formats like CD,
re-writable ("RW"), good for test discs since
they can be erased and reused, and write-once ("R")
for permanent copies that also are more compatible,
particularly with older players.
But unlike CD,
DVD also has two competing (and incompatible)
formats, the original DVD-R/-RW
("dash") format defined by the
DVD Forum (www.dvdforum.org),
and the corresponding DVD+R/+RW
("plus") format from the DVD+RW
Alliance (www.dvdrw.com).
To burn a DVD, you will need the appropriate format that is
supported by your burner hardware. However, the format only
matters for recording -- once the DVD is burned, the format
should no longer make a difference for playback on most DVD
players. To solve this problem, get a "dual-format" burner
that supports CD and DVD, R and RW, dash and plus -- so
whatever media you happen to have around should work.
DVD-RAM media
Just to
confuse things further, there is another recordable format
called DVD-RAM, which is a significantly
different physical disc designed to provide access like a
hard drive (www.ramprg.com).
DVD-RAM is great for DVD recorders and DVD camcorders, since
it provides instant access for playback and recording, and
you can even time-shift by recording a live show and playing
back earlier material at the same time. Unfortunately,
DVD-RAM is not compatible with regular DVD drives, so you
need to make sure you buy RAM-compatible equipment if you
want to move these discs from the camcorder to the set-top
to a computer.
This past year
also has seen the roll-out of "Double/Dual Layer"
recordable DVDs, which expand the capacity from
4.7 GB to two layers holding a total of 8.5 GB per
disc. Again, the software has needed to catch up with this
development, but new versions of applications now support
these "DL" drives, for burning two hours or more of
good-quality video to a single disc. As usual, since this
technology is relatively new, you can find these discs to be
less compatible with existing DVD players.
A final tip on
DVD burning: DVDs have significantly tighter tolerances than
CDs, the technology is all relatively new, and the
manufactures are caught in severe price pressure from
competition. As a result, it's best to stay with name-brand
products, and not to try to shave pennies with cheap
off-brand equipment, media, and software. For the best
results, also burn discs at the rated speed. After some
experimentation with different mixes of software and media,
you should be able to find a good groove and avoid burning
problems and unplayable discs.
Beyond
conventional DVD, coming next year is the next generation of
blue-laser high-def DVD technology,
offering multiple layers of 15 to 25 GB each.
Unfortunately, the DVD industry has become embroiled in a
full-fledged format war, between HD DVD (www.hddvdprg.com)
and Blu-ray Disc (BD,
www.blu-raydisc.com).
As a result, unless you desperately need massive storage, it
will be best to simply wait on the sidelines for the dust to
settle (and prices to drop) before jumping into this battle.
Beyond DVD, you also can
share your videos in electronic form -- as disk files, over
the Internet, and on portable devices. Most video editing
tools offer a stunning variety of export options, for
different purposes, in different formats, and with
additional options. Your best bet is to start with the
built-in default presets for your purpose, and work from
there.
First, you can export your
production as a movie to a video file on disk, so you can
play back your production, share it over the local network,
or even burn it as a data file to a CD or DVD to archive or
share with others. Choose the Microsoft Windows
Media format for playback on Windows systems (WMV,
www.windowsmedia.com),
the Apple QuickTime Movie format for
cross-platform playback (MOV,
www.apple.com/quicktime), and the older Microsoft AVI
format for compatibility with older Windows systems.
You also can use the MPEG
formats to create files that should be playable across a
variety of platforms, especially if you are posting the
files for public access: the original MPEG-1 for older
systems, and MPEG-2 for better quality and possible later
export to DVD. You also can use the newer MPEG-4
for better compression (www.mpegif.org),
as long as you are sure your audience has newer systems with
compatible players (like the new QuickTime 7). You can also
use branded versions of MPEG-4 like DivX (www.divx.com).
Besides posting files for
download, you can export to Internet streaming formats,
including variants of QuickTime,
Windows Media, and RealNetworks (guide.real.com).
These can be useful even if you do not have a compatible
streaming Web server -- use a "progressive download" version
of the format that allows the player to simply download the
video file, but start playing it from the beginning even as
it is still being downloaded.
The Macromedia
Flash Video format is also becoming more popular (www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/video.html).
Flash videos can be easily viewed by a broad audience, since
the Flash player is already installed on over 94% of
web-connected computers. And, of course, you then can
integrate your videos into dynamic interactive Flash
applications.
Your editing applications
should help you check the sizes of the files that you are
creating for downloading -- or for sending by e-mail. To
avoid clogging your Internet connection, gumming up your
e-mail server, and irritating your recipients, please use
better compression formats and even reduce the resolution of
your clips in order to make smaller, more manageable files,
optimizing for broadband or even dial-up connections.
Finally, you can also
export files to download and play on a variety of portable
media devices through Windows Media and MPEG-4 (typically
via QuickTime), at small resolutions around 200 x 200.
For example,
Microsoft Pocket PC and Windows Mobile
smartphone devices (www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile)
can play small Windows Media clips, and newer mobile phones
can play MPEG-4 clips. There are also a variety of portable
media players from companies like Archos (www.archos.com)
and Creative (www.creative.com)
that can play a variety of audio, video, and photo formats,
and you can even download and share clips on a gaming device
like the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP),
www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx).
That's a lot of
possibilities and options for working with digital video,
but you can see that it is possible to get started with the
basics and expand from there.
Many of these software
companies offer trial versions that you can download from
their websites, so you can experiment with them before you
buy.
