If,
like many others in
the entertainment field -
you're wondering what
impact the Internet is going to have on television
down the line, you may have thought of putting some of
your programs on the Web, just to test the
waters… and hedge your bets, just in case the
computer monitor happens to triumph over the TV set,
becoming the entertainment medium of the
future.
What exactly is involved in
turning your TV-friendly fare into ones and zeros, and
how do you get people on the Web to watch it? One
person who is uniquely qualified to address these
questions is Tommy Emerik, v-president of
lookradio.com, the company at the forefront of
computer broadcasting. Lookradio.com won't be alone on
that front for long, with companies like CBS, Dream
Works, Pop.com, InterVU, Disney, NBC and ABC entering
or looking to enter the promising young field of
Computer Broadcasting. The lookradio.com web site
offers more than 2,000 hours of on-demand, 24 hour
video and audio programs. Before the turn of the
century, lookradio.com plans to provide more than
20,000 hours of Computer Broadcasting: a necessity to
prove-up the reasons as to why the computer
broadcasting industry now exists as part of the radio
television scheme of things.
Computer Broadcasting is the
next trend in both the Internet and television
industries. Since Quick Time 4 was introduced to the
consumer in September 1999, (Quick Time is the program
that allows video to be streamed through copper wires)
-- the quality of Computer Broadcasting has improved
so much, some Mac lovers considered Quick Time the
rebirth of Macintosh. The quality of a low-bandwidth
Webcast (transmitted via 28.8 kilobytes per second
(kbps) modem) is still poor compared with that of a
home that uses a DSL line modem, the experience of
seeing a video program on the computer screen is
exciting, almost addicting.
At the end of 1994, NBC and
TV Finland quietly began to broadcast a live video
signal over the Internet, using Xing Technology. The
image quality was very poor, but the concept was
there: "moving images" delivered to the Internet in
real time.
After a few years and
numerous efforts by software houses and tech
companies, the Computer Broadcasting atmosphere is
still cloudy. And it is difficult to compare Computer
Broadcasting with television. The viewing distance and
the screen size are different in the two mediums. The
average Computer Broadcasting window is
10 to 20 times smaller than
the average TV set. In addition, even with a large
amount of bandwidth, the picture frame rate of a
Webcast can't match the standard frame rate of a
television broadcast (29 frames per second). Another
difference lies in the mediums' ability to handle
image effects: tilting, panning and zooming are all
no-nos for Internet video production.
Before being Computer
Broadcasting, a video signal must be converted from
analog to digital. Then it must be compressed
(encoded) sufficiently so that it can be viewed in
real time. Modem baud rate and the power of the user's
computer also play important roles in terms of the
quality of the final product.
It is important that people
begin to produce and shoot specifically for the Net.
People assume that, since the final outcome is jerky,
the video itself doesn't have to be top of the line;
but they should remember that the better the input,
the better the outcome.
Two years ago, there were
several Computer Broadcasting players on the market
(Stream Works, VDO, Vextreme, Vivo, RealMedia and
Microsoft). Today, it would be fair to say that only
two of those players remain in the picture:
RealNetworks and Microsoft. Both companies are
directing their efforts and energies to improving
video and audio compression and the use of encoding
tools.
However, Quicktime, Media
Cleaner, QDisign, Heuris, Sorenson and ASTARTE's
DVDirectors which in July 1999, showcased their
software streaming media delivery system through TVI's
lookradio.com firewire test site, seems to be winning
the battle.
Qdesigns M3 audio technology
features better-quality audio and new capabilities
that improve video quality through the use of its
plug-in partners Quicktime, Media Cleaner, QDisign,
Heuris, Sorenson and ASTARTE's DVDirectors. The
Terrans Media Cleaner also offers the new kids on the
block, an easy way to compress jpeg programming to
Quicktime, which also allows one to stream audio and
video with synchronized multimedia and animation to be
broadcast through the web.
A prediction: In the future,
all of today's broadcasters will be streaming video
online, over the Internet. This rebroadcasting will
ensure that programs are never lost or
forgotten.
. . . Computer
Broadcasting
Let's say a TV station wants
to simulcast its 6 P.M. news on the Web, or your
company wants to Webcast its seminars, or German TV
wants to broadcast the U.N. TV Forum "live" on the
Internet. Streaming media can make all of that
possible, and more. However, right now it is important
to take some steps to boost the image quality of the
final Computercast. The following guidelines should
help get the job done:
1) Camera movement. Always
use a tripod, so that the camera stays steady.
Otherwise, the resulting movements will require too
many frames (and too much bandwidth) to reproduce. Try
to focus the camera manually. Autofocus features
sometimes take a few frames to adjust and can
significantly affect the look of the final
Computercast. In addition, allow some space around the
edges of the image, as you will need to crop a few
pixels from the frame in order to get the standard 160
pixel by 120 pixel image size.
2. Image layout. The image
should include as little information as possible. A
flat background a limited palette of colors would be
the best choice. The ideal shot for a quality Webcast
is a close-up. If the frame must be changed, a clean
cut is the best option.
3. Lights. Try to minimize
shadows. A uniform lighting design, a little brighter
than the normal TV standard will produce the best
results.
4. Audio. For the optimal
audio outcome, it is a good idea to use an external
microphone instead of relying on the microphone
incorporated into the camera. During compression,
audio and video signals can lose up to 40 percent of
their initial quality.
5. Connection. A
professional-quality live Computer broadcast requires
a T1 line and a DSL line: one for sending out the
stream and a second for monitoring the quality of the
Computer Broadcast, making changes to the site and
fixing anything that goes wrong. The line used for
streaming generally includes content encoded
(compressed with a Quicktime Plug-in, RealMedia or
Microsoft Windows Media) into a 28.8 kbps audio-only
stream, a 28.8 kbps audio and video stream. These
standards cover most of the Internet users interested
in receiving live content.
6. Encoding. The new
Macintosh G4 Firewire (IEEE 1394, no SCSI slots)
computer is recommended for compressing jpeg audio and
video for live broadcast. For encoding audio only, a
computer of at least 100 megahertz will get the job
done.
7. Outcome. You must have a
dedicated server with enough bandwidth to carry the
desired number of simultaneous streams. Once the
Computer broadcast is over, the content can be posted
on a Web site, like TVI's "lookradio" then viewed on
demand.
Except for regular ISP fees,
computer users don't have to pay anything to watch
lookradio.com programming. Once again, quality is the
key: to appreciate lookradio in all its glory, viewers
need a least a 56 kbps connection.
For Computer
Broadcasting
Astarte the company that
created the Toast CD-ROM pre-mastering software, has
entered the DVD pre-mastering marketplace with
DVDirectors rating at $5,400, the package takes the
price of VID pre-mastering software to its lowest
level yet while providing all of the features required
to make a title that meets the DVD
specification.
DVD specifications are in
place to assure purchasers that DVD plays and titles
will be compatible. Because the DVD spec was designed
with set-top players in mind, any DVD's title menus
have to be controllable by the set-top's remote
control. This makes pre-mastering a straight forward
process: The title creator need only link menu buttons
to specific actions &endash;for example, playing a
particular video stream with a particular audio stream
and calling up subtitles.
The creative development of a
DVD title starts with the production of the video
streams, the mix down of the audio and the design of
the menus. After that point, the pre-mastering
application becomes little more than a file-structure
layout for the DVD title. DVDirector displays the DVD
project in a hierarchical view that looks like the
desktop view of the contents of a Macintosh hard drive
with folders, subfolders and files. So if you can
navigate through your Macs hard drive, you'll be able
to navigate through DVDirector .
DVDirector approaches the
pre-mastering process using simple palettes and
dialogue boxes for the assembly of assets and the
linking of buttons and other actions, with much of the
work done via pop-up menus and text commands. The
simplicity of the interface allows the user to work in
one or two windows with additional palettes available
as needed.
The streamlined desktop and
dialogue boxes make pre-mastering easy and fast. The
work flow is equally well thought out. For example
when beginning a new DVD title, the developer must set
certain parameters, such as the name of the disc, the
region codes, the video standard and the startup
action. These settings are made via pop-up menus and
can be changed at any time during the title-creation
process.
When video streams are used
in the project, Macrovision copy protection can be
applied via a pop-up menu. At every turn, ASTARTE has
thought ahead and provided an efficient way fort the
user to make choices. Producing an application that is
feature-rich as well as elegant, uncomplicated and
easy to use is extremely difficult, but ASTARTE has
done it and did it well.
Windows For
Checking Your Project
DVDirector uses three windows
- Project, Property, Inspector and Menu Editor
&endash; in the default text mode; a fourth, Graphical
View, can be added by selecting that option. Project
is the window where all the assets of the project are
kept. Property Inspector is where information about
each asset and its settings is displayed and edited;
and Menu Editor is where hot buttons are drawn on the
menu. The optional Graphical View window presents a
view of the disc and its assets as icons, showing the
links between each asset, menu button and
track.
Additional palettes, called
Matrix windows, can be opened from the menu bar. They
show links between buttons and tracks on a matrix. A
black dot at the intersection of two elements in the
Matrix indicates a link. That link, in turn, can be
removed or changed in the Matrix window. Assets, menus
and jumps can all be viewed in Matrix
windows.
The Project window has four
subheadings containers: Languages, Menus, Tracks and
Assets Importing or dragging assets in the Asset
container begins the process of creating a title. (In
fact, all the user needs to do is drag the asset over
the Project window and drop it. DVDirector will
automatically place it in the right container.) Assets
can be Adobe Photoshop files; MPEG-encoded video
streams (MPV; PEG-encoded audio streams (MPA); Dolby
AC-3 audio files; or Subtitle files.
Once the assets have been
moved into the Assets container, they can be dragged
into the other containers, where they can be organized
and linked to menu buttons.
Can Anyone
Author a DVD?
No, but I tried -- and we did it.
To put the DVDirector package
through its paces, Victor got us up and running on a
400 MHz G3 Power Mac. Victor chose one of my existing
projects, "Disappointment Diaries" - which had been
edited on a Media 100 editing system. We then opened
the original video program stored as JPEG files and
built QuickTime movies from each of the video segments
directly from the original tracks. We then decoded the
QuickTime movies and compressed them as MPEG-2 video
and audio streams using both DVDirector and Heuris
Media. Encoding the JPEG files to Quicktime files were
fast, compared to compressing the Quicktime files to
separate MPEG-2 video and audio files.
When finally MPEGing all
three of the one minute segments of the the program,
we dragged the assets (the MPEG-2 files) directly from
a folder on the system hard drive to the Project
window, where they were automatically placed in the
Assets container. Every time a video stream is dragged
into the Tracks container, a new video track is
created with containers for the audio stream subtitles
and markers. Dragging an audio track to the Video
track in the Audio Track container. The same procedure
is used to place subtitles in the track.
Authoring is another
industry! After one week of learning the important
steps and tools needed to author a simple 3 minute
segment of a tv program -- we discovered a new
industry, with its own language with a new set of
tools.
A word from
ASTARTE
ð An MPEG-2
Bundle of Joy
MediaPress lets users encode
audio and video separately and save them as elementary
streams. Users can also encode the streams directly as
multiplexed MPEG files for movies that will not be
used in DVD titles. An optional transcoder feature is
available that lets the MediaPress card turn QuickTime
movies into MPEG movies from the hard drive.
The MediaPress Encode lists
for $4,999; the Optional MediaPress Transcoder costs
$999; the optional MediaPress Component Y/U/V
Interface is $1,499; and the optional Mason decoder,
which provides on-screen previewing, costs
$749.
MediaPress encodes video in
realtime into MPEG-a or MPEG-streams, CBR (Constant
Bit Rate) or VBR (Variable Bit Rate), from 128 kb/s up
to 15 Mb/s, scalable up to full-D1 resolution NTSC or
PAL.
No matter how demanding your
project is, DVDirector Pro can handle it, with
advanced features like realtime online MPEG encoding,
hardware accelerated transcoding and Dolby AC-3 audio
processing, in addition to all the features of
DVDirector.
If you're on a time schedule
-- make sure you have Quicktime 4, Media Cleaner,
QDisign, Heuris, Sorenson and ASTARTE's DVDirector all
on hand -- in case you run into trouble.
com/victorcaballero02DVDs
