Frequently Asked Questions

Q.2 What will MPEG files deliver?

MPEG file playback screen sizes are fully scalable, from one-eighth of VGA screen to full screen XGA using interpolation. MPEG Picture quality is typically as follows:

• Sub-VHS quality at <1Mbps, MPEG-1, 352x240 or less pixels, 30 fps or less
• VHS quality at 1Mbps, MPEG-1, 352x240 pixels, 30fps, stereo audio, 74 minutes on one CD.
• S-VHS quality at 2-5Mbps, MPEG-1, 352x240 pixels, 30fps, less than 37 minutes on one CD.
• S-VHS quality at 4-5Mbps, MPEG-2, 704(or 720)x480 pixels, 30fps, less than 18 minutes on one CD.
• D-1 quality at >5Mbps, MPEG-2, 720 (or 704)x480 pixels, 30fps less than 15 minutes on one CD.
• Compression is at 200:1 at VHS quality, 100:1 at S-VHS quality, 50:1 at D-1 quality
• Guaranteed "lip-sync" audio, even in long movies
• During playback, the player (hardware or software) will interpolate the encoded "pixel format" to your required resolution, e.g. for TV, or for VGA, SVGA, XGA.
• Above resolutions are based on NTSC standard. PAL standard differs from NTSC by the vertical pixels, 576 instead of 480 for MPEG-2, 288 instead of 240 for MPEG-1. Refresh rate for PAL is 25fps, NTSC is 29.97.

Therefore, users can easily record, play and edit hour-long MPEG movies in a predictable, assured quality.
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The best way is to use an MPEG decoder card to playback MPEG files. This is an extra card to the video card, and can be used on a 486 or a Pentium computer. The played-back videos are guaranteed to be full screen, full motion with vivid colors. These decoders provide API/MCI/Active-X/Direct-x interface for OLE and overlay capability. Most of them have S-video or composite video output to TVs, VCRs.

The other choice is to use a video card that supports hardware MPEG Players. The resulting quality varies, from quarter screen videos to full screen full motion on a Pentium. If the PC processor fails to deliver the demanded playback speed, then, movies will be grainy and will start to drop frames.

Typically, MPEG-1 software decoders would require 266MHz CPU, and MPEG-2 would require 500Mhz CPUs.
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MPEG files are similar to zip files, compressed to as much as 200:1. To edit these files without decompressing is not easy. There are two types of editors:

1. Simple cut and paste editing, such as Vitec's DVD Toolbox (SRP US$399). It allows users to cut, combine, overlay titles, adjust colors, fade and cross fade MPEG files.
2. Detail editing that provides A/B roll, e.g. one scene merging to the other with effects, titling, cut and paste, etc. To create those effects onto MPEG, one has to re-render the edited files using an MPEG converter, regardless of your original files being MPEG or avi or other formats. Although re-rendering takes time, this method provides lots of flexibility. Ulead's Video Studio and Media Studio are the first few editors that will do the job and the resulting files can be VCD or DVD conformed. Please note that lots of famous avi editors cannot be used to edit MPEG movies, and even if they can, their resulting MPEG-1 files may not be VCD conformed, and MEPG-2 files not DVD conformed.

Most software decoders from the chart on MPEG-1 and 2 encoders above can convert avi, .bmp, .flc files to MPEG. However, software converter takes a long time, typically 10 minutes to convert 1 minute (10:1).

The alternative is to use "hardware" assisted conversion. The hardware is typically an MPEG encoder, such as Darim's MPEGator for MPEG 1, Zapex 200 or 300 series cards for MPEG-2. They can convert avi to MPEG or vob files at a fast speed, and higher quality. Zapex cards are especially good for animation. They have built-in filters to reduce the "jaggies" on slanted lines.
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Some video cards can capture avi files, and in real time, with software MPEG codec, compress these files to MPEG. Actually, they are for short, lower quality MPEG clips for amatures, with potentials of frame repeating. If you have a serious MPEG application, with quality expectation set to be as good as VHS tapes, you should look for a hardware MPEG encoder. Try to budget as much as you can on the encoder, this being the determining factor on your video quality.

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That depends on what type of video source you have, your application (e.g. for archiving, production, DVD/VCD creation, streaming), features requirement (e.g. avi transcode to MPEG, VCR control, filters, SDK, closed caption), and you budget. Encoder cards are pivotal to your "output" quality, therefore, you should budget as much as you can for the encoder card.

Other key considerations are:

• Video Source: The better the source, the better (and pricier) encoder you would need to retain its quality. Most encoders offer Composite and S-video input as basics, and higher price encoders have options for Component (YUV or RGB), or SDI (Serial Digital Interface. A few encoder cards handles DV input. If you have a Digital Video (DV) Camcorder with Firewire interface (IEEE1394), please see Question 11. MPEG 1 encoder cards offer up to S-video quality, MPEG 2 up to full D-1 quality. Please refer to our encoder card charts for details.
• Applications: Most encoders are good for archiving, MPEG-1 for higher compression and MPEG-2 for lower compression. However, MPEG-1 has a lower quality than MPEG-2. Encoders with avi to mpeg transcode are best for Production, as most people will edit their movies under avi. DVD and VCD users have to select MPEG 1 and 2 encoders that are DVD and VCD conformed. As for streaming applications, the selection is very limited for real time streaming. Please refer to the appropriate FAQ sections on your application of choice.
• Features: A few important features to look for are:
  • Some encoder cards come with video filters. These filters help to "reduce" video noise so to enhance the final MPEG quality. For example, a black dark background from old tapes typically will show up with lots of white specks, we call that "snowy". Higher quality encoders, like Optibase, have filters to clean that snowy background up prior to encoding. This will ensure encoders to spend 100% of their processing cycle to encode signal, not noise. However, if you are limited by budget, you can get a lower cost encoder, and get video filters from videos stores like Radio Shack to do the job.
  • AVI transcoder is a "hard to find" feature in encoders, but can be very useful if you plan to transcode from edited avi files to MPEG.
  • VCR controls from the computer is an important feature where you want to start and stop your tapes at exact locations, also, important for users who want to create multiple audio and subtitles with their DVDs.
  • Encoder with decoder built in can also be an advantage.
  • Other typical features are: SDK for development applications, multiple cards on one system for streaming applications, bundled MPEG editing software and DVD, VCD authoring software.

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Q.9 What equipment do I need for archive applications?

In archive applications, videos are usually encoded to MPEG to retain its quality. They are highly compressed to minimize storage space. These MPEG files can be stored in hard drives, diskettes, DVD, servers, etc. On retrieval, these MPEG files can be played immediately in real time without any special decompression.

Encoder features to look for in archive applications are:

• Video filters to enhance video quality, especially when the archived videos are old tapes that have lots of video noise.
  MPEG encoders usually cannot distinguish noise from signals. Old tapes tend to have lots of drop-outs (typically, small white specks showing up) and tend to have synchronization problems (video frames tend to "jump" up or down). MPEG is an algorithm that compares video frames and store the difference. These noise or loss of synchronization will fool the encoder, making it think that most frames on the tape are different from each other. If the frame difference is big, the compressor will have to do a tougher job, spending more CPU cycles. The encoder may even try to encode video noise on the frames. This will in turn, take away resources from encoding the "real" signal. Therefore, if the signal source is clean, encoding results from a low cost or high cost encoder are quite close. If the signal source is less than desirable, encoding results will vary a lot: high end encoders with filters and time base correctors will deliver much better results, low end encoders without filters will not perform as good.
• Video file length:
  If your video clips are very long and you have worked out that the encoded files are larger than 4GB (typically, >6 hours of VCD and >3 hours on DVD) then, look for special encoders that can handle large file sizes. (Windows are 32 bit based. In most cases, it can only handle 2**32 = 4GB file size.) Some encoders are specially designed for large file sizes.
• High quality with least storage space:
  Good encoders deliver higher quality MPEG files at less storage space (higher compression). For your bench marking, a good MPEG encoder (US$3000+) should be able to deliver MPEG quality and sizes as follows:
  • Sub-VHS quality at <1Mbps, MPEG-1, 352x240 or less pixels, 30 fps or less
  • VHS quality at 1Mbps, MPEG-1, 352x240 pixels, 30fps, stereo audio, 74 minutes on one CD, 650 MBytes.
  • S-VHS quality at 2-5Mbps, MPEG-1, 352x240 pixels, 30fps, less than 37 minutes on one CD, 650 MBytes.
  • S-VHS quality at 4-5Mbps, MPEG-2, 704(or 720)x480 pixels, 30fps, less than 18 minutes on one CD, 650 MBytes.
  • D-1 quality at >5Mbps, MPEG-2, 720 (or 704)x480 pixels, 30fps less than 15 minutes on one CD, 650 MBytes.
  • **Above screen size is for NTSC users. For PAL users, please replace 240 or 480 with 288 or 576 pixels.***
  • An average (US$1000) encoder should be able to deliver VHS qulaity at 2Mbps, S-VHS quality at 3, D-1 at 6Mbps.

On retrieval, archived files can be used for:

• TV viewing or VCR taping: In this case, a hardware playback card with composite or S-video output helps to retain the highest video quality.
• Streaming: NOT all MPEG encoders are for streaming. Before you archive your files to MPEG, please make sure your encoder is for streaming application.
• DVD, VCD creation: NOT all encoders are for DVD, VCD. Before you archive your files to MPEG, please make sure your encoder is for DVD, VCD application.

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Q.10 How can I create DVD, VCD, or MPEG from my editing station? What is the process of making movies (weddings, parties) in MPEG format?

A few years back, MPEG 1 is not a popular format for movie editing because of insufficient quality, and of difficulties in editing. Now, these two issues are closing up fast. MPEG 2 format has been proven to provide DVD, or higher than DVD (D-1) quality at compression ratio of 20:1 or even 50:1. Also, some non-linear editors can support full MPEG editing, with features as A/B roll (B scene merging into A scene with effects), titling, multiple audio and video channels merging together; sufficient for most business and home applications.

However, there are glitches: Output files of some MPEG 2 editors may NOT be DVD conformed, and some editing station do not provide sufficient choice of output formats. A few software editing companies, such as ULead and MGI has come out with VCD, SVCD, DVD conformed capabilities with authorware.

Below list all necessary items for creating professional movies. Selection criteria for each item is also detailed:

1. the type of editing station, or,
2. the type of encoder (capture card),
3. the editor software,
4. the transcoder and output

1. Editing station:
   There are "turnkey" editing stations that can capture video from tapes, TVs, Camcorders, etc. and provide software to edit the movie, then, output to formats of your choice, such as:
   1. Quick Time, Real Media, Microsoft Media Technology for low speed streaming;
   2. MPEG 1 and VCD for VHS quality;
   3. MPEG 2 for S-video or D-1 quality;
   4. NTSC/PAL TV output for direct taping;
   5. DVD.
   DPS's Velocity is a good example of the above. In this case, the editing station becomes all encompassing that upon editing, one can "transcoder" to the output format of choice. There is no need to look for additional hardware or software in this case.
   To add more output format to your editing station, check with item 4 below.
   

2. Encoder (Capture card):
   The other choice is to build your own editing station by using a capture card, editing software and possibly an output card. If you are looking for a capture card for editing purpose, you should set the selection criteria at MPEG 2 DVD quality or above, delivering the followings:
   1. 720(or704)x480 pixels for NTSC, 720(or704)x576 pixels for PAL;
   2. 29.97fps (NOT 30fps if you want to create DVDs) for NTSC, 25fps for PAL. Do not settle for cards that may drop frames:
   3. Full colour;
   4. Better than S-video (hi-8) video quality;
   5. Video and hi-fi audio capture on the same card to ensure lip sync.;
   6. Real time, on board compression chip.
   The cost of these real time encoders range from US$450.00 to US$20K, depending on features and output quality. Please check into our web, MPEG Encoders for Editing stations to select your encoder card. If you plan to output your movies to VCD, to DVD or for streaming, then, make sure that your capture card is VCD or DVD or streaming conformed. Although the above selection list is for MPEG encoder, you can use MJPEG or avi capture cards.
   

   Please be careful if you are using a low cost, avi based encoder, or encoding options that come with a certain brand name video card. These cards basically digitalize the input NTSC/PAL video, leaving the CPU to compress the content to Indeo, Cinepak, or other avi "codecs" ( COde, and DECode) inclusive of MPEG. If the computer cannot catch up with the compression, which is quite often the case, video frames will either be dropped, or be duplicated, leading to "freezed motion" result that is less than desirable. At the point of writing, even a 1GHz Pentium cannot reproduce professional quality MPEG video that is encoded with software at real time.
   

   To create high quality video, the rule of thumb is to budget as much on the encoder as possible so to get the highest quality video to work with. If the capture card delivers a mediocre file, one cannot expect to enhance its quality much. (Garbage in, Garbage out!)
   

3. Editor Sofware:
   If your capture card delivers avi type files, you can use most non-linear editng software to edit the movies, like MGI, Adobe Premier, DV Studio or Media Studio. If your capture card delivers MPEG 1 or 2 files, then, you have to use Ulead's Video Studio and Media Studio for editing. Please note that as of 2Q2001, Adobe Premier or most other famous avi editors cannot edit MPEG movies.
   

4. Transcoder and Output:
   After editing, the next step is to convert the file to output formats of choice:
   1. Quick Time, Real Media, Microsoft Media Technology for low speed streaming;
   2. MPEG 1 for archive applications or for VCD;
   3. MPEG 2 for NTSC/PAL TV output and for transfer to tape;
   4. MPEG 1 or 2 for high speed streaming;
   5. Output to DVD.

   This process of conversion from one format to another is called "transcode". The best transcode package is from Ulead's Video Studio and Media Studio . This package handle multiple file formats and can cross convert amongst MPEG 1, MPEG 2, avi files inclusive of MJPEG, Windows Media Technologies, Quick Time as well as Real Media. As of 4Q2000, MPEG 2 format created by Video and Media Studio is NOT DVD compatible.
   AVI, MJPEG files can be converted to MPEG 2 using software or hardware:

   1. Software transcoder typically takes 10:1 times, i.e. 10 minutes to do a 1 minute video. Some software transcoders for your reference are:
      1. Vitec DVD Toolbox (~US$399.00). This software converts .avi to MPEG 1 and 2, with a simple DVD authorware to create a single title DVD.
      2. Darim DV MPEG(~US$185.00). This software converts .avi to MPEG 1 (VCD conformed)and MPEG 2 (DVD conformed). This software can also work as a plug-in for Adobe Premier.
      3. Vitec MPEG Toolbox (~US$99.00). This software converts .avi to MPEG 1 (VCD conformed) or MPEG 2 (DVD conformed).
   2. Hardware transcoder converts avi files to MPEG in a much faster time, and delivers professional quality MPEG 2 that is DVD conformed. Zapex product line(~US$3900.00 to US$7300.00) can transcode avi to MPEG using "hardware encoder", provide NTSC/PAL capture interface, as well as converting audio and wave files to Dolby Digital stereo. This card provides the best solution for users that may output their files to tapes as well as DVD video.
   
   

   If the final output is in MPEG format, a hardware playback card is recommended. The player will interpolate the encoded "pixel format" to most resolutions, e.g. for TV, or for VGA, SVGA, XGA. Most hardware players have S-video and composite TV output. Hardware playback products can be found on our web page, Hardware Decoders.

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Q.11 How can Digital Video camcorders users take advantage of their setup to create high quality MPEG movies?

Digital Videos (DV) are encoded at 720 x 480 pixels (same as MPEG-2) but their video is compressed as 4:1:1, whereas MPEG 1, 2 videos are compressed as 4:2:0. DVD, a subset of MPEG 2 format, also uses 4:2:0. Only a few expensive, special MPEG 2 cards for high definition TV uses 4:2:2, but this format is not DVD conformed.

DV users can import their video into computers using three methods:

• via IEEE 1394 (FireWire, i-link) interface. There are non-linear editors for digital video. After editing, users have the choice to output to DV recorders, or to convert the DV format to MPEG 1 for VCD or MPEG 2 for DVD.
• via MPEG encoding cards that supports IEEE 1394 interface. Osprey 2000DV series of cards will encode DV format directly to MPEG 1 or MPEG 2.
• via NTSC/PAL format using S-video or composite interface. DV camcorders or recorders have this "analogue" interface. With this interface, users can take advantage of the digital source format that does not have tape noise.

Some IEEE 1394 interface cards are:

• DV Firebird PCI card (~US$240) that allows DV import and export. Included with this software are: I-link cable, Tape deck control, Adobe Premier special version for editing.
• DV Firebird Jr. PCMCIA card (~US$240) that allows DV import and export. Included with this software are: I-link cable, Tape deck control, Adobe Premier special version for editing.
• Margi 1394 (PCMCIA) PCMCIA card (~US$129) that allows DV import to computers.

Editors like Ulead, MGI and Adobe Premier can read and edit most DV or avi (either 4:1:1 or 4:2:0) files from DV recorders or from "professional" editing suites. These files are large, typically, 1GB for 4.75 minutes or 15 GB for 60 minutes. For archiving on computers or conversion to VCD, DVD, these files can further be compressed to MPEG, using software encoders from Vitec and Darim, or for better quality and faster encoding, use Zapex hardware encoders. Please refer to question 6 on that. MPEG files can be played back with computers at full screen, full motion with hi-fi stereo sound quality.

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Q.12 What is Video CD (VCD)?

Video CD is a special format, not to be confused with "encoded video written on a CD." Video CD 1.1 handles 74 minutes full screen, full motion with stereo audio movie (.dat format) on a CD of 650 MBytes. Video CD 2.0 is an extension of video CD 1.1, with add-on interactive features as slide (photo) shows with audio background, "hot buttons" for navigation, branching, etc. Most VCD players "claim" that they are 2.0 compatible, you can only verify by trying to play a VCD with slide shows and hot buttons.

Video CD format is a subset of MPEG 1, its video is to be encoded at 1.14 or 1.15 Mbps with stereo audio at 224Kbps, 44.1KHz sampling. These CDs can be played on computers with VCD playback software, on standalone VCD players that are very popular in Asia, and on most DVD machines. Please note that some DVD players can only play VCD content on CD-ROMs manufactured from replicators, not from CD "burners" in computers. Most home users use Video CD 2.0 on Karaoke, and corporations use them for advertisements, training and kiosks.

There are drawbacks on VCD. VCD restricts video encoding rate to 1.15Mbps, therefore, its video quality is limited to the low end of MPEG 1 capability which at best, delivers VHS quality. (See Question 2)

If you were planning to playback video content from computers, it would be better NOT to limit yourself to VCD format. You can use MPEG 1 with interactive Winodws applications instead. In that case, one can take advantage of higher bit rate MPEG 1 to deliver VHS or S-video quality. Programs like Power Point can help to deliver interactive hot buttons, linking with media player for MPEG video playback.

Q.13 How to create Video CD?

The steps to create Video CD are:

1. Encode NTSC/PAL videos or transfer avi files to VCD conformed MPEG;
2. Use a VCD Authorware to prepare the files and write onto a CD.

A. Encode NTSC/PAL videos or transfer avi files to VCD conformed MPEG:

B. Use a VCD Authorware to prepare the files and write onto a CD

Q.14 What is DVD-ROM, DVD RAM and DVD-Video?

CDs are 650 Mbytes single sided, single layer storage media.

DVDs are 3.95 GBytes or 4.7 GBytes storage media for single sided single layer. DVD writers and DVD media for workstation (PC, Mac, Unix) are all single sided, single layer. There are double sided double layered DVDs, but they are created by replicators.

DVD-ROM is nothing more than a storage media at 3.95 or 4.7GB, used to store data, programs, or videos. DVD-ROM is for computer use only.

DVD-Video is for standalone and computer DVD players. It can contain 2-3 hours MPEG 2 video, NTSC or PAL format, with PCM, MPEG, or AC-3 Dolby (5.1 or stereo) audio. It supports navigating hot buttons on menus, chaptering, multiple languages, multiple language sub titles, slide shows, multiple video tracks, etc.

DVD-RAM is a multi-time re-writeable and erasable media, at 2.7GB, or 4.7GB single sided, 9.4GB, double sided. These new DVD-RAMs are random accessible, spins at higher speed, therefore, can be used for DVD videos as well as for storage media. There are talks that standalone DVD-video players can play movies from DVD-RAM media.

DVD content can be stored onto hard drives, CDs, or DVD-RAMs to be played back as interactive DVDs on computers. Typically, a CD holds 20 minutes worth of MPEG-2 DVD content. Standalone DVD players will only play DVD content from DVD-video media, and VCD content from a CD media. If a CD is inserted into these players, they will sense that the media is a CD and will try to decode the content as MPEG-1 VCDs. Therefore, DVD content on CDs cannot be played on standalone DVD players.

Q.15 What are the steps and relating products available to create DVD-Video?

The steps to create DVD are:

1. Encode NTSC/PAL videos or transfer avi files to DVD conformed MPEG;
2. Use a DVD Authorware to prepare the DVD content folders;
3. Test and simulate DVD features and contents;
4. Output the DVD content to hard drives, CDs, DVD-RAMs, DLT (Digital Linear Tapes) and DVD-ROMs.

A. Encode NTSC/PAL videos or transfer avi files to DVD conformed MPEG 2:

B. Use a DVD Authorware to prepare the files:

C. Test and simulate DVD features and contents.

D. Output the DVD content to hard drives, CDs, DVD-RAMs, DLT (Digital Linear Tapes), DVD-R and DVD-RW.

Q.16 What is SVCD?

As of 4Q2000, DVD writer retails at over US$4,000 and its media are at US$25 per disk. This is quite expensive for people who wants to create single DVD videos. Some developing countries try to get around the problem by creating a new format called SVCD (Super Video CD) which is a lower version of MPEG-2 encoded onto CDs.

A CD of 650 Mbytes can handle 15 minutes 5Mbps MPEG 2 video, 720 x 480 pixels. The same CD can handle 74 minutes 1Mbps MPEG 1 video, 352 x 240 pixels. SVCD uses 480 x 480 pixels, 44.1Khz audio sampling. Its format is somewhere in between VCD (MPEG 1) and DVD (MPEG 2). A SVCD format on a CD media handles about 40 minutes of video. A 2.5 hours SVCD movie takes 3-4 CDs. Its quality is much better than VCDs.

The SVCD format is attractive because of its low cost media. To create SVCD, you need an MPEG 2 type encoder, and a SVCD authorware. Therefore, the investment savings of SVCD over DVD is only on DVD writer and media costs. There will be more and more standalone DVD players supporting DVD, SVCD and VCDs. At present, SVCD is not as popular in North America, but may be getting popular in middle East and Asia.

Q.17 Why is there a big price range on products for creating DVD-Videos?

Encoding, authoring, emulating and writing to DVDs are the four key steps to creating DVD videos. Encoder prices range from US$100 (software) or US$450 (hardware) to US$28,000. Authorware prices range from "free" to US$30,000. Once you add both factors together, the price range is huge.

The rule of thumb in designing your optimal DVD station is to get the best encoder you can afford. This is the only component that affects your output quality. Expensive DVD authorware will only add features onto your DVD, but not quality.

Please refer to Question 8 for video card selection.

Q.18 How about MPEG on the WEB for streaming?

MPEG can be streamed from 150Kbps to 15Mbps. Please check into our Streaming web page for details.

Q.19 How about external MPEG encoders for USB, parallel ports or PCMCIA cards?

Parallel Port product: We have tested lots of MPEG encoders on parallel ports, and concluded that the port speed is very marginal on MPEG 1, not enough for MPEG 2. It is not worth trying parallel port encoders.

USB port product: We have tested a few and found that there will be a new released product from Navis Pro USB based that can encode MPEG 1 and MPEG 2 (up to 6Mbps) without dropping or freezing frames. This product is good for archiving, video editing, SVCD and DVD creation.

PCMCIA product: There is no PCMCIA type MPEG capture cards available yet. However, we have lots of PCMCIA based avi capture cards and DVD/VCD/MPEG 1,2 playback cards. Please refer the Question 20 (next question) on details.

Q.20 What are the video capture and playback PCMCIA cards available from BernClare?

PCMCIA cards we have tested are:

1. DV capture cards:
   • Margi 1394-to-Go, US$129, DV (Digital Video) import to PC only,
   • DVico Firebird-JR, US$249 DV input and ouput, and
   • Margi DV Publish-to-Go, US$299, which is a 1394 to go with DVD authoring software.
2. AVI capture cards, such asMargi Capture-to- Go, US$295 and Margi TV-to-Go, US$349, a Capture-to-go with TV tuner for TV viewing.
3. DVD/VCD/MPEG 1,2 playback cards, such as Margi DVD-to-Go, US$229, with scalable output to LCD screen and also, output to TV (NTSC/PAL) via S-video and composite with Dobly digital audio. This cards will only output MPEG video to TVs.
4. Conversion from Laptop to VGA, LCD, Plasma display PCMCIA cards: Margi PCMCIA Display to Go, US$249, with three output options: VGA, DVI and DFP. This card supports MACs and PCs.

Output quality of AVI capture cards are very dependent of your computer environment. If the hard drive is fast enough and the CPU is dedicated to capturing (no TSR software running), then, you can capture better quality with less frame dropping. If you notice that there are frames dropping, you can reduce the capturing parameters such as colour depth, audio specs., picture size (pixel size) or even the frame rate. It is much better to have a fixed lower frame rate then a random, dropping frame video. Once captured in avi, you can alwanys convert the avi files to MPEG.

If you need a high quality external capture card, then, please refer to question 19 above on USB based product.

Q.21 I want to display my laptop onto big screen TV, LCD, or plasma display panel. What products do I need?

The product that can convert from laptops to big screen TVs is:

1. Margi PCMCIA Display to Go, US$249, comes with three output options: VGA, DVI and DFP. It outputs your laptop (PC or MAC) to big screens for presentations.

Q.22 What should I look for if I am shopping for a convertor to convert from PC (VGA screen) to TV (NTSC/PAL)?

Converters are available in price ranges of US$100 - $500. Some professional ones retail at over US$1000.00. Feature items to watch for are:

• Stability: "line" stablizers help the video to show up stable. Typically, it takes at least 4-6 of these line stablizers for a good output.
• Input capability, that depends on computer resolution, such as VGA/SVGA/UVGA, color resolution, and their respective refresh rate. The more demanding you are, the more you pay for the converter.
• Output connectors: S-video provides different paths for brightness and color that delivers a very good quality. This interface does not have color bleeding problem (e.g. red color bleeds over its edges). If your TV does not have S-video, use composite interface. For those TVs that have only "channels 2/3/4" input, the multiplexed channel input will NOT provide clean enough output. Do not use those TVs.
• Output quality: TV monitors are based on NTSC or PAL input that have limited resolutions, e.g. about 500 horizontal lines (525) for NTSC, 600 horizontal lines (625) for PAL. In most situations, an NTSC screen has about the resolution of 640x480 VGA, and a PAL screen has about the resolution of a 800x600 SVGA screen. To squeeze a 1024 x 768 pixel screen onto an NTSC screen, the converter has to "down convert" the picture, causing quite a bit of resolution loss. Please note: even the highest TV screen resolution cannot compete with those CRT based computer monitor.
• Color resolution: Converters typically support less color at high resolutions. Make sure you have "enough color" at your selected resolution so that you can see movies or photos displayed correctly from your PC.
• Adjustments: Aspect ratio of TVs are slightly different from computer monitors. TVs tend to overscan, and one will not be able to see the edges of the computer screen on the TV. Therefore, there is a need to adjust the size and position of the screen for a complete screen display.

Please take note that computer monitors have much higher resolution than TVs. It is NOT recommended to use TV in place of monitors. PC to TV converters are good for presentations, training, sales displays etc., where font sizes are large (18 points and above). For example, in computer programming, like DOS, Unix script commands, those editors use small 8 point fonts. TV display through these converters would have only 6-8 scan lines (out of their 525 lines) to display the 8 point characters of DOS/Unix commands, making it barely legible. Please be aware that this is "NTSC 525 scan lines standard" , or "PAL 625 scan lines standard" drawback and has nothing to do with the converter.

In selecting converters, the most important criteria is to select one that works with your computer screen resolution, the color requirement, and after that, features like screen size adjustments (such that the complete TV screen gets filled up), remote control, remote mouse, etc.

We carry the following PC to TV converter:
Genie PC/TV converter(~US$172.00). Supports up to 1154x864 screen resolution, No software required. This converter is the best buy in quality and price, that its output is very clear and its screen size is easily adjustable.
CORIOgen Eclipse (US$695.00). Supports up to 1600x1200 pixels, PC and MAC, full color, flash memory to retain settings, overlay feature for subtiles and Karaoke (see next two FAQs).

Q.23 I want to watch TV on my computer screen. What should I look for?

There are three types of product to facilitate TV programs display on computer monitors:

1. PCI cards, such as video cards that comes with a tuner, or video capture cards that has preview features. By connecting the capture cards to a VCR with tuner, you can see TV in preview mode on the monitor, and you can capture any video clips you want.
2. PCMCIA cards for laptop users, such as Margi's TV-to-Go (~US$300) which is a capture card (Margi Capture-to-Go) with a tuner. Please note that to use this card, your notebook has to support "Zoomed Video", a feature for the PCMCIA card to directly display the video onto the LCD screen without passing through the CPU.
3. External boxes, like TV Amazing that connects directly to the monitor and display TV without the need of the PC. This box can also act as a central console for video and audio input from VCRs, DVD players, game consoles, and from the PC.

One should be aware that LCD panels or monitors used to view TV programs have to be multi-sync. capable. They need to support 60Hz scan rate for NTSC or 50Hz for PAL. Most monitors and LCDs are multi-sync.

Q.24 I want to overlay Karaoke (or subtitle) scripts on my video. What are the steps to do that?

Following are details for users creating Karaoke or subtitle text onto their videos, whether it be tapes, CDs, VCDs, MPEG 1 or 2.
You need the following components:

1. Karaoke creation software, such as Karaoke Kit to output Karaoke lyrics that changes color with tempo. If you are creating subtitle scripts, you can use Karaoke Kit, or with simple programs like Power Point to do the job. Of course, with a application targeted Karaoke Kit software, creating time dependent subtitles are much easier.
2. A PC to TV convertor, such as the PC/TV Genie (US$172.00) OR
3. An overlay box to super-impose the Karaoke / subtitle text onto the video. Overlay boxes can be Coriogen Eclipse (~US$650.00) or CPT370 (US$269.00 up).

The Karaoke or subtitle sofware basically creates lyrics over a black background, to be identified as the overlay color. This black color, when going through the "overlay boxes" will become tranparent to let video go through, so that the lyrics will show up on the top of the video. This lyrics can be timed such that it shows up at the appropriate beat of the tune, and changes color according to the tempo.

One can use simple programs like Power Point to create subtitles on black or blue color overlay screen. However, if Karaoke functions are called for, one has to consider the following features:

• Lyrics colors have to change according to music tempo,
• Lyrics should have fringe colors such that it will not be masked into the video background, e.g. white sky, dark nights, green grass, brown sand....
• Logos as station identifiers and preface to show up as required,
• Ease of use: users have to control which lyrics to come up at the right time, the speed of the color change, etc. This can be quite complex,
• Supports multiple languages with different font face.

Q.25 What are the selection criteria for security/Surveillance products?

BernClare Multimedia Inc. has multiple lines of surveillance product, posted on the web www.remote-security.com . Criteria for selecting surveillance products are:

• Ease of use: if the user is comfortable working with computers, a PCI based security card can be good for starting. If the user prefers turn-key solution, there are quite a number of products that has built in computer available. These products are very user friendly.
• Capture quality and speed: Top quality and speed would also mean high prices, big storage space, and wide bandwidth for transmission. Unless one has a very deep pocket, usually, compromises will have to be made based on monitoring environment, e.g. cashier stations or retail stores would prefer high frame rate (in terms of frames per second fps) and modest quality, whereas parking lots would ask for high quality and lower frame rate. The four major technologies on security offering distinct characters are:
  • MPEG 1, 2 based
    MPEG based security product guarantees high and fixed bit rate with a predictable video quality. Its requires 500Kbps for MPEG-1 at sub-VHS quality, 3Mbps for MPEG-1 at VHS quality, 3 to 12Mbps for MPEG-2 at DVD quality. All MPEG videos at at 29.97 or 30fps NTSC, 25fps for PAL.
  • JPEG based
    JPEG based security product guarantees high resolution, up to 720 x 480 pixels, but at a lower frame rate, typically 15 fps. It is best for image enhancement.
  • Wavelet based
    Wavelet based products provide a compromise of bandwidth, frame rate and picture quality. Typically, it outputs 320 x 240 pixels, 5 - 30 fps.
  • AVI or MPEG-4 based
    AVI, MPEG-4 based products are quite similar to wavelet based products, but with a "psuedo standard" compression method.
• Number of cameras supported: Usually, frame rates are quoted as aggregated total, to be splitted amongst cameras attached to the board. With more cameras attached to the input, you would have less frame rate.
• Storage media: Hard drives, DVD-RAM are good, real time storage media. DVD-ROM are good for archieving, but it is not real time. Please note, the term DVD-RAM is quite misleading. It basically is a removeable media that looks like DVD, but operates like a 4.7GB hard drive. DVD-RAM is best for archieving, and to be written over after the archived period. Please check the Panasonic DVD-RAM web page for details.
• Budget: The major factors are the computer, the security product, bandwidth and storage costs.
• Please check our web, www.remote-security.com for details.