Video

Video may be a valuable addition to a teaching session or available in the VLP. Video recorded lectures provides visual and audio learning that can be reviewed as often as needed. Videos can be uploaded to the VLP, added to virtual lectures, placed with Course Genie web pages or burned to DVD for use in the classroom. You may also wish to consider adding video in Flash format, which my be easier for student to view.

If you already have a video in either electronic, DV cassette or VHS format we can both edit and convert this to other formats, for viewing elsewhere. Alternatively the LTSU have a digital editing suite avaliable for staff use and video editing.

Editing and Converting Video - Some points to note:

• Before you start, make sure you have copyright permission to use original recorded video (if it’s not your own) and permission from the person/s in your video to display or broadcast their image.
• Digital Camcorders require the use of “Mini DV” cassettes, These can be bought from most major high street electrical retailers.
• The Digital Camcorder batteries may also need charging for several hours or overnight - please check that they are charged prior to use.
• Allow yourself plenty of editing time. Capturing video from the camcorder and recording back to the camcorder happens in real-time. So half an hour of video will take half an hour to transfer. Also rendering your final movie, with titles and transitions may take some time.
• Allow plenty of time:
  eg. For half an hour of video allow at least a couple of hours:
             1/2 hour transfer in + Edit time + Render time + 1/2 hour recording back to tape.
• Using Video on a PC is very processor intensive. That is, even a fast computer may struggle to edit, create effects & transitions and compress video very quickly.
• Video also requires a lot of storage space. Video before it is compressed can take up mega-bytes or giga-bytes of storage space. Many PCs have enough hard-disc space for a few hours of uncompressed video only.
• Compressed video (MPEGs) only take up mega-bytes of space (unless you have an awful lot of it!). Think about how you are going to save it or get it off the PC. You may need to burn it to CD or DVD.
• Online videos more than just a few minutes long, may take anywhere between several seconds and maybe a minute before than can be viewed by students and staff.
• A USB Flash Drive may only have room on it for the compressed MPEG and not all your original uncompressed video.
• Always try to work with original video (from a camcorder or your own project), not already compressed video. Every time MPEG video is edited & compressed again, it loses a little quality (think of original broadcast TV and a VHS video of it).

What do you want to do?

These help-sheets refer to the video editing suite - Pinnacle Studio 9. Select either option A, B, C or D and use the listed help-sheets below. Bear in mind that you can also do a combination of two or three options.

1. Edit a video and record back to a camcorder to display on a TV
   
2. Make a video to put on a PC/CD/Web
   
3. Make a DVD to use on a TV/DVD player
   
4. Save files to CD or a USB Flash Drive
   

A. Edit a video and record back to a camcorder to display on a TV - You’ll need the following help-sheets (PDFs):

1. Capturing video
2. Editing Video
4. Save Video to a camcorder

B. Make a video to put on a PC/CD/Web - You’ll need the following help-sheets:

1. Capturing video
2. Editing Video
3. Saving Video for PC or Web use
6. Moving files to another PC

C. Make a DVD to use on a TV/DVD player - You’ll need the following help-sheets:

1. Capturing video
2. Editing Video
3. Saving Video for PC or Web use
5. Creating an interactive DVD

D. Save files to CD or a USB Flash Drive - You’ll need the following help-sheet:

6. Moving files to another PC

Technical Terms     

Camcorder or Digital Camcorder
A portable video camera/recorder, usually now digital. A Digital Video Camera is capable of connecting to a PC to edit & store the video primarily through a FireWire cable.

DVD
“Digital Versatile Disk”; CD sized disks that can store many times the amount of information a CD can. DVDs can be used to store data (very much like a CD) and read by a computer, or can be burnt to an interactive format that include menus & titles and is playable on a standard DVD player connected to a TV. There are many different types of blank/recordable DVD, make sure you are using one compatable with your PC CD/DVD drive.

FireWire
FireWire/i.Link or IEEE 1394 is a connection method via cable and computer port that is supported on most digital video cameras and some PCs.

MPEG
A format of compressed video & audio defined by the “Motion Pictures Experts Group”. MPEG-2 is now a standard format that compresses files to small sizes with good quality, though MPEG-4 is better but not quite so widely supported. Small size is relative though, and files can easily be mega-bytes in size.

Render
The process of combining your video and audio with any applied effects, such as transitions or filters, one frame at a time. Once rendered, your sequence can be played in real time or recorded back to tape.

USB Flash Drive
These thumb size devices are also known as “key drives”, “pen drives”, “USB thumb drives” & “USB flash memory drives”. These are relatively cheap re-writable removable storage devices (some holding hundreds of mega-bytes) that plug into computer USB ports and allow you to save documents and files to them.