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Ask Mr Video Weekly Newsletter Click Here for Membership Information! October 4th, 2007 Dear Videographer, Wow, video is REALLY popping on the net right now. There are SO many things going on! I am very glad you are getting this newsletter because I am happy to bring you some great tips and news that will help your business. Let's get started... Found Video of the Week Every week I bring you a new video that illustrates great video, great marketing or both. Enjoy! Watch The Boss Movie! Mr Video says "This amazing video shows just how powerful video can be... even if you don't have any 'video' in it. This was done by my friend Carrie at Barefoot-Executive. She is one of the most dynamic and energized people I know. Watch this video for ideas about using stills and text effectively." "Video Compression" by Perry Lawrence Video compression is sometimes a mysterious thing. I'll try to clear up some issues and give you a starting point for your Flash Video projects. First, flash video is amazing. Quicktime is generally known for its quality but the flash player is in 90% of browsers already. It's easy, and it just works. So, here are the main things that ALL affect the size of your flash video file and subsequently the download speed and impact on your server, your bandwidth and your hosting bill! These things interact with each other so you need to pay attention to all of them for the best results. Image size - The size of your image will have an impact on file size naturally. I like 320x240 as a standard. YouTube compresses down to 320x240 and then blows it up a bit. Frame Rate - also known as FPS, the number of frames per second will impact your size. TV is usually 30 fps (In Europe, PAL TV is 25 fps). Films are usually 24 fps. On the internet, you can greatly reduce your frame rate and and get excellent results. I like to start at 24 fps and reduce from there. Some videos (screen casts especially) can go all the way to 10 fps and still look great. Video Bit Rate - this is the most important setting. Flash Video looks good at 400kbps. It looks fantastic at 700kbps! I run a video site - I like to use 700. Start at 500 and experiment with settings down from there. Stop when the video gets too blocky. Audio Sample/Bit Rate - I have always said "audio is 60% of the video". An interesting thing with audio, your ears adjust to the sound quality BETTER than your eyes adjust to the quality of the video. What I mean is this: Sound quality is much more relative than video quality. Provided you recording is done well with a lavaliere mic, the compression will have little to do with the "perceived quality" of the audio, UNLESS you compare audio back to back with another compression. Try this: Set your audio at mono, 22,050 sample rate, and a 16 bit rate. While it has little effect on the size, make sure you de-interlace your video. This will eliminate the "combing" effect when the video pans or moves fast. I use Riva Video Encoder almost exclusively. It just works. It is a CBR (constant bit rate as opposed to VBR - Variable Bit Rate) encoder. I love it because it is super easy to use. If you want to cater to dial up users, you will need to sacrifice some quality for faster downloads. Since I run a video site, I cater to broadband users almost exclusively. Flash video will generally play after buffering 10% or less of the video. I hope that answers some questions about video compression. Did you like this article? Emailing it to a friend is easy. Just click below! Video Gear Review Here we go! My favorite part of every "Tip of the Week". This is where we get to look at some neat toys tools! This tip is worth about $300 to $700 dollars! I recently came across a software that I have been hunting for for almost 6 months. I wanted to be able to recommend a FLV converter that also would do transparent flash. There were only two or three very expensive solutions out there and I felt bed that my "Transparent Flash" video walk-on effect needed these very expensive tools. All that changed when I found Flash Video MX Pro by FLVsoft. Flash Video MX Pro is a VERY affordable tool you need to check out. It converts video to flv and swf but more importantly, it can output transparent flvs! Flash Video MX Pro is enhanced to support the On2 Codes which is what is needed for alpha channel flvs. At $69 it is a no-brainer. Get Flash Video MX Pro Be sure to read this. May not work with Vista!   Do you know somebody who would find this review useful? Email it right to them. AskMrVideo.com Forum Highlights Every member has complete access to the AMV discussion forum, which is constantly being accessed by members sharing information, knowledge, insight, and fun. With an active community that's growing daily, this is one heck of a valuable resource! Here are some recent posts on the forums: Posted Oct 03,2007 6:50 AM domain Interesting article about the growth in online how-to videos: Here Thanks Mike Posted Sep 27,2007 6:38 PM mcowdell Perry, I read in the newsletter about using the zebra function. Could you elaborate a little more on that topic. I have never used the zebra funtion and I do have it on my camera. Thanks Posted Sep 29,2007 12:19 AM Perry I will post a brief tutorial this weekend. Perry Posted Sep 29,2007 2:08 PM Perry Here is the tutorial I mentioned: http://www.askmrvideo.com/members/257.cfm Perry Join the discussion today! CLICK HERE TO JOIN NOW! Closing Thoughts Member Feedback: Some of the best ideas, tips and thoughts come from other AMV members just like you! So if you have something you'd like to share with the rest of us, please don't hesitate to send me a message. Click Here for Membership Information! This note came from Gary Elley - a new How-To DVD Producer! --- Perry, Man I love the energy in your discussion forum! It's a great feeling knowing that I'm going to get personal attention from an industry veteran anytime I need to ask a question. Gary Elley KeywordMarketer.com --- Thanks Gary! You have GOT to check out Gary's site. Some of the best video keying I have ever seen! Perry Lawrence "Mr Video" http://www.AskMrVideo.com Merchant Services The AskMrVideo.com Website uses 128-Bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to transmit your personal information to our secure servers. Still not sure you want to do this over the internet? Well, just give me a call at 800-531-5718.