AVI Standards for PC Compatibility (Will Work on Macs Too)

Calvin College “Portable” Video Distribution Standards Quicktime (.mov)

Goal: The purpose of these standards is to simplify and clarify the process of using portable digital video files for educational purposes at Calvin College.

Tech Specs:

High Quality Standard Quality Codec H.264 H.264 Bitrate 1Mbps 320 kbps Resolution 640x360 or 640x480 320x180 or 320x240 Frame Rate 30fps 15fps

Audio Codec AAC AAC Bit Depth 16 16 Bitrate 128 kbps 128 kbps Sample Rate 44.1 khz 44.1 khz

Description: These two standards, High Quality and Standard Quality, should handle the needs of the vast majority of students, faculty, & staff at Calvin who need to use portable digital video in the classroom, on Knightvision, on Youtube, in podcasts, etc. -Standard Quality would be our default recommendation for normal viewing. This keeps files sizes very low, yet maintains a reasonable level of viewing quality. -High Quality would exist for the cases where increased video quality is needed or desired for enhanced readiblity of text, critical viewing of fine details, and videos with heavy use of motion content.

The Pros: -H.264 is a highly efficient codec that brings small file sizes and high quality. It has been in existence for a few years now which has allowed for wide adoption in the computing world, yet no major successor has emerged. This should help keep it a viable format that Calvin can use for many years to come. -Unlike Flash and WMV, Quicktime files are both distribution and intermediate formats, meaning that they are good for end viewers, but are also easy to edit/modify. -All Quicktime 7 installations will play the H.264 codec. -Quicktime is cross platform and is installed on all campus computers (Mac & PC). -These standards are both compatible with iPods and iPhones capable of playing video. -These standards are both compatible with iTunes for easy management of video libraries (Mac & PC). -These standards are both compatible with Knightvision. -These standards are both compatible with YouTube. -These standards are both compatible with Powerpoint for OSX. -These standards both play natively in all mainstream web browsers. -Older legacy file formats can easily be converted to one of these standards by AV or the Teaching and Learning Digital Studio.

The Cons: Playing Quicktime Files natively in the Windows version of Powerpoint is tricky. There may be an incorrect assumption that Quicktime is Mac only. Frequently asked questions concerning these recommendations

Q: What do you mean by “Portable” Digital video? A: “Portable” Digital Video refers to digital files that contain video information. They can be carried around using a variety of portable devices from CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, Flash Memory Drives, iPods, Laptops, as well as the internet.

Q: What is the H.264 codec? A: H.264 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/h.264 ) is a highly efficient compression codec that aims to solve most problems with existing video codecs. Often referred to as MPEG4, the codec is able to scale from mobile phones to HD and beyond. It is a well documented ISO standard and completely vendor independent. It can be used for both downloadable or streamed video and it is already in wide use as the format for digital TV transmissions (DVB-T, ISDB-T DVM and more). What's so great about this then? The most important will be the need for video content producers to encode to only one format. The resulting file can then be played back using the Flash Player, Quicktime, Windows Media and other video players supporting the codec.

Q: Doesn’t the Quicktime format only work on Macs? A: No, the Quicktime .MOV file format is a cross-platform file format. It works on PCs running Windows as well as Macs running OS X.

Q: Why did you select the Quicktime file format over the Flash-based video format? A: We believe the Quicktime file format uses the latest video compression technologies to offer the highest quality at the lowest file sizes possible. We also believe that there is value in being able to take a .MOV file into a digital video editor to be able to edit that file even further later on. It is much harder to edit a Flash-based video file. You may use Flash-based video, as these are our recommendations to insure a smooth playback for you; they are not requirements.

"The last few years, Flash video has been THE solution since next to everyone has the Flash Player installed. The drawback of this solution was that content providers got into a vendor lock-in since the FLV video files could only be played back using Flash Player. Now, [with H.264] we'll get a file format that all the major software video players can use. This makes it easier than ever to change what video player solution your site uses and ensures access to a huge selection of video encoding tools (If you use popular tools such as Sorenson Squeeze (http://www.sorensonmedia.com/ ), Final Cut or Adobe Premiere, you are already able to encode H264/MPG4 files). Another great advantage is that content providers can now use dedicated hardware for compressing video, something that will seriously speed up the encoding process." Citing: (n.d.). FlashMagazine.com. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from http://www.flashmagazine.com/news/detail/flash_player_to_support_h264_video/

Q: What kinds of digital video editing programs are supported here at Calvin College? A: For Mac users: iMovie For PC users: Pinnacle Studio (currently at version 11)

Q: How can I convert a digital video file from one file format to another? A: Use Quicktime Pro (costs around $29), which works on both PCs as well as on Macs.

Q: What if I have a Flash-based video and I want to take it into Pinnacle or iMovie…can I do that? If so, how? A: Yes using Visual Hub for the Mac. ($25), or come use it in our labs. Q: Can I insert a Quicktime Movie into a powerpoint presentation? A: This is complicated see list below: -Yes using the MacOSX version of Poweroint. -No using the Windows version of Powerpoint. -An alternate method for powerpoint would be to use a “insert hyperlink” tool to link to a quicktime movie on your computer.