Friday, November 23, 2012
Making Sense of Video Formats (see page 23)
Technologies for Worship Magazine - TFWM November 2012 digital edition: It happens to all of us: you had an important event and the playback tech told you what video format she needed. Still, the file didn't play properly. What happened?
A video file has many attributes that affect its quality and compatibility. They're all important, and the better you understand them, the better your videos will look.
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3 comments:
This was a pretty simple and informative breakdown of all the different types of video formats commonly used today, but I know I shan't retain any of the information this contained. Understanding the differences in video formats is something I've never been apt at; each export requires either a few frenzied Google searches or a series of painful guess-and-checks.
I can't be the only amateur filmaker dealing with this. I call for standardization!
Like Pia, I don't know what it is, but I have a feeling that I'm not going to be able to remember most of this information. It's obnoxious, because while reading it I completely understand the material and I'm all like "Yeah! This is it, today is the day that I master technology and make it my tool". And then I try to use said technology and, you guessed it, it's a complete failure. I'd like to know why it is some people seem to have such a good understanding of these things and others just don't; is it simply a matter of habit, repetition and learning or is it actually a skill that certain individuals are innately better at because of a certain disposition of mind?
I agree with Pia that there should be formal standardization industry wide but I also realize that the ope source revolution has not allowed for this to happen. With the proprietary software developers fighting to be the dominant format there will always be problems with technology not being compatible. At the current moment in theatrical application at least there needs to be internal policing and creation of these standards at the organizational level. This summer while working at Santa Fe Opera as a manager in the AV department we ran into issues of signal incompatibility and technological incompatibility. Organizations need to make sure that all staff of the organization are working with the same technology. We had offices with plasma, LCD, LED and CRT technology and were expected to ensure that the signals from the FOH camera and Meastro camera were compatible with all of these monitors which had been purchased over the past 30 years and it is very difficult. We also had issues of importing archives to be digital files because of older cameras being in the wrong aspect ratio and or having films that had degraded over time. Standardization within an organization is essential in both audio and video formatting and as media plays a larger role in this buisness we will have to try to standardize the formats and programs that we use. We as AV professionals will also have to work with the IT department to ensure that the computers have the software to play these digital files and that the codecs are up to date. It almost seems easier to start from scratch in many major institutions than to try to retroactively enforce compatibility which is what is an ongoing process at the Santa Fe Opera. We also need to work with older or less technologically savvy staff to bring them into the modern world. AV professionals at reputable organizations should no longer have to deal with setting up a VHS player to access archive footage it should be standardized in digital form accessible on the server by everyone who needs it. Standards must be created and adhered to even if it will cause people to have to learn new programs or learn new file formats and exporting procedures. While we are years if not decades away from standard formats in a macro sense we can start this crusade within our organizations. We also need to be prepared to put in the time and effort of retraining and reformatting if there is a change in standard. Unlike generations past we do not have a decade between technological advancements in video technology and if we do not maintain a push to be current and up to date on all of these formats and codecs then we will stagnate and cause major delays to productive workflow while waiting for the video to re render or waiting for a conversion program to make the file usable. With all of that said there should be one tech savvy person on staff with the tools and knowledge to make any and all video formats from actual film reels to the most modern and proprietary disney codec work on any screen and technological platform. Much like information technology, media is a field that is just nebulous to the common man that it will allow you a measure of job security until there is the standardization that I have called for in the body of this text.
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