TechTV's Guide to Creating Digital Video Like a Pro

CONTENTS AT A GLANCE......Page 2
Copyright © 2002 by Que......Page 3
CONTENTS......Page 4
INTRODUCTION......Page 14
WHAT IS SO GOOD ABOUT DIGITAL VIDEO, AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?......Page 15
PART I DIGITAL VIDEO: THE BEAUTY OF ZEROS AND ONES......Page 18
CHAPTER 1 THE HISTORY OF VIDEO: FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL......Page 20
THE HISTORY OF VIDEO IN FAST FORWARD......Page 21
THE EVOLUTION FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL......Page 23
DIGITAL VIDEO LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE......Page 24
COMPATIBILITY WITH FUTURE FORMATS......Page 25
CHAPTER 2 DIGITAL VIDEO BASICS......Page 28
DIGITAL VIDEO CODECS......Page 29
DIGITAL VIDEO FORMATS......Page 35
CHAPTER 3 THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL VIDEO......Page 40
ABOUT DVD......Page 41
HOMEMADE DVDS......Page 43
FASTER EDITING PROCESS......Page 45
DV CONQUERS THE BIG SCREEN......Page 46
HDTV: WHERE DOES IT FIT?......Page 51
OVERVIEW OF NEW DIGITAL VIDEO TECHNOLOGY......Page 52
PART II HARDWARE: CAMCORDERS AND COMPUTERS......Page 54
CHAPTER 4 DIGITAL CAMCORDER BASICS......Page 56
CCD......Page 57
LENS......Page 64
BATTERY OPTIONS......Page 65
VIEWFINDER......Page 66
LCD MONITOR......Page 67
MICROPHONE......Page 68
OPTICAL AND DIGITAL ZOOM......Page 70
OPTICAL AND DIGITAL IMAGE STABILIZATION......Page 71
SPECIAL EFFECTS......Page 73
AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL SETTINGS......Page 74
STILL PICTURE CAPABILITY......Page 80
ACCESSORY SHOE......Page 82
FIREWIRE (IEEE 1394, I.LINK)......Page 83
MEDIA OPTIONS......Page 84
OPTICAL MEDIA......Page 86
CHAPTER 5 CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAMCORDER......Page 88
THE DIFFERENT CAMCORDER TYPES......Page 89
BEST PRICE/PERFORMANCE CAMCORDERS......Page 93
BEST PROSUMER CAMCORDERS......Page 97
CHAPTER 6 CAMCORDER ACCESSORIES......Page 100
LENS FILTERS AND ATTACHMENTS......Page 101
TRIPODS AND MONOPODS......Page 107
STEADICAMS......Page 108
MICROPHONES......Page 109
LIGHTS......Page 115
RECOMMEND ACCESSORIES CHART*......Page 116
CHAPTER 7 SHOPPING TIPS......Page 118
RESEARCHING YOUR PURCHASE......Page 119
ONLINE SHOPPING......Page 127
OTHER THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING......Page 135
CHAPTER 8 CAMCORDER MAINTENANCE......Page 138
CAMCORDER ENEMIES......Page 139
CLEANING YOUR CAMCORDER......Page 143
CHAPTER 9 COMPUTER HARDWARE BASICS......Page 148
THE MINIMUM AND RECOMMENDED SPECS......Page 149
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM SPECS......Page 159
CHAPTER 10 UPGRADING OR CHOOSING A NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM......Page 160
UPGRADING YOUR COMPUTER......Page 161
BUILDING A NEW COMPUTER......Page 164
BUYING A MAJOR BRAND PC......Page 167
BUYING A TURNKEY SOLUTION......Page 170
CHOOSING AN OPERATING SYSTEM......Page 172
CHAPTER 11 COMPUTER SETUP AND MAINTENANCE......Page 176
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OPTIMAL VIDEO EDITING PERFORMANCE......Page 177
MEMORY OPTIMIZATION......Page 178
DEFRAGGING......Page 179
FIGHTING SYSTEM SLOW DOWN......Page 181
FINDING ANSWERS TO INEVITABLE COMPUTER PROBLEMS......Page 182
PROJECT 1 RESEARCHING YOUR CAMCORDER PURCHASE ONLINE......Page 186
PROJECT 2 RESEARCHING YOUR CAMCORDER PURCHASE LOCALLY......Page 188
PROJECT 3 CHECKING A RETAILER’S REPUTATION......Page 190
PROJECT 4 GETTING FAMILIAR WITH ONLINE SUPPORT RESOURCES......Page 192
PART III SHOOTING VIDEO: CAPTURING THE BEST QUALITY FOOTAGE......Page 194
CHAPTER 12 THE LIMITS OF AUTO MODE: WHEN AND HOW TO GO MANUAL......Page 196
GOING MANUAL......Page 197
MANUAL SETTINGS AND MODES......Page 198
BEST SETTINGS FOR VARIOUS SHOOTING CONDITIONS......Page 203
CHAPTER 13 A PRIMER ON LIGHTING......Page 208
DV UNDERPERFORMANCE IN LOW LIGHT......Page 209
LIGHTING OPTIONS......Page 210
FILM AND VIDEO LIGHTING......Page 213
OUTDOOR LIGHTING......Page 216
CHAPTER 14 CAMCORDER SOUND......Page 218
THE PROBLEM WITH MOTOR NOISE......Page 219
AN EXTERNAL MICROPHONE PRIMER......Page 220
WIND GUARDS......Page 225
PROJECT 5 MASTERING LOW-LIGHT ENVIRONMENTS......Page 228
PROJECT 6 MASTERING BRIGHTLY LIT ENVIRONMENTS......Page 230
PROJECT 7 MASTERING FAST ACTION VIDEO......Page 232
PROJECT 8 SELECTIVE FOCUS/EXPOSURE......Page 234
PART IV EDITING VIDEO: TURNING YOUR FOOTAGE INTO A MOVIE......Page 236
CHAPTER 15 ADVANCED PRIMER ON VIDEO/FILMMAKING: THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE ART OF CAPTURING GOOD FOOTAGE......Page 238
EXPERIENCE-BASED SCIENCE OF VIDEOGRAPHY......Page 239
THE TEXTBOOK SCIENCE OF SHOOTING GOOD VIDEO......Page 240
CHAPTER 16 CONSUMER AND PROSUMER VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE OPTIONS......Page 248
VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE FEATURES......Page 249
CONSUMER VIDEO EDITORS......Page 257
PROSUMER VIDEO EDITORS......Page 262
SETTING UP YOUR COMPUTER FOR EDITING......Page 268
IMPORTING VIDEO INTO YOUR COMPUTER......Page 269
CHAPTER 17 CONSUMER VIDEO EDITING BASICS......Page 272
STARTING YOUR PROJECT AND CAPTURING VIDEO FROM YOUR CAMCORDER......Page 273
TRIMMING YOUR CAPTURED VIDEO CLIPS......Page 278
DV VIDEO TIME CODE......Page 279
PUTTING YOUR CLIPS TOGETHER INTO A MOVIE......Page 280
ADVANCED EDITING......Page 281
FINALIZING AND OUTPUTTING YOUR MOVIE......Page 289
RENDERING TIMES (TESTED ON AN 800MHZ AMD ATHLON COMPUTER)......Page 292
CHAPTER 18 BASIC OVERVIEW OF ADOBE PREMIERE......Page 294
GETTING STARTED IN PREMIERE 6......Page 295
OVERVIEW OF THE USER INTERFACE......Page 296
OVERVIEW OF THE EFFECTS INTERFACE......Page 318
AUDIO MIXER......Page 320
NAVIGATOR, HISTORY, COMMANDS PALETTES......Page 323
MAIN MENU OPTIONS IN PREMIERE......Page 324
CHAPTER 19 BASIC EDITING IN ADOBE PREMIERE 6......Page 334
STARTING A NEW PROJECT IN PREMIERE......Page 335
CAPTURING DV VIDEO IN PREMIERE......Page 336
QUICK USER INTERFACE OVERVIEW......Page 339
EDITING SCENES FROM CAPTURED VIDEO......Page 340
USING THE STORYBOARD......Page 343
OVERVIEW OF TIMELINE INTERFACE......Page 345
ADDING TITLES......Page 354
WORKING WITH MULTIPLE VIDEO LAYERS......Page 357
OUTPUTTING YOUR VIDEOS IN PREMIERE......Page 358
CODECS: A CONSTANT EVOLUTION......Page 366
CHAPTER 20 ADVANCED MOVIE OUTPUT AND DISTRIBUTION OPTIONS......Page 368
VIDEO AUTHORING AND DISTRIBUTION OPTIONS......Page 369
AUTHORING VIDEO DATA CDS......Page 375
CREATING A VCD......Page 396
CREATING A SVCD......Page 406
CREATING XVCDS AND XSVCDS......Page 407
CREATING DVDS......Page 408
OTHER DVD AUTHORING SOLUTIONS......Page 418
OVERVIEW OF ENCODER QUALITY......Page 423
CHAPTER 21 ADVANCED VIDEO AND SOUND EDITING TECHNIQUES......Page 424
GRABBING STILL IMAGES FROM YOUR VIDEO......Page 425
REMOVING MOTOR DRIVE NOISE FROM YOUR AUDIO......Page 431
GETTING MUSIC FROM A CD INTO A COMPUTER......Page 436
CHAPTER 22 ADVANCED SPECIAL EFFECTS......Page 442
BLUE SCREEN EFFECTS......Page 443
VIDEO COMPOSITING......Page 447
CHAPTER 23 ON BEING A FILMMAKER......Page 452
DV AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO FILM......Page 453
GETTING YOUR FILMS TO THE PUBLIC......Page 458
PROJECT 9 CONTROLLING YOUR CAMCORDER VIA YOUR COMPUTER......Page 460
PROJECT 10 MAKING A SHORTMOVIE......Page 462
PROJECT 11 ENCODING A MOVIE IN MULTIPLE FORMATS......Page 464
APPENDIX A A TOUR OF TECHTV......Page 466
TECH LIVE QUICK FACTS......Page 467
NETWORK PROGRAM GUIDE......Page 468
ABOUT THE SOFTWARE......Page 472
INDEX......Page 474