Video Compression

10:00 - Introductions, tags, overview, off topics/parking lot
10:10 - Survey, concepts, images, sites, resources, videos, tools
10:20 - Explore files, resources, show & tell
10:30 - Demo - capture - video from flip
10:40 - Demo - compress - mpeg stream clip
10:50 - Demo - upload - flickr
11:00 - Q & A I
11:10 - Break
11:20 - Demo - mac or windows compress
11:30 - Demo - vimeo upload
11:40 - Q & A II
11:50 - Clinic - capture
12:00 - Clinic - compress
12:10 - Clinic - uploads
12:20 - Summary, More Resources, Q & A
12:30 - Done! go make a video!

Introduction

Best practices
know your targets. e.g., iphone, YouTube, desktop, appletv, etc
target a format?
compress to target
save upload time
best quality for the moment
avoid queues
presets
increase understanding and remove mystery
inter/intra and relation compression to editing
learn about free tools for win, mac and linux

Ask people to intro with three tags (mine are video compression, videoblogging and drupal based media web sites)

Survey
======
How many: Mac, Apple, Linux
Experience:
Hi Def?
Video Camera Type: DV, HDV, Still, pocket, flip, phone
Who has a blog or vlog?
Who has an account on YouTube, Blip, others?
Who actively uploads?
Who is a compression expert?
left or right brained

related, but off- topics
========================
video streaming
audio compression
audacity
content data networks
creative commons
subtitles
animation
video editing
adv audio & video capture


Putting the You in YouTube
with Markus Sandy

Saturday, July 24
10 am-12:30 pm

The Santa Barbara Channels
7000 Hollister Ave. Goleta
(805) 571-1721

Course description

More and more people turn to the Internet searching for entertainment and news, and your videos can be what they find. This seminar covers the basics of compressing and preparing your videos for uploading to the web. Find out the best format and file size, and workflow strategies for using different content delivery services. Video sharing websites besides YouTube, such as Blip.tv, Flickr, and Vimeo, will be looked at and discussed as well.

from YouTube
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=77268
If you already have a digital camcorder (one that captures in Digital8, MiniDV, HDV, or any of the DVD formats), then you're ready to start shooting your masterpiece. Your camcorder will need some kind of direct connection to your computer, either to the USB or FireWire ports or by inserting the DVD you've recorded. Once you've downloaded the video from the camera, you can upload it to YouTube or bring it into an editing program to play with it some more.

If you have an analog camcorder (one that uses VHS, VHS-C, SVHS-C, 8mm, or Hi8 tape), you can still get your videos onto YouTube. It will require an extra step and some additional equipment, though, since these camcorders are not usually equipped with computer connections. You'll need to digitize the video with a converter box, which will convert the analog signal from the camcorder to a digital signal that the computer can understand. After the video has been digitized, you can manipulate it further or upload it.

from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_compression

Video compression refers to reducing the quantity of data used to represent digital video images, and is a combination of spatial image compression and temporal motion compensation.

compressed video can effectively reduce the bandwidth required to transmit video via terrestrial broadcast, via cable TV, or via satellite TV services.

Most video compression is lossy — it operates on the premise that much of the data present before compression is not necessary for achieving good perceptual quality. For example, DVDs use a video coding standard called MPEG-2 that can compress around two hours of video data by 15 to 30 times, while still producing a picture quality that is generally considered high-quality for standard-definition video. Video compression is a tradeoff between disk space, video quality, and the cost of hardware required to decompress the video in a reasonable time. However, if the video is over-compressed in a lossy manner, visible (and sometimes distracting) artifacts can appear.

The programming provider has control over the amount of video compression applied to their video programming before it is sent to their distribution system. DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and HD DVDs have video compression applied during their mastering process, though Blu-ray and HD DVD have enough disc capacity that most compression applied in these formats is light, when compared to such examples as most video streamed on the internet, or taken on a cellphone.

Since interframe compression copies data from one frame to another, if the original frame is simply cut out (or lost in transmission), the following frames cannot be reconstructed properly. Some video formats, such as DV, compress each frame independently using intraframe compression. Making 'cuts' in intraframe-compressed video is almost as easy as editing uncompressed video — one finds the beginning and ending of each frame, and simply copies bit-for-bit each frame that one wants to keep, and discards the frames one doesn't want.

It is possible to build a computer-based video editor that spots problems caused when I frames are edited out while other frames need them. This has allowed newer formats like HDV to be used for editing. However, this process demands a lot more computing power than editing intraframe compressed video with the same picture quality.

=====

from http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/video4.htm

Now that you know the basic concepts and terminology behind video compression, we can talk about various formats and codecs, and which one is right for you. First off, we need to point out what the difference between a Codec and a Format is. Codec stands for Compressor/Decompressor, meaning it is something which can both encode and decode something, in this case video. When we talk about video format in this context, we're talking about how that information is stored on disks. Formats include things like AVI and Quicktime. Codecs include things like MJPEG, Sorenson, Cinepak, and DivX. Some Codecs are also formats (or have specific formats attached to them), such as MPEG and ASF.

A format does not necessarily mean anything about the video quality, it only dictates the underlying structure of a file. I always scratch my head when people say things like "I like AVIs better than MPEGs because they're smaller," which is a statement that makes absolutely no sense. I've had an AVI file that's 26GB large, orders of magnitude larger than most MPEG files. The fact is that formats like AVI and Quicktime have little to nothing to do with the underlying Codec, except that the limitations of a format must be adhered to in the codec. For instance, AVI does not support bidirectional-predicate frames, therefore the MPEG4 implementation that Microsoft made for AVI/ASF is incomplete as it does not implement this essential feature of the MPEG specification.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech3/

how capture video? camera (firewire or usb, hdmi?), webcam, screen capture, video input (e.g., tv, dvd) via converter box, stitching images together to make normal, time-lapse or stop motion, download stock or public domain footage, graphics and special effects

slides
======
dilbert
standards
mac & windows dialog box with codecs
Which one do I pick - I'M SO CONFUSED! - Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 Format & Compression Settings (too many of 'em)
kent bye's H.264 Video Compression Settings

software
========
mac: %I, imovie, quicktime pro, fce, fcp/compressor, avid
pc: movie maker?, premier, pinnacle, avid, roxio, sony vegas, ms expression encoder 4 (windows media encoder)
linux: ffmpeg and many others

handbrake - HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

mpeg stream - closed source - MPEG Streamclip is a powerful free video converter, player, editor for Mac and Windows. It can play many movie files, not only MPEGs; it can convert MPEG files between muxed/demuxed formats for authoring; it can encode movies to many formats, including iPod; it can cut, trim and join movies. MPEG Streamclip can also download videos from YouTube and Google by entering the page URL

ffmpeg - FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec - the leading audio/video codec library

vlc - The cross-platform open-source multimedia framework, player and server

flip share -
snapz pro x -
I Show U -
windows media encoder -
windows media maker -

Show and tell
=============
* canopus video capture device
* HD cards and reader
* external firewire drive
* usb flash drive
* firewire, hdm, dvi, vga, usb cables
* xacti and charger

Group Exercises
===============

Who has a video to capture? Who can help?
Who has a video to compress? Who can help?
Who needs to set up an account? Who has an account?

References
----------

glossaries
http://www.manifest-tech.com/links/video_terms.htm
http://www.discount-security-cameras.net/video-compression-glossary.aspx
http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/glossary/g/vidcompression.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_codecs

articles/snaps
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/digitalvideo.mspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_formats
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

flip and others, kodak Zi8
http://www.theflip.com/
http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/Zi8_Pocket_Video_Camera/productID.156585800

http://www.squared5.com/
http://handbrake.fr/
http://www.ffmpeg.org/
http://www.theora.org/

http://www.mirocommunity.org/
http://www.getmiro.com/
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

YouTube - Getting Started: File formats
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55744

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_formats
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_codecs

Compression Guidelines
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/help/compression
YouTube: see below

articles/tutorials/videos
=========================
Compressor Settings for Vimeo/YouTube HD http://vimeo.com/3552513
YouTube High Definition http://www.squidoo.com/youtubehd
How to Make YouTube Videos Look Great http://www.squidoo.com/youtuberight
Web Video Compression and Codecs http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=_13PCNDO-pE
How To Compress Video http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=cBm8wandPew
Video compression for Mac http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=5BnX-2tYoDw

Tips and Encoding Settings for Long Duration Screencasts http://groups.drupal.org/node/2424

A&E's Technical Guides to All Things Audio and Video (v3) http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech3/

Best video compression settings for You Tube http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/10/best-video-compression-settings-for-you-tube/

10 Reasons Why Blip.tv is Better Than YouTube for Uploading & Sharing Videos on the Web http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/12/10-reasons-why-bliptv-is-better-than.html

10 Interesting Things You Can Do with YouTube or Google Videos http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/07/10-interesting-things-you-can-do-with.html

How-to produce an online video Show: Export & compress. The blip.tv Learning Center. http://blip.tv/learning/export/

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker

Vimeo - TUTORIAL: From miniDV to Vimeo in High Quality
http://www.vimeo.com/forums/topic:4038

*** this has links to many tutorials for lots of software
Vimeo - TUTORIALS: Vimeo HD exporting guides from many editors
http://vimeo.com/forums/topic:3671

YouTube - Learn More: File format / editing tips for Apple users
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=165543

YouTube - Learn More: Optimizing your video uploads
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=132460

YouTube - 4K Video!?!?
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-bigger-than-1080p-4k-video-comes.html

YouTube - 10 minute limit
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=71673

Wikipedia - AviSynth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AviSynth

YouTube - processing time
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=71674

Wikipedia - Deinterlacing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinterlacing

Yahoo! Videoblogging Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging

Izzy Video 066 – Compression
http://www.izzyvideo.com/videos/compression

Izzy Video 140 – Turbocharge Your Compression!
http://www.izzyvideo.com/videos/izzy-video-140-turbocharge-your-compression

Glossary/Topics
===============
aspect ratios - 4:3 , 16:9 - letterbox
importance of external drives
two pass compression
workflow: compression time can be 10:1
Common Dimensions (and aspect ratios)
720x480 DV NTSC
320x240 ipod 1-3
new dimension on iPod4
standard YouTube sizes (with & w/o frame)
640x480
480x264 - iPhone
HD: 960x720, 1280x1080, 1440x1080
show picture showing relative sizes, also standard web pages sizes (960 - 220), fullscreen
total bit rate (apple finder)
channels - 1 for mono, 2 for stereo
filter
encoder
ftp
batch
ins and outs
MPEG
mp3
ogg
ISO
HD
SD
HDV
HDTV
ACHA
DIVIX
AVI
quicktime
archive.org - the Internet Archive
video editor - person or software
real video
Microsoft Windows Media
H.264
Video hosting provider
Content delivery network
AAC
preset
Sony Vegas
Miro
de-interlace
interlaced video
ffmpeg
brakepad
mpeg streamclip
vlc
key frames
any word or phrase found on a export dialog field
video hosting services - youtube, dailymotion, blip.tv. archive.org, vimeo, flickr,
Sorenson Squeeze - commercial - pros and cons
FOSS - Free and Open Source
Canon V20
Sony VTR17
Sony Cybershot
Flip ???
Mac iSight intenral (web cam) or external
daily motion
internet archive
blip.tv
understanding DV and other popular capture formats
preprocessing video for editing
facebook and twitter videos
qik
iphone
appletv and boxee and others
progressive scan
anamorphic
cropping
aspect ratio
letterbox
bit rate
digital video
spatial image compression
temporal motion compression
for internet, we care about file size and quality
smaller size => more compression => more cpu needed to uncompress
time vs space
bandwidth
mobile video
do the math:
sd 30fps x => 1 hour of uncompressed SD is xxx GB
hd 30fps or 24.9fps (check)
film 24fps x
29.97 fps, 25 fps, 23.976 fps, 15 fps
inter vs intra frame compression
intra not good for editing
keyframes
data rate
bits per second
pits per frame
mpeg1/2/4, VP8, avi, flv, wmv, mov. m4v
aac audio
workflow
demo deinterlace TV capture video
time lapse?
compressing for the big screen?


Summary
======

* lots of options
* can be intimidating
* no one size fits all solution
* but a few sizes often suffice
* workflow and consistency is your friend
* best practices too
* log it! science!


Free Web Video Clinics
Ojai Digital Dojo
http://ojaidigitaldojo.net
markus.sandy@gmail.com
805-798-0436
Wednesdays 6-10pm
Some Saturdays, see vlog.