September 2007 Archives

The September 24, 2007 DV Show Podcast from the Flashforward 2007 conference discusses Closed-captions for Flash videos. Host, Brian Alves, interviews Andrew Kirkpatrick Adobe's Accessibility Engineering Manager

Many times updating Streaming web pages can be tedious, especially now since not only do you need to include Embed and Object tags in your authored pages but you also need to include the javascript code. This means if you're using streaming web page templates you'll need to make a file name change in three different places. However, if you're using at least Dreamweaver 8 this process can be easier using the Find and Replace feature.

Here's how it works. Locate and highlight the file name you would like to replace. In this tutorial I'm updating the CarsRacing.mov file and replacing it with the TrucksRacing.mov file.

Comparison of the preset routing options for remote control buttons A. Wrap Around Left/right, Wrap within the same row (default) B. Wrap Around Left/right, Drop to the next row C. Wrap Around Up/down, Wrap within same column D. Wrap Around Up/down, Drop to next column
Adobe Encore DVD provides four preset routing patterns. The default routing is a circular movement through the buttons on the same row or column. Right or left arrows move across the row in the appropriate direction, returning to the beginning of the same row. Up and down arrows follow the same rules and move up or down until the end of the column, returning to the top or bottom of the column in a circular fashion.

Using a preferences setting, you can change the routing so that when an arrow button reaches the end of a row or column it moves to the beginning of the next row or column. You can also change the routing to be only horizontal or vertical, limiting movement, for example, across a row and not up or down.

To change the routing preferences:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Menus.
2. Click the routing preferences to select or deselect them.
3. Choose the desired wrap options from the appropriate pop-up menu.
4. Click OK.

You can specify an asset's transcode settings (by using a preset) from the Transcode Settings column in the Project window. (A separate column, Transcode Status, displays either Transcoded or Untranscoded to show the assets current state.) When you specify a preset, that preset's data rate is used, not the data rate you calculated in bit budgeting.

Assets are designated as follows in the Transcode Settings column:

Automatic

Displayed for all non-DVD-compliant assets by default. For assets with the Automatic designation, Adobe Encore DVD determines the optimal settings for transcoding. Adobe Encore DVD bases these settings on the number, length, and size of the assets and the available disc space. You can specify a transcode preset for any of these assets if desired.

[A transcode preset name]

Displayed for all non-DVD-compliant assets for which you have specified a Project Transcode Preset.

Don't Transcode

Displayed for those assets that are already DVD-compliant. You can override this setting and specify Automatic or a transcode preset, if desired.

N/A

Displayed for those items, such as menus and timelines, that don't require transcoding.

The Disc tab displays the available space and the used space for the specified disc size during the authoring process. The display conveys size information only and has no bearing on quality. Adobe Encore DVD calculates the free space using the transcoding data rate (whether it was set automatically or manually). It then combines this estimated bit rate with the actual bit rate of any transcoded clips and, based on the disc size, calculates the space remaining on your disc.

When transcoding assets, Adobe Encore DVD attempts to maintain the highest quality (highest data rate) for the amount of video in the project. If you continue to add video to a project, the program lowers the video data rate to squeeze in the additional content. Adobe Encore DVD does not warn you if video quality dips below a certain level until you build the project or run Check Project.

IBC received more than 70 entries from around the world for this year's IBC Innovation Awards. These awards are recognized as something special, because they reward creativity through technology. This year's judges, a panel of international editors chaired by Michael Lumley, had a difficult and challenging set of choices to make to select a shortlist and one winner for each of the three categories: Content Creation, Management & Delivery.

Inlet Technologies, the leader in advanced encoding solutions for new media, announced that the company has partnered with Thomson, the world leader in digital video technologies, to enhance content security during the encoding and production process. Inlet's Fathom encoding solution will feature Thomson's underlying digital watermarking technology, adding an important layer of traceable security to complement traditional digital rights management (DRM) controlling access to content.

The September 27, 2007 DV Show Podcast from the Flashforward 2007 conference discusses Creating Social Media Experiences. Host, Brian Alves, interviews Mike Sommers, Senior Vice President of Product Management at KickApps, a white label social networking software service.

Itiva Networks, the on-line Video Content Delivery Solution for high quality digital assets, announced that David Mercer, Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics, has described Itiva as being among the key technology developers bringing down the technical barriers to delivering online High Definition TV.

In a preliminary summary of this latest report from Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service, Mercer said that HDTV is set to become a reality. In a public statement, Mercer said that tomorrow's web users will expect service quality much closer to television and major content producers such as movie studios recognize that they will have to step up to this mark to win and retain web viewers."

Inlet Technologies, a leader in advanced encoding solutions, has been selected as a nominee by Streaming Media magazine for the publication's inaugural Readers' Choice Awards. Inlet's Fathom 3.0 is nominated for "Best Encoding Software" for its excellence in meeting the demands of anytime, anywhere content in the encoding process.

Check out the September 25, 2007 DV Show Podcast from the Flashforward 2007 conference. Host, Brian Alves, interviews Chris Florio about Interactive Flash Video. Chris is a professor of Interactive Media at the New England Institute of Art and the Director of Passion Records and IDV Media.

On2 Technologies Inc., a leader in video compression software and solutions, announced upgrades to its Flix product line to support the new VP6-S video profile added by Adobe to the Adobe Flash Player 9 update, code named Moviestar.

On2's Flix product line is the leading line of VP6 based video encoding and publishing software solutions for Adobe Flash Player. Flix software is available for desktop, server and browser-based applications for Windows, Linux and Mac, and is used by many of the leading web video portals and user-generated content and social networking sites.

Inlet Technologies, a leader in advanced encoding solutions for new media, announced that the company is fully supporting Microsoft Silverlight, a cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in for next-generation media experiences. All of Inlet's products, including their Fathom encoding line, Spinnaker real-time streaming appliance and Semaphore quality control solution, will provide the necessary encoding, transcoding and quality control support for all applications of the new Silverlight format.

Final Cut Pro has an incredible multicamera feature. There are some critical settings that you must check in order for multicam to work correctly within Final Cut Pro. 

Streaming Media Europe is taking place on October 4-5, 2007 in London. The conference put on by StreamingMedia.com is the NAB of the Streaming Media industry. The event has a number of amazing sessions to keep individuals on the cutting-edge of on-line video. Streaming Media Europe features over 50 international speakers focusing on both corporate and consumer business, technology and content issues involving online video in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment and broadcast markets.

In addition to the main conference sessions the event has 4 exciting pre-conference workshops covering the following:

Mike Savello, Senior Vice President of PC and Flash Market Sales at On2 Technologies, recently sat down with Gary Schafer and Peter Cervieri of ScribeMedia to discuss On2 Technologies, their products, and plans for the future.

In the 5 part interview below, Mike explains the wide use of On2's VP6 codec by nearly a billion users world wide for a variety of applications including web-based video and user generated content, and how many cutting edge media companies are now pushing the envelope by incorporating On2's next generation VP7 codec for HD based applications. Mike goes on to detail the use of On2's codecs and technologies in wireless applications, kiosks and digital signage, DRM applications, and more, as they continue to advance the technologies behind streaming video.

Check out the September 26, 2007 DV Show Podcast from the Flashforward 2007 conference. Host, Brian Alves, interviews Lisa Larson, partner in the design firm gotoGroup Inc., as she provides details about Flash Media Server.

If you are experiencing errors or poor 3D DVE performance within your Avid Xpress or Media Composer software, it may be because you are running the wrong drivers for your graphics card.

Make sure you are running the correct Nvidia Graphics Drivers. It is a common mistake to use drivers supplied by the manufacturer.  All you need to do is uninstall your old graphic's card driver, and reinstall the correct one.  Then reboot. You should now see improved peformance when working with the 3D DVE or the Marquee Title tool.

Adobe Encore has a very strange and random quirk that you will eventually come across. You will exit Encore and your computer will begin to run slower than a turtle. Well this is because Adobe Encore is still running somewhere on your computer. Instead of restarting your computer the easiest and fastest fix is to enter you task manager and kill the program. Here is how you do it:

1. Hold down Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
2. Your task manager window will now open and you need to click on the process tab.
3. Now click on to highlight EncoreDVD.exe.
4. Click the End Process button in the lower right corner.

Encore is now shut down properly and your computer will run normally again. I now make it a habit to check my task manager every time I shut down Adobe Encore.

Making dramatic menus is a very important part of building a DVD. It shows that time and effort was put in to the creating of your product. If you take the time to make your DVD menus something that is interesting, video thumbnails are a quick way to establish interest. A button can contain a thumbnail image of the video in the timeline to which it is linked. You need to understand the following concepts when creating a video thumbnail:

Placeholder determines size You use a single layer in a button layer set to serve as a placeholder for the video. The size of the placeholder image determines the size of the video displayed in the menu. If the image is not rectangular, Adobe Encore DVD calculates the smallest rectangle in which the image could fit.

Always rectangular, unless masked The video remains rectangular regardless of the shape of the image layer. However, you can overlay it with a layer (bitmap) or vector mask in Photoshop. A mask can hide portions of the image, forming a window through which the video plays.

Layer name prefix (%) The placeholder layer must have the layer name prefix (%). The prefix includes the parenthesis, for example (%)Rigging.

Destination timeline displayed A video thumbnail can display only the timeline to which it is linked, that is, its destination. You cannot play one timeline in the thumbnail and have the button lead to a different timeline. Also, until you link the button to the video, you see only the placeholder image.

Still or moving The thumbnail video can be still or moving. Animating video thumbnails is a menu setting. All the thumbnails on a particular menu must be either still or moving. You set the animation by using the menu property called Animate Buttons.

Looping or clipped A video thumbnail plays within the boundaries of the menu duration setting. For example, if the menu duration setting exceeds the length of the video thumbnail, the thumbnail loops, starting at the destination chapter (or poster frame if specified). You set the menu display time and looping of the entire menu in the Properties panel.

Poster frame Using the chapter property called Poster, you can designate a specific start point or frame to display. Otherwise, the thumbnail begins at the first frame of the destination chapter or displays the first bright (non-black) frame of the chapter if Animate Buttons is turned off for the menu.

Now that you understand the basic terms stay tuned for some basics on creating the video thumbnail.

The easiest way to create a video thumbnail button is to drag a button from the Library panel into your menu and then edit the button. (Many menus in the Library panel already include video thumbnail buttons.) These buttons are sized appropriately, contain a placeholder image with the appropriate layer name prefix (%), and include pre-designed button sub-pictures, which change the appearance of the button when selected and activated by the viewer.

1. Open the menu to which you want to add video thumbnail buttons.

2. In the Library panel, click the Show Buttons icon to display the predesigned buttons.
Drag the desired thumbnail button from the Library panel to the Menu Viewer. Repeat until you have placed all the thumbnail buttons you need.

3. To resize the thumbnail buttons, select the button layer sets in the Layers panel (Shift-select to select more than one). Then, using the Selection tool , Shift-drag a corner selection-handle of one of the buttons until they are the desired size. (Using the Shift key while dragging resizes the buttons proportionally so that they maintain their aspect ratio.)

4. Link each button to the appropriate item, such as a timeline or slide show. The text in the button is updated with the name of the linked item. You can also use the Text tool to select and edit button text.

I'm sure you've run into a situation within Final Cut Pro where you want to have a preset duration for all of your clips. It can be frustrating having to load each clip into the Viewer window and set in/out points for the required duration.

Fortunately, you can use a combination of the 'edit selection tool' and the 'extend' function to create a timeline that includes all your clips at the specified duration.

Nero, leaders in digital media technology, announced the upcoming release of Nero 8, the next generation of the company's award-winning, integrated digital media and home entertainment software solution. Designed with consumer ease of use in mind, Nero 8 extends content beyond the PC, allowing users to easily create and edit, convert and share, rip and burn, backup and protect digital media. With Nero 8, users can enjoy their content at home, on-the-go, and online. Additionally, Nero 8 is built to ensure data integrity and reliability and is optimized for use with the new Windows Vista operating system.

Harmonic Inc. announced that its Rhozet Carbon Coder video transcoding solution has been selected by 'yes' TV for a new Internet-based broadband video-on-demand (VOD) service in Israel. 'yes' TV also utilizes Harmonic's high performance DiviCom high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) encoders for its broadcast DTH television service. 'yes' TV is the leading Israeli direct-to-home (DTH) satellite broadcaster, serving more than 500,000 customers nationwide. The new Internet VOD service is being delivered in partnership with Walla Communications, a leading Israeli portal.

In addition to 2-day Video Streaming, Episode and Sorenson Squeeze for Mac Training classes, GeniusDV now offers Sorenson Squeeze for PC training classes. This is a 1-day class that teaches students how to take advantage of all the great features of Sorenson Squeeze. The next 1-day Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suite Training for PC takes place on January 12 in Orlando, Florida. Many Avid editors have Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suite on their editors but don't really realize the power and value of what they have. Squeeze is an essential tool to assist with many compression workflows and will actually speed up the time that it takes to get compression jobs complete.

Telestream announced participation in the Adobe Flash Media Solutions Partner program, supporting video and audio formats compatible with Adobe Flash Media Server 3 and Adobe Flash Player with its FlipFactory and Episode products. Expanding its business and technical partnership with Microsoft, Telestream announced Pipeline integration with Microsoft Interactive Media Manager. The Pipeline network encoding device provides media capture from tape or other baseband sources. Telestream also announced support for the creation of Microsoft Silverlight media presentations directly within its Flip4Mac digital media components for the Mac.

Harmonic Inc. has introduced Rhozet Carbon Coder 3.0, the latest version of its universal video transcoding solution at IBC. This new version of Carbon Coder features distributed transcoding across multiple machines, new Adobe Flash and VC-1 format support, server failover for fault-tolerant performance, and an automated quality assurance (QA) module to ensure the highest quality video output.

Carbon Coder's new multi-machine transcoding capability tackles the increasing demands of video transcoding by allowing a single transcoding job to be distributed over multiple computers in a transcoding farm. This feature is especially useful for processor intensive formats such as Flash, VC-1, and MPEG-2. Long transcoding tasks are split into segments which are distributed to multiple machines for processing and then spliced together to create the final output. This greatly accelerates the process of, for example, creating very high-quality VC-1 content for high-definition optical discs. Even on a single computer, transcoding tasks are accelerated by running across multiple CPU cores.

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You add chapter points to mark a specific frame of a video clip in a timeline. Chapter points commonly mark the beginning of specific scenes and sequences. Chapter points also let the viewer skip forward or back through a clip by pressing the Next Chapter or Previous Chapter buttons on the remote control. You can link to chapter points, add actions to chapter points, or use them to place subtitles.

As part of transcoding to the MPEG-2 compression scheme, video footage is divided into contiguous Groups of Pictures (GOPs), which range from 4 to 20 frames per group. Playback of any frames within the GOP must begin from the start of the GOP, the GOP header. For this reason, when you insert a chapter point, Adobe Encore DVD places it at the closest GOP header prior to the current frame. If a chapter point already exists at the prior GOP header, the program places it at the next GOP header. The time ruler displays GOP headers as white vertical lines along the bottom edge of the ruler. The Monitor panel lets you skip forward or back to the next GOP header.
When you work with AVI files, these restrictions do not apply until you transcode them. When Adobe Encore DVD transcodes AVI files, it automatically sets GOP headers at every chapter point you set. After transcoding, the file is considered an MPEG-2 file, and the rules for chapter point placement for MPEG-2 files apply to that clip. The minimum allowed distance between chapter points is 15 frames for NTSC and 12 frames for NTSC.

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You can change the increments displayed in the timeline using the zoom tools. Zooming in lets you move through the timeline more precisely. When zoomed in fully, each tick mark on the time ruler represents a frame. As you zoom out, you can see more of the complete timeline, and the tick marks represent larger increments.

Do one of the following:

1. Click the Zoom In icon or drag the zoom slider to the right. The timeline expands to show more detail.

2. Click the Zoom Out icon or drag the zoom slider to the left. The timeline contracts to show less detail.

3. Select the Zoom tool from the toolbox and click or drag over the area of the timeline you want to expand; you can also Alt-click to contract the timeline.

3. Press the plus sign (+) or minus sign (-) key to zoom in or out.

Envivio Inc., the leading technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions from mobile to HD, today announced that its 4Caster M2 mobile TV encoder won Cable and Satellite International's Product of the Year Awards 2007 in the category of "Best Mobile TV Technology or Service". Having previously won the 2007 Frost and Sullivan Product Innovation award, this is the second win in 2007 for the 4Caster M2. The Envivio 4Caster M2 encoders are ideal for mobile operators wanting to enrich their offerings beyond voice to provide live 3G-based mobile video or DVB-H based Broadcast video services and for broadcasters wanting to repurpose content to address the multitude of broadcast video devices that are planned for release.

"Flash technology has become the standard for delivering high-quality customized seamless Web video experiences to millions of viewers worldwide," said Kevin Towes, Product Manager, Flash Media Server at Adobe. "By working with Harmonic's Rhozet team to provide a solution for accelerated transcoding, we can help our customers spend less time encoding FLV files, process more video with the same hardware, and get time sensitive video quickly deployed on the web."

Instead of using a template to create a menu, you can piece together a menu using the predesigned backgrounds, buttons, images, shapes, and replacement layers included with Adobe Encore DVD. These items are located in the Library panel.Each button includes subpictures that define how the button looks when selected (highlighted) or activated. The buttons are in layer sets together with the subpictures, so you can adjust individual elements or the entire button easily using the Layers panel.

1. In the Library panel, select the set that you want to view from the Set menu, and then click the Toggle Display Of Backgrounds button .

2. Select the background you want to use, and click the New Menu button at the bottom of the panel. A new menu appears in the Menu Viewer, and the menu is added to the Project panel.

3. Add buttons and other design elements as desired. For example, to add a button, click the Toggle Display Of Buttons icon in the Library panel, and then drag a button into the Menu Viewer.

Now you can edit any item you need to or add and delete any item. Stay tuned for Adobe Encore training offered by Genius DV!

The Library panel includes predesigned menus that represent a wide spectrum of visual styles and themes. Many menus have a companion submenu that reflects the same style and contains a different number of buttons. The menus include buttons with subpictures (for highlighting when the button is selected) and fully styled placeholders for text. The buttons on some menus provide a thumbnail layer for video. You can use a menus as is, just changing the text, or you can swap out images that better reflect the look and feel of your project.

1.In the Library panel, select the set you want to view from the Set menu, and then click the Toggle display of Menus button to display the menus.

2. Select the menu that you want to use, and click the New Menu button at the bottom of the Library. (Press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to browse through the templates.)
The new menu appears in the Menu Viewer, and the menu is added to the Project panel.

3.Edit the menu to suit the needs of your project:
~Edit the text. In the toolbox, click the appropriate text tool. Then, click in the menu to create a new text object, or click an existing text layer and edit the text as desired.
~Delete or duplicate buttons as desired.
~Set links from the buttons to other submenus or to items in the Project panel.

Adobe Encore is a very powerful DVD authoring tool and stay tuned for Adobe Encore training offered by Genius DV.

Netbriefings will stream live video from the Seton Hall School of Law's upcoming Constitution Day conference over the Web and into a special location for the event in Second Life.

The conference's "Interrogation and Intelligence Gathering" program will be streamed over the Web on Sept. 17 for participating colleges and universities across the nation. Netbriefings is also working with a partner, New Jersey-based video production firm MIB Productions, to stream the webcast into a virtual Guantanamo Bay detention center in Second Life as a pilot program to provide an ongoing online platform for the discussion of constitutional, political and international issues.

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I recently was unable to open Adobe Photoshop. It was locked up on the splash screen and the only way to stop it was to either restart my computer or end it through the task manager. I did a little research and found that this is a very common problem. It seems the settings become corrupt and you will no longer be able to launch Adobe Photoshop until you delete the proper files. You need to either systematically delete files or you can delete all of the files to rectify all of your problems. you will lose all of your custom actions but if you can't start Photoshop they are worthless. All you need to do is go to "C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop\8.0\Adobe Photoshop CS Settings" start by deleting "New Doc Sizes.psp" and if that does not work then you may have to delete everything. This should resolve your problems with starting Adobe Photoshop.

Making sure that your hardware works with your editing software is critical to your daily work-flow. You will have many problems if you try and build your own workstation or use one that is untested by Avid. The HP workstations are certified and tested by Avid but you must make sure the internal guts will still work with your editing software. The following document for the HP XW 8400 includes additional guidlines to configure your system.

FlipScan, the newest extension to Telestream's industry-leading FlipFactory transcoding workflow automation products makes its debut at IBC. Responding to the need to filter, validate and ingest high-volume source media for the growing number of video websites and broadcasters inviting consumers to upload user-generated media, FlipScan automatically scans, analyzes and processes non-standard source media against user-defined business rules. The solution is currently being utilized in the Getty Images Media Management Services (MMS) platform to automate the management of incoming media. Telestream is demonstrating FlipScan and its integration with Getty Images' MMS solution at IBC. You can visit the company in Stand 7.411 at the International Broadcasters Convention

Envivio Inc., the leading technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions from mobile to HD, and broadcast infrastructure provider National Grid Wireless are teaming up to deliver streamed TV, alongside VoIP and data, across a WiMAX network. The network, which uses a full head-end with an Envivio Mobile TV encoder, will be available throughout the RAI Congress Centre during IBC2007 from September 7 - 11, 2007. Deploying the open systems-based solution enables mobile WiMAX operators to reach the three screens of video - TVs, PCs and mobile phones - and supports a variety of revenue generating business models by providing subscribers with anytime, anywhere connection capabilities.

GeniusDV, a digital video training center in Orlando, Florida, features streaming classes that utilize Flowerfire's log file analysis software, called Sawmill. The company uses Sawmill Professional to walk students through the process of creating profiles for analyzing log files for web servers and streaming servers. The Sawmill software can process 750 types of log files. The software can process log files from Helix Universal Server, Windows Media Streaming Server, QuickTime Streaming Server, Flash Media Server and Wowza Media Server.

Telestream, the leader in encoding-based media workflow solutions, today announced expansion of its Episode Series media encoding applications for the Mac to simplify a greater number of specific digital media workflows for Apple professionals. Episode Engine, the ultra-fast server encoding solution now provides faster than real-time HD encoding directly to leading broadcast servers. Avid integration now automates file transfer between Avid editorial environments and Episode, enabling optimized encoding for multiple new media distribution outlets. A new Image Sequence Importer now imports large film sequence files into Episode for encoding to virtually any format for editing, review and approval, or distribution.

Along with your Timeline the monitor panel is an essential part of Adobe Encore. The Monitor panel lets you view and play the content of the current timeline or slideshow, as well as add and edit subtitles and chapter points. It displays the frame marked by the timeline's current-time indicator and can play all or portions of the timeline. If the selected timeline contains multiple audio or subtitle tracks, you determine which track to play by activating the track using the track selector.

The Monitor panel includes the following controls:

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The Timeline is where you will spend most of your time in Adobe Encore, so understanding what each function does and how to use them is very important to your DVD creation. The Timeline Viewer can include each timeline you create. You can select a timeline from the tab at the top of the Timeline Viewer. Each timeline includes a time ruler, a video track, and optional tracks for audio and subtitles. The time scale used in the ruler depends on the editing timebase of the project: either 29.97 fps for NTSC media or 25 fps for PAL media. You place the assets and subtitles on the tracks below the ruler.

Here is a list of what each function in your timeline does:

If you purchased the Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suite software and you're still using version 4.5.5 you should upgrade to version 4.5.6 which is available as a download on the Sorenson Media website. Upgrading will make you more compatible with QuickTime 7.2 and will help prevent encoding isssues.

Understanding the Adobe Encore Timeline and how it works is very important to your success in building your DVDs. DVDs can contain multiple features, such as movies or slide shows. For example, a wedding DVD might have separate videos of the bride and groom getting ready, the ceremony, and highlights of the reception, along with a slide show of wedding photos. You arrange the necessary assets of each feature--video clips or still images, the main audio, and possibly supplemental audio and subtitles--into timelines, graphic representations of a feature over time.
Depending on its complexity, your project may consist of a single timeline or several timelines. You can place multiple video clips, audio clips, and still images in a single timeline, or you can place these items in separate timelines. Each timeline contains tracks for the assets of a feature. Video, audio, and subtitles all appear on separate tracks. You can create a slide show by adding still images to a timeline, but the Slideshow Viewer offers more options.
I will take the next week or shwo and we will dive deeper into the Adobe Encore Timeline.

When editing with Avid or any other editing application drive speed is very important. The manufacture of your drive normally lists the speed of the drive but this may not be accurate or through time you may have a problem in your system either with the drive or maybe a cable. There is a great utility called HD_Speed produced by Steel Bytes. This tests the speed of all of your drives including your CD or DVD rom. This is a freeware and is a fast download. Measures both sustained and burst data transfer rates of your hard disks, cd/dvd-roms and floppy. Real-time graphical display. Download it today and make sure you are running at full capacity!

You can even download additional automater actions that provide functionality to create a 'Magic DVD'. In other words, you could drag some media files onto a automater icon, and a DVD would be created automatically! Or you could create an action that exports media for the iPod. The possibilities are endless. After you've created your Automator action, you simply drag your files onto the 'Automator Robot' and everything is processed automatically.

For those who program with Apple Script, you can even create your own Automator actions that tie to your favorite programs. Fortunately, the Automater comes with a hefty set of prebuilt action for a variety of built-in programs that ship with OS X. Better yet, if you have Final Cut Studio installed, there are several pre-built actions that take advantage of SoundTrack Pro's capabilities.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to create an Automator action to automatically convert audio files to 48 KHz.

Flip4Mac WMV is not currently compatible with QuickTime 7.2. When encoding WMV files with with Flip4Mac WMV v.2.1.2 using uncompressed audio sources on QuickTime 7.2 systems, you will receive "Inconsistent Audio Sample Rate" error and the encode will fail. This affects Flip4Mac WMV Studio, Studio Pro, Studio Pro HD versions.

Update now to version 2.1.3.5

If you are using Flip4Mac WMV Studio, Studio Pro, Studio Pro HD using QuickTime 7.2 should update to Flip4Mac WMV v.2.1.3.5 now to avoid errors with audio compression.

Having the ability to use audio waveforms is a very important part of editing. If you are an Avid editor you know that when you turn on the sample plot (waveforms) that, be default it will show the audio waveform for all of your audio tracks and for the complete duration of you timeline. This is okay if you want to see the whole audio track but more than likely you are trying to look at a small portion of your timeline to zero in on a problem or try and set you video to a specific beat. The best way to make the waveforms only appear where you need them is to turn on Marked Waveforms timeline settings.

Just navigate to the settings tab in your project window and then click on the timeline setting. This will open a dialog box that will allow you to turn on a feature call Show Marked Waveforms.

This now allows you to see only the waveforms between you in and out points. You can set your in and out points anywhere you want to see the waveform and it will only draw them between those two points. This not only helps you isolate you work area but saves time from watching the waveforms draw through out the whole timeline!

Envivio Inc., the leading technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions from mobile to HD, has licensed the new Microsoft VC-1 Encoder to support Windows Media Video (VC-1) within the Envivio Convergence Generation headend solution. The solution features the Envivio 4Caster C4 multichannel IP encoder for IPTV and Internet TV applications. Available today, the C4 can be configured to simultaneously encode in multiple resolutions supplying a multiscreen solution for operators wanting to expand their IP-based digital video services. At IBC2007, held in Amsterdam from September 6 - 11, 2007, the professional VC-1 encoding capabilities of the 4Caster C4 encoder will be demonstrated on the Microsoft stand in the Topaz Lounge.

The slug generator and the Replace Edit function can assistant you in finding a visual rhythm for a piece of music you have laid down.

1 First, you must remap the Add Edit function to a key from the Keyboard Layout Menu. Go to Tools > Keyboard Layout > Customize.

2 Type in the words add edit into the search bar located in the upper right of the window in order to locate the function.

3 Unlock the Keyboard Layout by cliking on the lock icon at the bottom left corner of the window, then drag the Add Edit icon to a key to replace a function that you use the least. In this example, I have remapped my numeral 1 key. Close the Custom keybaord Layout menu.

4 Click on the generator menu, which is located in the lower right hand corner of the Viewer Window and choose the slug option. You will then see that slug has been loaded into the Viewer.

5 After you have laid down your music to an audio track, edit in the slug as you would any other clip, then use the A tool (the selection tool), to fully extend the slug. More than likely, the music that you have selected will be much longer than the slug. You can either extend the edit points for the slug clip in the viewer or keep editing in the slug clip to increase its length.

6 Lock your audio track(s).

7 Now you can press the space bar to play your audio track and hit the 1 key (or whatever key you mapped the add edit function to) to add an edit point on the fly as you find a rhythm to your music track. This will work best if have been previously familiar with the song that you are using and have become acquainted with its rhythmic variations.

8 When you press the space bar againg to stop playback, you will see that the Add Edit points have been placed into your slug track.

9 Place the timeline idicator bar in the middle of one of the slug clips, this will work best if you temporarily deactivate the Snapping capability in the timeline by pressing the N key, then load a video clip into the Viewer Window by double clicking on it in the Browser Window. Click the Replace Edit key and you will see that the slug where the position indicator was parked over has been replaced by the clip in the Viewer.

You can do this for all of the add edits you have created within the slug track, then use the Slip Tool along with various others to capture the action in the clips you have laid down and to fine-tune your sequence.

Learn how to use the Slip Tool and perform Ripple Editing in Final Cut Pro!.