Multimedia

Principles

Chapter 8

Video

TMH Chapter - 8 1
 Video
Introduction
ƒ Motion video (or simply video) is a combination of image and
audio. It consists of a set of still images called frames displayed
to the user one after another at a specific speed, known as the
frame rate measured in number of frames per second (fps).

ƒ If displayed fast enough our eye cannot distinguish the individual

frames, but because of persistence of vision merges the
individual frames with each other thereby creating an illusion of
motion.

ƒ The frame rate should range between 20 and 30 for perceiving

smooth realistic motion. Audio is added and synchronized with
the apparent movement of images.

TMH Chapter - 8 2
 Video
Introduction

TMH Chapter - 8 3
 Video
Introduction
ƒ Motion picture is recorded on celluloid film and displayed in cinema
theaters by projecting on a screen, whereas motion video is represented
in the form of electrical signals as an output from video cameras.

ƒ Motion video is also conceptually similar to animation, the difference

being that while video represents a sequence of real world images
captured by a movie camera which depict an event that physically took
place in reality, while an animation sequence consists of images drawn
by artists, by hand or software.

ƒ It was only after the advent of the Pentium-II processor coupled with
cost reduction of video compression hardware, that full screen digital
video finally became a reality.

TMH Chapter - 8 4
 Video
Video Camera
ƒ Analog video cameras are used to record a succession of still
images and then convert the brightness and color information of
the images into electrical signals.

ƒ The visual image in front of the video camera is presented to the

user by an optical lens. This lens focuses the scene on the
photosensitive surface of a tube in the same way that the lens of
a camera focuses the image on the film surface

ƒ The photo-sensitive surface, called Target, is a form of semi-

conductor. It is almost an insulator in the absence of light. With
absorption of energy caused by light striking the target, electrons
acquire sufficient energy to take part in current flow.

TMH Chapter - 8 5
 Video
Video Camera

TMH Chapter - 8 6
 Video
Video Camera
ƒ The electrons migrate towards a positive potential applied to the
lens side of the target. This positive potential is applied to a thin
layer of conductive but transparent material.

ƒ The vacant energy states left by the liberated electrons, called

holes, migrate towards the inner surface of the target.

ƒ Thus a charge pattern appears on the inner surface of the target

that is most positive where the brightness or luminosity of the
scene is the greatest.

TMH Chapter - 8 7
 Video
Video Camera
ƒ The charge pattern is sampled point-by-point by a moving beam of
electrons which originates in an electron gun in the tube.

ƒ The beam scans the charge pattern in the same way a raster is
produced in a monitor but approach the target at a very low velocity.

ƒ The beam deposits just enough carriers to neutralize the charge pattern
formed by the holes. Excess electrons are turned back towards the
source.

ƒ The exact number of electrons needed to neutralize the charge pattern

constitute a flow of current in a series circuit. It is this current flowing
across a load resistance that forms the output signal voltage of the tube.

TMH Chapter - 8 8
 Video
Video Camera
ƒ A color TV camera essentially consists of three camera tubes in which
each tube receives selectively filtered primary colors.

ƒ Each camera tube develops a signal voltage proportional to the

respective color intensity received by it.

ƒ Light from the scene is processed by the objective lens system. The
image formed by the lens is split into three images by glass prisms.

ƒ Thus red, green and blue images are formed. These pass through color
filters which provide highly precise primary color images which are
converted into video signals by the camera tubes. This generates the
three color signals R, G and B.

TMH Chapter - 8 9
 Video
Video Camera

TMH Chapter - 8 10
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ When the displaying monitor is at a far off distance from the
camera, for example in the case of TV transmission, technical
difficulties are encountered in transmitting these signals in the
original R, G, B format.

ƒ Firstly, it requires three separate cables or wires or channels

which increases the cost of the setup for large distances.

ƒ Secondly, it was found difficult to transmit the cables at exact

synchronism with each other so that they arrived at the same
instant at the receiving end.

TMH Chapter - 8 11
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ Thirdly, for TV signals, the transmission scheme had to adapt to
the existing monochrome TV transmission set up i.e. the same
signals would need to produce a monochrome image in a B/W
TV set and a color image in a color TV set.

ƒ Due to these reasons, a new format called YC format was

developed which addressed all these issues.

ƒ Additionally it provided a means of compressing the data during

transmission for reducing the bandwidth requirements.

TMH Chapter - 8 12
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ According to the theory formulated by Helmholtz the light
sensitive cells are of two types – rods and cones.

ƒ The rods provide brightness sensation and thus perceive objects

in various shades of grey from black to white.

ƒ The cones that are sensitive to color are broadly divided in three
different groups. One set of cones detect the presence of blue
color, the second set perceives red color and the third is
sensitive to the green shade.

TMH Chapter - 8 13
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ The sensitivity of the human eye is greatest for the green-yellow
range decreasing towards both the red and blue ends of the
spectrum. This is the human color perception curve.

TMH Chapter - 8 14
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ Based on the spectral response curve and extensive tests with a
large number of observers, the relative intensities of the primary
colors for color transmission e.g. for color television, has been
standardized.

ƒ The reference white for color television transmission has been

chosen to be a mixture of 30% red, 59% green and 11% blue.

ƒ These percentages are based on the light sensitivities of the eye

to different colors.

TMH Chapter - 8 15
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ The luminance component, describes the variation of perceived
brightness by the HVS in different portions of the image without regard
to any color information e.g. an image with only the luminance
information would be a grayscale image similar to that seen on a
monochrome TV set. The luminance component is denoted by Y.

ƒ The chrominance component, describes the variation of color

information in different parts of the image without regard to any
brightness information.

ƒ It is denoted by C and consists of two sub-components : hue (H) which

is the actual name of the color e.g. red, and saturation (S) which
denotes the purity of the color i.e. how much gray is mixed with the
original color e.g. bright red, dull red etc.

TMH Chapter - 8 16
 Video
Video Transmission

TMH Chapter - 8 17
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ The RGB output signals from a video camera are transformed to
YC format using electronic circuitry before being transmitted.

ƒ At the receiving end for a B/W TV, the C component is discarded

and only the Y component is used to display a B/W image.

ƒ For a color TV, the YC components are again converted back to

RGB signals which are used to drive the electron guns of a CRT.

TMH Chapter - 8 18
 Video
Video Transmission

TMH Chapter - 8 19
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ To generate the YC signals from the RGB signals they have to be
defined quantitatively i.e. how Y and C are related to R, G and B.

ƒ The relation between Y and RGB which is used unanimously nowadays

is shown below:

Y = 0.3R + 0.59G + 0.11B

ƒ This states that the brightness of an image is composed of 30% of red

information, 59% of green information and 11% of blue information. This
implies that a slight change in green color would produce a relatively
large change in brightness than an equivalent change in red or blue.

TMH Chapter - 8 20
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ The C sub-components i.e. H and S, are quantitatively defined in
terms of color difference signals referred to as blue chrominance
(Cb) and red chrominance (Cr). These are defined as shown
below:

Cb = B – Y
Cr = R – Y

ƒ Physically the Y signal is obtained from R, G, B signals through a

resistor bridge. An impedance of 30 KΩ is connected in parallel
to each of the signals Vr, Vg and Vb output from the tube
camera, while impedances of 70 KΩ, 20 KΩ and 270 KΩ are
connected in series.
TMH Chapter - 8 21
 Video
Video Transmission

TMH Chapter - 8 22
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ The color difference signals are generated by inverting Y and
adding the inverted signal separately to R and B to obtain (R-Y)
or Cr and (B-Y) or Cb

TMH Chapter - 8 23
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ Conversion of RGB signals into YC format also has another
important advantage of utilizing less bandwidth through the use
of chroma subsampling.

ƒ Studies on visual perception of the eye have shown that the

human eye is less sensitive to color than to brightness. This
means that small differences in color information are ignored by
the eye.

ƒ This limitation can be exploited to transmit reduced color

information as compared to brightness information, a process
called chroma-subsampling, and save on bandwidth
requirements.

TMH Chapter - 8 24
 Video
Video Transmission
ƒ There are different schemes of chroma sub-sampling. In the
4:2:2 scheme for every 4 units (pixels) of Y information, only 2
units each of Cb and Cr will be transmitted.

ƒ The 4:4:4 scheme implies no chroma subsampling, i.e. each

pixel has Y, Cr and Cb values.

ƒ The 4:1:1 scheme implies chroma is sub-sampled at one fourth

the horizontal frequency as luma

ƒ The 4:2:0 scheme implies both horizontal and vertical sub-

sampling. For every 4 pixels of Y information there are 2 pixels of
C information both along a row as well along a column.
TMH Chapter - 8 25
 Video
Video Transmission

TMH Chapter - 8 26
 Video
Video Signal Formats
Component video

ƒ This refers to a video signal which is stored or transmitted as

three separate component signals. The simplest form is the
collection of R, G and B signals which usually form the output of
analog video cameras.

ƒ Three separate wires and connectors are usually used to convey

such signals from the camera to another device for storage or
playback.

ƒ Usually three RCA connectors are used for the purpose.

TMH Chapter - 8 27
 Video
Video Signal Formats
Composite video

ƒ For ease is signal transmission, specially TV broadcasting, as also to

reduce cable / channel requirements, component signals are often
combined into a single signal which is transmitted along a single wire or
channel.

ƒ Usually the luminance-chrominance format is used for composite video

transmission, either YIQ or YUV depending on whether the broadcasting
standard is NTSC or PAL respectively.

ƒ Composite video is transferred from one device to another through a

single RCA jack, usually colored yellow e.g. from a VCR/VCP to a TV.

TMH Chapter - 8 28
 Video
Video Signal Formats
S-video

ƒ Short for Super-video. An analog video signal format where the

luminance and chrominance portions are transmitted separately
using multiple wires instead of the same wire as for composite
video.

ƒ The picture quality is better than that of composite video because

of reduced interference but the cable is more expensive, and is
usually found in high end VCRs and capture cards.

ƒ The connector used is a 4-pin mini- DIN connector with 75 ohm

termination impedance.
TMH Chapter - 8 29
 Video
Video Signal Formats

TMH Chapter - 8 30
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
NTSC
ƒ NTSC is short for National Television Systems Committee. It is a
broadcast standard used in USA and Japan which uses 525 horizontal
lines at 30 (29.97) frames / sec.

ƒ It uses composite video format where luma is denoted by Y and chroma

components by I and Q. While Y utilizes 4 MHz bandwidth of a
television channel, I uses 1.5 MHz and Q only 0.5 MHz.

ƒ Y, I and Q can be expressed as combinations of RGB as shown below :

Y = 0.3R + 0.59G + 0.11B
I = 0.74(R-Y) – 0.27(B-Y) = 0.599R – 0.276G – 0.324B
Q = 0.48(R-Y) + 0.41(B-Y) = 0.212R – 0.528G + 0.311B
TMH Chapter - 8 31
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
PAL
ƒ Phase Alternation Lines. Broadcast standard used in Europe, Australia,
South Africa, India. Uses 625 horizontal lines at 25 frames / sec.

ƒ Uses composite video format where luma is denoted by Y and chroma

components by U and V. While Y utilizes 4 MHz bandwidth of a
television channel, U and V both uses 1.3 MHz each.

ƒ U and V can be expressed as a linear combination of RGB as shown

below :
Y = 0.3R + 0.59G + 0.11B
U = 0.493(B-Y) = –0.147R – 0.289G + 0.437B
V = 0.877(R-Y) = 0.615R – 0.515G – 0.100B
TMH Chapter - 8 32
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
SECAM
ƒ Sequential Color and Memory (systeme electronique couleur avec
memoire) is a standard developed in France and used in eastern
Europe, Russia and Middle East.

ƒ The fundamental difference between the SECAM system and the NTSC
and PAL system is that the latter transmit and receive two color signals
simultaneously while in the SECAM system only one of the two
difference signals is transmitted at a time. It also uses 625 horizontal
lines at 25 frames/sec.

ƒ Here the color difference signals are denoted by DR and DB and both
occupies 1.5 MHz each. They are given by the relations:
Y = 0.3R + 0.59G + 0.11B
DR = -1.9(R-Y) = -1.33R +1.121G + 0.209B
TMH DB = 1.5(B-Y) = -0.45R –Chapter
0.885G - 8 + 1.335B 33
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards

ƒ Improved Definition Television (IDTV) is an attempt to improve

NTSC image by using digital memory to double the scanning
lines from 525 to 1050.

ƒ The pictures are only slightly more detailed than NTSC images
because the signal does not contain any new information.

ƒ By separating the chrominance and luminance parts of the video

signal, IDTV prevents cross-interference between the two.

TMH Chapter - 8 34
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ The international body for television standards, the International
Telecommunications Union – Radiocommunications Branch (ITU-R)
formerly known as the Consultative Committee for International
Radiocommunications (CCIR), defined a standard for digitization of
video signals known as CCIR-601 Recommendations.

ƒ A color video signal has three components – a luminance component

and two chrominance components. The CCIR format has two options :
one for NTSC TV and another for PAL TV systems, both are interlaced.

ƒ The NTSC system uses 525 lines/frame at 30 frames/second. The

luminance frames of this format have 720 × 480 active pixels. The
chrominance frames have two kinds of formats, one has 360 × 480
active pixels and is referred to as 4:2:2 format, while the other has 360 ×
240 active pixels and is referred to as 4:2:0 format.
TMH Chapter - 8 35
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ The PAL format uses 625 lines/frame at 25 frames/second. Its
luminance frame has 720 × 576 active pixels and chrominance
frame has 360 × 576 active pixels for the 4:2:2 format and 360 ×
288 active pixels for the 4:2:0 format.

ƒ A sampling rate of 13.5 MHz for the luminance signal and 6.75
MHz for the chrominance signal, for 4:2:2 sub-sampled signal,
with 8-bits per sample, is selected for both NTSC and PAL

TMH Chapter - 8 36
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ Common Intermediate Format (CIF) is a non-interlaced format. Its
luminance resolution has 360 × 288 pixels/frame at 30 frames/second
and the chrominance has half the luminance resolution in both
horizontal and vertical directions.

ƒ Since its line value 288 represents half the active lines in the PAL
television signal, and its picture rate 30 frames/second is the same as
the NTSC system, it is a common intermediate format for both PAL and
NTSC systems.

ƒ In the NTSC system only a conversion of line number is needed while in

the PAL system only a picture rate conversion is required. CIF is usually
used for video-conferencing applications.

Y = 360 × 288, Cb = Cr = 180 × 144

TMH Chapter - 8 37
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ Source Input Format (SIF) has luminance resolution of 360 × 240
pixels/frame at 30 frames/second or 360 × 288 pixels/frame at 25
frames/second.

ƒ For both cases the resolution of the chrominance components is

half of the luminance resolution in both horizontal and vertical
dimensions. SIF can be easily obtained from the CCIR format
using sub-sampling.

Y = 360 × 240, Cb = Cr = 180 × 120, for NTSC

Y = 360 × 288, Cb = Cr = 180 × 144, for PAL

TMH Chapter - 8 38
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ High Definition (HD) video is a new standard for digital video for
improving picture quality compared to the standard NTSC or PAL
formats. They require a high definition monitor or TV screen (HDTV) to
be viewed and have been defined as the ITU-R recommendations
formerly known as CCIR

ƒ There are two alternate formats one relating to the standard 4:3 aspect
ratio screens with 1440 × 1152 pixels (1080 visible), and the other to the
16:9 aspect ratio wide screens with 1920 × 1152 pixels (1080 visible).

ƒ Both use either 4:2:2 sub-sampling scheme for studio applications with
50/60 Hz frame refresh rate, or 4:2:0 scheme for broadcast applications
with 25/30 Hz refresh rate.

TMH Chapter - 8 39
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ Additionally there are three other standards based on MPEG-2 coding
The first standard called Advanced Television (ATV) in North America,
formulated by a large number of TV manufacturers known as the Grand
Alliance.

ƒ It includes the ITU-R HDTV specification of 1920 by 720, but includes a

lower resolution of 1280 by 720. The video compression algorithm in
both cases is based on the main profile at high profile (MP@HL) of the
MPEG-2 standard, and audio coding is based on Dolby AC-3.

ƒ The second standard called Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) in Europe

defines a resolution of 1440 × 1080 pixels. The video compression
standard is based on the spatially scalable profile at the high 1440 level
(SSP@H1440) of MPEG-2. The audio compression is based on MPEG-
1 Audio Layer-2.
TMH Chapter - 8 40
 Video
TV Broadcasting Standards
ƒ The third standard called Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling
Encoding (MUSE) in Japan and Asia defines a resolution of 1920
× 1035 lines per frame. The video compression standard is
similar to MP@ML.

TMH Chapter - 8 41
 Video
Digital Video
ƒ Displaying video on a PC monitor requires powerful video
adapter card, system processor and a high speed bus
connecting the two.

ƒ For a screen size of 640 × 480, 24-bit color and a frame rate of
25 frames per second, the bit rate necessary to display smooth
motion without jerking and stoppages amounts to 22500 KB/sec.

ƒ In the early days of PC video this was either not achievable or

prohibitively expensive, due to which video was displayed
usually in small windows 1/16th the size of the screen.

TMH Chapter - 8 42
 Video
Digital Video
ƒ Displaying full screen video only became a reality after the
advent of the Pentium-II processor together with fast disks
capable of delivering the required output.

ƒ Even with these powerful resources delivering video files was

difficult, until the reduction in prices of compression hardware
and software.

ƒ Nowadays video is rarely viewed in the uncompressed form

unless there is specific reason for doing so e.g. to maintain the
high quality for medical analysis.

TMH Chapter - 8 43
 Video
Digital Video Camera
ƒ Light passing through the lens of the camera is focused on a chip called
CCD.

ƒ The surface of the CCD is covered with an array of transistors that

create electrical current in proportion to the intensity of the light striking
them.

ƒ The transistors make up the pixels of the image. The transistors

generate a continuous analog electrical signal that goes to an ADC
which translates the signal to a digital stream of data.

ƒ The ADC sends the digital information to a digital signal processor

(DSP) that has been programmed specifically to manipulate
photographic images.

TMH Chapter - 8 44
 Video
Digital Video Camera
ƒ The DSP adjusts the contrast and brightness of the image, and
compresses the data before sending it to the camera’s storage
medium.

ƒ The image is temporarily stored on a hard drive, RAM, floppy or

tape built into the camera’s body before being transferred to the
PC’s permanent storage.

TMH Chapter - 8 45
 Video
Digital Video Camera

TMH Chapter - 8 46
 Video
Digitization
ƒ Two main components : Source and Source device Capture
device

ƒ During capture the visual component and audio component are

captured separately and automatically synchronized.

ƒ Source device must use PAL or NTSC playback and must have
Composite video or S-video output ports.

TMH Chapter - 8 47
 Video
Digitization
ƒ The source and source device can be the following :

– Camcorder with pre-recorded video tape

– VCP with pre-recorded video cassette
– Video camera with live footage
– Video CD with Video CD player

TMH Chapter - 8 48
 Video
Digitization

TMH Chapter - 8 49
 Video
Digitization
ƒ A video capture card is an expansion board that can handle a variety of
different audio and video input signals and convert them from analog to
digital or vice versa.

ƒ Rendering support for a variety of TV signal formats e.g. NTSC, PAL,

SECAM, imposes a level of complexity in the design together with
recently introduced standards for HDTV.

ƒ The circuit board consists of the following components :

(1) Video INPUT port to accept the video input signals from
NTSC/PAL/SECAM broadcast signals, video camera or VCR. The input
port may conform to the composite-video or S-video standards.

TMH Chapter - 8 50
 Video
Digitization
(2) Video compression-decompression hardware for video data.
(3) Audio compression-decompression hardware for audio data.
(4)A/D converter to convert the analog input video signals to digital form.
(5)Video OUTPUT port to feed output video signals to camera and VCR.
(6) D/A converter to convert the digital video data to analog signals for
feeding to output analog devices.
(7) Audio INPUT/OUTPUT ports for audio input and output functions.

TMH Chapter - 8 51
 Video
Digitization
ƒ The main components of a video capture card also called video frame
grabber include the following :

ƒ Channel multiplexer - Since a video capture card supports a number of

input ports e.g. composite video, S-video and a number of input formats
e.g. NTSC, PAL, HDTV, a video channel multiplexer allows the proper
input port and format to be selected under program control

ƒ ADC - The analog to digital converter (ADC) reads the input analog
video signal, from an analog video camera or VCP, and digitizes it using
standard procedures of sampling and quantization. The parameters for
digitization include the sampling rate for the visual and audio portions,
the color depth and the frame rate.

TMH Chapter - 8 52
 Video
Digitization
ƒ Image processing parameters - include specifying the brightness,
contrast, color, audio volume etc. which are specified using the video
capture software.

ƒ These parameters are changed using a lookup table which converts the
value of an input pixel or audio sample in a pre-defined way and writes it
to an appropriate frame buffer of the capture card before being written
as a file on the hard disk.

ƒ CODEC - The video capture card often contains a chip for hardware
compression and decompression of video data in real time. There can
be multiple standards like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.261/263, which would
require a programmable CODEC on the card.

TMH Chapter - 8 53
 Video
Digitization

TMH Chapter - 8 54
 Video
Digitization
ƒ The following capabilities might be provided by a video capture
software, often bundled with a capture card.

ƒ AVI Capture - This allows capture and digitization of the input

analog video signals from external devices and conversion to an
AVI file on the disk of the computer. No compression is applied
to the video data and hence this is suitable for small files.

ƒ AVI to MPEG Converter - This utility allows the user to convert a

captured AVI file to MPEG format. Here the MPEG compression
algorithm is applied to an AVI file and a separate MPG file is
created on the disk.

TMH Chapter - 8 55
 Video
Digitization
ƒ MPEG Capture - Certain cards allow the user to capture video directly in
the MPEG format. Here analog video data is captured, digitized and
compressed at the same time before being written to the disk. This is
suitable for capturing large volumes of video data.

ƒ DAT to MPEG Converter - This utility converts the DAT format of a

Video-CD into MPEG. Conversion to MPEG is usually done for editing
purposes.

ƒ MPEG Editor - Some capture software provide the facility of editing an

MPEG file. The MPG movie file is opened in a timeline structure and
functions are provided for splitting the file into small parts by specifying
the start and end of each portion.

TMH Chapter - 8 56
 Video
File Formats
ƒ AVI - The native file format for Windows platform. Within a single file
video and audio data are kept in small chunks and arranged close
together on the disk.

ƒ This is to maintain synchronization between audio and video portions by

avoiding delays due to seek times. This architecture is called Video for
Windows by Microsoft.

ƒ Originally defined as an uncompressed format, hence file sizes could be

large. AVI files can be played using Windows Media Player.

TMH Chapter - 8 57
 Video
File Formats
ƒ Quicktime - Developed by Apple for both Mac and Windows
platforms.

ƒ Requires a software called Movie Player for playback, which is

freely downloadable from the Apple website
(www.apple.com/quicktime)

ƒ MOV is a compressed format and supports a number of

CODECs. These include Graphics (for 8-bit images), Video (uses
both spatial and temporal compression), Animation (designed for
clips that use large areas of solid colors).

TMH Chapter - 8 58
 Video
File Formats
ƒ MPEG - Lossy compression format based on intra-frame and inter-
frame redundancy.

ƒ MPEG-1, developed in 1991, was designed for CD-ROM applications

and Video-CDs, and provide a quality comparable to VHS. Designed for
a bit rate of 1.5 Mbps

ƒ MPEG-2, developed in 1994, was designed for DVD applications. Basic

principle is based on I,P and B frames

ƒ Additional features in MPEG-2 include : support for interlaced video,

support for panning window, coding at multiple resolutions and quality
levels, variable bit rates (2-15 Mbps) etc
TMH Chapter - 8 59
 Video
File Formats
ƒ H.261/H.263 - Developed in 1993 for video-telephony and video-
conferencing applications.

ƒ H.261 is similar to MPEG as it uses DCT based algorithms to remove

intraframe redundancies and motion estimation algorithms for interframe
redundancies.

ƒ The main difference is that it does not use B-frames as encoder-to-

decoder delay is a critical issue for lip synchronization.

ƒ H.263 was an improvement over H.261 supporting very low bit rates
below 64 Kbps.

TMH Chapter - 8 60
 Video
File Formats
ƒ Real Video - The RV file format was developed by Real
Networks for playing video files from web pages.

ƒ It supports streaming which means that the video file starts

playing even before they are fully downloaded from the Internet.

ƒ A program called Real Player is required to play back a RV file,

which is freely downloadable from the Real Networks web site.

TMH Chapter - 8 61
 Video
File Formats
ƒ Indeo Video Interactive - This CODEC by Intel is used for video
distributed over the Internet for computers with MMX or Pentium II
processors. This CODEC includes features like flexible keyframe
control, chroma keying, on-the-fly cropping that reduces data load. Also
this CODEC employs a progressive download feature that adapts to
different network bandwidths.

ƒ Cinepak - Cinepak was originally developed to play small movies on

'386 and '030 systems, from a single-speed CD-ROM drive. Its greatest
strength is its extremely low CPU requirements. As computers have
continued to advance in the years since Cinepak was created,
developers are now using Cinepak at higher (and lower) datarates than
it was originally designed for, and making ever-larger movies.

TMH Chapter - 8 62
 Video
File Formats
ƒ Sorenson Video - This CODEC supported by the Quicktime
architecture is useful for compressing 24-bit video intended for
CD-ROM applications and downloadable WWW video files.
Similar to Cinepak, the newer CODEC is designed for high
quality at data rates under 200 KBps.

ƒ VDOLive - VDOLive is a architecture for web video delivery,

created by VDOnet Corporation. VDOLive is a server-based, true
streaming architecture that actually adjusts to viewers'
connections as they watch movies. Thus, true streaming movies
play in real-time with no delays for downloading.

TMH Chapter - 8 63
 Video
File Formats
ƒ DivX - DivX is a video CODEC created by DivX Inc. (formerly
DivXNetworks Inc.) known for its ability to compress lengthy video
segments into small sizes. DivX 4 was released in July 2001. DivX, Inc.
has applied for patents on parts of the latest DivX codec, which is fully
MPEG-4-Advanced Simple Profile compliant.

ƒ XviD - XviD is a GPL open source MPEG-4 video codec. Originally

based on OpenDivX, XviD was started by a group of volunteer
programmers after the OpenDivX source was closed. XviD features
MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile features such as b-frames, quarter
pixel motion compensation, global motion compensation, and H.263,
MPEG and custom quantisation matrices.

TMH Chapter - 8 64
 Video
Video Editing
ƒ Online editing is a practice of doing all editing (including the
rough cut) on the same computer that will produce the final cut.

ƒ Previously online editing had to be done on expensive high-end

workstations designed to meet the picture quality and data
processing requirements of broadcast quality video.

ƒ In offline editing the video is edited using lower quality copies of

the original clips and then produce the final version on a high-
end system. Offline editing was developed to save money by
editing in a less expensive facility.

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ Timecode defines how frames within a video are numbered.

ƒ The Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers (SMPTE)

defined a timecode with a format hh:mm:ss:ff

ƒ When NTSC color system was developed the frame rate was changed
by a small amount from 30 to 29.97 to eliminate crosstalk between color
and audio information.

ƒ Because of this SMPTE time and real time (what the clock displays)
might be different over periods of time.

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ This has led to the development of two methods : Drop and Non-drop

ƒ In SMPTE Non-Drop method, time codes are incremented by one in

exact synchronization to the frames in the video

ƒ However since the video actually plays at 29.97 frames per sec rather
than 30 frames per sec, SMPTE time will increment at a slower rate
than real world time.

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ Thus after a while the clock on the wall would be ahead than the
SMPTE time displayed in the video.

ƒ Since 29.97 frames are played back in 1 sec. of real time, playing 30
frames would actually take 1.001 sec of real time.

ƒ A difference of 0.03 frames per second translates to (0.03 * 60 * 60) =

108 frames per hour (or 3.6 seconds)

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ SMPTE Drop Method tries to compensate for this discrepancy by
accelerating the frame counting by “dropping frames”.

ƒ This means that occasionally SMPTE time will jump forward at a faster
speed to catch up with real time.

ƒ This is done by incrementing frame numbers by two at specific instants

instead of one.

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ The time is adjusted by two frames on every minute boundary i.e. after
00:01:59:29 the next SMPTE Drop Frame time code should be
00:02:00:00 but is actually 00:02:00:02

ƒ Hence codes like 00:02:00:00 do not exist in SMPTE Drop method.

ƒ Since frame numbers are increased by 2 every minute, in one hour the
total increase would be 120 frames.

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ Since the requirement is for 108 frames only, the incrementing is not
done on the following minute boundaries : 00, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.

ƒ This decreases the total incrementing by (2 * 6) = 12 frames from the

otherwise 120 frames increase, thereby giving us the required 108
frames jump.

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Video Editing
SMPTE Timecode
ƒ In SMPTE Drop Frame method no information is lost, since the method
does not actually drop frames, only frame numbers.

ƒ To distinguish from the Non-drop method, in Drop method the numbers

are separated by semicolons rather than colons i.e. 00;02;00;02 (drop-
frame) and 00:02:00:00 (non-drop frame).

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Video Editing
Timebase
ƒ Timebase specifies the time divisions that the editing software
uses to calculate the time position of an editing change.

ƒ For best results, the timebase should match the final frame rate
of the exported video.

ƒ Frame rates of source video can be different:

Motion picture film : 24 fps, PAL and SECAM video : 25 fps,
NTSC video : 29.97 fps, Web application : 15 fps, CD-ROM
applications : 30 fps

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Video Editing
Timebase
ƒ Suppose you are asked to combine motion-picture captured at 24 fps
with video source clips captured at 30 fps and export the final video for
an application supporting 15 fps.

ƒ A common timebase is required for editing work.

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Video Editing
Timebase
ƒ For the 30 fps clip, using a timebase of 30 displays all frames as
expected (half second shown below).

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Video Editing
Timebase
ƒ For a 24 fps to be adjusted within a timebase of 30, frames 1, 5 and 9
need to be repeated.
ƒ Clips in an editing software with timebase of 30 would need to discard
every alternate frames for an exported frame rate of 15 fps.

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Video Editing
Timebase
ƒ On the other hand, if timebase within the editing software is 24 and final
video is to be exported at 15 fps, then frames 3, 6, 8 and 11 need to be
discarded.

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Video Editing
Edit Decision List (EDL)
ƒ An EDL is used in offline editing for recording the edit points.

ƒ It contains the names of the original clips, the In and Out points, and
other editing information.

ƒ In Premiere editing decisions in the Timeline are recorded in text format

and then exported in one of the EDL formats

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Video Editing
Edit Decision List (EDL)
ƒ A standard EDL contains the following columns:
(a) Header – Contains title and type of timecode (drop-frame or
nondrop-frame) (b) Source Reel ID – Identifies the name or number of
the videotape containing the source clips
(c) Edit Mode – Indicates whether edits take place on video track, audio
track or both.
(d) Transition type – Describes the type of transition e.g. wipe, cut etc.
(e) Source In and Source Out – Lists timecodes of first and last frames
of clips
On a high-end system the EDL is accepted by an edit controller which
applies the editing changes to the high-quality clips.

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