Jan Oser
Contributing Editor to CD-ROM Professional
MPEG in latest issue.
This morning we have 3, 4 different MPEG encoding software
supercomputer - apply quality to regions
From $995 to $1 M dollars
Chris Deddy Zing - PC MPEG
Scalable MPEG in early 90's
Both software encoding and decoding.
Steve Unger
National Sales manager
Futuretel
Real time encoder boards
$10 - $20K
hardware - real time
Jeff Bowers
Chief Compressionist
Dean Tucker from SIGMA
Real Magic
wife had baby
reviewed for another magazine - important product
Before beginning. Look at MPEG, tech overview, fundamental basis
different characteristics contribute cost, quality
15 minutes
half hour for questions
Zing software decoder.
22 to 24 fps
hardware decode
All of this presentation will be on final CD ROM.
All speakers have packets. Leave a card.
MPEG 1
352x240 @ 30 fps Audio AND video
Cinepak - only video
CDROM quality stereo 44KHz
Cinepak might have telephone, AM or FM quality.
MPEG has sound as well.
VHS quality at 150 KB/s - not close - artifacts
MPEG quality can get good at 250KB/s
more compression, more artifacts
lot better than Indeo or Cinepak at this point.
Playback for 30fps - hardware is required
basic MAC or IBM up to 90Mhz you need hardware
22 to 24 fps with 16-bit, 22kHz mono audio from CD
typical
losing some quality - base on speaker quality.
When talking software decode - decompression AND audio
Pentium 120s will change this
As processors get faster, software MPEG will approach hardware MPEG
3 companies
Zing
Comp Core
Media Magic
sell into new market - not to CD ROM publishers
IF you want MPEG playback - you can't guarantee this.
What MPEG Isn’t
MPEG 1 Isn’t MPEG 2
last night they were "in laws", not sibling
not much alike
MPEG decoder might work for both.
In Monday's debate Indeo /MPEG 2 - in home, will not effect computer platform.
broadcast
cable
MPEG 1 is CD Karoke on PC
MPEG 2 is broadcast TV
Reason:
3 general encoding options
1 - software only - buy capture card. Zing bundled with card. Capture using card, compress
Software only or cost $995 retail.
Hardware real time compression Optibase, Futuretel delivers real time capture to final format $10 - 20
IBM Power Visualization System - around $1 M - $600,000 on sale.
Not real time - it is take as much time as you want.
When comparing, look at compression time in production.
Look at bundled products and features. - what comes with board you buy - video editing, video for both AVI and MPEG?
CD-I, MPEG - make sure input matches output
If you want digital video editing, can your system handle that. Consider this for $20K board.
Other features
analog input with AVI is very very important
take in higher level input will translate to higher quality output
component
or composite
correlation between input and video quality produced by board.
Filtering in high level boards - remove noise form video file. Reduction of 30-40% More efficient compression on MPEG side - fewer artifacts.
Operational features.
Batch capture/compression
Capture and concatenate files
Cut and paste editing
MPEG largely non editable.
Clip 1 + Clip 2 not capable to make Clip 3.
Zing CD - use any Video for Window
Real Magic Producer $5K Adobe Premier - little company - edit digitally - lower priced board may be better.
If you have analog studio - you will be sending out tape.
Nice to have the ability to drop the time codes in. Look through video. Have MPEG card capture and compress those. Can you capture and concatenate. If NOT, you have 12 clips, not one movie.
Compressing controls
characteristics of compression
How MPEG compresses
inter and intra frame compression
basic unit is GOP
3 kinds of frames
Intra - sole JPEG
predictive - Intra frame - removes redundancy -
I B B P
I = Intra
P Predictive
B Bi-directional Interpolated - back/forward to closest P and I
All of encoders offer I B and P sequencing. All do that for whole movie - high motion, low motion,
Talking head
then
two people talking - transition on a P frame - P is small
You'd like to have transition be on an I frame. Anyone who uses MPEG can tell when I frames are properly placed. Very helpful to quality of the video - helps you manage a lot of different things.
Systems ability to combine real time and off line compression. Good
Single FRAME optimization. Can system say - put lots of data on a face, ignore background.
When you start doing that you get the title Compressionist.
== Zing CD.
As Jan said I’m going to talk about 2 pass compression, software only encoding using some AVI, Motion JPEG capture board. 2nd pass conversion of AVI to MPEG.
Other product is software only MPEG player product.
Chris Eddy
Xing Technology
3 options
Service Bureau - they compress offline - you have turn around time, fees
Real Time Board - NBC project - financial news channels - out over ATM network - broadcasting digitally - stock brokers get T1 - compressed digital video viewing live on the fly, retransmitting over LAN - studio - out on wire instantly. Uses Optivision board. Service bureau, 2 pass won’t work.
Xing, 2 pass, mix in audio, when finally ready to publish, run overnight.
1st pass AVI capture - using Intel Smart video - single frame, step framing, motion JPEG capture board. Motion JPEG capture to Adobe Premiere, Video Studio AVI editor usually bundled with AVI card.
Xing CD - feature reduce version comes with FAST, Video Logic, Morrow.
In some cases, capture board under 1000, include encoder. Xing encoder alone is $995. Some products - everything under $1000 - board, editor, compressor.
Edit AVI file
Add titles, voice overs,
Clip + title slides from Photoshop, stills from photo CD, not always the audio on the video used. Kind of a compositing thing. Done in Premier - keep making it AVI.
Xing allows script - 800 frames of AVI, then BMP or TARGA 30 frames, then ...
a little flexibility there.
Final pass, once ready to go , load Xing CD - convert AVI to MPEG. Script file is more complex, you have to specify which things in which file, but a good portion of time AVI file, just punch button. Takes a long time to run. Typically on fast 486 or standard Pentium, 50/60 to 1.
50 minutes of video - you run it over night. You can run Xing in the background. Also, queue up jobs. If it has problem will stop that job, keep going.
All on your desk. You can see the product, you have flex. Editing is very important. If you I P B frames, ready and you want to edit that - very difficult Can't use Adobe Premier today. The relations are all interdependent. Getting in to recompress is not so big.
Video buffer verifier - how close to a constant bit rate, and you mess around, change size form 4000 bytes to 8000 bytes, may break stream so that it no longer complies.
If you are in Motion JPEG, AVI , much easier to edit.
CHEAP. You get what you pay there. Get absolute cheapest capture card - GIGO
But bad source material in , get bad results out. Not fast.
Even with a lot of video - typically 15, 20 30 minutes of video done over weeks /months.
other environments huge amounts of video for MPEG compression needs farm of machines.
2 pass - first set of artifacts, editing artifacts, compression artifacts, these can compound and work together.
Most use Motion JPEG - similar to MPEG - especially as Intraframe
with high enough data rate than if you started with vector quantized
Indeo or Cinepak - less good
Couple of examples:
MPEG today: Need highest quality - game at Egghead 100 000s copies Quality less than cost
$100 000 to product and promote. Real time not required - about 1 year
Service bureau makes a lot of sense there. to get highest quality.
Video library. Stacks of video tapes to be made digital - access, quick review of court deposition 1000 hours of video - quality is less important than content. Real time board is going to be easily cost justified.
In-house title - training video - corporate information
you probably got material form different sources
composite together into MPEG
High quality - make dept look good
you will spend time on project
Xing makes sense here.
Not to say commercial titles aren't using Xing but the real high end, high dollar scripts with real actors, using service bureaus.
What those guys use Xing for is a supplement. Even if final is service. If you forget leader. Rough draft. Programmers, authoring people may need this. Same MPEG - just once you really publish it use bureau.
legacy video - lost video tape - Indeo convert to MPEG. Xing does that for you.
Some sole Xing
Some supplementary
Different types of jobs, requirements.
=
Real Magic Producer board
$5K Sigma Designs
Overall comprehensive approach
includes Premier
varies from Xing - hardware coprocessor - 3 to 1 compression. More applicable in production. 3 minutes rather than 1 hour.
Editable MPEG - All I frames, edit all like AVI. Primary benefit - with 3 to 1 you get to the speed for production WHILE getting editing ability with stills, voice overs. That's production.
look fro review in PC Magazine in a month or so.
=
Steve
Is everybody awake.
Intent group.
Who is using MPEG for production or playback?
Optibase
1990
hardware mfg with very nice software tools
CD-I
hospitality
ad insertion
interactive computer based training
even kiosks
Or electronic news gathering.
1992 MPEG Lab Plus
1993 PCMotion
In overview - people on different technology
More real time desk to encoders than any other. Easy to use, easy to integrate to create MPEG streams. High quality.
Very service based. Involved with most hardware. ISA based boards.
5-6 yr old A A D C T based on JPEG real time software based 8 bit looking like 24 bit
MPEG capture board like capture board. Low quality.
MPEG ad insertion cable - play on TV
Focus has been on analog video playing back on TB screens.
We are very critical on actual playback image and how it looks.
1994 MPEG Lab Pro
composite
audio in
SV in
150 KB to 500 KB - to rates - 1.5 Mbits - 187 kB per second
single frame video
MPEG lab pro - so many in production - beta cam source
Not just composite. Throw into encode. 180 to 200 to 1. More opportunity to tweak
1995 MPEG Lab Suite - truly be customer design.
Better audio.
Force I frame
Gives you component input
Viewable in 18 strong PSI professional video -- go in try it - go in with your tape.
The Suite
Real time 1 to 1 encoder
Component RGB beta cam deck out
Onboard prefiltering standard - before MPEG standard, add 18 000 BTS box to filter out noise.
onsite. Phillips chip analog to digital conversion controllable by you. Preprocess by you. VHS tapes even look good.
Soft VTR start stop - batch encode all clips in and out. Tell where to make I frames at hard edits or DVs
Optibase is getting close to the high end where the power visualization at 150 160 rate they can get in there and customize. Create and control MPEG encoding at an affordable price.
D3 D5 input options.
Hybrid encoder, now that you have compressed - run it through a filter. MPEG through filter. Where in the steam is there artifact. Start, stop add I frame.
Price
Performance and
Quality.
Industry Workhorse MPEG LAB Pro - will probably be seen
Gemini project - listen to Jan
MPEG 2 decoder project
ad insertion and hospitality
MPEG 2 is for 10 or 12 signals
15 MBS normally runs 5, 8, 15 MBS not functional for the desktop.
Can't do this on desk top.
On board filtering
Many awards - New Media Awesome
Digital Video - award for suite
pull down the full service BBS, web site
www.optibase.com
Video CD 150
full screen
352 by 240
Care a little more about each other
Each of us has a lot to give you.
===
Bob Doyle New Media in March - CDR recorder went down
could not send
CD ROM Professional - Sept issue
===
Jeff Bowers
Chief Compressionist
Jess Bowers
MPEG Compression Studio
Senior Compressionist
We are a service bureau, take professional quality video cassettes deliver back MPEG on CDROM, FTP or tape. I supervise encoding.
I came from FL State Film School, with minor in Computer Science.
Ideal for CD ROM work.
9 compressionists
8 from film school
in Atlanta
MPEG is very destructive lossy compression.
video 30 fps
film 24 fps
inverse telecine (from video to film)
Under $100 per minute for encoding
$75 to $100 per minute
===
Concept of service bureau is going to be helpful.
What system are you using to encode. How does it fit into three primary systems we saw today.
MPEG can't figure out a basketball game
MPEG is like a child looking for attention.
Real turn in CBT - everybody wants video
due to training costs - distribution issues, VCRs, laser discs, CD is much better
a distribution issue.
VCR control within software - MPEG decoders on motherboards - true marriage of digital video - instant random access to MPEG files. Easier scripting.
Training series - send out VHS - many tapes copied
Add interactivity, add test. Not copied any more.
Try before buy.
Cost savings - cheaper to press CD ROM than to do tapes.
In volume CD - 75 cents per disc. hour and a quarter of video.
Single NTSC - 3 to 4 MPEG 2 channels.
this is where 500 channels comes from.
150 actual channels on a satellite.
would only have been 30 analog channels.
=
where do computer people get trained
SIGCAT has course in digital video
basic - depends on where you want to go
Real Magic
course would be OK
No course for Jess.
Go through dealers.
IBM also does consulting.