Video Clips

Mother Teresa showed me that no job is too small, but my spirit may be. She showed me that it is less about the actual work and more about the attitudes and the spirit in which we do it.

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^{see Movie Clips}

Objective - extract small video clips that can be played through Windows Media Player. Generally, this means extracting the clip from either a commercial DVD or a recorded DVD. The intended use should be designed to comply with Copyright Fair Use (for example reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson).

Tools Required:

• VirtualDub-MPEG2 - Windows video software to read a .VOB content file from a DVD, preview and mark portions of the video/audio for extraction, and output an AVI video which can be played in Windows Media Player. High quality, simple, and efficient.
• AVI codec - the output video file specification. Both work well, advantages and disadvantages of each are detailed at http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/video4_2.htm (along with numerous other codecs!). The AVI codec provides compression of the output video file. A 3 minute clip at 640x480 will range between 25 and 100MB. Uncompressed, the same clip is about 3,000 MB.
  • XviD Fast, Open Source, Customizable, and Gorgeous
  • DivX the codec is free, but the download included trialware and your final clip will have a DivX watermark in the lower right corner.
• Resizing of the video file is possible either through the codec (XviD seems to handle this better) or through a filter in VirtualDub. The Smart Resize Filter works a little easier than the built in Resize (both must be "added" under the Video -- Filter menu, and then options set to get the correct output size). My DVD Recorder creates NTSC 4:3 DVD's directly from cable TV signals as 320x240 output. Resizing these to 640x480 creates a better presentation size.
  • Depending on your purpose and the type of video - a wide range of filters for VirtualDub are available at http://neuron2.net/index.html

Resources

• updated June 2008 - Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 detailed review of the updates to Microsoft Media Encoder
• A&E's Technical Guides to All Things Audio and Video mk 2 - a well written and comprehensive guide to video and audio. MUCH more detailed than my simple summary above! Note that if VERY high quality audio is important to you, pay attention to this guide!
• Video Help - How to convert DV to DivX or XviD using Virtualdub - rather short and sweet, but illustrated.
• Movie Maker - Importing Video from Discs - well written descriptions that show the evolution of these video tools over the past few years. Includes information about importing the output clip into Microsoft's Movie Maker for additional editing.
• VirtualDub - the home site for the open source project. Includes a forum.

Next Steps - Flash Video for smaller size files

Conversion to Flash Video Aug 2008

Capture Flash video to file

Flash Video capture _10-02-2008

Summary of Video Editing

Dec 2008 Summary at Dr. Del's Blog.

Video tools

$14 Steadycam - innovation in keeping a camera steady.

YB2Normal DIY Steadicam - another camera steady innovation made of pvc pipe and a roller skate bearing. The resulting gimble allows the camera to float without jerky movement.