Fort Collins Video, LLC - Digital Video FAQ

To submit questions to, or augment this FAQ please click here, or email to info@ftcvideo.com with a subject of "Digital Video FAQ".

A1: At Fort Collins Video, we use standard DVD-5s. These are the most common blank DVDs that you can find for sale in any computer or office supply store. DVD-5s can hold 4.7Gb of information. Ok, fine. Now how much video can fit in 4.7Gb? The answer to that is . . . it depends. Video DVDs that can play in your standard DVD player store video in a compressed format called MPEG-2. The key term in the previous sentence is compressed. When video information is prepared for a DVD a decision is made on how much compression to use. The more compression that is applied, the more video will fit on the DVD. However, the more compression that is applied the lower the quality of the resulting video. Degradation due to compression is most noticeable in video that has a lot of motion (like a soccer game). Different people have different tolerances for the distortion that occurs from too much compression. It is somewhat subjective. Most people can see little or no compression caused problems with 90 minutes or less video on a disc. Most people will see compression caused problems with more than 2 hours on a disc. To get the best quality possible, keep the video to 70 minutes or less.

A2: In their day analog video tapes like VHS, VHS-C, and Hi-8 were state-of-the-art and served to preserve our memories well. But video tapes by their very nature have built-in issues that limit their lifetime. The VCRs that play those analog tapes have complex mechanisms (have you ever seen one taken apart, or tried to fix one? Sheesh, it's nearly impossible!). Every time you play a tape it rubs against the quickly spinning video head and part of the signal is lost when small particles detach from the tape. Worse than that, with age both the VCRs and tapes don't work as well and the ultimate disaster can strike - the VCR eats the tape! Did you know that your video tapes are degrading just by sitting on the shelf? That's right, the tape will slowly de-magnetize over time.

The DVD solves these problems! When the DVD is read, there is no physical contact with a "tape head". The DVD is read in a non-destructive way with a low-powered laser. The lifetime of the DVDs we use have been estimated to be as long as 100 years. The DVD has other benefits too:

A3: Unfortunately, there are two world-wide standards for Standard Definition video.

NTSC "National Television System Committee"	720x480	Used primarily in the Americas.
PAL "Phase Alternating Line"	720x576	Used primarily in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Typically video made for one standard will not play on the other. Although, there's a better chance of getting an NTSC source to play on a PAL device than vice-versa.

Standard Definition NTSC (480i)	720x480 (.35 megapixels)
Standard Definition PAL	720x576 (.41 megapixels)
High Definition (720p)	1280x720 (.92 megapixels)
High Definition (1080p, 1080i)	1920x1080 (2.1 megapixels)
Digital Cinema (2k)	2048x1080 (2.2 megapixels)
Digital Cinema (4k)	4096x2160 (8.8 megapixels)

Q5: [updated 5/7/08]: What are the differences between duplication and replication?

A5: Duplication of CDs and DVDs involves burning the discs with a laser. This is the process you use with your computer at home. Replication of CDs and DVDs involves a stamping process where a glass master is made from the data and all copies are stamped or pressed from that master. When you purchase a Hollywood movie, or buy a CD from a nationally known artist there's a 99% chance that those discs were replicated, not duplicated.

Because of the overhead in equipment costs and creation of the glass master, replication is usually reserved for runs of 1000 or more copies. Replicated discs are also, typically, more compatible across different players (although players have become much better at reading duplicated discs as time goes on). If you can justify 1000 or more copies then replication is the way to go. Replication will get you a highly compatible product at a lower per-unit cost. If there's no way you need 1000 copies, go with duplication.

At Fort Collins Video we do in-house duplication and printing of CDs and DVDs. We use professional media and burn at slower speeds (4x) to ensure state-of-the-art compatibility. We have several partners to call on if a client needs replication.

A6: I won't get too detailed here, but I will try and give you enough information to help you talk to your web designers about the options.

The two major decisions you need to make about video on your site are: which format(s) to use and the viewing experience your site visitor has.

There are really only three major formats being used today for video on websites. They are Windows Media, QuickTime, and Flash. A fourth format, Real Media (.rm, .ram, .ra), has really, in my opinion, lost this battle and would be a poor choice for your site.

Windows Media (.wmv) is the native video format for computers running the Windows operating system. You'd be hard pressed to find a Windows machine that does not have the Windows Media Player installed. People on Apple Mac computers can download free software (http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm) that will allow their machines to play Windows Media files.

QuickTime (.mov) is the native video format for computers running the Mac operating system. You'd be hard pressed to find a Mac that does not have QuickTime installed. People on Windows computers can download free software (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/) that will allow their machines to play QuickTime files. Because QuickTime movies have been popular for quite a while, most Windows machines probably have the QuickTime player already installed.

Flash (.flv, .swf) is a format originally created by the Macromedia company that is now owned by Adobe. To play Flash movies Mac and Windows machines must download and install the Flash Player (http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ ). That said, most machines today come with Flash pre-installed. Unlike Windows Media and QuickTime files that can play separately from a browser in their own players, Flash really only plays in a browser frame. It is designed for web animation and web video. Flash has been around for so long now, and its use on websites is so pervasive, that many people claim it has the highest level of use across Mac and Windows machines.

So, how do you decide which format to use? Many site designers don't decide, they give the visitor the option of several hyperlinks each pointing to a file in a different format. Other designers have a favorite format and will default to that. There are several factors to consider and none, in my opinion, are strong enough to make one format a clear winner. The good news is that there also isn't a clear loser among these three formats.

Once you've selected a format (or formats) you'll need to decide on the size and quality of the video. Each format allows you to scale the video and select compression options. The more compressed the video is the smaller the resulting file will be and the faster it will download and play. However, the more compression you use the lower the quality of the resulting video will be. This is a good time to experiment. Watch several files with different sizes and compression and see what you think a good tradeoff is.

There are two basic ways you can present video on your site - hyperlinked and embedded.

Hyperlinked video is accessed from a link on your site and will play in whatever the default player is for that type of video (most likely the QuickTime player for QuickTime and Windows Media Player for Windows Media) on the site visitor's machine. This method is used most often for higher resolution clips that would have a hard time being placed on a web page. Hyperlinking is the simplest method to implement from a web programming standpoint. This page on our site has hyperlinked video with multiple format choices: www.ftcvideo.com/DoItYourself.htm.

Embedded video will play right in your web page. You can place it on a page just like an image. You can also determine behaviors like auto starting the video as soon as the page is loaded, if the video has control buttons (rewind, play, etc.). Flash is always embedded. Windows Media and QuickTime can be embedded or hyperlinked. Embedding video takes more web programming expertise to set-up and ensure the video will behave well in all the various browsers (Firefox, IE, Safari, etc.). This page on our site has embedded Flash video: www.ftcvideo.com/WhyVideo.htm.

A7: The simple answer is - yes. With today's software and hardware tools, video originally created for use on a DVD can be easily reformatted to work on a website. In most cases the resolution will be reduced and some compression added to make the video more "web friendly".

Q8: [updated 6/7/08]: Can you take video off an existing DVD, edit it, and make a new DVD?

A8: Video (not menus) can be extracted from an existing DVD, as long as the DVD is not copy protected (like store bought movie DVDs are). Once the video is in an editable file on a computer, it can be used in a new project. The caveat here is that all video on DVDs is compressed. The video will be un-compressed when it comes off the old DVD and re-compressed when it goes onto a new DVD. All this compression/re-compression will lower the quality of the resulting video.

A9: When reading video format specifications (720p, 1080i, etc.) the p stands for "progressive" and the i stands for "interlaced".

Interlaced video was created for the original broadcast television technology. It allowed smooth video playback with lower speed electronics. Most video you see today is 30 frames-per-second (fps). In interlaced video a complete frame is displayed in two sequential parts, or fields. In the case of 480i video (the NTSC standard) each field contains half of the 480 lines split by even and odd numbered lines. 30fps interlaced video is sometimes referred to as 60i because a field is displayed every 60th of a second, but it takes two fields (one with the even-numbered lines and one with the odd-numbered lines) to build a compete frame.

Progressive video displays each frame in its entirety one after another. It requires more electronic horsepower to display than interlaced video.

As a broad generalization today, interlaced video is used more for high speed action and progressive for everything else.