Give
Your Family a Video Legacy on DVD
Pat
Matola describes how to put your family legacy onto DVD.
You’ve
got old pictures, 8mm film, VHS movies, 8mm movies, miniDV
movies and more. Some of these are precious older memories.
Some are more recent memories that will become precious
with time. How can you leave a video legacy for your kids,
grandkids, great-grandkids and family? Here’s how:
What
You Will Need
First, you will need to be reasonably competent with a personal
computer. If you are already scanning pictures with reasonable
ease, then you probably have the skills necessary to make
DVDs.
Second, you’ll need to have some time. Capturing,
editing and producing video takes time. Once you become
skilled, you can figure two to four hours of your time for
every hour of video you have, depending on how much editing
you decide to do.
Third, you need to have the proper equipment. I recommend
you purchase a new PC if you do not have a 1.5GHz or faster
processor. A new system with a DVD burner will typically
cost between $900 and $1,400 US. I will discuss required
PC capabilities in more detail later.
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| The
edit screen in Pinnacle Studio 9. At first glance it
looks as complex as the cockpit of a jet aircraft but
the program is largely intuitive and easily learned. |
What
You Want to Achieve
First, you want to preserve your videos by capturing them
on your computer in a digital format. Digital video won’t
age over time and can even be enhanced by programs on your
computer.
Second, you want to dramatically improve your videos by
editing them. Editing involves cutting unwanted video, rearranging
the order of video and adding transitions, titles, music
and special effects. The result is the equivalent of watching
the movie Star Wars instead of 20 hours of raw, unedited
Star Wars video.
Third, you will want to distribute your video to your friends
and family in a number of different ways. Of course, you
want to put your videos on DVDs that can be played on any
DVD player complete with menus and submenus. But you can
also put your movies and pictures on an external hard disk
that you can give to someone. They can attach this to their
PC, view all the movies on their PC and even make their
own DVDs and new movies. You can also create versions of
your movies that can be played over the Internet (although
these will be at lower quality levels than a DVD).
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For
The Technically Minded
Video
Formats
The video editing software you will use actually works
with each frame as a still image. Digital capture
will store your video in DV format. Analog video capture
using the Pinnacle capture card will store your video
in Motion JPEG format (MJPEG). This technical note
will primarily discuss MJPEG format.
JPEG format is designed to compress the size of a
digital image efficiently while still being able to
quickly render the original image with minimal loss
of quality. Motion JPEG is a special version of JPEG
designed for video that links each of the digital
images together into video. There are approximately
30 digital images or frames per second to make high
quality video.
You can select the quality level of each frame when
you capture the video (the higher the quality, the
larger the size of the Captured Video file). Higher
quality captures save more pixels (points) in each
frame to create a clearer picture. You will always
capture with “Best” quality.
You can contrast MJPEG video with MPEG2. MPEG2 is
a format that does not keep track of each frame as
a still image. Rather it creates each frame by only
keeping track of what has changed from the last frame.
Since there are relatively few changes from frame
to frame, this format is much more space efficient.
MPEG2 can achieve very high quality as well, coming
very close to the quality of MJPEG while being about
one-fifth the size in terms of file space required.
However, it is much more difficult for software to
figure out how to edit MPEG2. MPEG2 is called a “non-linear”
format meaning that the amount of data to record each
frame varies (whereas it is the same amount of data
to record each frame with MJPEG). Until recently,
only expensive professional video editing software
programs have been able to do non-linear editing by
using special hardware to assist the software. However,
Pinnacle Studio allows you to directly edit MPEG2
files. This editing is not hardware assisted, so unless
you have a PC that is 2.0 GHz or faster, you are likely
to experience some sluggishness in editing performance
with MPEG2 files.
The big plus with non-linear editing is you can see
the effects of the edit right away without a separate
rendering step. In other words, you can play the edited
movie back right away at full, production quality.
This saves time and enables video editors to experiment
a lot more to get the final effect they are looking
for. However, I have good news.
The video editing software also enables you to see
your changes in the video window right away without
a rendering step. This immediate video playback is
a lower quality version. The final high quality MPEG2
version requires a separate rendering step. Nonetheless,
it works well in that you still get a chance to review
the effect of your changes immediately.
CODECs
Video is so large, that it must be compressed to a
smaller file size. To compress video and then play
it back in a specific format requires a codec that
supports that format. A codec is COmpression- DECompression
software (or hardware) that compresses the audio and
video using techniques to save space and create a
specific format.
For example, the video capture card has a codec that
compresses the incoming video into Motion JPEG. It
also decompresses and plays back that video. The video
editing software comes with a set of codecs to create
a variety of video formats that you may need.
As another example, the MPEG2 codec that comes with
the video editing software creates MPEG2 files that
can be decompressed by other MPEG2 codecs such as
those that are in your DVD player. MPEG2 codecs do
not use the same techniques to decide how to compress
the video and create the MPEG2 file. Different MPEG2
codecs can produce MPEG2 files that vary in size and
playback quality. However, all MPEG2 codecs can decompress
or playback an MPEG2 file even if it was compressed
by a different MPEG2 codec.
If you visit various message boards online, you can
find discussions about which codecs are best. I experimented
with some of these and found the MPEG2 codec provided
with the Studio video editing software to be high
quality. Using other MPEG2 codecs can be time consuming
and require multiple rendering steps. Feel free to
look at the online discussion groups, but in the end,
I believe you should stick with the Studio MPEG2.
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Key
Principles
Buy only when you need — you do not want to buy a
lot of things in advance. This will insure you get the best
price. In addition, it will mean you have learned as much
as possible before making a purchase decision.
Not a Game of Perfect — you want to focus on getting
your videos in digital form with some fun, simple editing.
You are not trying to create the perfect movie. So don’t
agonize over details such as which background music to use
and whether this transition is better than that transition.
Also, keep in mind that the quality of your movies will
not be better than the original video (although some minor
improvement is possible).
Leverage Key technologies — you will be using technologies
such as DV, DVD, MPEG2 and JPEG that are popular standards
and will have a long commercial life. This means that software
and products will be available in wide variety to use with
these technologies. In addition, even when new technologies
do appear, they will continue to support these technologies.
Backup Your Project — this is an important project
and you will be putting in a lot of time, so you will have
to backup your work. This is particularly important because
video takes up a lot of disk space. But don’t even
think about taking on this project without a commitment
to making regular backups.
The
10-Step Approach
Following is a summary of the 10-step approach I recommend:
Step
1: Planning
The primary decision you will need to make in step 1 is
whether to upgrade or buy a new PC. If you have purchased
your PC in the last two years, it is probably up to the
challenge. If not, look at the table on the next page to
consider whether you need to upgrade your system or buy
a new one.
If you have an underpowered PC, video editing can be sluggish.
In addition, rendering times can be much longer (rendering
is the process to create a final movie in the proper format
once all the editing has been completed).
Step
2: Buy Video Editing Capability
The next step is to buy and setup your video capture and
editing.
Key items here include:
Buying your video editing software and video capture card
— I recommend Pinnacle Studio video editing software.
This is a high quality product and can be purchased as software
only or software with video capture card. See more information
at www.pinnaclesys.com.
Buying a second hard disk — you will call this your
VideoDisk. This disk will be fast to enable high quality
video capture and it will add the extra storage capacity
needed for working with video. You will then set up your
system and organize your file system and directories. With
all the video editing activities you will be doing, you
will create a lot of files. These files will need to be
well organized so you can find them, archive them, back
them up and restore them when you need to.
Step
3: Capture Your Video
Once you have your video editing system set up, you are
ready to begin capturing video. Capturing video means getting
it onto your PC’s hard disk in digital form. By digital,
we mean that the video is now stored as data (1s and 0s).
Your VHS videotapes or 8mm camcorder tapes stored your video
as a signal on the tape (referred to as an analog videotape).
As the tape ages, this signal is distorted or lost. Digital
technology can store the video data so that it will not
distort with age. The result is that the quality of your
videos is 100 percent preserved, year after year. If you
have video on film, have a video service convert it to mini-DV
or VHS tape).
Digital video capture from a digital camcorder or other
digital input is performed by an IEEE 1394 (firewire) connection
on your PC. If your PC does not have a firewire connection,
you can buy a firewire card for under $30 US.
Analog video capture is performed by an analog video capture
card that takes the video being played from your videocassette
player or camcorder, converts it to a digital format, and
saves it to your PC’s hard disk. This capture is done
in real time, meaning that the card, along with your PC,
has to “keep up” with the video being played
into it by converting the video and storing it to disk.
Video consists of about 30 frames being captured per second.
If your video capture card, PC or hard disk cannot keep
up, you will skip (lose) frames. Too many lost frames and
your video will be jerky at the point of the lost frames.
With the proper setup, you should not have a problem with
lost frames.
To capture video you hook up your camcorder or videocassette
player to the video capture card and begin playing your
tape. On the PC, your video editing software will control
the capture process and will show you the video being played
into the video capture card in a window on your PC. Using
this software, you simply set the quality level for capture
(always use “Best” quality), specify the name
of the file you want the video saved to, and press “Start
Capture”. Until you press “Stop Capture”,
all the video you are playing will be digitized and stored
in the file you specified. You will repeat this process
until you have captured all the video you want for the movie
you are going to make.
Step
4: Edit the Video
Using your video editing software, you are now going to
convert your raw Captured Video into high quality movies.
You will choose which Captured Videos you want to use, cut
out parts you don’t want, add titles, add transitions
between scenes, add background music and add special effects.
You can even record your own voice onto the movie (called
a voiceover). One other important editing step you might
do is to capture stills from your movie. A still is simply
a single frame or photo that you want to keep. These stills
can be included in the movie or simply saved for use as
a digital photo later.
Step
5: Make Your Movies (Rendering)
When you have finished editing your movie, you are not quite
done. At this stage your movie is just a collection of files
(your Movie Project File, your Captured Video, stills you
are using, music files, etc.). You have not brought all
of this information together into a single file suitable
for putting on a DVD or playing back on your PC. Rendering
does just that. It creates this file from the files that
describe your movie.
You are going to render your movies in high quality MPEG2
format. MPEG2 is the standard for high quality video in
a compact form that is the basis for creating DVDs. It is
also a format that you can keep on your PC and playback
with tools like Microsoft’s Windows Media Player.
Later on you can also make your movie in formats applicable
for Video CD (MPEG1) or to be shared via email or on the
web (Windows Media Format or Real Video format). The cost
of creating DVDs has become so low, there is really no reason
to create Video CDs (VCD) or Super Video CDs (SVCD). These
formats can be created on a CD burner but are lower quality
and will not play in many DVD players.
To make your movie, you will simply go to the “Make
Movie” function in your video editing software. From
here you choose the format (MPEG2) and the name of the file
you want to save the final movie to. You then click “Make
Movie” and the movie is rendered to the file you named.
Rendering can take some time and your PC’s processor
speed really matters here. To render a 10-minute movie takes
about an hour with a 1 GHz PC, about 40 minutes with a 2
GHz PC and about 25 minutes with a 3 GHz PC. By being organized
you can start a large rendering job just before going to
bed or before heading off to run an errand. When rendering
is done, you will have an MPEG2 movie that can put on a
DVD.
Step
6: Buy DVD Capability
Before you buy, you will need to research the DVD burner,
the DVD media and the DVD players you plan to use to be
sure they are compatible. There are two basic formats for
creating DVD for home use (the DVDs you get from the movie
rental store are a special two-layer format that you can’t
burn with most home DVD burners). These two formats are
DVD+R and DVD-R (and their sisters read/write formats DVD+RW
and DVD-RW). Either of these formats are fine, you just
want to be sure the one you select matches your burner,
DVD media and capabilities of you DVD player. A useful website
for this research is www.videohelp.com/.
Once you do your research, you need to buy or be sure you
have the following software:
DVD Creation Software — this software lets you create
a set of DVD menus that link to your MPEG movies. Almost
all DVD burners now come with software that enables you
to create menus and burn DVDs. If you do not have this software,
I recommend Uleads DVD MovieFactory software. This simple,
reliable program makes it easy to create your menus and
reliably burn your DVDs. Note that the Pinnacle Studio software
can also create DVDs, but I have found this capability to
be difficult to use and not as reliable as other programs.
DVD Burner — DVD burners support different formats
including DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM. DVD
Media — you will need to buy DVD-R or DVD+R media.
DVD Player Software — this software is typically comes
with your DVD burner or with a PC that has a DVD-ROM drive
so that you can view DVD movies on your PC.
Step
7: Design Your DVD
So now you have a bunch of MPEG movies that you need to
put on a DVD. The DVD creation software will take your movies
and create a system of menus so you can choose which movie
you want to play using your DVD player remote control. You
can choose from different menu styles, add titles, change
the background image and add background music to the menus.
Once you are done, the software lets you navigate through
your menus and play your movies to be sure it is just the
way you want before you burn your DVD.
Step
8: Burn Your DVD
The final step is to actually create your DVD or Video CD.
Your DVD creation software will do this for you. Burning
a DVD can easily take an hour or more (less for a Video
CD) at 1X speed. The time to burn a DVD will be less if
you are using a DVD burner and DVD media that supports 2X,
4X, or 8X write speeds.
Once you have burned your DVD, you can try it on your DVD
player or on your PC. Your DVD drive will allow it to be
played on your PC just as if you were using your DVD player
as long as you have DVD player software which comes with
most DVD drives. Video CDs will play on many DVD players.
Step
10: Distribute DVDs
Once you have created a DVD, you have several options for
distributing your videos to others. You can burn your own
DVD copies and create labels and send them to your friends
and relatives (be sure they have a compatible DVD player).
You can have a video service create copies for you. A service
can even create VHS tapes for you or other video formats.
You can re-render your movies in formats that can be viewed
over the Internet. Pinnacle has a video sharing service
that helps you do this. I provided my entire MPEG2 video
library and still picture library to my son and daughter
on an external hard drive they can just hook up to their
PC. Every so often, I get the hard drive from them and update
it with all the latest video and pictures I have created.
An alternative to DVDs for viewing at home are devices such
as Pinnacle ShowCenter. This device sits on your TV like
a DVD player, but reads movies, pictures and music from
your PC. You view the movies directly on your TV and you
can control the device with a remote control. The device
has to be networked to your PC by either a wireless or wired
connection. Wireless connections are typically not fast
enough to play high quality MPEG2 video in this manner.
Backup
and Archive
Once you have created a DVD, it is time for a systematic
backup and archiving step to free up disk space for your
next DVD. I also encourage various levels of backup during
the process of creating your DVD, but this point is where
you will be absolutely sure you have everything backed up.
You will also ensure your backup media is in a different
location from your PC in case of catastrophe.
Pat Motola is the author of The Home Video DVD Cookbook
which is available for $17.95 from www.dvdcook.com
or from Family Chronicle’s website at www.familychronicle.com
