Editing and archiving still and moving pictures to CD's.
Tom Potter
archiving old and new pictures, audio, old 8mm movies, old analog camcorder
tapes, and digital video to CD's.
A CD will store about 660 megabytes of data.
I have found that a 50 Kbytes byte JPG at 640x480 yields an acceptable picture,
provides convenient screen viewing, and doesn't require viewers to readjust each
picture. A single CD holds 13000, 50K byte JPG, pictures.
I capture digital video from my Sony digital camera in 20 minutes clips, as my
Windows operating system will only capture about 4 gigabyte (4000 megabytes) in
one file.
I convert the 4-gigabyte AVI digital video clips to the PAL MPEG-2 format, and
archive all of these clips to CD's. This reduces the file size by a factor of
about 20 to 1, and each 20-minute clip is stored in a 200-megabyte file, thus I
get three 20-minute videos on each CD. I could use "SCLive" or "ScrenAlyzer" to
make AVI clips directly, but I find that a few large clips makes for a better
archive, doesn't clutter my hard drive and archive CD's with thousands of small
clips, and in fact can be edited faster. I archive the MPEG-2 files so I don't
have recapture the video if I use the video again, and of course, in case
something happens to the original tape.
Even though I have an NTSC digital camcorder, I use the PAL format, rather than
the NTSC, as it seems to provide a cleaner, less "blocky" playback, even though
it provides fewer frames per second (25 vs. 30), and it resizes the picture. As
I end up creating VCD CDs, I need this format anyway. Others may prefer staying
with the NTSC format. Note that the quality of the VCD playback seems to depend
more on the hardware or software than on the recorded file, as the better
players will play back most VCDs without "jumpiness" or "blockiness". Although
an MPEG-2 file contains more data than a PAL file, most MPEG-2 players I have
used seem to play back fast changing scenes with some "blockiness". Perhaps this
has to do with the way these two codexes code the data.
Here in Beijing, I play my videos on computers and on PAL TV systems so I don't
know how well they would look on an NTSC system. My computer in America has a
graphic card which provides an NTSC TV output and it seems to displays
everything that shows up on my computer screen on my NTSC (American) TV very
well. The next time I am in America, I'll play some PAL videos on my computer
and see how it couples through the video adapter to my NTSC TV. In any case, I
like PAL, you may prefer NTSC.
I use the "Nero" CD recording program to record three 200 megabyte files on each
CD. This lets me archive one hour of digital video on each CD. Note that the
archived video is about 1/4 screen size, and is 25 frames per second rather than
30, but this plays back as well as a VHS tape on computers and TVs. As I have 60
megabytes of spare space on each CD, I throw in data files, JPGs, audio, MP3
downloads, etc. that I wish to backup.
I scan in the old family pictures using a "paper feed" type scanner, which I
find is much faster and gives better registration, than flat bed scanners. After
I scan in the pictures, I crop, adjust, resize and convert them to JPG using
"Paint Shop Pro" or "LView" shareware graphic programs. When scanning in (Or
screen capturing) pictures, you end up with a lot of names like capture001,
capture002, etc. I use "RedRename" to rename pictures to more appropriate names.
I used a box that I bought at Best Buy for about $50.00 to convert old 8mm
movies to video. I have a Sony digital camera, and I used it to convert all of
my old VHS home movies to the digital format, which stores without degradation,
and is more convenient to edit.
As mentioned, I edit the still pictures using Paint Shop Pro or LView.
I use Media Studio Pro to edit the video. I string several hours of 20-minute
clips along track Vb in the editor. As an hour of video takes about 800
megabytes, I can store several hours of video on a 20 Gigabyte drive, and have
plenty of space left over for editing, rendering, burning a CD image, etc. I
then "walk" down each 20-minute clip and create the clips I plan to use by
copying each 20-minute clip, in turn, to track Va by clicking on the clip then
pressing control C (To capture) then control V (To paste).
I keep using the same pasted clip over and over as follows:
1. I double click on it, then edit in the "source" window.
2. Then, I again press control C and control V to make a copy of the edited
clip.
3. I move the edited clip to the left on track a, then double click on the new
"pasted" clip to get it into the source window.
4. I then click "Next edit point" two times to get to where I left off in the
previous clip.
5. I edit this clip, and then repeat the process until I get to the end of the
20-minute clip.
Note that I start off with a lot of 20 minutes clips strung along track Vb,
and end up with a string of maybe hundreds of small clips along track Va.
I then assign a category to the other tracks, (1,2, etc.) people, animals,
scenery, a particular trip, a particular person I plan to make a video for, etc.
I then look at each clip, in turn, along track Va, and copy each clip to the
tracks where I plan to use it.
After I have assembled several tracks of edited clips, I save them to different
names for final editing, (Adding music, titles, re-ordering, deleting, adding
still pictures, transitions, etc.) Note that I archive thousands of family
pictures and good shots to CD's and I use these CD's to get my still pictures to
insert. I might mention, that I go through all of the 20 minute clips first,
and use Paint Shop Pro to "capture" all of the still shots that I think will be
of interest to save, to print out, to use as "still" in videos, etc. For
example, if I go to a museum, I make hundreds of fast shots of the artifacts. Of
course, this makes for lousy video, so I makes stills of all of the artifacts,
and string them along the video as 3 or 4 second clips. You can use the "moving
path" feature of Media Pro to make it look like you are zooming in or out on the
artifact. (Make the clip look like a video, rather than a still.) You can also
make a still look like a video but "overlaying" it over a background that is
changing, like grass or a tree swaying in the wind, traffic, etc.
As demonstrated by laugh tracks, cartoons, old westerns, suspense movies, etc.,
audio is essential in creating a good video. Psychologically, video serves to
confirm what the audio is implying (Crash, What was that!!), so precede the
video with audio that sets the stage for the action. The right audio can
transform a string of junk video clips into a work of art. For example, an
unusable, bouncy video taken from a car or bus might be transformed into a great
clip by adding an audio track of a bouncy version of "On the road again". Also,
many clips contain audio that adversely affects the shot. I scan through the
clips and delete the bad video, usually by "splitting" the audio from the video,
then deleting it. In fact, I delete almost all of the live audio on my video
tracks, and insert audio that tells my story better.
"Total Recorder" can be used to capture WAV files from "Real Player", MIDI's,
MP3's, audio and video CDs, or any audio source. These audio clips can be edited
using "Gold Wave", a shareware audio editor. (Which is faster and more flexible
than the "Media Studio" audio editor.) I also use "Gold Wave" to clean up the
audio in video clips. I split the audio from the clip, edit it using "Gold
Wave", save it to a new name, and then align it with the clip. I strip useful
audio from various sources, and keep it on hard disk and CD's for future use.
There are other programs that capture various forms of audio, but "Total
Recorder" captures all audio, including "Real Player" files.
I create the introductions and ending as separate files, as I may have to render
them several times to get the effect I want. I use "CG Infinity" to create the
title text as it will create almost any kind of text you can imagine, and use
the "moving path" feature in "Media Pro" to move the titles into place. I copy
the completed introductions and endings and paste them into the string of clips
that I have assembled.
When I am finished editing, I "create" the complete video at night, as it takes
about three hours for me to render a one-hour video, on my system.
After I do the final edit, I "create" VCD videos, which I give to my family and
friends, and save for posterity. The "Nero" CD burner has a "create video CD"
function which automatically puts the required files on the CD. I first burn an
image VCD file, and then burn this image file onto a CD. I do this, as there is
less of a chance of getting a bad write.
I must also mention, that "Real Player" files use 17 megabytes to provide 9
minutes of video. I have CDs with six hours of old color cartoons on them using
Real Player files, and surprisingly enough, this video looks pretty good at full
screen.
The Windows "Movie Maker" may do even better than Real Player, but as my "Movie
Maker" is very buggy, I have given up on it for now.
All of the programs mentioned can be downloaded via the Internet. Search using
"Google" to find convenient download sites. Some of the programs are limited
demo's, but all are reasonably priced.
Note that I sacrifice purity and quality for practicality, but I think that this
approach will work best for most folks until such time as mass storage becomes
faster and cheaper, and it will be several years before this happens.
I am in Beijing and can get folks to scan in pictures, do graphics, animation,
videos, etc. very cheaply. I welcome inquires from others regarding projects
along these lines. We could have couriers bring irreplaceable source material
(Old family pictures, etc.) to Beijing, and then return in a few days with the
originals and the finished product. If several folks want to have thousands of
pictures scanned, we could have one courier bring all of the data.
Email me at t...@earthlink.net if you have any questions, comments, or if you
want to cooperate on a project where a China presence would be of value. My wife
is a TV director in Beijing and her company can work with folks who want to
cooperate on professional TV work in China, such as travelogues, live news
uplinks, specials, etc.
Tom Potter http://home.earthlink.net/~tdp
Mike
1. If you archive the still images in the manner you speak of, they will be
good for the web and email and maybe for low quality video productions but
certainly not very good for print. If you want to keep the original pictures
quality (or near to it) you will need a MUCH higher resolution and
therefore, will get signifiantly less pictures on one CD.
2. Don't feel bad about using PAL format. Most motion pictures are shot in
PAL. As films are viewed in a theatre in a frame rate of something like 22
or 23 frames per second, conversion from PAL to film retains a more film
like appearance as opposed to trying to convert down from 30 frames per
second. Do some digging on 3:2 pulldown and it will give you a little more
info on making NTSC look like film.
3. Nero is OK for burning VCD but it won't allow for menus. I use EZCD
Creator and it allows me to make really cool interactive menus.
Just a few points but I like the simple approach to things like you have
laid out here.
Mike
"Tom Potter" <t...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Mike
support. Looks even easier than EZCD for this.
Mike
"Mike" <mono...@home.com> wrote in message
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A Rahim
Since you're experience in this video editing stuff, I'm looking for a few
editing and capturing tips. I'm quite new with the process but it takes all
my attention right now since I've got my self a TRV320 two months ago. My
goal is to retain picture quality as high as possible when I burn all my
videos to VCD.
I have Ulead Media Pro 6.0 . A few questions if you don't mind:
1. Is there a way to get around our O/S limitation of 20 minutes for one
video file?
2. My camera is PAL format and would like to burn CD to PAL format. In your
experience what is the best setting to retain the picture quality? For
example, the frame rate, frame size and so forth. (I'm doing the same thing
to archive my video files that is convert them to MPEG2 and store them in
CD-RW)
Thanks in advanced.
Mike
need VERY specific bit rates and other settings. Whatever software you use
to encode the clip, it should have a VCD template. Make sure to use it or
the resulting file may not be VCD compliant.
You will find that VCD is no better than VHS as far as quality goes. If you
are doing small clips (maybe 1/2 hour or less), you may want to look at SVCD
instead of VCD but there are VERY few DVD players that will play these, but
you can configure your comp to play them.
Best bet is to take a look at www.vcdhelp.com and they will give you all the
info you need plus I think they do most of their work in PAL too.
Mike
"A Rahim" <ra...@pd.jaring.my> wrote in message
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