MAXIM IZ ING DISPLAY PERFORMANCEOF YOUR SYMON-POWEREDDIG ITAL S IGNAGE NETWORK

B E ST P R ACT I C E S F O R D I S P L AY R E S O LU T I O N S ,C O N N E CT I O N S , D I S P L AY S E L E CT I O N ,

A N D C O N T E N T C R E AT I O N

A S Y M O N C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

E D U C A T I O N A L S U P P L E M E N T

Optimum Image Clarity and Quality

3.......... Resolutions Supported and Display Connection Results

4.......... Detailed Technical Specs are Critical

5.......... SDA Video Connection & Output Options (Diagram)

Choosing a Display

6.......... Choosing the Right Size

6.......... Plasma vs. LCD

7.......... Other Display Technologies

7.......... Choosing a Connection Type - DVI, VGA, and HDMI

Layout Recommendations

8.......... Working Within the System’s Means

8.......... Create Layouts that Match Your Target Resolution

9.......... Utilize Standard Aspect Ratios Whenever Possible

9.......... Layout Considerations

9.......... Content Recommendations and Tips

Working With Digital Video

11 ....... General Tips for Quality Output

12 ....... Getting Started with Specific Tasks

14 ....... Video Compression Basics

16 ....... Digital Video Terminology Defined

Tools, Vendors and Other DV Resources

20 ....... Digital Video Applications and Tools Vendors

21 ....... Concordance

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Table of Contents

Introduction

This document attempts to provide a brief, simplified overview of the best practices for operating Symon TargetVision digital signage solutions, including Symon Design Studio, and the SDA Series of network digital appliances. It also contains an overview of the termi-nology, tools, and techniques used in the world of digital video. As digital video becomes a more common part of the communications landscape, it is important to know how it works, and some of the potential pitfalls often encountered by those new to the craft.

Optimum Image Clarity and Quality

Resolutions Supported and Display Connection Results

The Symon Digital Appliance (SDA) supports the following native resolutions as a default (other resolutions are supported as detailed below, however):

• 4:3 – 640x480, 800x600,1024x768, 1280x768• 16:9 – 1280x720 (720p HD)• 15:9 – 1280x768

If a display’s native resolution (the exact pixel dimensions of the screen) is different from the above resolutions, and the user desires a high level of detail, the display must be connected directly to the SDA, with some exceptions as noted below. This is required because the SDA utilizes a standard called DDC (Display Data Channel). DDC is, in effect, a “handshake” communication between the computing device and the display, wherein the display “tells” the computing device the native resolutions and refresh rates that the display will accept as inputs. The resolutions above are the resolutions the SDA supports by default only if it does not learn the display’s native resolution via DDC.

This same technology is what is used by computer monitors, which allows the user to change resolutions on their PC with very high reliability. If the SDA’s video output is being distributed via many of the video distribution systems on the market (e.g. the Cat-5 enabled systems made by Magenta Research), the DDC “handshake” from the display does not make it back to the computing device (the SDA), as it would via a direct connection. If the SDA does not receive the display’s list of supported modes, then only the default resolutions (as listed above) will be available.

1280x720 - Widescreen HDIt’s important to note that most widescreen HD displays will support 1280x720 very well (this is the same resolution of 720p HDTV, after all), but for applications where high detail and close viewing distances are required, native resolution support may be more desirable. For uses where the display will be wall-mounted and viewed from a distance, a 1280x720 resolution usually delivers high quality results.

1280 PIXELS

16:9

Standard speci�cation for 720p HDTV resolution

Common actual resolution ofmany 720p LCD HDTVs

Aspect Ratio16:9

Aspect Ratio

16:9Aspect Ratio

16:9Aspect Ratio

1366 PIXELS

720PIXELS

768PIXELS

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“Working Around” Non-Direct ConnectionsToday, solutions are starting to appear on the market to allow workarounds for the require-ment of a direct connection in order to drive native resolutions. For example, distribution systems from Gefen Inc. (www.gefen.com) work just like Magenta systems, but instead of using one Cat-5 cable, it uses two – one of the cables transmits DDC data back to the video output, so that native resolutions can be driven from a distance. There are also products on the market (like Gefen’s DVI Detective) that connect to a display’s DVI input, and then capture the display’s DDC signal. The small device is then removed from the display, and reconnected to the SDA. From that point on, the device simply “plays back” that display’s DDC information when attached to the SDA, in effect “tricking” the SDA into thinking it is directly connected to the display, so that the SDA knows what native resolutions the display can handle, without having to get the DDC data from the display itself. (See diagram on fol-lowing page.)

Detailed Technical Specs are Critical

Note that if high levels of detail are desired, it is absolutely critical to thoroughly research a display’s technical specifications before purchasing. As counterintuitive as it may seem, even though some displays have a 1366x768 native resolution, it does not necessarily mean that the display can actually support that resolution as an input. The reason for this is likely because many HD televisions are geared solely for 720p HDTV input; that’s how the vast majority of consumers will use the product. Even though consumer-grade displays offer an inexpensive alternative for industrial/business applications, the greatest level of support for various inputs and display modes will almost always be best satisfied by professional-grade display product lines, which are available from many vendors.

Generally, any LCD or Plasma that supports 16x9 or 15x9 resolutions will support one of the SDA supported resolutions. In some cases the display may not exactly match the native reso-lution output from an SDA. Generally this will not result in a negative broadcast experience, but may require fine tuning of internal display and SDA settings to achieve an optimized output. If possible, utilize a display that supports one of the SDA supported resolutions or connect the SDA directly to the displays to enable the DDC resolution detection feature.

Plasma vs. LCD and Their ResolutionsThe most common plasma resolution tends to be 1280x768 or 1024x768, while LCD native resolutions tend to be 1366x768. All have the same number of pixels in height but the LCD has more pixels across. On LCD displays, pixels are square. On plasma displays, the pixels are rectangular. When working with Plasma displays as the output device, the best policy is just to design for, and drive it at 720p HDTV resolution (1280x720), and create all designs and graphics as if the pixels were square. The display will produce the best quality and pro-portionately correct output this way. However, if exacting, pixel-precise detail is required, LCD displays will allow for a production workflow that’s easier on graphics professionals, since computer displays also use square pixels.

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Symon SDA Video Connectionand Output Distribution Options

1. Direct Connection - SDA to Display

2. Distribution through Magenta Research Mondo Matrix/MultiView systems

3. Distribution through Gefen DVI Cat-5 Extreme systems

4. Distribution through Magenta Research systems with Gefen DVI Detective

Video Signal/Data (DVI or VGA D-sub)

Magenta-proprietaryintermediary signalrelays only displaycontent via Cat-5

NO DDC datais relayed back to the SDA.

Gefen-proprietaryintermediary signal

relays content to displayvia Cat-5

AND relays DDC databack to the SDA via asecond Cat-5 cable.

Video Signal/Data(DVI or VGA D-sub)

Video Signal/Data (DVI) Video Signal/Data (DVI)

Video Signal/Data(DVI or VGA D-sub)

DDC Signal - Upon connection or power-on, Video display tells the computingdevice the list of resolutions/frequencies that it will support

DDC Signal

DDC SignalDDC Signal

DDC Signal

Magenta-proprietaryintermediary signalrelays only display

content via a singleCat-5 cable.

Video Signal/Data(DVI or VGA D-sub)

Video Signal/Data(DVI or VGA D-sub)

Upon setup of the display,the Gefen DVI Detectivetakes a snapshot of adisplay’s DDC data.

The Gefen DVI Detectivemimics a direct connection tothe display, using its snapshotof the display’s DDC data.

© 2006 Symon Communications, Inc. All brand and product names used for illustrative purposes only, and are the property of their respective holders. �

Choosing a Display

Choosing the Right Size

The most important consideration in selecting a size for displays is the typical viewing distance. When displays are wall-mounted in a large room, consider the primary locations from which the displays will be viewed. In call centers where real-time data will be dis-played, it’s a good idea to use large displays that can be seen from everywhere in the room. For applications where the displays are used for messaging, and communications that aren’t time-sensitive, it makes the most sense to place displays where people gather and linger for more than a few minutes. In corporate environments, this if often breakrooms, lobbies, meeting rooms, and other

Plasma vs. LCD

For usage in a digital signage application, LCD should provide a better value for both quality and longevity of service. The reasons LCD’s are preferable to Plasma in most situations:

Burn-In Given the manner in which digital signage content is programmed, the video display often displays the same image with great frequency. Many users design their layout to include a header or footer that displays their brand, and/or a clock, or so forth, which is constantly present on-screen. Plasma displays have the tenden-cy to “burn in”, meaning that an image that appears on screen creates an indelible cast to the image that is always present and visible. Burn-in occurs as each pixel of the plasma uses up its potential brightness over time. If some pixels are used more than others, the difference becomes noticeable over time. That is how areas of contrast (ie: edges of text, borders, etc.) cause burn-in. The Symon user can control some of this by using multiple layouts with varying areas to minimize the impact of the content burning in the display. Even though many manufacturers have devised their own ways of preventing burn-in, none so far are completely foolproof as of this writing.

FadingPlasma displays are their brightest over the first 2,000 hours of their life, and thereafter, gradually dim. For use in a home, this can be fine, but for industrial uses where the display is on all day, every day, or in some cases, 24/7, he useful lifetime of a display can be rela-tively short. It’s possible to replace a lamp in an LCD display, as they are backlit, but once a plasma display dies, it’s useless. Many customers deploy plasma displays regardless of this, using their cost advantage at larger sizes to justify re-purchasing new ones further down the road. The cost delta between LCD and plasma displays will only continue to shrink however, as more and more LCD production plants come online, and production processes become more inexpensive.

Ease of AuthoringAs mentioned earlier, when exacting detail or very crisp text is desired, LCD displays usually provide more pixels, and square pixels at that. Plasma displays utilize rectangular pixels,

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which, for text especially, can deliver results that aren’t quite as crisp as what’s possible on an LCD display. If the viewing distance is large, the difference may be imperceptible, but it’s just something to be aware of.

Other Display Technologies

CRTTraditional Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) televisions can deliver a fine value for the money for situations where:

a) Viewing distances are relatively close, as in small break rooms or meeting rooms, since their size is somewhat smaller and their resolutions are lower.

b) There are only one or two display areas on the screen (e.g. full-screen messaging with a ticker line at the bottom of the screen.) The native resolution of most all 4:3 aspect ration NTSC CRT televisions tends to be roughly 720x480. (NTSC is the broadcast standard in North America and several other geographies, while PAL is the recog-nized standard in most of Europe.)

c) Mounting is not an issue, or the facility has pre-installed mounting built to support the weight of a CRT. It should be no surprise that the difference in weight between flat-panels and CRTs is substantial, especially when larger displays are desired. For example, a newer 30” flat-screen CRT television weighs approximately 140 pounds (64kg) compared to a 30” LCD display, which weighs 45 pounds (20kg) – less than one-third the weight. A 47” LCD weighs less than 70 (32kg) pounds. Obviously, LCDs are significantly easier to mount on a wall or suspend from a ceiling.

Projection - Front/RearIn some areas with very large floorspaces or very long viewing distances, the viewability of any of today’s direct-view systems might be insufficient. Front and rear projection displays, including those containing DLP technology, can be an option. Projection usually cannot deliver the same viewing angles as direct-view sets, meaning that they can be harder to read if not looked at directly. The types of projectors and rear-projection systems vary widely in terms of the functionality they can deliver; speak with a qualified expert for specific recom-mendations if you think a projection system would suit your environment.

Choosing a Connection Type - DVI, VGA, and HDMI

The SDA provides DVI (Digital Video Interface) and traditional analog VGA (D-sub) con-nectors for outputs to the video display. Whenever possible, opt for the digital connection (DVI). Some newer displays may not have a DVI input, and have an HDMI input instead. A small inexpensive adapter will allow you to connect a DVI output to an HDMI input with no loss in image quality or functionality.

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Layout Recommendations

For reasons of aesthetics and general readability, Symon highly recommends using layouts that have no more than 5 or 6 defined areas of content, restraining video or motion-heavy graphics (video or scrolling tickers) to no more than 2 areas. Using more areas and motion than this tends to create “visual overload” – it’s just too much for most people to be able to process quickly and intuitively. When authoring content, it’s easy to overdo it, since Design Studio authoring happens on a static screen, one area at a time. But because each screen area is constantly refreshing and showing new content in actual practice, a good rule of thumb is “less is more.”

Working Within the System’s Means

Even though the SDA provides plentiful computing power for displaying information and video, keep in mind that its resources are finite. Motion and video consume the most processing overhead, as do cin-ematic (video-based) transitions. If any of these are used exces-sively and/or simultaneously in large amounts, playback quality (in terms of smoothness) may be adversely affected, depend-ing on a number of factors. See the technical recommendations section for more information about how to create content for efficient playback.

Although it’s possible to build just about any conceivable type of layout using Design Studio, the program comes pre-loaded with a variety of ready-to-use templates that are easy to design for, as they utilize areas that make use of standard aspect ratios. (So that pre-existing content can be placed in the areas without stretching or flatten-ing graphics to make them fit.)

Create Layouts that Match Your Target Resolution

When choosing or creating a layout, specify the size of the layout to match the output reso-lution you have selected. This is important, as the default settings in Design Studio are low resolution to accommodate the lowest resolution displays – similar to the default low-reso-lution settings when you power up a computer for the first time. The SDA will readily “up-size” a layout to fill a screen, but ideally, you’ll want to create content at exactly resolution it will be displayed at, for maximum visual fidelity. If no existing layouts provide the resolution you need, Design Studio allows you to create your own custom layouts easily for just these cases. Symon’s Content Services team can also work with you to create layouts or templates customized for your needs, if desired. Contact your Symon account representative for details about Symon’s Content Services offerings.

4:34:3

1280

98

98

524

932

348

348

262

262

16:916:9

4:34:3

4:34:3

1280 98

622

622

829 451

480

360

480

360

600

800

800120

4:34:34:34:3

4:34:31280

98

320

overlapping area/transparency creates network-news-style “lower-third” effect

4:34:3720

720

960

Sample Screen Layouts(designed for a target resolution of 1280x720, aka HDTV 720p)

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Utilize Standard Aspect Ratios Whenever Possible

Typically, areas within layouts vary in their resolution and/or aspect ratio. Generally, Symon recommends utilizing areas with industry-standard aspect ratios (4:3, 16:9) as much as possible. That way, you can easily share the same message or video within and between the different areas of the layout, or across multiple different layouts across an organization or digital signage network.

Layout Considerations

Choose your layout around the following considerations:• Content needs - how much content needs to be delivered at the same time (messag-

ing, video, LiveTV, tickers, data and operational statistics, Symon News feed).• Viewing distance - the more areas in use, the smaller the areas will become, which

limits the optimal viewing distance.• Size of the displays.• Traffic patterns of your audience. • Subscriptions to Symon Ticker or graphical News Content.

Content Recommendations and Tips

When creating content on a computer screen that’s an arm’s length from the author, it’s easy to forget about how the content will be viewed in the real world when sent to displays. It can be helpful for content authors to utilize a Symon SDA as a “preview system” connected to a display that provides similar viewing experience to what the audience will experience. An SDA connected to a smaller television across even a small room can act as a cost-effective preview system. As authors create content, they can first publish content to the preview sys-tem before publishing site-wide. Following are some basic guidelines to follow when creat-ing content in Symon Design Studio.

Font SizesSymon recommends using at least 40-50 pixel height text for comfortable readability. This becomes especially significant when using a SDA and display combination that do not have matching resolutions.

Message CompositionAn effective message is typically composed of less than 5 major elements (background, graphics, or text areas). Font and background colors should have contrast for better read-ability.

Display TimeGenerally the message should appear for as long as it takes to read and absorb the message. Messages should be designed to be read and absorbed between 5-15 seconds. The average time for most messages as reported by our users is 12 seconds. Of course this will vary de-pending on the amount of text and number of elements. Get feedback from your audience.

Loop TimeMost users create content that combines messages from different categories or channels or

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content types, so defining a fixed loop time (time it takes to see ALL content) is difficult. In some applications having a more defined loop is important. It is easy to create simple play lists that can be organized and built to achieve your desired loop time based on the viewing habits of your audience or the viewing behavior you are trying to achieve.

TickersIt is easy to add ticker areas or add tickers into a message. Symon recommends the use of one primary ticker area in your layout. Including an element in a message that uses crawl-ing text can be supported in this scenario as well.

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Working With Digital Video

For the uninitiated, digital video can be both intimidating in complexity, or seem very sim-ple, like using a word processor and saving a file. It’s actually somewhere in between. There are so many variables for playback performance, quality, and so forth, that projects that may seem to be a breeze may, in fact, yield nothing but problems. With digital video, the vast majority of problems that arise will be easily addressable with just a little know-how.

Please keep in mind that for the sake of brevity, practicality, and clarity, this section often greatly simplifies many technological points, and is intended purely as an introduction to the technology. There are many resources available online where one can learn about digital video; a concordance is included at the end of this section.

General Tips for Quality Output

Before going into depth on techniques for getting video onto Symon systems, it’s important to understand a few fundamentals about working with digital video. The quality of digital video - as it appears on the final output - will depend on the following factors:

Source Material QualityWhile it is certainly possible to clean up minor imperfections when capturing source mate-rial, obviously, the “garbage-in, garbage-out” rule applies. The mere act of digitizing video doesn’t suddenly make it possible to make it look better with the click of button.

• Resolution of Source Material Like a photograph, the higher the resolution of the source material, the more data

there is to work with. While low-definition source material can look fine at its native size on a computer screen, its imperfections tend to be amplified when blown up on a large-screen, hi-res flat-panel display.

• Aspect Ratio Many people make the mistake of stretching content to fill an onscreen area of mis-

matched proportions.• Interlaced vs. Progressive Content Even if the final output is an interlaced screen, Symon’s systems properly process and

combine content in a progressive-scan environment before the final output stage, so before digitizing, be sure to “de-interlace” any source material in the digitizing stage. If this step isn’t done, areas with motion and contrast will appear to have comb-like edges to them on-screen.

• Generational Loss Generational loss is what happens when an already-compressed digital video file is

simply recompressed into another format. You can’t just “convert” between digital formats without degrading quality. It’s similar to the effect of making a Xerox copy of a Xerox copy, except worse. When encoding a pre-compressed file, the process that does the compression doesn’t “know” the difference between important subtle details in the video that you’d like to preserve and compression artifacts (imperfections often seen as blockiness, noise, or halos) that you don’t want, so the software attempts to preserve it all, and in the process, adds noise on top of noise. If the first-generation

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content was compressed very cleanly, it can generally be recompressed into another format successfully.

• Bit Rate of Output Bit Rate is essentially the amount of data per second in a video file, generally mea-

sured in kilobits per second (kbps) or Megabits per second (Mbps), similar to how one would measure the speed of a modem or network connection. Bit rate applies to both streaming and regular video files. To know the bit rate of a video file, just divide its file size by its duration in seconds. When a video file is compressed, there is an inherent always a balance, or compromise, that must be made between quality and bit rate. The lower the bit rate, the less data there is, and the poorer the quality will be. Low bitrate files are easy to transport and stream. Higher bit rate files look better, but maybe be too large to be practical in some settings.

Getting Started with Specific Tasks

For those new to using digital video in the workplace, or simply new to moving video any-where other than from a camcorder to a VCR, the following tips are listed as starting points to help get you going in the right direction. While working with video can seem tricky at first, usually, once you establish a workflow, it’s straightforward and easily repeatable.

How do I.......Incorporate content from a DVD or video tape?You have two choices here. First, you can utilize a Symon SDA appliance that is equipped to handle a live video input, and connect a DVD player/tape player, or broadcast source from which the content of that DVD (or tape) can be played. Conversely, you can digitize the con-tent of the DVD or the tape, and schedule its playback entirely via your Symon system.

For DVDs, assuming you have the proper intellectual property rights to the content, you can use a utility such as the excellent freeware utility Handbrake on the Mac or VCDGear on Windows to extract digital video files from the DVD. For capturing content from ana-log video tape, you can use any number of analog-to-video capture solutions, such as those from Canopus, Avid, or major graphics card manufacturers, like ATI. For best results, or if you have a large batch of content you’d like to digitize, your best bet may be to have a local video production house handle the job for you. Capturing analog video at high quality can be a very difficult task for the uninitiated. If the job is important to your organization, it’s probably worth the investment to use a professional.

If the resulting digital video file is very large and you don’t want to distribute it over your network, you can opt to transmit the digital video via streaming media. This requires a server resource to encode/transmit the video, as well as SDAs uniquely capable of outputting streaming media. Consult a Symon representative for more information.

...Rebroadcast content captured digitally from TV? (via DVR, DVD, etc.)As an example, suppose your company is featured on the local news station for a charity fundraiser you held, and you’d like to to rebroadcast the story for all of your employees to see, during all three of your shifts. Or maybe your CEO is interviewed on a big financial

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news network, and you’ve recorded the event on your Tivo or DVR.

Digital cable television, as well as digital satellite TV, typically utilize MPEG-2 encoded content natively. When a DVR records, it is simply recording the digital information in that MPEG-2 stream onto an internal hard drive. With many set-top boxes, it is possible to con-nect a computer via a firewire (IEEE-1394) connection, and transfer that MPEG-2 stream to recordable media. On the Mac, software called iRecord can be used, as well as a DVHS recording tool available in Apple’s Firewire Developer’s kit. The capture will create a .TS file (MPEG Transport Stream). The TS file can be recompressed by a utility like FFMPEGX on the Mac, or HDTVtoMPEG2 on Windows into a usable format.

...Create my own training or executive messaging videos?If you believe that you will be using video on an ongoing basis, for a very reasonable cost, it’s possible to set up your own video production capabilities in-house. Digital camcord-ers can be had for hundreds of dollars, with professional, 3-CCD broadcast-quality models costing only slightly more, and software like Adobe Premiere Elements ($99 - for Windows) or iMovie (free with any Mac) can be purchased for a low price, if it’s not bundled. There are also tools designed specifically for this task, like Serious Magic’s Visual Communicator ($300), which provide turnkey newsroom-like capabilities, right out of the box. Of course, the results from untrained professionals using consumer-grade tools aren’t likely to look as slick or polished as CNN or the big networks, but if you’re just looking to give a daily update, or are encouraging communications participation from your workforce (and don’t want to turn video-novice workers loose with thousands of dollars worth of video equip-ment), the audience will be more interested in the content than the glossy details.

Whatever your situation, if you’re not up to speed with the latest in video, it’s worth talking to a video professional before making any investments in equipment or software you plan on using in-house.

...Get Flash on to my Symon system?In Flash, it is very easy to export a render of a FLA (Flash authoring) file to a video or practically any size, simply via File > Export. There are also tools like ByteScout that allow you to convert an SWF file to video. The default framerate of Flash projects is 12 frames per second. Frequently, Flash authors can raise this higher (to 18 or 20 or thereabouts), but for its purpose as a low-bandwidth tool for browser playback, experienced Flash authors rarely utilize a framerate approaching that of digital video. As a result of the lower framerates, the conversion of many Flash files results in video that appears jerky. The only solution to this is authoring Flash at 30 or 60 frames per second.

As of this writing, Symon does not support direct rendering of Flash on its broadcast dis-plays. Flash provides great utility, but it’s not conducive to a system such as Symon’s both in terms of the CPU overhead it can consume (at the expense of everything else), as well as its rendering technology. In order to accommodate the newest advancements that deliver cin-ematic transitions, higher framerates, smoother text scrolling, greater use of transparency, and more, Symon’s latest display software was built upon Microsoft’s most advanced graph-

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ics technologies – DirectX®, namely. Flash operates at a more primitive “layer” of Microsoft’s display model, and the support of Flash, making it impossible to embed Flash playback technologies into Symon’s display engine natively. Symon is planning to add support for Flash playback in the future, however, but cannot announce availability as of this writing.

...Spice up my show with motion graphics? Flashy animated logos, or brief “Welcome to X Company” messages (similar to Station ID’s used by TV networks) can add polish to a Symon show. Creating flashy motion graphics can be done for a minimal budget using off-the-shelf tools like Adobe AfterEffects or Apple Motion. Quality results can even be produced cost-effectively using consumer level tools like iMove or Premiere Elements in concert with stock motion graphics from companies like Digital Juice or Artbeats.

...Select which software to use for compression, or video authoring? There are a ton of options out there for video compression tools, especially in the shareware and freeware realms, and many tools that are low-cost. The quality of what’s out there is all over the map - but remember that most of these apps are designed for home users, for personal use, so quite often, the functionality can be very limited in scope. Because they’re constantly under development and rarely rigorously tested in a real Quality Assurance environment, many of these tools also provide what might be called “90% utility,” wherein they actually work properly only about 90% of the time. And few, if any, of them provide any online help or documentation, so if you have a problem, you never quite know if you’re at fault, or you hit a bug in the software.

Symon strongly recommends that any organization serious about using video should invest in a real commercial-strength application — one that is tested, documented, and supported. Keep in mind that for serious work, investing in a real, commercial-strength encoding tool, like Autodesk Cleaner, can be a tremendous help, and can save time, and many hours of frustration.

For video editing and authoring (creating new video compositions from scratch), there are many applications on the market. Even today’s entry level tools can provide top-quality results in the right hands.

Video Compression Basics

What follows is a very simplified, high-level overview of the basics of video compression and its associated terminology.

A Heavy WorkloadComputer graphics - specifically bitmaps, or images - are perhaps the most resource-inten-sive thing you can put on a computer screen. In a computerized image, every single dot on the screen occupies a relatively large chunk of computer memory. Add concurrent audio, and a whole lot of images at a rate of 30 per second, and it’s a significant workload for any type of computer, including devices like Symon’s SDA.

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Working with video requires a fast computer, with fast drives and a fast system bus. The SDA, even though it is not technically a PC, is designed on a PC architecture. Even though it uses fast system components and a quality CPU, it’s subject to the same system bottlenecks and limitations as a PC when under heavy load. Because it uses an embedded operating system, it is not burdened by the large overhead of running Windows. Still, it has its limita-tions, and users who want to utilize digital video should realize that if smooth playback is a priority, they may have to do some experimentation with their particular mix of content (in terms of compression, bitrates, resolutions, and clip durations) to arrive at the desired result.

WMVOf all the codecs and filetypes that can be played by Symon’s higher-end SDA appliances, WMV generally delivers the highest quality in the smallest file size with the smoothest play-back. For those using a Windows PC, there are numerous encoding solutions for Windows that will create WMV output. One commercial application that Symon recommends highly is Autodesk Cleaner XL. (www.autodesk.com) This product can be configured to be run as a server type of application, allowing other Windows or Mac users on the network to simply drop uncompressed content into shared network directories, where Cleaner will automati-cally encode the content upon upload, which can provide the added benefit of not slowing down the host machine for the time and resource-intensive encode process.

For Mac users that wish to generate Symon-ready WMV content, this will require utilizing a third-party export plug-in to save in WMV format. As of this writing, the Popwire plug-in did not “officially” support HD content, but worked just fine for regular resolutions, and de-spite the vendor’s claims, functioned just fine for many HD uses as well, although it does not “officially” support this functionality. Its lower price would make it a fine choice for standard screen resolutions and programming. For encoding HD content, Symon recommends Flip-4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD, the highest-end solution from Flip4Mac, the same company whose Mac WMV player Microsoft recommends themselves.

MPEG-1MPEG stands for “Moving Pictures Experts Group.” MPEG-1 was developed as a standard in the early 90’s. MPEG was designed to be on par or better than the quality of VHS tape, and is typically encoded at at 1/4 screen resolution (352x240 is the usual standard), and then scaled-up to fit the screen at playback time. While this might seem to be less than ideal by today’s standards, at the time it was developed, MPEG was designed to make it possible to play back video off of a CD at 1X speed - the same rate they are used to play back audio CDs. Today’s computer CD drives usually run at 24X, 32X or even higher speed, in com-parison. This is why the CD drive in your computer is so much louder than the CD player in your car.

MPEG-2MPEG-2 is the codec used for DVDs and digital cable/satellite TV. The format is supported by Symon’s SDA devices, but to preview MPEG-2 videos on a PC or a Mac, appropriate software must be purchased. MPEG-2 technology is not freeware; it is protected intellec-tual property and must be licensed. MPEG-2 playback is available via Quicktime for either

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Windows or Mac, or other software for Windows, including Intervideo. Note that playback - even for Quicktime - must be purchased, downloaded, and unlocked as a separate compo-nent. The ability to playback MPEG-2 is not built into Windows Media Player by default.

MPEG-4MPEG-4 is similar to the others, except that it offers more flexibility. It’s also different from versions 1 and 2 in that it supports different compression methods, although there is a default, defined MPEG-4 standard. For an MPEG-4 video file to be properly “understood” by Design Studio, SDAs, and Symon Broadcast PCs, or any Windows PC, for that matter, it must be encoded by software that will encapsulate the content within an .AVI or .WMV fi-letype “wrapper.” The Quicktime filetype of .MOV or .MP4, even though its contents comply to the standard MPEG-4 specification, is not supported by Symon playback devices at this time.

H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 AVC)This is an example of the ability of MPEG-4’s ability to support new encoding types. H.264 or AVC is the next generation of encoding standard and will in time replace MPEG-2. This codec offers very high compression ratios and excellent quality playback, the downside is it requires a faster CPU. Which is fine for newer equipment, but not so much for legacy or older gear.

Digital Video Terminology Defined

1080p, 1080i, 720p, etc. These are actually screen resolutions, as you have on a computer. In the television world, as opposed to the computer world, video is thought of in terms of “Scan Lines”, which is just another way of saying the number of pixels in a screen, vertically. 1080 means 1080 pixels vertically - the actual resolution is 1920 wide by 1080 high. For 720, the standard is 1280 wide by 720 high.

The “p” and the “i” represent Progressive Scan and Interlaced respectively. Progressive scan means that each horizontal line on the screen is “scanned” or dis-played progressively, one at a time. Interlaced means that lines are scanned alternately. All computers are progressive scan. Tube-based televisions are gen-rally interlaced. The benefit of progressive scan over interlaced video is that video with a lot of motion and detail can appear to be a lot clearer and crisper to the naked eye, although at high resolutions, they can be difficult to discern. For computer-based video professionals, it is a lot easier to work in a progressive scan world, because each frame is exactly that, a frame, whereas interlaced video can require workarounds.Frequently, people will capture interlaced video from a VCR or DVD using a capture card,

Progressive Scan Interlaced

All Lines = 1 Frame

2 Fields = 1 Frame

seconds0 1 2

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and convert it to a digital file. If a “de-interlace” filter is not applied, edges of some onscreen objects in the video will have an uneven comb-like appearance.

Analog - (or Analogue) Analog video is transmitted by a signal, like standard over-the-air television. The signal is continuous. The disadvantage of analog signaling is that any system - even directly over wires - has noise in it, which is basically just random variation. As the signal is copied and re-copied, or transmitted over long distances, these random variations become dominant. The result of these random variations is static. Computers don’t “traffic” in analog signals - to process audio or video information, it must first be turned into something the computer can understand, by being Digitized. (see below.) Video on VHS tapes is analog. A tape is simply a medium used to record and play back an analog signal.

In the world of “digital”, whether it’s digital cable TV, digital radio, or a DVI monitor in-terface, you may have noticed there is no static in the traditional sense of the word. That’s because either the data is getting there, or it’s not. If a home theater salesman tries to sell you an extremely expensive cable for digital hookup from your DVD player to your new HDTV, it’s pretty much a scam (and a huge profit center!) – either the data gets there or it does not – there is no “quality” in a digital hookup; it either works or it doesn’t.

ArtifactsUnsightly noise that is introduced into compressed video as a result of the encoding process. Usually can be seen in the form of squares or blocks, or halos around certain objects. The higher the compression setting, and the smaller the file, the more likely it is that there will be visible artifacts.

Aspect RatioThe ratio, in width to height, of the sides of a video screen. Common aspect ratios:

• 4:3 - Standard TVs and computer monitors.• 16:9 - Widescreen HDTV• 16:10 - (Or 8:5, technically) Most widescreen computer monitors, and many pro-

grade LCDs and Plasma TVs will use this aspect ratio.

BitrateThe amount of data per second of video (or audio). The more data, the better the quality. It is measured in bits per second. (A “bit” being the smallest unit of data there is - either a “1” or “0” in binary terms. Eight bits = 1 byte. 1 Megabyte = 1 million bytes, 1 Gigabyte = 1 billion bytes.) The bitrate at which a video is encoded is adjustable and can be adjusted and tweaked manually when the encoding is done to achieve an acceptable balance of size/quality. Higher bitrate files generally consume more system resources, but are better qual-ity. If you use an iPod, when you “rip” a CD, you can select the bitrate at which the music is ripped. (In iTunes select Preferences > Advanced > Importing) If you select a very low bitrate, the music will sound tinny, sharp sounds will be dulled, and singers will sound like they have a lisp. High bitrates will sound just like the CD.

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CBR & VBR - Constant Bitrate and Variable BitrateA Constant Bitrate video stream or file is one in which every frame is essentially the same size. In some situations with tightly fixed bandwidth and processing power, this is prefer-able. Variable bitrate provides a little leeway, as the bitrate adjusts to meet an average, allow-ing for greater compression rates when there’s not a lot of motion or detail in the video, and lower compression when there’s a lot of motion or detail. Thus, it provides higher quality overall. The downside to variable bitrates is that when, for example, there’s very sudden mo-tion across the full screen, the bitrate can spike very high, and the CPU sometimes can’t handle it fast enough. This results in either jerky video, or “tearing” on the screen, where the top half rips from the bottom momentarily. It’s usually very brief, but it can be noticeable.

CodecCompressor-Decompressor —software that encodes a signal or data for trans-mission or storage (the compression phase) where it can be played back (the decompression phase). There are many codecs on the market, and different codecs are used by profession-als for differing purposes. Some codecs might be ideal for a sporting event, where clarity of motion is paramount, but maybe not color accuracy, while another codec might be better for cartoons, where there is a lot of motion, but few colors, and very little detail. For Symon’s purposes, we use only mainstream industry-standard codecs. MPEG2 is an example of a video codec, MP3 is an example of an audio codec.

CompressionThe process of making an image, audio, or video file (or stream) smaller for more efficient use on networked devices, or for easy storage, playback, or display. Most forms of image, audio, or video compression are “lossy”, meaning that quality is necessarily sacrificed as a result of shrinking it. Some forms of compression are lossless, like “.zip”, for example. When you compress a PowerPoint file using zip, it doesn’t lose any quality when you decompress it later. Other lossless compressed formats for images include TIFF and PNG (the 24-bit variant).

CRTCathode Ray Tube – the “tube” in a traditional television or computer monitor. Despite all of the advances in flat panel technologies, CRTs are still used by professionals as the bench-mark for quality, as they are capable of displaying the highest quality color, the smoothest gradations in color, as well as the darkest blacks.

Digitization /EncodingTransformation of an analog video or audio file or stream into a digital one. Usually involves the use of a “capture card” – a computer peripheral with the dedicated function of inputting an analog signal and then turning that into digital data. Many capture cards also perform compression on-the-fly. Professional-level cards, like those used by video professionals, do

Time

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not perform compression, or if they do, it uses a specialized codec so that the video editors can edit the video first, and then perform the compression later themselves.

FramerateThe number of frames per second of a video. Standard (NTSC) television is 29.97 frames per second, PAL television (the Euro standard) is 25 frames per second. Digital video is usually 30 frames per second. Movies that you see in the theater are almost always 24 frames per second. To make a video file smaller, it is possible to reduce its framerate from 30 frames per second, to, say, 20. That way, the user is eliminating a full one-third of the number of frames to be encoded. Quality is sacrificed when this is done, because the video processor must interpolate and “average” out the frames that go away, which can make the video appear slightly blurred, and at, times, jerky.

NTSC and PALNTSC is a classic, pre-HDTV standard for video broadcasting, used mostly in the Americas, as well as Japan and Korea. The letters sand for National Television System Committee, the body that created it. In Europe the PAL standard is followed. PAL has more scan lines than NTSC at 576 to NTSC’s 480, but PAL delivers fewer frames per second.

ResolutionThe number of pixels that comprise an image or video. Higher resolutions are clearer and allow the user to include more information, if desired. Higher resolutions can also be taxing on a system. At first glance, when you see the terms “720 and 1080” side by side, resolutions may seem to be relatively close in size to one another, but remember the burden on the computer is actually geometrically larger, as resolutions step upwards in size, especially when reaching into HD territory. For example, 1080p is actually 225% more pixels than 720p. Likewise, VGA resolution, which can be thought of as “standard video”*, is one-third the number of pixels of 720p.

Note that the “true” analog standard NTSC video is actually 720x480. But unlike 640x480 that doesn’t compute to a 4:3 screen aspect ratio, does it? That’s because TV was invented before computer screens, and NTSC utilizes pixels that are not truly square – they are actu-ally slightly taller than square. When one uses a TV capture card, it will capture video at 720x480 using non-square pixels. For best results on computer screens, and for playback on SDAs, it’s a good idea to downsize to 640x480, since it’s proportionally 4:3 using square pixels, which tends to simplify many production tasks.

Name Dimensions # of Pixels Relative %VGA (NTSC video) 640x480 307,200 100% 64% 39% 33% 15%

PAL 720x576 480,000 156% 100% 61% 52% 23%

XGA/EVGA 1024x768 786,432 256% 164% 100% 85% 38%

HDTV - 720p 1280x720 921,600 300% 192% 117% 100% 44%

HDTV - 1080p 1920x1080 2,073,600 675% 432% 264% 225% 100%

640

480 720 1080

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Tools, Vendors and Other DV Resources

Digital Video Applications and Tools Vendors

The following list of available digital video vendors and tools is far from comprehensive, but represents a good breadth of tools that will accomplish most types of digital video related projects.

• Adobe Premiere - (http://www.adobe.com/) - Adobe’s Premiere is a video editing package, not quite as high-end as Apple’s or Avid’s offerings. Adobe also makes a mo-tion graphics package called AfterEffects, which is a very widely used too for mak-ing animated graphics and text. AfterEffects is like Photoshop, but with a timeline. Premiere is Windows-only; AfterEffects is developed for both Mac and Windows.

• Apple - Pro Video Products - (http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/). Apple prob-ably has the majority of marketshare in the creative and video editing realms, and has established a hardcore base of users with its Pro video products, which feature-wise, challenge products that sell for ten times the price. Of course, their motivation is to get people to buy Macs, since all their products are Mac-only.

• Avid Technology - (http://www.avid.com/). Longstanding, industry-leading profes-sional video editing tool vendor. Products vary in price; Avid supports both Mac and Windows environments.

• Broadway Pro - (http://www.b-way.com/). A cost-effective software/hardware prod-uct combination for the PC that allows users to capture video from external sources, like VCRs, DVDs, etc. Product is available directly from Symon.

• ByteScout - (http://www.bytescout.com/) SWF (Flash) to AVI video converter.• Canopus - (http://www.canopus.com) - Another vendor of Pro and Prosumer video

editing tools, as well as all manner of digital video hardware. Software is for Win-dows.

• FFMPEG and FFMPEGX (www.ffmpegx.com) - A shareware virtual “Swiss Army Knife” of encoding tools for Mac, Windows, and even Linux. It provides great drag and drop functionality and numerous encoding options. On the downside, it’s got uneven documentation and it doesn’t always work (and it’s rarely apparent why). Installation requires a little bit of manual assembly of components in order for the program’s authors to circumvent the copyright laws one could potentially break with the product (like ripping DVDs and posting the movies online). Shareware. A similar product for Windows, using the same open-source engine, is called FFDShow, and can be found here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow/.

• Flip4Mac WMV Studio (www.flip4mac.com) - Varies based on need; $49 - $179. Various levels of tools, that, like Popwire, support saving to WMV on the Mac. Flip-4Mac also makes a WMV player for Mac that is recommended by Microsoft.

• Handbrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org/) - A toolkit that allows the user to rip com-mercial DVDs to MPEGs. Requires FFMPEGX (above). Similar program for Win-dows is called VCDGear (http://www.vcdgear.com/), although there are others.

• HDTVtoMPEG2 (various sites - do a search for it), a Windows utility for convertiing captured MPEG2 transport streams ( .ts files) into MPEG2 program streams ( .mpg files). Most applications will not play a .ts file. One that will, however, is VLC.

• iRecord (www.ammesset.com) - A simple Mac application that can directly “lift” �0

MPEG-2 Transport Streams from many digital cable or satellite TV set-top boxes for playback/re-encoding. Freeware.

• Popwire WMV-9 Component (www.popwire.com) - $49.95. WMV is not supported natively on the Mac platform. This allows the user to save files from QuickTime Pro (or other Apple Video apps) into Windows Media format, although functionality is less than what would be considered a pro-level tool. Also, even though the company claims it doesn’t support HD, saving to HD does, in fact, work. (As of this writing.)

• QuickTime MPEG2 Component, QuickTime Pro (www.apple.com/quicktime) - $29.95. Former allows playback of MPEG2 files on a Windows or Mac with Quick-Time installed, latter provides additional functionality to the QuickTime player, including the ability to convert QuickTime files to other formats.

• Serious Magic Visual Communicator (www.seriousmagic.com) MSRP $489, educa-tional pricing much lower. A “Prosumer” application designed for people who want to create professional looking in-house broadcasts. Typical applications would be executive presentations, training videos, student newscasts in educational environ-ments. Quality isn’t quite what you’d see on CNN, but it’s pretty decent for the price, and can be used with any digital camcorder.

• VCDGear (http://www.vcdgear.com/) Shareware. Allows the user to rip DVDs, or portions thereof, to digital video files for playback on other devices, like PCs or SDAs.

• VLC (VideoLAN Client) (www.videolan.org/vlc/) Shareware. An all-purpose video player mostly geared for playing streaming media - can handle a number of different formats, and can do some conversions. Can play .ts files. (MPEG2 Transport Streams)

Concordance

Here are some good places to start to learn more about digital video:• Digital Video Magazine - www.dv.com - reviews of commercial software, how-to

articles, guides to new technologies. The print publication is free to qualified industry professionals. Also covers a lot of content suitable for videographers, like cameras, lighting rigs, tripods, etc.

• AVS Forums - www.avsforums.com - a very highly trafficked forum website devoted to A/V. Home to a lot of great how-to discussions about video capturing, encoding, etc.

• Wikipedia - www.wikipedia.org - general reference with a wealth of info on all of the toics covered here, including links to many other outside resources.

© All contents copyright 2006 by Symon Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Listed brand and product names used for illustrative purposes only, and are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All listed specifics in regard to product functionality and specifications subject to change without notice. For suggestions, or questions regarding this document’s content, please contact your Symon representative.

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