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USER`S MANUAL - Propellerhead-inc

1. Encoder State Folder Saved States This folder is where this program stores temporary files and information to resume interrupted encodes As you can see you are able to change the preferences for many different items The items that you are able to change preferences for in this window are Media Selector For Windows systems only the MEDIA SELECTOR preference allows you to choose between three different behaviors The default setting is AUTO SELECTION Should you wish to change this setting you may also choose to set PREFER QUICKTIME OVER VFW or PREFER VFW OVER QUICKTIME If you have QuickTime 4 or later installed on your system it is recommend ed that you set this behavior to PREFER QUICKTIME OVER VFW for improved frame rate detec tion For sources that cannot be encoded through QuickTime use the PREFER VFW OVER QUICKTIME The AUTO SELECTION setting will use QuickTime for QuickTime files and Video for Windows for AVI files PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Macintosh Style Interface vs Original Style Interface For Macintosh users there is an additional preference setting You have the ability to choose your user interface MPEG Power Professional now features a more traditional Mac interface instead of the original interface found in earlier versions of MPEG Power Professional This interface is chosen as your default interface setting However if you prefer to use the original interface you may c
2. MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 USER S MANUAL Information in this document is subject to change without notice No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying and recording for any purpose for any reason without express written permission of HEURIS The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement The software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreements It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement MPEG Power Professional User Manual Version 2 0 1999 HEURIS All rights reserved HEURIS PO Box 56914 St Louis MO 63156 MPEG Power Professional is a registered trademark of HEURIS Avid Media Composer and OMF are registered trademarks of Avid Technology Inc QuickTime is a registered trademark of Apple Inc Media100 is a registered trademark of Data Translation Windows 95 98 Windows NT and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Adobe After Effects is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED ENCODING YOUR FIRST PROJECT Chapter Overview 1 1 OMNOMOAWD Exporting Your Media Opening a New Project Inserting a Task and Choosing Encoding Ta
3. Choose MULTIPLEXED ENCODE as your encoding task type Choose a BASE TEMPLATE Name your DESTINATION FILE Click the OK button to include this task in your current encoding project Choose SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon on the toolbar Select START ENCODING from the FILE menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar 09 OONOOF The video and audio source files that you created in a previous encoding project will be multiplexed together together within the same project file Create or open a project file and define three tasks Create a task to encode the audio file and then create a second task to encode the video file Then insert a multiplexed encoding task using the destination file names from your audio and video encoding tasks as source files for your multiplexed encoding task When the project is encoded an audio file a video file and a multiplexed file will be produced TIP You can also encode an audio file a video file and multiplex the audio and video files CA 2 4 MANAGING ENCODING PROJECTS Sometimes you will be managing a small number of video and audio clips for inclusion in one application You will produce only two or three MPEG files at a time which can all be processed effectively in one or two related project files Sometimes however you will be producing multiple mpg files for inclusion in multiple applications Managing many clips can be a complex task MP
4. If you are capturing 48kHz audio on an Avid Media Composer system for example you must resample your audio to 44 1 kHz for inclusion in a CDi or Video CD application If your audio source is 44 1kHz you must resample to 48kHz for DVD authoring 55 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 56 3 7 EDIT VIDEO TAB SETTINGS The VIDEO tab has several options This tab is where you set the DISPLAY RESOLUTION BIT RATE SEARCH TECHNIQUE and DISTANCE GLOBAL FILTERS and SETTINGS and CROPPING PARAMETERS Encoder Settings 2 x Template Audio Videot Video Multiplex Width EZ Height 240 Constant rate 1856000 Y fi Search Technique Auto Mee nsi Search Distance aw l f Constant Variable VBR Display Resolution pixels p Bit Rate bits sec Global Filters r Global Settings v Auto Median Nonlinear Inverse Telecine FIR Source Crop pixels 1 X p m i p m dx D dy p Display Frame Cancel Apply Help Display Resolution The DISPLAY RESOLUTION refers to the dimensions in pixels at which your MPEG file will play back The default DISPLAY RESOLUTION for most MPEG1 templates is 352 x 240 the excep tion to this is the Internet template which has a DISPLAY RESOLUTION of 160 x 120 The default template for most NTSC MPEG2 templates is 720 x 480 To change the DISPLAY RESOLUTION enter in the new value
5. 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 112 Video Only vbs Use when you require video without associated audio e Multiplex with abs audio only files to produce mpg files Multiplexed Files mpg Use when you require associated audio and video A typical mpg file or multiplexed file contains one or more audio only and or one or more video only files Encode a multiplexed file directly from source data or first create separate abs and or vbs source files Still Picture msp Commonly used in a CDi or Video CD application to create menu buttons or backgrounds WARNING Not all authoring packages support the incorporation of msp files Refer to the prod uct documentation and test some encoded files prior to full production With MPEG Power Professional you can also produce ENCODE CONTROL LISTS Analysis Only ecl Analyzes source media files Gathers useful information about the location of cuts wipes fades titling and other aspects of the source media 6 6 BUILT IN MPEG ENCODING BASE TEMPLATE Within MPEG Power Professional every encoding task is based on an encoding template Each built in template corresponds to a common playback application such as 1X CDROM or CDi Each template s encoding parameters including bit rates and resolutions are preset for you at appropriate levels When you define encoding tasks they are based on an encoding template
6. C 32kHz Cancel Apply Help ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 6 ADJUSTING VIDEO BIT RATES You can adjust the video bit rate from the VIDEO1 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO1 tab Enter the video bit rate in the BIT RATE box Click OK ooRON WARNING Setting the video bit rate too high might create an MPEG file that cannot be played on your target playback system MPEG Power Professional 2 0 DVD allows VARIABLE BIT RATE encoding When using the VBR option you specify a MAXIMUM bit rate and an AVERAGE bit rate The bandwidth required to display the video will vary over the course of the sequence but will never go above your maxi mum and overall will average out to the average bit rate you specified You can achieve signifi cant quality improvements over CONSTANT BIT RATE encoding for the same number of bytes in an encoded file or significantly smaller file sizes for a given bit rate This type of encoding is rec ommended for DVD use 7 7 ADJUSTING THE DISPLAY RESOLUTION You can adjust the DISPLAY RESOLUTION of your MPEG clip on the VIDEO1 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task 3 From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS windo
7. Choose an ENCODING TASK from the checklist Choose an encoding BASE TEMPLATE Name a DESTINATION FILE and location 3 Click OK 4 The active project window will update to reveal the name of the new task and a corresponding task icon QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS tutorial r1 Led clock 6 9 EDITING A TASK IN THE ACTIVE PROJECT WINDOW To edit any of the tasks in your active project file N wo ol Highlight the task you wish to edit From the PROJECT menu select EDIT TASK or click on the EDIT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear At a glance you can see the encoding parameters for the task you have selected Make any changes you wish to the encoding parameters Click OK to save your changes and return to the active project window or Click CANCEL to discard any changes you have made and return to the active project window COOL STUFF You can also open any task for editing by double clicking it 117 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 118 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 6 10 DELETING A TASK FROM THE ACTIVE PROJECT WINDOW You can delete a task from an active project window 1 2 In the active project window highlight the name of the task you wish to delete From the PROJECT menu select DELETE TASK or click on the DELETE TASK icon on the project tool
8. If we move myaudio abs down to the bottom of the list it will be encoded last instead of first O myvideo mpr EB COOL STUFF You can also drag and drop to reorder your encoding tasks within the active project window PROJECT ENCODING BASICS To review or edit encoding parameters for a tasks 1 Highlight the name of the task you wish to edit or review e ib myvideo mpr FS myvideo vbs FS myvideo2 mpg 2 Select EDIT TASK from the PROJECT menu The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear COOL STUFF Double clicking on the task will also open the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window for that task At a glance you can see what parameters are in place for this encoding task After reviewing or adjusting the encoding parameters click OK to return to the encoding project window To delete a task e 1 Highlight the task you want to delete from the list in the active project window 2 Select DELETE TASK from the PROJECT menu A confirmation dialog box will appear asking you to confirm your deletion Selecting YES will delete the task Selecting NO will return you to the project window without deleting a task 37 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 38 2 5 INTERRUPTING AND RESUMING ENCODING PROJECTS As you manage encoding tasks you may find it necessary to interrupt and resume encoding proj ects after you have start
9. You can Use a built in template as is EDIT SETTINGS and create a custom template REFERENCE For more information on how to edit settings please see Chapter 3 For reference topics on editing template settings see Chapter 7 QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS There are sixteen built in templates 1 X CDROM 1X CDROM PAL 2 X CDROM 2 X CDROM PAL CDi CDi PAL Default DVD DVD PAL Internet MPEG2 Fast MPEG2 Fast PAL MPEG2 Fields MPEG2 Fields PAL Video CD Video CD PAL The built in templates and playback platforms applications they are best suited for are detailed below 1 X CDROM and 1 X CDROM PAL Playback from a computer with at least a single speed CD ROM drive and either a hardware MPEG player or a software MPEG player Optimized for playback from a single speed CD ROM drive Use for 1X CD ROM drive or faster 2 X CDROM and 2 X CDROM PAL Playback from a computer with at least a double speed CD ROM drive and a hardware MPEG player Optimized for playback from a double speed CD ROM drive Use for 2X CD ROM drive or faster CDi and CDi PAL Playback from a CDi player or an MPEG hardware or software player that can play back CDi files Recommended video bit rate for CDi playback Optimized for single speed playback 113 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 114 Default The DEFAULT t
10. ju SEL BOUE Hcet Aspect Ratio 1 0950 zl Feld mensions VBV Size I If not detected assume fields are funts oF 18b 120 Princes Frame Rate Auto zl Stacked Swap fields if available Auto analyze 4 Cancel Apply Help 5 Click OK to return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 6 Click OK 7 SAVE the project file 8 Select START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar 136 QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS To process an Analysis Only task 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project Create a new encoding project or open an existing encoding project e toolbar 3 In the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Select ANALYSIS ONLY as the task type Add your video file to the list of SOURCE FILES Choose an encoding BASE TEMPLATE Name a DESTINATION FILE The destination file extension will default to ecl which stands for ENCODE CONTROL LIST Encode Definitions 2l xi m Source Files gt Encoding T ask m Encode Settings File Name Base Template 1 x CDROM a JE Media Media 100 flowermov Gudio Encode VEN Add Remove Video Encode 1x CDROM PAL C Multiplexed Encode 2x CDROM 2 x CDROM PAL CDi xl Analysis Only Edit Settings Encode Control List Settings I Use ECL file El ntral List E Media Media 100 flower mov C
11. Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task Click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO2 tab Enter the desired GOP value in the GOP SIZE box Click OK oog2com Encoder Settings Template Audio Video Video2 Multiplex GOP Size N r Field encoding Progressive encode no fields Closed GOP T v Drop second field if available Reference C Non Progressive encode fields Interval M s fi Sect Bottamtield TEC flag Aspect Ratio 1 0950 r Field preparation VBV Size If not detected assume fields are units of 16 122 Pia Frame Rate Auto Stacked Swap fields if available Auto analyze VAN WARNING The GOP value must be a multiple of the REFERENCE INTERVAL value 154 ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 19 ADJUSTING REFERENCE INTER VAL M You can adjust the REFERENCE INTERVAL size from the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task i Click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO tab Enter the desired value in the REFERENCE INTERVAL box Click OK OoahRWN WARNING The REFERENCE INTERVAL value must be a factor of the GOP value A 7 20 CLOSED GOP You can create a closed GOP on the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window This feature is useful to you if you are
12. Name your DESTINATION FILE Select the USE ECL FILE checkbox Click on EDIT ECL THE ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window will appear Click on the BY FRAME button to step through your source and determine beginning and ending frames for each of your segments A Q o 10 Oi MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 94 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 10 Type any relevant notes about the segment into the NOTES box 11 Highlight START ENCODING from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list 12 Click on the ADD button 13 Step through the sequence by frame to determine the ending frame for this video segment 14 Type the ending frame number into the FRAME NUMBER box 15 Type any relevant notes into the NOTES box 16 Highlight STOP ENCODING from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list 17 Click on the ADD button If there are any other encoding events that you wish to use with this video segment such as fil ters search ranges etc select and add them now To save this ecl file and use it in the encoding process 1 Choose SAVE AS to save the ecl file or CANCEL to discard it 2 Click OK to return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 3 Confirm the encoding options you have selected and click OK to add this task to the active project For each task repeat the above steps to create in and out points You can encode the project you have created at your convenience CHAPTER SUMMARY Analysis tasks and Encode Control Lists ecl files
13. ensure optimum image quality REFERENCE Please see Chapter 4 for a discussion of how to use an ecl file in the encoding 4 process 2 2 CHOOSING A BUILT IN BASE TEMPLATE FOR MPEG ENCODING Within MPEG Power Professional every encoding task is based on a built in base encoding template Each template corresponds to a common playback application such as DVD or CDi In each template the encoding parameters are preset at optimal levels The list below details the base encoding templates and the playback platforms and applications they are best suited for It will help you decide which base template to use for your encoding tasks Additionally the templates in your MPEG Power Professional 2 0 are PAL NTSC specific This means that there is no need for you to memorize your PAL or NTSC settings as these are all built into the templates 27 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 28 There are sixteen built in templates 1 X CDROM 1X CDROM PAL 2 X CDROM 2X CDROM PAL CDi CDi PAL Default DVD DVD PAL Internet MPEG Fast MPEG Fast PAL MPEG Fields MPEG Fields PAL Video CD Video CD PAL 2 3 ENCODING SEPARATE AUDIO AND VIDEO FILES An MPEG encoded audio video multiplexed file file extension mpg commonly contains one of the following combinations Asingle audio commonly called abs file Asingle video commonly called vbs file Asingl
14. offer you a powerful means to selectively apply MPEG Power Professional encoding parameters to your video sources The most important reason to analyze your video is to improve the overall image quality Analysis suggests encoding events which when incorporated into the encoding process can make your finished video look better You can use Encode Control List files ecl files to selectively apply filters search tech niques and search distances to inject entry points and I frames You can also use encode control lists to encode MPEG still pictures and to encode multiple short segments of one large video source file CHAPTER 5 LET S MAKE A DVD MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 96 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL CHAPTER OVERVIEW In this chapter you will be taken through the steps of making a DVD with MPEG Power Professional You will learn the basic steps necessary in order to create high quality MPEG for your DVD applications In addition this chapter will discuss making a DVD using both the MPEG Power Professional VOB feature and making a DVD using third party authoring software Also we will explain the MULTIPLEX tab and VBR option in greater detail Finally this chapter will con tain a discussion on the multi camera angle support included with MPEG Power Professional and why it is important to your DVD creation Please note many of the features discussed in this section are available only in M
15. tasks however will not be lost OK will exit the INTERRUPTED ENCODES window without resuming or discarding any projects VIEW LOG will bring up the contents of the log file associated with the highlighted encoding project Log files are generated during the encoding process as MPEG Power Professional encodes each task included in a project A typical log file contains The destination file name for the encoding task The time that the encoding task started and ended A list of the actions that MPEG Power Professional completed during the encoding process PROJECT ENCODING BASICS 2 6 SPECIFYING SOURCE AND SUPPORTED MEDIA MPEG Power Professional is compatible with a wide range of nonlinear editing NLE formats including Microsoft AVI Audio Video Interleave Apple QuickTime Avid OMF Open Media Framework and Media 100 QuickTime In addition MPEG Power Professional can utilize still image sequences as sources for the encoder 2 7 MULTIPLE SOURCE FILES ONE MPEG STREAM MPEG Power Professional gives you the ability to easily concatenate your source files into one MPEG file Using the ability to lay files end to end and encode them you can easily circumvent the source file size restrictions imposed by the operating system on your computer 41 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 42 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL To concatenate source files 1 Select INSERT TASK from t
16. 0 411 Hrs Mins Secs Frms e jp je Je jj Event Parameters TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Inject l Frame Ch J Median Filter ON ange Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON Remove FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF You can step forward and backward through your source frame by frame by clicking on the arrow buttons to the right of the frame bitmap You can move forward or backward by one frame or ten frames or you can move to the next or previous event using the outside arrow buttons Also the slider bar can be used to quickly move through the source media When you stop on a frame where an encoding event is scheduled the event will be displayed with its corresponding frame number The encoding events window will be empty when you land on a frame where no event is scheduled to occur Corresponding frame bitmaps and event information are displayed when appropriate 76 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL Using the Auto generated ecl file Let s assume that you have processed an analysis only task for a source video file This produced an ecl file that you named myvideo ecl When you open myvideo ecl from the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window you will see a list of scheduled I frame injections ECL Editor by timecode x TimeCode Event Parameters Notes m Frame Number fanaa 00 00 09 14 Inject Fama Frame 284 Analysis generated e 00 00 11 21 Inject I Frame Frame 351 A
17. 6 Choose your ENCODING TASK 7 Choose your BASE TEMPLATE 8 Name your DESTINATION FILE 9 Click OK You return to the project window 10 SAVE your project and START ENCODING QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS format and resolution Additionally neither audio only abs nor video only vbs files should be WARNING For proper encoding behavior all concatenated sources should be of the same type concatenated 129 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 130 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 6 20 ENCODING A STILL PICTURE MSP MPEG still pictures are often used to create menu buttons or background screens in CDi applications There are two ways to encode still pictures Export a single frame of video from your nonlinear editing system as a source file Select a single frame from a larger source file using a START ENCODING event in an ecl file If you are encoding several MPEG still pictures from the same source material the latter is the most efficient method To encode a still picture 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar Select and add your SOURCE FILE Select STILL PICTURE from the ENCODING TASK box Select a BASE TEMPLATE Name your DESTINATION FILE Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox Click the EDIT ENCODE CONTROL LIST button Enter the frame number in the EVENT FRAME NUMBER box Highlight the S
18. Click on the OPEN button to open an existing ecl file Click on the SAVE AS button to save the current ecl file Click on the OK button to return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Click on the CANCEL button to close the ECL EDITOR window without saving changes you have made since you opened the active ECL file 133 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 6 23 ANALYSIS AND ECL FILES ECL stands for Encode Control List An ecl file contains a list of encoding events tailored to a particular video source Encoding events fall into these categories Filters Search Distances Search Techniques Other includes COMMENT INJECT I FRAME INJECT ENTRY POINT START ENCODING and STOP ENCODING The following encoding events are available Inject I frame Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR filter ON FIR filter OFF Gamma filter ON Gamma filter OFF Non linear filter ON Non linear filter OFF Light Non linear ON Heavy Non linear ON Inject Entry Point Set Short Range Search Set Medium Range Search Set Long Range Search Set Extended Range Search Inverse Telecine Phase Change Set Log Search Set Hybrid Search Set Two Pass Search Set Complete Search Start Encoding Stop Encoding Comment Adjust Average Bit Rate Interfield Search ON Interfield Search OFF Half Pel Search ON Half Pel Search OFF 134 QU
19. ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window will appear From this window you can add encod ing events based on timecode or you can access a frame based ECL editor and add encoding events at specific frame numbers ECL Editor by timecode 2 xi TimeCode Event Parameters Notes m Frame Number o MECL Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms fo o fo o r Event Parameters a b c d p p ed RR r Notes 4 PEEEEENEEDN Events Available lt Add Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON _Bemove gt FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF x Khaa Lianna F a Fike MAI Help Open Save As OK Cancel 81 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 As you can see from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list there are a number of encoding events avail able that can be manually controlled with the ECL EDITOR Available events include e Inject I frame Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR filter ON FIR filter OFF Gamma filter ON Gamma filter OFF Non linear filter ON Non linear filter OFF Light Non linear ON Heavy Non linear ON Inject Entry Point Set Short Range Search Set Medium Range Search Set Long Range Search Set Extended Range Search Inverse Telecine Phase Change Set Log Search Set Hybrid Search Set Two Pass Search Set Complete Search Start Encoding Stop Encodin
20. ON _Bemove gt FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF x NIME E N ME Help Open Saye As OK Cancel 149 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 150 7 12 CROPPING SOURCE VIDEO You can crop your source video to remove unwanted effects around the edges You can change the source crop settings from the VIDEO1 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window oosowm ONDAN Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO 1 tab Enter the desired X Y dX and dY values in the SOURCE CROP box Click OK Or Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO1 tab In the SOURCE CROP box click the DISPLAY FRAME button Enter a reference frame number and click the VIEW button Holding the left mouse button down drag a box over the region of the image you wish to crop Click OK TIP You ll get better picture quality if your cropped source resolution is an even multiple of your target display resolution ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 13 MANUALLY CREATING AN ECL You can create your own ECLby constructing one from events in the ECLEDITOR BYTIMECODEwindow Insert a new task o
21. R165 Image sequences encoding R160 inserting tasks see tasks inserting Internet template 28 51 R113 R114 R115 interrupt 38 39 R118 Interrupted projects 38 40 R119 R120 Inverse Telecine applying 58 70 keyboard shortcuts R111 log files view 40 63 R110 R120 log search see search technique log long search distance see search distance long Median filter 58 86 87 R146 medium search distance see search distance medium mono see audio mode mono MPEG encoding types of 26 27 R111 R112 INDEX MPEG playback 23 multiplexing 26 27 31 R112 R125 R127 Multiplex tab 65 66 100 R159 multiplex encoding see multiplexing multiplexing multiple source files 31 R127 Nonlinear filter 58 R146 OMFI 18 41 R122 project see encoding project file QuickTime mov 18 41 R122 reference interval changing 60 61 R155 resume 40 R120 sampling frequency 55 search distance 57 R148 extended 57 R148 long 57 R148 medium 57 R148 short 57 R148 search technique 57 R148 complete 57 R148 hybrid 57 R148 two pass 57 R148 log 57 R148 short search distance see search distance short source files 19 41 R122 R123 195 PP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 source file concatenation 42 R128 R162 stereo see audio mode stereo still picture encoding 26 27 91 R130 R160 task generator 44 R118 tasks adding 33
22. Set Long Range Search Median Filter OFF Event Frame Number 119400 Event Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms o 0e zo o Event Parameters Event Notes Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF Non Linear Filter ON Besides selectively applying SEARCH DISTANCES SEARCH TECHNIQUES and FILTERS you can manually INJECT I FRAMES and INJECT ENTRY POINTS Some applications require random access to specific points in the encoded video Injecting an entry point allows for that random access I frames are considered to be beneficial at scene changes and at entry points although an entry point is not necessarily inserted just because an l frame is ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL Both l frames and entry points can be manually inserted as encoding events based on either timecode or frame number To add either I frames or entry points to the list of enabled encoding events 1 Specify a corresponding timecode or frame number in either the EVENT TIME CODE or EVENT FRAME NUMBER box 2 Select INJECT I FRAME or INJECT ENTRY POINT from the list of encoding EVENTS AVAILABLE 3 Click the ADD button For example if you inject an l frame at the first frame of the scene change between the beauty shot and the fast moving highly detailed segment it would appear at 01 06 20 00 Suppose your application supported a random access point at that same scene chan
23. TIME CODE box 2 Highlight MEDIAN FILTER ON from the list of EVENTS AVAILABLE 3 Type any notes you wish to add into the NOTES box 4 Click the ADD button This event will be added to the events timeline concurrent with the SEARCH DISTANCE and SEARCH TECHNIQUE options that have already been selected Encode Control List Editor H TimeCode Event Parameters Notes AANGAT 01 02 30 00 Set Short Range Search 01 02 30 00 Set Complete Search 112500 01 02 30 00 Median Filter ON T 01 06 20 00 Set Log Search Event Time Code 01 06 20 00 Set Long Range Search Hrs Mins Secs Frms o o2 so o Event Parameters Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF see FIR Filter ON FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF Non Linear Filter ON z i The MEDIAN filter will continue to be applied to this video sequence until you turn it off To turn off this filter type the ending timecode into the timecode box highlight MEDIAN FILTER OFF on the list of encoding EVENTS AVAILABLE and click the ADD button 87 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 88 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL The ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window now looks like this Encode Control List Editor TimeCode 01 02 30 00 01 02 30 00 01 02 30 00 01 06 20 00 01 06 20 00 01 06 20 00 Event Parameters Notes Set Short Range Search Set Complete Search Median Filter ON Set Log Search
24. Toast DVD Closed Group of Pictures GOP MPEG Power Professional 2 0 can create a Closed Group of Pictures GOP Users can create MPEG appropriate for multi angle DVD playback with this feature PAL NTSC specific templates MPEG Power Professional 2 0 features PAL and NTSC specific templates You no longer have to memorize PAL or NTSC specifications Specifications are set automatically at the touch of a button Content Analysis MPEG Power Professional version 2 0 supports scene change detection and content analysis of all media types All users now have the benefit of MPEG Power Professional s powerful analysis option OTHER MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL FEATURES MPEG Power Professional works directly with all leading NLE systems In this way users can avoid generation loss and produce MPEG files of the highest quality It provides the best path from NLE to DVD INTRODUCTION MPEG Power Professional is a professional level product with frame by frame control over fil ters l frame injection search methods search techniques and much more This precise control allows users to create MPEG files that exactly match their quality and application requirements MPEG Power Professional is fully ISO MPEG and DVD compliant You can use MPEG Power Professional with confidence knowing that it will work reliably with DVD authoring and other multimedia development systems and will play back on all MPEG compliant decode
25. accommodate the combined bit rates of the source REMEMBER When you are multiplexing together an audio file and a video file select a BASE lt files or customize your bit rate by changing the BIT RATE on the VIDEO1 tab Li myvideo mpr Juj 7 Click OK to add this task to your encoding project 8 Save your project by selecting SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon on the toolbar 9 Select START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar The ENCODER PROGRESS window will appear with the information about the current encoding task 126 QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS 6 18 CREATING MULTIPLEXED MPEG FILES WITH MULTIPLE SOURCE FILES Within MPEG Power Professional you can create mpg files by combining related abs and vbs files The process of combining these source files together is called multiplexing or muxing Most often a multiplexed mpg file contains one abs file and or one vbs file as described in Chapter 2 Sometimes an application calls for combining more than one audio file and more than one video file together into a single mpg file To multiplex several audio and or video streams 1 Create or open an encoding project i 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar 3 Add SOURCE FILES by browsing for their location or typing in t
26. and clicking on the ADD button Step through the video source one frame at a time ten frames at a time or from encoding event to encoding event using the navigation buttons adjacent to the frame viewer The outside button on either side allows you to step through the video source skipping from encoding event to encoding event in the timeline The middle of the three buttons on either side allows you to step through the video source file ten frames at a time The innermost button on either side allows you to step through the video source one frame at a time QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Encode Control List Editor H Event Frame Number 1 elock mov a d Event Ti me Code Frame 0 0 411 Hrs Mins Secs Frms p Ie le lo ly Event Parameters Event Notes TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Inject I Frame C Change Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON Ep FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF By Timecode Timecode Save As ok EE ETA EA pru Use the slider bar to move through the large portions of the video and narrow the search for a particular frame Remove encoding events from the timeline by highlighting an event in the timeline and clicking on the REMOVE button From this window you can Click on the BY TIMECODE button to switch to the ECL EDITOR BYTIMECODE view
27. combining them into an MPEG file is called multiplexing or muxing This kind of MPEG file takes less time to encode with MPEG Power Professional than do video only encodes PROJECT ENCODING BASICS TIP Choose VIDEO ENCODE if you plan to use a video only MPEG file in your appliation or if you plan to multiplex the video file with a variety of audio files Choose MULTIPLEXED ENCODE CA if you want to produce a multiplexed MPEG file but do not need to maintain separate MPEG ver N sions of source audio and video files The last MPEG file type MPEG Power Professional supports is the still picture An MPEG still picture msp is commonly used in a CDi or Video CD application to create menu buttons or backgrounds TIP Not all authoring packages support the incorporation of msp files Refer to the product f documentation and test some encoded files prior to full production N MPEG Power Professional supports a fifth task type analysis only An analysis only encode examines the content of your source video file and gathers useful information about the complexity of your source file This may include the location of cuts wipes fades and other information from the editing process which can influence the encoding process Creating an ANALYSIS ONLY task within an encoding project produces an Encode Control List or ecl file MPEG Power Professional M can use this ecl file to make decisions about the best way to encode your video to
28. critically important and should not be missed e I INSTRUCTIONS This icon appears next to any numbered text that details instructions or steps in a process lt REMEMBER This icon appears next to text which reminds you of important information that has already been mentioned but which bears repeating Cool Stuff This icon appears next to text detailing useful facts and other features of MPEG Power Professional INTRODUCTION TIP This icon appears next to text detailing shortcuts and other helpful information 5 REFERENCE This icon appears next to references to related chapters and sections of the manual Often the use of abbreviations can cause confusion Every effort has been made to use abbreviations logically and consistently in this manual Please refer to the following table of conventions if you have any confusion about what an abbreviation means MB Megabytes Mb Megabits Mb s Megabits Per Second fpS frames per second KB Kilobytes Kb Kilobits THE MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL TUTORIAL DISC AND HEURIS DVD Included with your software package is a tutorial CD ROM This CD ROM includes an interactive tutorial and source file examples The tutorial is designed to take you on a guided tour of most of the features of MPEG Power Professional The source files included on the disc will come in handy in Chapter 1 where you will be taken on a step by step g
29. decoders require certain aspect ratios to play VBV Size The VBV SIZE indicates the size of the buffer required by the intended MPEG decoder to display the clip This value should generally match the size of the actual hardware buffer of the MPEG playback device if applicable A VBV setting higher than the physical capacity of the buffer on the playback device will not display correctly if at all One situation where it may be useful to increase this value is if you are encoding at a high bit rate such as 2 3 Mb s In this case you may want to raise the VBV SIZE to 32 However before you do this you should check your playback device specifications to make sure it can support this buffer size The reverse is also true If you are encoding a sequence at less than 1 0 Mb s you may need to decrease this value TIP When encoding at bit rates of 1 2 Mb s it is best to use the default VBV size 20 Frame Rate The FRAME RATE setting is a label on your MPEG file that dictates how many frames should be displayed per second The NTSC default is 30 frames per second and the PAL default is 25 frames per second Videotape is recorded at 29 97 frames per second while film is produced at 24 frames per second The process of converting a 24 frame per second film clip into a 30 frame per second videotape is known as Telecine This process will add approximately six duplicate frames divided among the video fields in the video stream each second to ac
30. for more video to be stored on the DVD and second the quality of the video can appear to be better Another name for variable bit rate encoding is constant quality encoding versus constant bit rate encoding Since video changes so dramatically from scene to scene our ability to perceive artifacts within the video can also change dramatically from scene to scene Variable bit rate encoding allows the video to change the bit rate at which the video is encoded based on the content of the video Difficult scenes get more bits while simple to encode scenes get less bits When encoding using variable bit rate methods an average bit rate is established as well as a maximum bit rate These parameters average bit rate and max bit rate set the limits for the encoder and therefore the encoders ability to adjust to the content of the video Variable bit rate encoding is a useful method of encoding for DVD s but when the cost of delivery is the most important criteria such as trans mission from satellites constant bit rate encoding is more desirable APPENDICES l P and B frames MPEG organizes video into several logical units Each unit is logically composed of smaller units The basic units of MPEG in order of increasing size are Blocks Macroblocks Slices Pictures Group of Pictures GOP GOPs are made up of pictures which are in turn made from slices that contain macroblocks that contain blocks The largest data eleme
31. or buttons to move the file out of the CURRENT SOURCE FILES box Click OK This returns you to the project window As you will see the tasks that you have just created in the Task Generator appear SAVE your project and START ENCODING as you would any project QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS 6 12 INTERRUPTING AN ENCODING PROJECT IN PROGRESS Once you have started to encode the tasks in an encoding project the ENCODER PROGRESS window will appear indicating the progress of the encoding tasks within the active project From this status window you can interrupt any actively encoding project TIP MPEG Power Professional periodically saves the task as it is encoding In the case of a CA power failure you may restart the encode where it was interrupted when power was lost N When a project is interrupted MPEG Power Professional saves all partially encoded files and encoding parameters for later resumption of the encoding process All interrupted encoding projects can be either resumed or discarded at your convenience You can close the MPEG Power Professional application and use your workstation for other tasks even shut off your computer and then re open the MPEG Power Professional application and resume encoding any interrupted encoding project without loss of data To interrupt an encoding project 1 From the ENCODER PROGRESS window click on the INTERRUPT button A confirmation w
32. painter s palette a color can be described in terms of several primary colors For instance when playing with paints as a child mixing equal parts of red yellow and blue created black By mixing these primary colors in different combinations it is possible to produce any other color Color mixing works a bit differently with light than with paints but we can still make any color from three primaries In the video world however we substitute green for yellow in our pri mary color palette APPENDICES Val A Video Color Palette In mixing colors of light we vary the amount of red green and blue light that makes up the color of a pixel To make video practical it is necessary to limit the number of differing shades of red green or blue that can be generated This puts an upper limit on the total number of colors that video can recreate Here is an example of a common digital color scheme Each primary color red green or blue may have 256 different levels or shades Since a color may be composed of the three primaries this means we can generate 16 8 million different colors or 256 levels of red times 256 levels of green times 256 levels of blue 16 8 million roughly equals 256x256x256 The color for a pixel is normally written as follows pixel color red level blue level green level What is 24 bit Video The previous example just described 24 bit video without calling it that The term 24 bit comes from the fact
33. per second 2 534 400 pixels per second X 2 bytes per pixel 5 068 800 total bytes per second The 20 Megabytes per second is reduced to 4 83 Megabytes per second The 720x480 image size is considered to be professional video size It is the image size broadcast studios use when making video The basic premise in analog video is to work with something larger than you need and hopefully by the time it gets to the home after video editing and retransmission it will still contain acceptable quality Thus MPEG reduces the picture size to 352 x 240 The next step of video compression is to realize that over a small region of a single frame the image does not change much For example take a picture of a field with a pond in it If you only look at a small portion of the picture say 8x8 block of pixels you will probably see a block of grass a block of blue sky or a block that only contains the pond MPEG takes advantage of this property of images It breaks the image into 8x8 blocks and then applies a mathematical function to each block called a DCT DCT stands for Discrete Cosine Transform The DCT in and of itself does not provide any compression However the DCT does provide a means for compression There are two properties of the DCT that make it well suited for assisting in video compression It packs the data most visible to the human eye into a tighter spot e g more zeros appear in the DCT encoded block zeros are easy to compress It o
34. portions of the same video source An ecl file also provides a powerful way to encode still pictures and to encode selected smaller segments of longer source files Section 4 9 discusses how to process each of these encoding tasks 4 6 MANUALLY CREATING AN ECL FILE There are two ways to generate an ecl file Create an analysis only task corresponding to your video source as detailed in Section 4 3 Manually create an ecl file based on either timecode or based on frame numbers calculated as you review your source video TIP When you want to manually incorporate a number of encoding events besides l frame injec tion into an ecl file you may find it useful to first generate an ecl file with the ANALYSIS ONLY task and then edit the encoding events MPEG Power Professional provides To manually create an ENCODE CONTROL LIST for a particular video source 1 Create a new project or open an existing encoding project 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar 3 Add your video SOURCE FILE S by browsing for them or typing in the path and file name ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL TIP You should load your video source in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window in order to visually CA step through your source while creating or editing the ecl file 4 Select the USE ECL FILE checkbox in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 5 Click on the EDIT ECL button A blank
35. second field if available ws E ca ttn Aspect Ratio roo sw Field preparation n p If H Ss assume fields are Frame Rate Auto Stacked Swap fields if available Auto analyze GOP SIZE N and Reference Interval M The GOP Group of Pictures SIZE setting dictates how many pictures are in each group while the REFERENCE INTERVAL setting dictates the distance between reference frames l or P frames GOP SIZE is also known as the N value and the REFERENCE INTERVAL is also known as the M value I frames are frames in which the complete image in that frame is stored Each GOP begins with an l frame P and B frames on the other hand only contain part of the image of that frame The rest of the frame is formed by reconstructing it from other frames In the case of P frames it accomplishes this by looking at its motion vector data and comparing it to the previous reference frame It then moves the appropriate parts of the reference image to where the motion vector has MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS indicated It builds the picture in this manner B frames are similar to P frames however they can reference previous or future reference frames l frames take the most number of bytes to encode B frames are generally encoded with the least number of bytes For NTSC templates the default N value is 15 and the default M value is 3 This means every fif teenth frame is an I frame and also the beginning of a GOP W
36. settings you will need to open MPEG Power Professional and import your source file s as usual However if you plan to make multiple encodes using the same encoder settings you may create your own custom template incorporating these settings These custom templates will then be available to you when you use the HEURIS MPEG Export Engine Pro 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 184 abs An audio only MPEG file Also commonly referred to as an mpa file Analog A system which allows a range of continuous values For example a cassette tape is an analog storage device Aspect Ratio Represents the ratio of the x value to the y value of a pixel For example an aspect ratio of 75 would indicate that each pixel is 3 4ths as high as it is wide Authoring Creation of a document containing hypertext or hypermedia This can include graphics sound and video Bit Rate A measure of data transfer rates Normally expressed in bits second B frames Bi directional frames CBR Acronym for constant bit rate CDi Acronym for Compact Disc Interactive Philips entry into the home video multiplayer market In common usage for industrial Video CD applications Closed GOP Closed Group of Pictures Useful for multi angle DVD playback Complete Search The most thorough search technique available This technique takes longer to encode than the other options DCT Acronym for Discrete Cosine Tr
37. the MULTIPLEX tab Please note that this feature is only functional with MPEG Power Professional DVD and Transport Create a new project or open an existing project e Insert a new task or edit an existing task Select the SOURCE FILE S you wish to encode Choose your ENCODING TASK Choose either the DVD or DVD PAL base template Name your DESTINATION FILE Click OK SAVE your project and START ENCODING ONOORWD WARNING VOB files may not play back on normal MPEG2 players A 7 25 INITIAL CLOCK REFERENCE AND EASY CD CREATER Some Video CD authoring packages may specify a required INITIAL CLOCK REFERENCE or FIRST PRESENTATION TIME STAMP Use these controls to specify the required clock value in units of 90 000 Hz One Adaptec engineer has recommended an INITIAL CLOCK REFERENCE of 1200 for Video CD streams for best compatibility with Easy CD Creator Check the recommen dations of your authoring package for appropriate values if you experience difficulty using MPEG streams with other applications 159 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 160 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 7 26 MULTIPLEX AUDIO VIDEO MPEG ELEMENTARY STREAMS An Audio Video MPEG Elementary Stream is nothing more than an audio only abs or video only vbs encoded file If you have separate audio and video files that you need to multiplex together into one MPEG file following the steps outlined below This proces
38. the surrounding area for motion The five available options are AUTO LOG HYBRID TWO PASS and COMPLETE The COMPLETE setting provides the most detail and LOG can be completed in the shortest amount of time The HYBRID option is a compromise between the two extremes and is usually sufficient for most encoding tasks The TWO PASS will give you better image quality for some sources but will take longer For increased quality video with little motion choose the COMPLETE option To decrease encoding time choose the LOG option The AUTO option will allow the setting to be chosen by the encoder SEARCH DISTANCE dictates how far away from the current area the encoder looks for matching video The five available options are AUTO SHORT MEDIUM LONG and EXTENDED Increasing this distance may improve the quality of your video but will also increase encoding time TIP If your video has little motion such as a duck floating on a pond you should set your SEARCH DISTANCE to a smaller value If your video contains faster motion such as a car race set your SEARCH DISTANCE to a larger value If your video has a lot of chaotic motion such as an explosion then set your SEARCH DISTANCE to AUTO or a medium value Global Filters Below the SEARCH DISTANCE box you will see an area labeled GLOBAL FILTERS which has several options AUTO MEDIAN FIR and NON LINEAR The AUTO option is the default option it signifies that the encoder will apply whichever g
39. toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 2 Choose the video SOURCE FILE you wish to encode 3 Select VIDEO ENCODE from the ENCODING TASK box 4 Choose a BASE TEMPLATE 5 Choose a DESTINATION FILE name 6 Click the OK button to include this task in your current encoding project This returns you to the encoding project window H myvideo mpr BB In the encoding project window you now see an encoding task icon labeled myaudio abs Immediately below it is an encoding task labeled myvideo vbs PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Prior to encoding the audio and video tasks save the active project file 1 Select SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon on the toolbar 2 Select START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar The ENCODER PROGRESS window will appear When the project has been encoded you can review the finished audio and video files After you have reviewed the files set up another project to encode a multiplexed file using these audio and video files as source material 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear Type the name of the audio source file in the SOURCE FILE box or browse for its location Repeat step 3 to add the video source file to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window
40. 2 288 MPEG2 Fast PAL 224 Kb Stereo 5 Mb 720 576 MPEG2 Fields PAL 224 Kb Stereo 5 Mb 720 576 DVD Pal 224 Kb Stereo 4 5 9 Mb Variable 720 576 Video CD PAL 224 Kb Stereo 1 152 Mb 352 288 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 A 52 3 3 CUSTOM TEMPLATES There are several factors to consider when you are designing a custom template for use in your application Factors such as your playback device capabilities your target CPU speed image quality requirements and storage issues will all play a role in deciding which settings to use in your template WARNING When designing a custom template with MPEG Power Professional you need to be aware of the MPEG balancing act In other words how you budget bits time and quality to come up with the optimum solutions for your needs The temptation to set all of the values at their highest limits will result in an encoding task that takes too long to complete and possibly even results in an MPEG stream of poor quality High settings may cause frames to be dropped when played back on hardware that is designed for lower settings Further most MPEG playback devices have limits as to what types of MPEG files they can play and by setting your values too high you may not be able to play back your MPEG file on any system Therefore you need to prioritize requirements and restrictions such as encoding time image quality and playback devices and to set your values ac
41. 35 R116 deleting 33 37 R118 editing 33 36 37 R117 inserting 19 33 R116 Templates 27 28 50 54 R112 R115 editing 53 R141 restoring 53 R143 saving custom settings 52 53 R142 variable bitrate 57 100 R145 VBV Buffer adjusting 62 R157 Video bit rate see bit rate video cropping see cropping video source VOB 66 R159 196
42. 5 as the ID the next would be 6 and so on Initial Clock Reference The INITIAL CLOCK REFERENCE settings on the MULTIPLEX tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window allow you to set certain time parameters for your encode In this area you are able to set the INITIAL SCR System Clock Reference or the FIRST PTS Presentation Time Stamp For most purposes the AUTO setting will be the best setting for you to use for your encoding projects However some playback devices or authoring systems specify different settings for the INITIAL SCR or the FIRST PTS Please refer to the documentation that came with your playback device to determine what these settings should be To change these settings simply type the new value in the space provided MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS CHAPTER SUMMARY In this chapter you have learned how to change the settings of all the tabs on the ENCODER SETTINGS window to create your own custom templates This includes setting audio and video bit rates the size of the display cropping search techniques closed GOP DVD VOB and much more The settings on the TEMPLATE AUDIO and VIDEO tabs will be all that is necessary for most users to create high quality MPEG clips to meet their needs Advanced users however have the options of changing additional settings on the VIDEO2 and MULTIPLEX tabs The reader should use caution when altering these advanced settings Improper settings may lead to MPEG files that cannot be di
43. CH and add a second event to SET LONG RANGE SEARCH Encode Control List Editor TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Event Frame Number 01 02 30 00 Set Short Range Search 119400 01 02 30 00 Set Complete Search 01 06 20 00 Set Log Search 01 06 20 00 Set Long Range Search Event Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms os 20 o Event Parameters a b C Inject Entry Point Set Short Range Search g Set Medium Range Search Set Long Range Search Set Extended Range Search Inverse Telecine Phase Change Set Log Search z Just as you can set search distances and techniques for smaller segments of a larger source file you can also apply filters selectively Perhaps you want to filter the beauty shot discussed above because the original source material is a bit noisy and definitely not as clean as the fast moving detailed video that appears later in the segment You can insert an additional event to apply a filter just to the beauty shot segment In this case as the video is smooth and slow moving a MEDIAN filter may prove the best choice REFERENCE For information about choosing a filter to match a particular type of video please see Chapter 3 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL The beauty shot begins at 01 02 30 00 and ends at 01 06 19 29 These are your in and out points for applying a selected filter To add the filter to your ECL 1 Type the beginning timecode into the EVENT
44. DIT TASK icon on the project toolbar To define an encoding task you must define each of the following options An encoding task type VIDEO ENCODE AUDIO ENCODE MULTIPLEXED ENCODE STILL PICTURE ANALYSIS ONLY A SOURCE FILE mov omf abs vbs A DESTINATION FILE name and location abs vbs mpg msp or ecl An encoding BASE TEMPLATE Click on the EDIT SETTINGS button to access all of the user definable encoder settings 6 17 CREATING MULTIPLEXED MPEG FILES WITH SINGLE ABS AND VBS SOURCE FILES Within MPEG Power Professional you can create mpg files by combining related abs audio only and vbs video only files The process of combining these source files together is called multiplexing or muxing As with all encoding tasks processed in MPEG Power Professional you first create an encoding project in which to multiplex source files 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar Add your SOURCE FILES to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Choose MULTIPLEXED ENCODE from the ENCODING TASK box Choose a BASE TEMPLATE from the list of encoding templates Choose a destination and a name for your mpg file Browse for an appropriate folder and name the file oo Ww 125 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 TEMPLATE with a mux rate large enough to
45. E button will save your new template while clicking the RESTORE FROM BASE TEMPLATE button will restore the defaults of the template named in the BASED ON TEMPLATE box Clicking OK button at the bottom of the ENCODER SETTINGS window will apply these changes to the current task only 53 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 54 Should you create a new template to be saved you may want to identify it as a PAL NTSC or non specific template depending on your preferences If you selected to show or hide certain types of templates in your PREFERENCES settings these newly created templates will be shown accordingly These identifications do not affect encoder settings 3 6 EDIT AUDIO TAB SETTINGS The AUDIO tab has three options the audio BIT RATE the MODE and the audio SAMPLING FREQUENCY The audio BIT RATE is that amount of audio data that is encoded per second For example the value 192 means that the audio will be encoded at 192 kilobits per second Encoder Settings 12 x Template Audio Videot Video2 Multiples Bit Rate x 1000 bits sec Mode p Sampling Frequency C Mono Auto Stereo C 48 kHz C Dual channel C 441 kHz C 32kHz You can change the BIT RATE by clicking on one of the values in the BIT RATE scrolling menu Changing this value may affect both the size and quality of the audio of your MPEG file Increasing the BIT RA
46. EG Power Professional you have access to our outstanding technical support personnel via telephone and E mail See the technical support bulletin included in the MPEG Power Professional packaging for details INTRODUCTION TROUBLE SHOOTING GUIDE A trouble shooting guide is included in your product packaging This guide contains tips on how to make the most of your MPEG encoded video Combined with the information in the appen dices of the manual you have an array of advice from the experts on how to produce high quality MPEG encoded video for your interactive applications 15 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED ENCODING YOUR FIRST PROJECT MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 18 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter takes you on a step by step tour of the MPEG Power Professional s basic encod ing tools Follow the steps given here to quickly become acquainted with the MPEG encoding process You will learn how to take a source video file found on the tutorial CD and create a fin ished MPEG file using the MPEG Power Professional built in encoding templates 1 1 EXPORTING YOUR MEDIA To create an MPEG encoded file for this application you must import a digital audio video source file After editing the video and audio assets for this kiosk application you would export them from your nonlinear editing system as either an OMF file AVI file or QuickTim
47. EG Power Professional M 31 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 32 contains several tools and processes to help you manage multiple MPEG encoding tasks effec tively Those tools and processes include Grouping tasks into encoding projects Adding or deleting tasks within encoding projects The ability to interrupt and resume encoding projects in progress Grouping Tasks into Projects As you saw in Chapter 1 MPEG Power Professional produces mpg files by processing encoding tasks MPEG Power Professional groups encoding tasks together into projects When you process an encoding project MPEG Power Professional encodes the first task within your encoding project and then moves on to any additional tasks in your project f sources are not available MPEG Power Professional will skip that task It will then retry the skipped task when it finishes encoding the last task in the project The entire project is completed when MPEG Power Professional has completely encoded the last task within the project You can create and save an encoding project and then wait to start the encoding process if you so desire Often you will define encoding tasks and set up encoding projects during the day and start the encoding process at the end of your day so that the project encodes overnight As a result you should group related encoding tasks together in the same project file
48. ENCODING OPTIONS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS Table of Contents Editing a Built in Template Saving a Custom Template Restoring the Built in Template Default Settings Adjusting Audio Bit Rates Adjusting Video Bit Rates Adjusting the Display Resolution Applying Global Filters Applying Filters to Sections of Source Video via the ECL Adjusting Search Techniques and Search Distances Encoding Smaller Sections of Source omf or mov via the ECL Cropping Source Video Manually Creating an ECL Editing an Auto Generated or Manually Created ECL Using an ecl file with a Task Injecting I frames Injecting Entry Points Adjusting GOP Size N Adjusting Reference Interval M 116 117 118 118 119 119 121 122 124 125 127 128 130 132 132 134 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 152 152 153 154 155 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 20 Closed GOP 155 7 21 Adjusting Aspect Ratio 156 7 22 Adjusting VBV Size 157 7 23 Adjusting Frame Rate 158 7 24 Creating a VOB 159 7 25 Initial Clock Reference and Easy CD Creator 159 7 26 Multiplex Audio Video MPEG Elementary Streams 160 7 27 Encoding from a Series of Still Image Files 160 7 28 Source File Concatenation 162 7 29 Encoding a Video CD 163 7 30 Aspect Ratio Chart for MPEG1 and MPEG2 164 7 31 Tips to Help You Make the Fastest Encodes 164 7 32 Tips to Help You Make the Highest Quality Encodes 165 APPENDIX
49. EX tabs This is not meant to be an all inclusive discussion of the settings on all of the tabs If you need a refresher on all of the settings that are available to edit in MPEG Power Professional please refer to Chapter 3 First let S begin with the settings for VARIABLE BIT RATE encoding To change these settings you will need to go to the VIDEO 1 tab 1 Click the EDIT SETTINGS button in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 2 Click on the VIDEO1 tab 3 The VARIABLE RATE option is selected and boxes are available for AVERAGE and MAXIMUM bit rates 4 You can change these bit rates to comply with the specifications of your DVD project For the purposes of this exercise change the MAXIMUM bit rate to 8000000 bits per second Next let s look at the CLOSED GOP setting As you may recall from the discussion of CLOSED GOP in Chapter 3 the CLOSED GOP option will help to facilitate the playback of your multi angle DVD For a more detailed discussion and explaination of CLOSED GOP please see Appendix ll This option is automatically selected for you when you choose the DVD PAL or DVD template To change this setting 1 Click on the VIDEO tab 2 Click the CLOSED GOP checkbox Finally let s look at the MULTIPLEX TARGET settings DVD VOB is set automatically when you choose the DVD or DVD PAL template If you want to change this setting you can do this by going to the MULTIPLEX tab 1 Click on the MULTIPLEX tab of the ENCODER SETTIN
50. G from the PROJECT menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar afk ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL Encode Definitions File Name JEM edia Media 100 flower moy El Add Remove E Media Media 100 flower mov Move Up Move Down Source Files m Encoding Task C Audio Encode C Video Encode C Multiplexed Encode C Still Picture Analysis Only m Encode Settings Base Template 1 x CDROM 1x CDROM 1x CDROM PAL 2 x CDROM 2x CDROM PAL CDi x Edit Settings gt Encode Control List Settings I Use ECL file El EditEncode Eontrallist m Task Description MA r Destination File Name C Mower ecl OK Cancel Help 73 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 4 3 REVIEWING AN ANALYSIS ONLY GENERATED ECL FILE Once you have processed the analysis only task it is easy to open the resulting ecl file and review it When you created the analysis only task you specified a destination name and location for the ecl file To open the finished ecl file for review 1 2 Open a new or existing project Choose INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar 3 Select the source file from the appropriate Windows or Macintosh file folder 4 Click the check box for U
51. GS window 2 Click on the appropriate MULTIPLEX TARGET for your application 3 Click OK to return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window LET S MAKE A DVD The DVD VOB feature is useful if you want to quickly and easily create VOBs for rapid DVD pro totyping using inexpensive DVD burning packages such as Adaptec Toast DVD Multiplex Target Encode Settings Multiplex Auto Q 1x CD ROM Q 2x CD ROM Q 4x CD ROM Q Custom Rate bits sec Q CD I Video CD E Toast Compatible Multiplex Type _ First Stream ID QO System Audio fo Program amp DYD voB L Q Transport AUX i Initial Clock Reference Auto Set Initial SCR Q Set First PTS WARNING If you are using a third party DVD authoring package you will need to import elementary audio only and video only encodes into your DVD authoring system Now that you have set all of the encoding definitions for this task click the OK button to include this task in the active encoding project The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will close This returns you to the active project window A 101 PP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 Our sample project file currently contains one encoding task Untitledl z testdvd 5 6 START YOUR ENCODE Now that you have created an encoding project containing at least one encoding task it s time t
52. I How MPEG Works 168 APPENDIX II Open vs Closed GOP and Why You Should Care 180 APPENDIX III What in the World is a VOB 181 APPENDIX IV What is the Power of the HEURIS MPEG Export Engine 181 GLOSSARY 183 INTRODUCTION 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 WHAT S NEW IN MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 Enhanced Performance MPEG Power Professional 2 0 runs significantly faster allowing users to create MPEG files in a fraction of the time previously required MPEG Power Professional makes full use of the G4 with Velocity Engine and Intel PIITM MMX SSE instruction sets You still have all of the incredi ble quality you have come to expect from HEURIS with more control options to increase the qual ity of your MPEG files You no longer have to choose between speed and quality With MPEG Power Professional you have both Multiple Files One MPEG MPEG Power Professional 2 0 allows for source file concatenation allowing users to lay multi ple source files end to end and connect them into one MPEG file Users can circumvent file size restrictions imposed by computer operating systems and do larger encoding jobs in smaller pieces when convenient VOB Creation MPEG Power Professional 2 0 can create VOBs with the Video Object Multiplexing feature Users can quickly and easily create VOBs for rapid DVD prototyping using inexpensive DVD burning packages such as Adaptec
53. ICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS There are three ways to use analysis to aid the compression of your video source material Create an analysis only task that is processed separately from a subsequent video encoding task Select the AUTO ANALYZE checkbox on the VIDEO tab Combine the results of an edited ECL file with the AUTO ANALYZE option When MPEG Power Professional analyzes your source video it looks for information that can be useful to the encoding process including the location of cuts titling fades wipes etc This information is used to create corresponding encoding events which will be used during the encoding process in an effort to enhance the image quality of the MPEG files that are produced The type of analysis you choose depends on whether or not you want to be able to edit the encoding events suggested by an analysis of your video source Choose ANALYSIS ONLY if you wish to edit the encoding events generated by MPEG Power Professional prior to encoding e Choose AUTO ANALYZE if you want MPEG Power Professional to analyze your video and encode it within the same encoding task Choose USE ECL FILE and check AUTO ANALYZE if you want to combine the results of an analysis only encoding pass with the auto analyze feature save you time and labor Typically an analysis of your video source will produce an encoding event timeline with a framework of auto I frame injections at scene changes and tele
54. IR Filter OFF f Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL To add an event you must specify either a corresponding FRAME NUMBER or TIMECODE high light the event you wish to insert and click the ADD button COOL STUFF If you provide the timecode value the corresponding frame number will appear If you are in the ECL EDITOR BY FRAME view you can step through your source video to a specif ic frame MPEG Power Professional will display the corresponding frame number and timecode value When you add an event you also have the option of inserting information into a NOTES box that is displayed with the list of enabled encoding events Typically you will want to use this box to note specific information about video content at corresponding encoding events This eliminates the need to switch from timecode view to frame view to verify video content once you have estab lished your encoding events The notes box is available from both BY TIMECODE view and BY FRAME view making it easy to document your encoding events Once you have made any changes you wish to the encoding events click OK and you will be prompted to save your ecl file You can either save it under the original destination name or under a new name You can choose to set up a video only encoding task or multiplexed encoding task employing this ecl file as you exit the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window or you can choose t
55. J Media OMF clock omf J Media OMF edited omf PROJECT ENCODING BASICS To use the Task Generator to encode a group of source files 1 2 Select TASK GENERATOR from the PROJECT menu Choose your ENCODING TASK Please remember that the task you choose will be used for encoding all of the source files you select Choose your BASE TEMPLATE Again the template you choose will be used for encoding all of the source files you select Choose your OUTPUT DIRECTORY There is no need to specify destination file names The TASK GENERATOR will automatically name your destination files using the name of the source files and adding the appropriate extension abs vbs mpg etc Choose the current SOURCE DIRECTORY you want to use to obtain the source files Do this either by typing the path or browsing for your directory A list of available files in that directory will appear You can choose to sort the files by TYPE or by NAME Note that TYPE is the default selection Highlight the source files you wish to encode and use the gt to move one file or specific highlighted files into the CURRENT SOURCE FILES box Use the gt gt to move all files into the CURRENT SOURCE FILES box If you choose a file and then change your mind use the lt or lt lt buttons to move the file out of the CURRENT SOURCE FILES box Click OK This returns you to the project window As you will see the tasks that you
56. KE A DVD 5 4 NAMING A DESTINATION FILE Finally you must specify where you want the MPEG file to be saved when it is finished encoding Choose a name for your DESTINATION FILE In this case let s use the name testdvd MPEG Power Professional s VOB feature will create a directory by this name in which it will put your VOB and IFO files Encode Definitions Source Files Encoding Task Encode Settings OREL Edit Settings Base Template DYD Video Encode Remove Multiplexed Encode p default arrange mov Still Picture Analysis Only MPEG2 fast Encode Control List Settings C Use ECL File Task Description Destination File testdvd Select J 5 5 EDITING ENCODE SETTINGS Sometimes the built in template has to be changed or customized slightly to meet the specifica tions of your particular DVD project Your encode settings are easily edited using MPEG Power Professional To edit your settings or create custom templates simply click on the EDITSETTINGS button in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window As you can see there are five tabs in the ENCODER SETTINGS window TEMPLATE AUDIO VIDEO1 VIDEO2 and MULTIPLEX 99 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 gt 100 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL REFERENCE For the purposes of this exercise we are going to be discussing some of the set tings on the VIDEO1 VIDEO2 and MULTIPL
57. MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 108 6 12 6 13 6 14 6 15 CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Table of Contents The MPEG Power Professional Toolbar The Project Toolbar Short Cut Keys The Four Types of MPEG Encoding and Analysis Only Mode Built In MPEG Enocoding Base Templates Creating Opening and Saving a Project Inserting a Task Into an Active Project Editing a Task in the Active Project Window Deleting a Task from the Active Project Window Using the Task Generator Interrupting an Encoding Project in Progress The Interrupted Encodes Window Monitoring an Encoding Project in Progress Importing Source Files 6 16 The Encode Definitions Window 6 17 6 18 6 19 6 20 6 21 6 22 6 23 Creating Multiplexed MPEG files with Single abs and vbs Source Files Creating Multiplexed MPEG Files with Multiple Source Files Source File Concatenation Encoding a Still Picture msp The ECL Editor by Timecode Window The ECL Editor by Frame Window Analysis and ecl Files 108 109 110 111 111 112 116 116 117 118 118 119 119 121 122 124 125 127 128 130 132 132 134 QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS 6 2 THE MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL TOOLBAR The MPEG Power Professional toolbar offers you point and click access to most of the commands found in the FILE EDIT and HELP menus Whenever MPEG Power Professional is open on your desktop this toolbar is avai
58. NAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 3 SAVING A CUSTOM TEMPLATE You may save a custom built template on the TEMPLATE tab of the ENCODE SETTINGS window 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task 3 Click the EDIT SETTINGS button from the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 4 5 i Make desired changes to the template in the ENCODE SETTINGS window Click the TEMPLATE tab in the ENCODE SETTINGS window Encode Settings Template Based On Template 2 x CDROM s New Template Name 2 x CDROM Template Notes Default settings for double speed CD ROM User Flags None Q NTSC Specific Template PAL Specific Template 6 Enter a new name for your template 7 Enter notes in the NOTES box if you desire 8 Choose your USER FLAG either none PAL SPECIFIC or NTSC SPECIFIC 9 Click the SAVE TEMPLATE button 142 ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 4 RESTORING THE BUILT IN TEMPLATE DEFAULT SETTINGS At any point during the template editing process you may discard all changes since the last saved version by using the RESTORE FROM BASE TEMPLATE function This option will only be available to you if you have made changes since the last saved version 1 Click the EDIT SETTINGS button from the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 2 Click the RESTORE FROM BASE TEMPLATE button on the TEMPLATE tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window 3 Click OK to
59. ODES window without discarding anything To view the log file for an interrupted encoding project 1 Highlight the name of the project with the log file you wish to view 2 Click on the VIEW LOG button The log file will open in your default text file viewer A typical log file contains The destination file name for the encoding task The time that the encoding task started and ended A list of the actions that MPEG Power Professional completed during the encoding process 3 After reviewing the contents of the log file close the file and the viewer QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS To open an interrupted encoding project 1 Double click on the name of the project you wish to open or click the OPEN button 2 A window appears asking you if you want to resume the project after opening Click YES to open and resume or Click NO to open without resuming To exit the INTERRUPTED ENCODES window click OK If an active project is open you will return to the active project window If there is no active proj ect open you will return to the main product window 6 14 MONITORING AN ENCODING PROJECT IN PROGRESS When you start encoding a project the ENCODER PROGRESS window appears From this window you can monitor the progress of the specific tasks within your encoding project At a glance you can see The name of the current project What time the encoding process started Which task MPEG P
60. PEG Power Professional DVD and MPEG Power Professional Transport 5 1 CREATING A NEW PROJECT You can build MPEG files appropriate for DVD using the built in templates To begin insert a task All encoding tasks are managed within encoding projects To create an encoding project 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu Anew encoding project window will appear with a default name of Untitled1 Save your new project by selecting SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon on the toolbar Untitledl Now you are ready to insert and define your encoding task s LET S MAKE A DVD 5 2 INSERTING A TASK 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear Encode Definitions Source Files _ Encoding Task Encode Settings 1 11 Audio Encode Edit Settings Q Video Encode Base Template default Add Remove Multiplexed Encode Q Still Picture Q Analysis Only e Video CD _Encode Control List Settings Use ECL File Move Up Move Down Task Description Destination File EEE ee Cx 2 Next add the source file that is to be encoded You can do this in one of two ways Type a path and a file name in the SOURCE FILES box Browse for your
61. PTER 5 LET S MAKE A DVD Chapter Overview 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 Creating a New Project Inserting a Task Choosing Encoding Settings Naming a Destination File Editing Encode Settings Start Your Encode Monitoring an Encoding Project in Progress Burning the VOB onto a DVD Creating a DVD using Third Party Authoring Systems Chapter Summary REFERENCE SECTION CHAPTER 6 QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Table of Contents The MPEG Power Professional Toolbar The Project Toolbar Short Cut Keys The Four Types of MPEG Encoding and Analysis Only Mode Built in MPEG Encoding Base Templates Creating Opening and Saving a Project 6 8 6 9 6 10 6 11 6 12 6 13 6 14 6 15 6 16 6 17 6 18 6 19 6 20 6 21 6 22 6 23 Inserting a Task into an Active Project Editing a Task in the Active Project Window Deleting a Task from the Active Project Window Using the Task Generator Interrupting an Encoding Project in Progress The Interrupted Encodes Window Monitoring an Encoding Project in Progress Importing Source Files The Encode Definitions Window Creating Multiplexed MPEG Files with Single abs and vbs Source Files Creating Multiplexed MPEG Files with Multiple Source Files Source File Concatenation Encoding a Still Picture msp files The ECL Editor by timecode Window The ECL Editor by frame Window Analysis and ecl files CHAPTER 7 REFERENCE TOPICS ADVANCED
62. SE ECL FILE in the ENCODE CONTROL LIST SETTINGS box 5 Browse for the ecl file generated during the analysis only pass It will be the destination name you provided when you set up the analysis only task 6 Click on the EDIT ECL button and the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window will appear ECL Editor by timecode 2 x TimeCode Event Parameters Notes 3 r Frame Number 00 00 07 11 nject I Frame Frame 221 Analysis generated e o 00 00 09 14 Inject I Frame Frame 284 Analysis generated e 7 00 00 11 21 Inject l Frame Frame 351 Analysis generated e MECL Time Code 00 00 14 01 Inject I Frame Frame 421 Analysis generated e Hrs Mins Secs Frms 00 00 14 15 Inject I Frame Frame 435 Analysis generated e 00 00 14 26 Inject I Frame Frame 446 Analysis generated e o o o o 00 00 16 02 Inject I Frame Frame 482 Analysis generated e 00 00 16 11 Inject I Frame Frame 431 Analysis generated e Event Parameters 00 00 16 20 Inject I Frame tt Frame 500 Analysis generated e a b c d 00 00 16 28 Inject I Frame Frame 508 Analysis generated e 00 00 17 09 Inject I Frame Frame 518 Analysis generated e fp u p 00 00 18 06 Inject l Frame Frame 545 Analysis generated e 00 00 18 14 Inject I Frame Frame 553 Analysis generated e Notes 4 00 00 18 24 Inject I Frame Frame 553 Analysis generated e S 4 00 00 19 03 Inject I Frame Frame 572 Analysis generated e 00 00 19 12 Inject I F
63. SSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL Section 4 2 will show you how to define an analysis only task and review the resulting ecl file Section 4 6 will show you how to define a manually generated ecl file listing custom encoding options You will also learn how to combine a manually generated ecl file with auto analysis Section 4 8 discusses several practical applications for ecl files 4 2 USING ANALYSIS ONLY To use analysis only create an analysis only task within a new or existing encoding project MPEG Power Professional will produce an ecl file logging all of the suggested encoding events Any encoding events that will be used when your video source is encoded are logged with a corresponding timecode or frame number The ecl file can be opened for review or edited before the corresponding encoding task is generated To set up an Analysis Only task 1 Create a new encoding project or open an existing encoding project 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar 3 In the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Select ANALYSIS ONLY as the task type Add your video file to the list of sources Choose an encoding BASE TEMPLATE Name a DESTINATION FILE The destination file will default to ecl which stands for Encode Control List Click OK to save the task and add it to the current encoding project file SAVE the project file 6 When you are ready to begin the analysis select START ENCODIN
64. Still Picture Edit Encode Eg 2 Move Up Move Down m Lask Description r Destination File Name E Mower ecl OK Cancel Help 4 Click OK to save the task and add it to the current encoding project file 5 SAVE the project file 6 When you are ready to begin the analysis select START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar 137 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 138 CHAPTER 7 REFERENCE TOPICS ADVANCED ENCODING OPTIONS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS PP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 140 7 1 7 1 CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents Editing a Built in Template Saving a Custom Template Restoring the Built in Template Default Settings Adjusting Audio Bit rates Adjusting Video Bit rates Adjusting the Display Resolution Applying Global Filters Applying Filters to Sections of Source Video via the ECL Adjusting Search Techniques and Search Distances Encoding Smaller Sections of Source omf or mov files via the ECL Cropping Source Video Manually Creating an ECL Editing an Auto Generated or Manually Created ECL Using an ecl File with a Task Injecting I frames Injecting Entry Points Adjusting GOP Size N Adjusting Reference Interval M Closed GOP Adjusting Aspect Ratio Adjusting VBV Size Adjusting Frame Rate Creating a VOB Initial Clock Reference an
65. TART ENCODING event from the EVENTS AVAILABLE box and click the ADD button OAND OAK CO Inn QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS ECL Editor by frame 2 xi Frame Number Source video file flower mov fo Frame 0 0 267 m ECL Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms p f f p E eas BERS OO OU DO DOORQOO DOO RIDGE js r F TimeCode Event Parameters Notes m Notes Events Available lt Add Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON _Bemove gt FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter D OFF zi By Timecode Help Open Saves Lx Cancel Once you have selected the intended frame and inserted the corresponding START ENCODING event you must save the file and return to the project window 10 Choose SAVE AS to save this ECL file 11 Click OK to return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 12 Click OK 13 SAVE your project For every still picture you want to encode you must create a separate encoding task using the above guidelines Several still picture encoding tasks can be included in the same project regard less of whether or not they are based on the same source material but only one still picture can be included in a single encoding task 131 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 132 6 21 THE ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE WINDOW The ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window displays a chron
66. TASKS Select and add your SOURCE FILE Select a BASE TEMPLATE from the list of available templates Name a DESTINATION FILE 3 Select the USE ECL FILE checkbox 4 Click on the EDIT ECL button The ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window will appear If you already know approximately which frame you want to compress as a still picture you can enter an approximate frame number then click on the BY FRAME button to view the correspon ding frame You can then step forward and back with the navigation buttons to find the exact frame you wish to encode 5 Enter the frame number in the EVENT FRAME NUMBER box 6 When that frame is selected and displayed in the frame viewer the corresponding frame number and timecode is displayed in the appropriate time index and frame number test boxes 7 Type any notes you wish into the NOTES box perhaps a description of the contents of this particular frame 8 Highlight the START ENCODING event from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list box and click the ADD button 91 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 A START ENCODING event now appears in the event window at the corresponding frame number Encode Control List Editor flower mov Frame 35 0 264 i a p mp TimeCode Event Parameters Notes 00 00 01 05 Start Encoding Event Notes Event Frame Number Event Time Code 1 11 Hrs Mi
67. TE will allow for better sound quality but will also increase the file size due to the increased amount of data MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS The audio MODE indicates how the audio tracks are laid out during encoding This setting should correspond to the type of audio you are inputting to the encoder If you have audio that was recorded in mono select the MONO option If your audio was recorded in stereo select the STEREO option Finally if your audio is dual channel for example two audio tracks each with a different language choose the DUAL CHANNEL option WARNING Not all BIT RATE and MODE combinations are legal by the MPEG standard MPEG Power Professional will inform you of your attempt to select an invalid MODE BIT RATE combination The SAMPLING FREQUENCY is the frequency at which the encoded material is represented MPEG layer II audio may be sampled at 32 44 1 or 48kHz Most if not all MPEG decoders support all three sampling frequencies By default MPEG Power Professional will sample up or down the frequency of the source material to the required sampling frequency However not all applications for MPEG layer II audio support all three frequencies The CDi Video CD and DVD specifications restrict MPEG Layer Il audio sampling frequencies as follows CDi and Video CD audio must be sampled at 44 1kHz as indicated on the set templates DVD audio must be sampled at 48kHz as indicated on its set template
68. Time plug in architecture It utilizes the export API that is built into QuickTime and HEURIS award winning MPEG encoding engine 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 10 The HEURIS MPEG Export Engine Pro e Supports the standard QuickTime application interface so it is accessible within QuickTime support enabled products like Avid Cinema Adobe After Effects and QuickTime Pro Creates MPEG1 and MPEG2 files Provides the ability to create multiplexed video or audio streams Works with QuickTime for Macintosh or Windows Offers all the encoding templates in MPEG Power Professional M as well as user defined templates MANUAL OVERVIEW MPEG Power Professional was designed to provide you with a powerful easy to navigate com pression tool regardless of your previous experience with MPEG encoding The user s manual for this product was designed with the same goal in mind The manual includes detailed informa tion about how to set up and complete MPEG encoding tasks using MPEG Power Professional You will also find detailed information about tailoring MPEG to your application needs Finally you will find a comprehensive quick reference section which helps you find information very quickly about any aspect of encoding with MPEG Power Professional Although you will benefit from reading this manual in its entirety the following broad outline will help you decide ho
69. To do this with a Targa sequence you will need to choose a tga file with a number in the file name All of the other sequentially numbered frames must be in the same directory as the source file you designate All frames in the directory will be encoded regardless of the frame number that you choose 4 Choose your ENCODING TASK 5 Choose a BASE TEMPLATE ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 6 Name your DESTINATION FILE 7 Save your project by clicking the SAVE icon on the toolbar or choose SAVE AS from the FILE menu 8 Start your encode by clicking the START ENCODE icon or choose START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu If you do not want to encode all of the tga frames that are listed in the same directory as your selected source file use the ECL EDITOR to specify to the encoder where it should start and stop encoding To specify this in the ECL editor 1 Select the USE ECL FILE checkbox in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 2 Click on EDIT ENCODE CONTROL LIST The ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window will appear Type the frame number where you want the encoding to begin in the FRAME NUMBER box Highlight START ENCODING from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list and click ADD Type the frame where you want to stop encoding in the FRAME box Highlight Stop Encoding from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list and click ADD Click on SAVE AS to save your ecl file Click OK This returns you to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window You will notice that yo
70. ansform GLOSSARY Digital A system which allows only discrete values For example an audio CD is a digital storage device Digitizing The process of creating a digital file from an analog source Dual Channel An MPEG audio mode that provides two unrelated mono channels DVD Acronym for Digital Versatile Disc ECL Acronym for Encode Control List A timecode based list of encoding events that will occur during the compression of an associated source file Entry Point Injection Creation of a random access point within the encoded file Always corresponds to an I frame Filters Image and signal processing techniques often used for noise reduction FIR Acronym for Finite Impulse Response Filter commonly used to reduce analog noise associated with video Flattened QuickTime A QuickTime file format required for exporting from the Macintosh to other platforms fps Acronym for frames per second Frame Rate Number of frames displayed to a viewer per second Gamma Filters Adjusts luminance levels of the video source while encoding Useful when MPEG encoded files will be played back by decoders that do not perform gamma correction 185 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 186 GOP Acronym for Group of pictures The GOP describes the distance between key frames Hybrid Search A proprietary search method which combines the best features of complete search and log searc
71. are still other possible combinations There is no right or wrong way to break up the tasks You will find a method that works for you and your changing applications There are a couple of issues to keep in mind however f you are running encoding projects overnight note which finished files you will want to access first and order your encoding tasks accordingly e Video only encodes take longer to process with MPEG Power Professional than any other type of encoding task TIP Generally you will find it easier to group video only encodes together and process them overnight Audio only and multiplexed files process quickly You can process video only encodes EN overnight and then review them prior to encoding corresponding audio only files and finally multi N plexed mpg files When you are producing several clips this is generally easier than encoding matching video and audio clips in separate projects and multiplexing them separately Adding Deleting and Editing Encoding Tasks For various reasons you may want to add tasks to or delete tasks from an existing encoding project Most of the time you will define tasks within the encoding projects in advance of actual encoding As a result there will be times when your encoding priorities change and you will want to re order or redefine your encoding tasks 33 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 In order to edit the tasks in an existin
72. bar A confirmation window will appear asking you to confirm the deletion Click YES to confirm deletion of the selected task and return to the active project window Or Click NO to cancel deletion and return to the active project window 6 11 USING THE TASK GENERATOR To use the Task Generator to encode a group of source files 1 2 Select TASK GENERATOR from the PROJECT menu Choose your ENCODING TASK Please remember that the encoding task you choose will be used for encoding all of the source files you select Choose your BASE TEMPLATE Again the template you choose will be used for encoding all of the source files you select Choose your OUTPUT DIRECTORY There is no need to choose destination file names The Task Generator will automatically name your destination files using the name of the source files and adding the appropriate extension abs vbs mpg etc Choose the SOURCE DIRECTORY you want to use to obtain the source files Do this either by typing the path or browsing for your directory A list of available files in that directory will appear You can choose to sort the files by TYPE or by NAME Note that TYPE is the default selection Highlight the source files you wish to encode and use the gt to move one file or selected files into the CURRENT SOURCE FILES box Use the gt gt to move all files into the CURRENT SOURCE FILES box If you choose a file and then change your mind use the
73. browse to find our source file Click on the button to the right of the SOURCE FILES box SELECT button for Macintosh users Browse for your CD ROM drive Choose source file clock mov and click OPEN You ll notice that the file you selected appears in the SOURCE FILES box 19 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 20 3 In the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window select MULTIPLEXED ENCODE from the ENCODING TASK box m Encoding T ask C Audio Encode Video Encode Multiplexed Encode C Still Picture Analysis Only 1 4 CHOOSING ENCODE SETTINGS Select an encoding template Choose the template you want to use from the list of BASE TEMPLATES In this case let s use the DEFAULT template 1 5 EDITING ENCODE SETTINGS Your encode settings are easily edited using MPEG Power Professional To edit your settings or create custom templates simply click on the EDIT SETTINGS button in the ENCODE SETTINGS box Next you would click on any of the five tabs in the ENCODER SETTINGS window to modify the settings to your specifications Modifying the encoder settings will be discussed in detail in Chapters 3 and 4 For the purposes of this example we will use the default settings that the program has selected for us Click OK to close the ENCODER SETTINGS window and return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 1 6 NAMING YOUR DESTINATION FILE Choose a destination name for your finished mp
74. cine phase change suggestions if you have selected INVERSE TELECINE as an encoding parameter You can use a manually generated ecl file to define more complex encoding events such as entry point injection and start encoding and stop encoding events then combine the ecl file with the AUTO ANALYZE feature MPEG Power Professional merges the results of your ecl file with the analysis results always defaulting to your manually generated ecl file if there is a conflict between its events and the events suggested by auto analysis TIP Combining a manually generated or edited ecl file with the AUTO ANALYZE feature can CN 135 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 To Auto Analyze while Encoding MPEG Power Professional will run an analysis pass just before it starts encoding the video Any encoding events it suggests will automatically be applied during the subsequent encoding phase 1 Create a video only encoding task within a new or existing project 2 Click on the EDIT SETTINGS button in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 3 Click on the VIDEO tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window 4 Click on the checkbox labeled AUTO ANALYZE e Encoder Settings L2 x Template Audio video Video2 Multiplex i gt Field encoding GOP Size N i Progressive encode no fields Closed GOP T v Drop second field if available Reference Worn Hrogressive encode Neds Interval M 3 2
75. con tent of the video the delivery rate will be 1 5 Megabits second This is important to anyone who needs to transmit the encoded material either to a satellite from a CD ROM or through a tele phone switch Without constant bit rate delivery methods it is impossible to determine cost effec 175 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 176 tively the most efficient method for transmitting the data A good analogy is a mailroom chute When the delivery rate is constant the packages move smoothly through the chute Without a constant delivery rate the chute can become overloaded or underused The only means to handle a non constant delivery rate is to build a mechanism into the chute that either speeds up or slows down the conveyor belt a costly choice when that conveyer belt is really a satellite already orbit ing the earth or transoceanic cable buried under the sea The best way to maximize efficiency of the chute is to determine the capacity of the chute and make sure all packages are the same size and designed to just fill the chute at all times OOQOQOQOQ0O0 O0 OQOOQOOO Variable bit rate encoding is used primarily within MPEG2 encoding for DVD s DVD s have adopted a method of allowing the conveyor belt to speed up or slow down There are two pri mary reasons that variable bit rate encoding is used by DVD s first it allows
76. conversion from film to video The reasons for using Inverse Telecine are You have less video information to compress You can allocate more bits to the information that is left In the case of Inverse Telecine MPEG Power Professional uses information gathered during an analysis pass over your video source to decide which frames are duplicated and should be dis carded to ensure smooth video flow Remember when there is less information to compress and more bits to allocate better image quality is the result ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL Injecting I frames and determining the Telecine phase changes where duplicate frames appear are encoding events There are three different ways to apply encoding events Automatically Manually Acombination of manually and automatically There are also three different ways to generate encoding events Select the AUTO ANALYZE option which you learned about in Chapter 3 Create an ANALYSIS ONLY task Create a list of events manually The best way to generate encoding events depends on how you plan to apply the events and how much control you wish to have over what used events are If you choose AUTO ANALYZE on the VIDEO2 tab MPEG Power Professional will run an analysis pass just before it starts encoding your video source Any encoding events it suggests will automatically be applied during the subsequent encoding phase No intervention is neces sa
77. cordingly Your playback device may dictate what bit rates you can use to encode your MPEG file 1X CD ROMs are designed to transfer 150 Kb s Any MPEG file encoded at a higher bit rate may not be played back correctly from a 1X CD ROM 2X CD ROMs are designed to transfer 300 Kb s and other playback devices are designed to handle other bit rates Therefore you need to determine your target playback device and choose an appropriate bit rate before you set up your encoding parameters One final note you may be developing a commercial application which will go out to a wide variety of users with an equally wide variety of computers playback hardware playback software and configurations This means yet another balancing decision If you go with the set tings which are safest for the widest variety of machines and configurations you will be using lower bit rates and probably end up with slightly lower quality However if you pick higher bit rates you will probably have higher quality but some people may not be able to play back your files As with any medium of communication the key is to know your audience Assess the end user of your application carefully before you make final decisions about encoder settings When utilizing software decoders CPU speed may affect MPEG playback There is a relationship between CPU speed and MPEG playback the faster your CPU is the higher the bit rate of the MPEG file it can handle There are no hard and fa
78. ct the ENCODE CONTROL LIST you entered will be used for this task 89 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 A 90 4 7 MERGING ECL FILES When you load an ecl file for attachment to a video encode task or a multiplexed encode task by selecting the USE ECL FILE checkbox notice whether or not the AUTO ANALYZE checkbox is also selected As you know the AUTO ANALYZE option will analyze the video prior to encoding and then enact the encoding events it suggests all within the same encoding pass TIP If you have checked both USE ECL FILE and AUTO ANALYZE options MPEG Power Professional will merge the information to the ecl file you have selected with the results of an auto analysis pass of your video just prior to encoding It will incorporate all of the encoding events provided by the two files This feature can save you a lot of labor For example you may wish to manually insert a few encoding events such as a filter applied to a small segment of the source video and yet want to take advantage of MPEG Power Professional s powerful features like automatic I frame inser tion at scene changes Why step through your video looking for scene changes and inserting I frames manually Let MPEG Power Professional detect scene changes and insert I frames automatically AND apply the selective filters you incorporated in your custom ecl file To merge an ecl file with the results of an auto anal
79. ct toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 2 Type a file name in the SOURCE FILE box or browse for the location of the source file by clicking the browse Windows or SELECT Macintosh button 123 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 124 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 6 16 THE ENCODE DEFINITIONS WINDOW In the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window you can Define new encoding tasks Edit existing encoding tasks Encode Definitions Source Files Encoding Task sereet Add Remove 7 Move Up Move Down Task Description O Audio Encode Video Encode Multiplexed Encode Q Still Picture Analysis Only Encode Settings Edit Settings Base Template default e Video CD Encode Control List Settings J Use ECL File Destination File Select Edit ECL E GI LCCC Stet J 3 The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window can be accessed from any active project window To insert a new task Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click on the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS To Edit an existing task Highlight and double click on an existing task in the active project window Or Select EDIT TASK from the PROJECT menu Or Click on the E
80. current area the encoder looks for matching video SIF Acronym for Standard Interchange Format Generally refers to an image size of 352x240 pixels Source File Concatenation Laying multiple source files end to end in order to create one large MPEG file Stereo An MPEG audio mode that provides for two related audio channels Template A convenient structure for storing and using encoder settings with MPEG Power Professional Timecode A time index generally given as hours minutes seconds and frames Two Pass Search Technique A proprietary search method that will produce better image quality for some sources VBR Acronym for Variable Bit Rate GLOSSARY vbs A video only MPEG file also commonly referred to as a mpv file VBV Size The size of the buffer in a modeled MPEG decoder Video CD A standard for CD ROMs containing video Also known as White Book VOB Video Object A specially constrained MPEG2 program stream which contains additional information used exclusively for DVD video 189 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 190 MPP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 192 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL analysis only 27 70 71 72 74 77 R112 R135 R137 aspect ratio 61 R154 adjusting R156 audio mode 55 R144 dual channel 55 R144 mono 55 R144 stereo 55 R144 Audio tab 54 55 R144 audio bit rate see bit rate audio audio encoding 26 29 104 R111 Auto analyze whi
81. d Easy CD Creator Multiplex Audio Video MPEG elementary streams Encoding from a Series of Still Image Files Source File Concatenation Encoding a Video CD Aspect Ratio Chart for MPEG1 and MPEG2 Tips to Help You Make the Fastest Encodes Tips to Help You Make the Highest Quality Encodes ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 2 EDITING A BUILT IN TEMPLATE You can edit a built in template by choosing the EDIT SETTINGS button from the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window NoocBRoOoNv Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task In the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window highlight a base template Click the EDIT SETTINGS button The ENCODER SETTINGS window will appear Make desired changes on the five ENCODER SETTINGS tabs Click OK at the bottom of the ENCODER SETTINGS window Source Files isses Add Remove Move Up Move Down Task Description Q Audio Encode Multiplexed Encode Video Encode Analysis Only Encode Definitions Encoding Task O Still Picture Encode Settings Edit Settings Base Template default e Video CD Encode Control List Settings J Use ECL File Destination File Select Edit ECL LL esi Buca 141 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIO
82. d Video CD 1 1 or 2 0 player or an MPEG hardware or software player that can read the Video CD 1 1 or 2 0 format Required video bit rate for Video CD playback Optimized for single speed playback QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS NTSC Templates Template Audio Bitrate Audio Mode Video Bitrate Height Width 1 X CDROM 192 Kb Mono 1 02 Mb 352 240 2 X CDROM 224 Kb Stereo 1 856 Mb 352 240 CDi 224 Kb Stereo 1 150 Mb 352 240 Internet 56 Kb Mono 400 Kb 160 120 Default 224 Kb Stereo 1 152 Mb 352 240 DVD 224 Kb Stereo 4 5 9 Mb Variable 720 480 MPEG2 Fast 224 Kb Stereo 7 Mb 720 480 MPEG2 Fields 224 Kb Stereo 7 Mb 720 480 Video CD 224 Kb Stereo 1 150 Mb 352 240 PAL Templates Template Audio Bitrate Audio Mode Video Bitrate Height Width 1 X CDROM PAL 192 Kb Mono 1 02 Mb 352 288 2 X CDROM PAL 224 Kb Stereo 1 856 Mb 352 288 CDi PAL 224 Kb Stereo 1 150 Mb 352 288 DVD Pal 224 Kb Stereo 4 5 9 Mb Variable 720 576 MPEG2 Fast PAL 224 Kb Stereo 7 Mb 720 576 MPEG2 Fields PAL 224 Kb Stereo 7 Mb 720 576 Video CD PAL 224 Kb Stereo 1 150 Mb 352 288 TIP Regardless of CD ROM drive speed software MPEG players generally do not perform as efficiently as hardware players However on very fast Pentium CPUs at low bit rates or when coupled with hardware acceleration such as optimized version specifically designed to work with f your video card you may get results comparable to hardware It is recommended that you exper N imen
83. deal of confusion surrounding these terms One reason for this confusion is that computer programmers and engineers do not always use these terms in the same way This sec tion details these terms as understood by computer programmers with bits being the smallest unit and Megabytes being the largest Here is a rough conversion table of these units 8 bits 1 byte 8 Megabits 1 Megabyte 1 048 576 bytes or 2 to the 20th power 1 Megabyte 1 048 576 bits or 2 to the 20th power 1 Megabit So if you had 23 640 251 bytes and you wanted to know how many Megabytes you had you would divide this number by 1 048 576 bytes 23 640 251 bytes divided by 1 048 576 bytes equals 22 55 Megabytes However for the purpose of rough estimates you could just move the decimal over 6 places to the left to tell how many Megabytes about 23 Megabytes Then to convert to Megabits just mul tiply by 8 To convert from Megabytes to bytes simply multiply by 1 048 576 or for a rough estimate move the decimal 6 places in the other direction 171 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 172 From 20 Megabytes Second to 187 500 Bytes Second The first step of MPEG 1 is to reduce the number of pixels representing the image It reduces the resolution of the image from 720x480 pixels to 352x240 pixels providing more than a 4 1 compression 352 horizontal pixels X 240 vertical pixels 84 480 pixels per frame X 30 frames
84. deo not the target MPEG resolution WARNING Be sure not to crop to an area smaller than your target resolution If your cropped area is smaller than your target resolution you will lose image quality The DISPLAY FRAME button is used for displaying a sample frame to determine your ranges for the bounding box When the DISPLAY FRAME button is clicked you will be able to select a sam ple frame to view You can size the clipping box over this frame by dragging a rectangle over the sample frame with the mouse Only the area within the rectangle will be encoded The proper values will be entered automatically Crop Source Source Resolution x 640 248 x 2 Reference Frame Number Source Crop pixels Top Left Pixel Frame Size Pixels O Proportion 59 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 60 3 8 EDIT VIDEO2 TAB SETTINGS The VIDEO tab has several options These options are more advanced than those on the TEMPLATE AUDIO or VIDEO tabs The options that appear on this tab control the GOP SIZE CLOSED GOP REFERENCE INTERVAL ASPECT RATIO VBV SIZE FRAME RATE and AUTO ANALYZE functions of MPEG Power Professional Additionally from this tab you can control FIELD ENCODING and FIELD PREPARATION Encoder Settings 2 x Template Audio Video Video2 Multiplex GOP Size N Field encoding Progressive encode no fields Closed GOP T v Drop
85. e are several built in base templates available for use There are several reasons why you might want to edit the default settings and create your own template You may want to minimize the output file size or change the final output quality Perhaps your video needs to be cropped around the edges to remove an unwanted border Maybe you want to apply a particular filter to all or some of your video Whatever your reason MPEG Power Professional makes it easy to create custom templates and customize your MPEG encoding 3 2 THE MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL BUILT IN TEMPLATES When creating custom templates MPEG Power Professional M uses one of the built in templates as a base from which to make changes Below is a table summarizing all of the default settings of the built in templates MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS NTSC Templates Template Audio Bitrate Audio Mode Video Bitrate Height Width 1 X CDROM 192 Kb Mono 1 02 Mb 352 240 2 X CDROM 224 Kb Stereo 1 856 Mb 352 240 CDi 224 Kb Stereo 1 150 Mb 352 240 Internet 56 Kb Mono 400 Kb 160 120 Default 224 Kb Stereo 1 152 Mb 352 240 DVD 224 Kb Stereo 4 5 9Mb Variable 720 480 MPEG2 Fast 224 Kb Stereo 5 Mb 720 480 MPEG2 Fields 224 Kb Stereo 5 Mb 720 480 Video CD 224 Kb Stereo 1 152 Mb 352 240 PAL Templates Template Audio Bitrate Audio Mode Video Bitrate Height Width 1 X CDROM PAL 192 Kb Mono 1 02 Mb 352 288 2 X CDROM PAL 224 Kb Stereo 1 856 Mb 352 288 CDi PAL 224 Kb Stereo 1 150 Mb 35
86. e audio file and a single video file Multiple audio files and a single video file Multiple video files and a single audio file Multiple audio files and multiple video files COOL STUFF Windows users are able to specify what file extensions they prefer for their fin ished encoded files To do this choose PREFERENCES from the EDIT menu and change your preferred file extensions With MPEG Power Professional there are two ways to create a finished multiplexed file mpg e Encode a multiplexed file from your source OMF or QuickTime file Encode separate audio files and video files and multiplex them together to create an MPEG file PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Which option you choose depends on your application and your personal preferences If you want to be able to access the audio and the video portions of your mpg file separately you must encode them as separate tasks For example you might want to multiplex the video with multiple audio files If you do not need to access the audio file and the video file separately then you can encode a multiplexed file in one task instead of three If you want to access the encoded audio separately from the encoded video you first create At least one abs file At least one vbs file The abs and vbs files are then multiplexed together to create an mpg file The abs file and the vbs file would be source files for the mpg file You define three separate encodi
87. e desired value in the VBV SIZE box in units of 16 kb 6 Click OK WARNING Changing the VBV SIZE may produce an MPEG clip that is not playable on your play back device Make sure your VBV setting is compatible with your playback device 157 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 23 ADJUSTING FRAME RATE You can adjust the FRAME RATE from the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window e 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task 3 Click the EDIT SETTINGS button 4 Click on the VIDEO tab 5 Choose a value from the FRAME RATE pull down list 6 Click OK Encoder Settings 2 xi Template Audio Videot Video2 Multiplex GOP Size N fi 5 Field encoding Progressive encode no fields sias GOP Ts IV Drop second field if available ne MEC X Aspect Ratio foso E Field preparation VBV Size 20 If not detected assume fields are units of 16kb C untenaced Frame Rate auto Stacked Swap fields if available Auto analyze Cancel Apply Help WARNING This will force an override to the coded display rate It will not frame rate convert your source media between NTSC PAL but may aid in compatibility with some media 158 ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 24 CREATING A VOB You can create a VOB using the Video Object Multiplexing feature on
88. e ee mn AAL sk Cancel You can see at a glance how often and at exactly what points in the video l frames are to be injected You can also switch to view BY FRAME to step through frame by frame or from event to event and see what the video is actually doing at each of the points where an I frame is to be injected If you agree with all of the MPEG Power Professional suggestions for auto I frame injection then change nothing 77 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 78 Click OK and return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Click OK to return to add this task to the active project MPEG Power Professional will incorporate all of the video events detailed in the ecl file when it processes this task 4 4 ADDING AND REMOVING ENCODING EVENTS FROM AN ECL FILE If you wish to add or remove encoding events from an ecl file this can be done in the ECL EDITOR window in either the BY TIMECODE view or the BY FRAME view To remove an event in either view simply highlight the event or events from the list of enabled events and click on the REMOVE button Encode Control List Editor B Event Frame Number elock mov 1 Event Time Code Frame 0 0 411 Hrs Mins Secs Frms Me Je je p jj Event Parameters TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Inject I Frame C Change 2 Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF p FIR Filter ON F
89. e file For information as to how to export from your non linear editing system please see the instructions included with your NLE package 1 2 OPENING A NEW PROJECT All encoding tasks are managed within encoding projects To create an encoding project 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu Anew encoding project window will appear with a default name of Untitled1 Save your new project by selecting SAVE AS from the FILE menu Let s name this project tutorial Untitledl Now you are ready to insert and define your encoding task s GETTING STARTED 1 3 INSERTING A TASK AND CHOOSING ENCODING TASK 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear Encode Definitions Source Files Encoding Task _ Encode Settings C Audio Encode Edit Settings Q Video Encode Base Template default Add Remove Multiplexed Encode Q Still Picture Q Analysis Only e Video CD Encode Control List Settings C use ECL File i Select Move Up Move Down Edit ECL Task Description ___ Destination File C 2 Next add the source file that is to be encoded You can do this in one of two ways Type a path and a file name in the SOURCE FILES box Browse for your source file In this case let s
90. e of the ecl file you wish to use 3 Click OK 7 16 INJECTING I FRAMES You may inject an I frame into your MPEG clip from the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task 3 Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox 4 Click the EDIT ECL button 5 Enter the EVENT FRAME NUMBER or EVENT TIME CODE of the frame at which you wish to insert an l frame 6 Choose INJECT I FRAME from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list 7 Click ADD TIP Insert l frames at scene changes to improve image quality An frame will be automatically inserted whenever an entry point is inserted into the ECL ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 17 INJECTING ENTRY POINTS You can inject an entry point into the ECL from the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox Click the EDIT ECL button Enter the FRAME NUMBER or TIMECODE of the frame at which you wish to insert an entry point Choose INJECT ENTRY POINT from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list Click ADD NORWOOD TIP Whenever an entry point is inserted a sequence header and an I frame will also be injected CA 153 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 18 ADJUSTING GOP SIZE N You can adjust the GOP size from the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window
91. e of the first frame from SMPTE timecode of any events you wish to insert into the ECL The discussion of the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE and the ECL EDITOR BY FRAME which follows will show you how to review and insert encoding events based on timecode and frame number TIP One way to avoid this conversion process is to ensure that your SMPTE timecode of the first CA frame is zero N The ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE list shows you the encoding events sequentially as they are scheduled to occur In this case for example at time code 00 00 05 00 an l frame will be injected The given timecode corresponds to frame 150 You can scroll through all of the scheduled encoding events adding and deleting events throughout the timeline 75 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 You can also view the encoding events by frame Highlight a timecode based encoding event from the list and then click on the BY FRAME button The ECL EDITOR BY FRAME window appears displaying the same encoding event by frame which you just viewed based on time code If you loaded your source video file you also see a thumbnail bitmap of the currently selected frame where the encoding event will occur If you did not load your video source file the frame bitmap and the slider bar are disabled Encode Control List Editor sH Event Frame Number clock mov p jJ Event Time Code Frame 0
92. ed to process them When you interrupt an encoding project in progress MPEG Power Professional automatically saves and stores the partially completed encodes and the encoding parameters you defined in your encoding project You can then resume encoding an interrupted project at a later time Common reasons to interrupt projects include Placing a particular encoding task or encoding project file either higher or lower in the encoding queue Stopping one encoding project to start encoding another Using your encoding workstation for another application Regardless of the reason you interrupt an encoding project MPEG Power Professional will stop encoding the current task and will save the partially completed encode and all of the parameters you originally set up for this encoding project At any time you can choose to either resume encoding this particular project or discard it You can not playback the partially encoded file COOL STUFF If your encoding workstation loses power while it is processing an encoding proj ect you will be able to recover and resume encoding the project MPEG Power Professional will save the encoding project for you in a list allowing you to resume encoding at your convenience This section will show you how to interrupt and resume an encoding project in process This sec tion assumes that you have learned how to Create encoding projects Add encoding tasks to a project Start encoding a
93. emplate is the base template that will always be selected by the encoder if the user makes no further template selections DVD and DVD PAL Useful for creating streams suitable for use in DVD authoring systems Uses VARIABLE BIT RATE encoding for the highest possible quality with the smallest possible file Automatically will select the DVD VOB option on the MULTIPLEX tab Automatically will select CLOSED GOP for multi angle DVD playback Internet Distribution over the Internet or other wide area network with constrained bandwidth Much smaller file sizes Use for web pages or other applications where file size and download time are bigger considerations than image quality MPEG2 Fast and MPEG2 Fast PAL Quickest MPEG2 encoding options Useful for higher volume MPEG2 encoding and multimedia application prototyping Can be used with ECL events to achieve similar quality to MPEG2 FIELDS with much shorter encode times depending upon media to be encoded Requires moderate to high storage space and delivery bandwidth Best played back with hardware decoding solution MPEG2 Fields and MPEG2 Fields PAL High quality full resolution MPEG2 video Useful for dedicated kiosks and other installations where highest quality MPEG2 video is desired Requires moderate to high storage space and delivery bandwidth Best played back with hardware decoding solution Video CD and Video CD PAL Playback from a dedicate
94. ete discussion of those two topics please refer back to Appendix I l frames are stand alone reference frames They do not rely on any other frame in order to be decoded P frames are predictive meaning they look back in time to the previous I frame for information B frames are bi directional meaning that they look both to the previous and future frames in order to be decoded A typical GOP would look similar to the following IBBPBBPBBPBB You will notice that the last frame in this GOP is a B frame As a B frame is built using both past and future information we can assume that this last B frame would need to refer to data from the next GOP in order to be decoded This is what would happen if we had an Open GOP A Closed GOP would isolate each GOP independent of every other GOP in your video In the case of a Closed GOP the last B frame would be prevented from looking into the next GOP in order to complete itself and would rely only on past information Why is this important to you Let s say that you want to produce a multi angle DVD You would like to place several different video streams shot from different camera angles onto this DVD to run simultaneously The user could switch between these different camera angles with the touch of a button If you have an open GOP and your user switches camera angles it may take a while for the video to be able to catch up due to the fact that a frame it was referring to in a GOP on the othe
95. exed encode reordering your elementary streams will govern the stream IDs assigned to the finished multiplexed encode 127 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 128 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 6 19 SOURCE FILE CONCATENATION To concatenate source files 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear Insert your first SOURCE FILE by typing the path or browsing for your source Insert each additional SOURCE FILE in the same manner Highlight your second SOURCE FILE Click the button An arrow with a plus sign will appear in the box indicating the concatenation Repeat steps 4 and 5 to concatenate each additional source file ar WP Encode Definitions 2 x r Source Files m Encoding T ask m Encode Settings File Name Base Template default P AI C Program Files Avid Technology A Audio Encode CM Add Remove Video Encode Multiplexed Encode C Program Files QuickT ime S ample m 3 pP 1x CDROM PAL G C Program Files Avid TechnologysAwvi C Still Picture 2 CDROM PAL x G C Program Files Avid TechnologyAvi SS C Analysis Only Edit Settings m Encode Control List Settings i 2 Use ECL file Eg Move Up Move Down Edit Encode Control List m Lask Description Destination File Name p OK Cancel Help
96. files into one synchronized file Mux Rate The rate at which separate audio and video files are multiplexed Network The communication interface between computer workstations which allows the sharing of informa tion and data Nonlinear Editing System A computer based video editing system which allows random access to any point in the video Nonlinear filter A filter that applies a softening effect to a video clip If lines are too harsh or the contrast of your video is too high using this filter can help reduce those effects NTSC Acronym for National Television Standards Committee This committee defined the video signal format used for terrestrial broadcast of television in the Americas Canada Asia and other parts of the world omf Extension commonly used for Open Media Framework Interchange OMFI files A file format introduced by Avid Technology to support the exchange of digital audio and video source information across platforms and applications 187 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 188 P frames Predicted frames PAL Television standard in use for terrestrial broadcast in many European nations and Australia QuickTime Standard created by Apple Computer for integrating video and audio into applications Reference Interval The distance between l and P frames in a GOP Resolution Display size of an image Search Distance Dictates how far away from the
97. g Comment Adjust Average Bitrate Interfield Search On Interfield Search Off Half Pel Search On Half Pel Search Off 82 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL These encoding events fall into a few different categories Image filters Search ranges Search techniques Miscellaneous Miscellaneous includes COMMENTS INJECT I FRAME INJECT ENTRY POINT START ENCODING and STOP ENCODING Each of the global SEARCH TECHNIQUES FILTERS and SEARCH DISTANCES available within MPEG Power Professional as listed on the VIDEO1 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window can be applied to smaller segments of your source video based on timecode or frame number For example let s say that you are including a particularly challenging video clip in one of your applications It contains a number of smaller segments separated by fades to black which vary greatly in terms of motion and complexity The clip contains an extended beauty shot of a soft focus grassy meadow very little motion with inter cut shots of very fast moving highly detailed video From the discussion of SEARCH DISTANCES and SEARCH TECHNIQUES in Chapter 4 you know that the beauty shot is probably best encoded with a COMPLETE search because it contains large areas of low detail and with shorter search ranges because it contains little motion The seg ments of high detail fast moving video are probably most effectively encoded by a LOG search with
98. g encoding project you must first open that encoding project file e 1 Select OPEN from the MPEG Power Professional FILE menu 2 Browse your file system for the encoding project you wish to alter and open the file The active encoding project window will appear For example let s assume that you have opened an encoding project file called myvideo mpr E myvideo mpr EIE In the active encoding project window is a list of the encoding tasks included in this project myaudio abs myvideo vbs You have several options available to you from this window You can Add tasks Re order tasks Review tasks refine tasks Delete tasks 34 PROJECT ENCODING BASICS To add a task 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 2 Define the task by selecting A SOURCE FILE An ENCODING TASK ABASE TEMPLATE ADESTINATION FILE name and location 3 Click OK and the new task in this case myvideo2 mpg will appear at the bottom of the encoding task list ib myvideo mpr gau dio abs myvideo vbs Ka myvideo2 mpg 35 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 i 36 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL To re order tasks 1 Highlight the task you wish to move 2 Select CUT from the EDIT menu 3 Highlight where you want to insert the task 4 Select PASTE from the EDIT menu
99. g file Type a path and a file name in the DESTINATION FILE box In this case let s use the name clock GETTING STARTED Now that you have set all of the encoding definitions for this task click the OK button to include this task in the active encoding project The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will close This returns you to the active project window Our sample project file tutorial currently contains one encoding task tutorial EB Oo Ld clock 1 7 START YOUR ENCODE Now that you have created and saved an encoding project containing at least one encoding task it s time to save the project file and start encoding 1 Select SAVE from the file menu or click the SAVE icon in the toolbar 2 From the PROJECT menu select START ENCODING or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar AND NOW YOU RE ENCODING 21 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 18 MONITORING AN ENCODING PROJECT IN PROGRESS As soon as MPEG Power Professional starts encoding a project the ENCODER PROGRESS window appears Encoder Progress Project Name tutorial mpr Task 1 of 1 interrupt Encode Task Data Destination Filename clock mpg Encode Start Time Tue Nov 16 13 24 50 Estimated Time of Completion Tue Nov 16 13 27 13 Encoding Frame 11 of 412 ifo o ss Preparing sources Global search d
100. ge You would add an encoding event to INJECT ENTRY POINT at 01 06 20 00 as well TIP Use of the INJECT ENTRY POINT event will force the MPEG encoder to also perform an automatic I frame injection It is not necessary to explicitly add INJECT I FRAME to the ECL in this case The reverse however is not true COOLSTUFF At any frame number or timecode entry you can insert a COMMENT encoding event You can use this feature to insert any kind of comment you wish into the ecl file without tying the com ment to a particular event For example you can insert a comments only event to mark every scene change This eliminates the need to step through the video more than once looking for scene changes Once you have added all the encoding events you deem necessary you are ready to save this ecl file and set up a corresponding encoding task 1 From the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE view click the SAVE AS button to choose a name and destination for this file Remember that ECL files usually have an ecl extension 2 Click OK to close the ECLEDITOR BYTIMECODE window and return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 3 If you wish to set up an encoding task right away using this ECL file Make sure the USE ECL FILE checkbox is selected Type your ECL file name into the USE ECL FILE box Encode Control List Settings 7 Use ECL file a Edit Encode Control List 4 Click OK to add this task to the active project window When you encode this proje
101. h l frame Abbreviation for Intra frames Sometimes referred to as key frames Inverse Telecine The process of identifying and removing the duplicate frames which were inserted when a video source of 30 frames per second was generated from a film source of 24 frames per second ISO An acronym for International Standards Organization Log Search The fastest search method currently available in MPEG Power Professional MCI commands Acronym for Media Control Interface A Microsoft standard multimedia playpack command set Median filter Useful filter for removing noise from video that has a lot of calm areas areas with low levels of detail Mono A single channel audio format mov A common QuickTime file extension MPEG An acronym for Moving Pictures Experts Group MPEG is the collective noun often used to refer to ISO working group ISO IEC JTC1 SC29 WG11 which defines data compression techniques and standards for moving pictures with associated audio GLOSSARY MPEG1 Coding of moving pictures with associated audio for digital storage media at up to about 1 5 Megabits per second International Standard IS11172 1992 MPEG2 International Standard targeted at digital transmission or broadcast of digital video signals Supports a wider range of resolutions and bit rates than the MPEG 1 standard International Standard 1813818 Multiplexing To combine one or more audio files and one or more video
102. have just created in the TASK GENERATOR appear SAVE your project and START ENCODING as you would any project 45 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 46 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 2 9 EDITING USER PREFERENCES MPEG Power Professional gives you the option of editing your user preferences to allow you to further customize your software In order to change your user preferences choose PREFERENCES from the EDIT menu Preferences Interface Style Template Display Macintosh Style Interface Q Original Style Interface This option selects between the two different styles of user interface this program can use The Original style is how older versions of our software version 1 4 etc worked It has a Waste project where all deleted tasks are moved to Also dragging and dropping tasks always moves tasks The Macintosh style has no Waste project so you do not need to delete tasks multiple times When dragging and dropping tasks are duplicated not moved between documents These are parts of standard Macintosh behavior This option is effective only after closing and re opening the application Web Links v Check for updates every days File Display M Show NTSC DA Show PAL d Show Built in bd Show User Definable These control what templates are displayed in lists in the Encode Definitions dialog O Display Full File Pathnames
103. he PROJECT menu or click the INSERT PROJECT icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear c1 P Click the button An arrow with a plus sign will appear in the box indicating the concatenation Repeat steps 4 Insert your first SOURCE FILE by typing the path or browsing for your source Insert each additional SOURCE FILE in the same manner Highlight your second SOURCE FILE and 5 for each source file you want to concatenate Encode Definitions r Source Files Eile Name C Program Files Avid Technology Bj Add Remove C Program Files QuickT ime S ample m G C Program Files Avid TechnologyAvir G C Program Files Avid Technology Avi 2 Move Up Move Down m Encode Settings Base Template default m Encoding Task C Audio Encode Video Encode f Multiplexed Encode 1 x CDROM PAL 2 x CDROM PAL z C Analysis Only Edit Settings C Still Picture r Encode Control List Settings 7 Use ECL fie Edit Encode Control List m Lask Description r Destination File Name D Tm DK Cancel Help 6 Choose your ENCODING TASK 7 Choose your BASE TEMPLATE 8 Name your DESTINATION FILE 9 Click OK You return to the project window 10 SAVE your project and START ENCODING PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Moving Source Files Up and Down in the List The source file concatenat
104. he file name and path 4 Select MULTIPLEXED ENCODE as the encoding task type 5 Select a BASE TEMPLATE 6 Select a DESTINATION FILE name with a mpg file extension 7 Click OK You will return to the active project window 8 Select SAVE from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon on the toolbar 9 Select START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar when you are ready to start encoding this project Adding multiple vbs files video is handled the same way as adding multiple abs files audio In all cases you must create all of your source files first by setting up related encoding tasks Once you have encoded all of your source abs file and vbs files you can add up to 32 abs files and up to 16 vbs files to the same mpg file by following the steps outlined above WARNING An mpg file that complex may not even be playable from a 4X or 6X CD ROM drive Before creating MPEG files containing multiple audio and video files take the time to calculate the projected total bit rate of your finished system file add the bit rates for each separate audio and video source file together and determine whether or not it will be payable from your target play back platform WARNING Some MPEG playback devices do not provide explicit configuration options to switch between multiple audio video streams in an MPEG file You may need to write special MCI com mands to do this Additionally in a multipl
105. hieve 30 frames per second MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS WARNING The reverse process Inverse Telecine is used to convert from 29 97 frames per second videotape back to 23 97 frames per second film and to convert 30 fps videotape to 24 fps film However changing this value will not remove any frames from your stream the encoder will still encode 29 97 or 30 frames per second but the playback device will only display 23 97 or 24 frames per second The overall effect is that your MPEG stream will play back at slower than real time In order to perform the Inverse Telecine translation you must enable the INVERSE TELECINE option in the GLOBAL SETTINGS box of the VIDEO1 tab It is usually safest to leave the FRAME RATE set at AUTO Auto Analyze To analyze source video and apply the suggested encoding events automatically create either a VIDEO ENCODE task or MULTIPLEXED ENCODE task based on your source video file and check the AUTO ANALYZE check box found on the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window MPEG Power Professional will analyze the video source as it is encoding The analysis infor mation will not be available for review It will be generated and used during the encoding process and then discarded The events generated however will be listed in the log file and can be viewed after the encoding process is complete Field Encoding In this area on the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window you have the option to set
106. hoose that here The new interface gives the program a more Macintosh like behavior and includes such features as drag and drop The Macintosh Style Interface does not include a waste document Web Links Your MPEG Power Professional software will link to the HEURIS website to search for product support or feature update notifications The default setting is every 30 days To change the num ber of days simply type your preferred value in the box Unchecking the box will tell the system not to check for updates Preferred File Extensions Windows version only MPEG Power Professional allows you to set your preferences for your preferred file extensions for audio video and multiplexed streams The default settings for these are abs vbs and mpg respectively You can change these preferred settings in this window Template Display MPEG Power Professional allows you to choose which templates are displayed in your ENCODE DEFINITIONS window You can choose to have the system show NTSC PAL BUILT IN or USER DEFINABLE templates in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window The default for the software is to show all of the templates however if you do not wish to see all templates simply click to remove the checkmark from the boxes next to the templates you do not want to see Temporary Storage Location MPEG Power Professional allows you to choose your temporary storage location The default location is C Windows Temp for Windows s
107. hted task in the active project window mid c Delete Task Deletes the currently selected highlighted task in the active project window a et Resume Resumes an interrupted encode E ex Discard Discards an interrupted encode Ls View Log File Displays the encoding log file for the active encoding project QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS 6 4 SHORT CUT KEYS The following table indicates the keyboard shortcuts available within MPEG Power Professional Task Windows Command Mac Command Create New Project Ctrl N Command N Open Existing Project Ctrl O Command O Save Current Project Ctrl S Command S Print Ctrl P Command P Undo Ctrl Z Command Z Cut Ctrl X Command X Copy Ctrl C Command C Paste Ctrl V Command V Start Encoding Ctrl E Command E Insert Task Ctrl A or Insert key Command A Edit Task Ctrl T Command T Delete Task Ctrl D or Delete key Command D Resume Interrupted Encode Ctrl R Command R Discard Interrupted Encode Ctrl I Command l View Log File Ctrl L Command L 6 5 THE FOUR TYPES OF MPEG ENCODING AND ANALYSIS ONLY MODE With MPEG Power Professional you can produce four types of MPEG compressed files Audio only file extension abs Video only file extension vbs Multiplexed file extension mpg Still picture file extension msp Audio Only abs Use when you require audio without associated video Multiplex with vbs video only files to produce mpg files
108. image of the currently encoding frame See which frame number is currently encoding out of the total number of frames Get an estimate of when the current encoding task will be completed 103 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 104 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL The bottom half of the ENCODER PROGRESS dialog box displays a synopsis of the current encoding activity At a glance you can see what parameters MPEG Power Professional is using to encode your video Once the current project is completely encoded a log file of this encoding activity can be accessed from the VIEW menu 5 8 BURNING THE VOB ONTO A DVD When you create a VOB file using the DVD VOB option on the MULTIPLEX tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window you will create a directory of several files including your specified destination vob file To create your DVD simply drag the VIDEO TS and AUDIO TS directories from your specified destination directory to a DVD burning package such as Adaptec Toast DVD Then use the CD DVD burning package to write to the blank CD DVD Congratulations You ve now created a DVD 5 9 CREATING A DVD USING THIRD PARTY AUTHORING SYSTEMS When you want to create more complicated DVDs those with multiple titles you will want to use a third party authoring system to create your DVD This changes your process for creating a DVD To make a DVD using third party authoring systems 1 Create a new project or open an exi
109. indow will appear asking you to confirm the interruption request 2 Click OK to interrupt the actively encoding project Or Click CANCEL to close the confirmation window and return to the actively encoding project without interrupting the current task 6 13 THE INTERRUPTED ENCODES WINDOW To display the INTERRUPTED ENCODES window From the VIEW menu select INTERRUPTED ENCODES The INTERRUPTED ENCODES window will open and display a list of the interrupted encodes that MPEG Power Professional has detected 119 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 mue bd m mue us mue 120 From the INTERRUPTED ENCODES window you can Resume an interrupted encoding project Discard an interrupted encoding project View the log file of an interrupted encoding project Open an interrupted project To resume an interrupted project file 1 Highlight the name of the project you wish to resume encoding 2 Click on the RESUME button The ENCODER PROGRESS window will appear allowing you to continue to monitor the progress of this encoding project To discard an interrupted project file 1 Highlight the name of the project you wish to discard 2 Click on the DISCARD button A confirmation window will appear asking you to confirm that you wish to delete the highlighted project 3 Click OK to discard any interrupted encode or Click CANCEL to return to the INTERRUPTED ENC
110. ion feature will encode the source files in the order in which they are placed in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window For this reason you want to place your source files in the order in which you want them to appear in the finished product prior to encoding TIP For a multiplexing task reordering your elementary streams will govern the stream IDs assigned to the finished multiplexed stream MPEG Power Professional has made it very easy for you to rearrange your source files after adding them should you change your mind regarding the order in which they need to appear To change the order of the source files 1 Go to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window for the task you want to edit 2 Highlight the source file that you want to move 3 Click on the MOVE UP or MOVE DOWN buttons to rearrange your SOURCE FILES Encode Definitions Source Files Encoding Task Encode Settings O Video Encode Base Template default femave clock mov edited omf Still Picture cpi CDi PAL Analysis Only B default 3 2 x CDROM 2 x CDROM PAL Multiplexed Encode arrange avi Encode Control List Settings J use ECL File x Task Description Destination File L1 4 Click OK to return to the project window 5 SAVE your project and START ENCODING A 43 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 44 2 8 BATCH ENCODING You may find a need to encode many ta
111. istance Medium Range Search Checking video settings Encoding an MPEG 1 sequence Encoding video sequence Constant Bitrate Encoding CBR Encoding 412 frames Encoding at 29 97 FPS 00 00 00 00 Set Hybrid Search 00 00 00 00 Set Medium Range Search From the ENCODER PROGRESS window you can monitor the progress of specific tasks within the encoding project At a glance you can see The name of the current project What time the encoding process started Which task MPEG Power Professional is currently encoding You can also View an image of the currently encoding frame See which frame number is currently encoding out of the total number of frames Get an estimate of when the current encoding task will be completed 22 GETTING STARTED The bottom half of the ENCODER PROGRESS dialog box displays a synopsis of the current encoding activity At a glance you can see what parameters MPEG Power Professional is using to encode your video Once the current project is completely encoded a log file of this encoding activity can be accessed from the PROJECT menu 1 9 VIEWING YOUR FINISHED MPEG As each encoding task is completed you can open and view the finished mpg file REMEMBER You must have an MPEG player either hardware or software installed and configured on your computer in order to play back vbs abs and mpg files If you do not have 4 a player installed on your computer you mus
112. ithin that GOP every third frame is a P frame For PAL templates the default N value is 12 and the default M value is 3 This means that every twelfth frame is an I frame and also the beginning of a GOP and every third frame is a P frame These values are the recommended values specified by the MPEG committee These values have been shown to produce a good image quality for most types of video When changing these values keep in mind that the M value has to be evenly divisible into the N value For example if N is equal to 12 the valid values for M are 1 2 3 4 and 6 Closed GOP Just under the GOP SIZE box on the VIDEO tab is a checkbox for CLOSED GOP Checking this box allows you to force the encoder to produce only closed GOPs This means that the encoder will only look at reference frames within each GOP rather than looking to a reference frame within the adjacent GOPs This feature is useful to you if you are making a DVD with multi angle camera shots Many DVD players are not equipped to handle this type of video because they did not implement the full MPEG playback instruction set for multi angle DVD playback By using the closed GOP feature you can smooth the playback behavior of your multi angle DVD when switching between angles CLOSED GOP may slightly affect overall sequence image quality Aspect Ratio For MPEG the aspect ratio represents the ratio of the width of a pixel to its height For example an ASPECT RATIO of 75 wo
113. ity of the frame stays the same while only a small portion changes MPEG uses this property as its final tool to assist in compression 174 APPENDICES MPEG uses the notion of motion vectors to track movement in an image Similar to how the image is broken up into blocks for DCT compression MPEG again breaks the picture into blocks but this time 16x16 pixels referred to as macroblocks Each macroblock can be encoded as its own completely separate motion vector Therefore if there are parts of an image that are staying still the pond from frame to frame a motion vector that does not change from frame to frame can encode a portion of the pond If there is a bird flying across the pond a moving motion vector that tracks the bird can determine the changes in the bird s position and encode the bird from frame to frame Using motion vectors can easily add 2 4 1 compression so the 352 188 bytes sec ond easily approaches our target rate of 187 500 bytes second about 1 5 Megabits per second MPEG and Constant and Variable Delivery Bitrates An often overlooked but important part of MPEG is that it provides a constant delivery bit rate Although this is not important to compression it is important to real world decoding applications For example in the case of MPEG1 the target delivery rate was 187 500 bytes second or 1 5 Megabits second This implies that the bit rate does not fluctuate On average no matter the
114. lable You can choose to view or hide this toolbar by selecting TOOLBAR in the product s VIEW menu The following commands are available by clicking icons in the product toolbar D New Project Creates a new empty project window a Open Project Opens an existing project file Fi Save Project Saves the Active Project tis Cut Cuts the selected object or text and places it onto the clipboard Ep nm Copies the selected object or text and places it on the clipboard Paste Pastes the object or text from the clipboard e Print Prints a summary of the active project About Displays copyright and system information hi What s This Enables context sensitive help 109 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 110 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 6 3 THE PROJECT TOOLBAR The MPEG Power Professional project toolbar offers you point and click access to all of the commands found in the PROJECT menu The project toolbar is only available when you have an active encoding project open on your desktop You can choose to view or hide this toolbar by selecting PROJECT TOOLBAR in the product s VIEW menu The following commands are available by clicking icons in the project toolbar E J Start Encoding Starts encoding the tasks in the active encoding project i c Insert Task Inserts a task into the active encoding project By Edit Task Opens the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window for the currently selected highlig
115. le encoding 63 71 90 R135 R136 base template s see built in templates bit rate s video 57 100 R145 audio 54 R144 built in template s 27 28 50 51 R112 R115 Closed GOP 61 100 R155 180 Comments only event ECL 82 89 comments inserting 89 complete search see search technique complete constant bit rate 57 R145 cropping video source 58 59 R150 cropping window 59 R150 INDEX deleting tasks see tasks deleting destination file 20 99 display resolution 56 R145 dual channel see audio mode dual channel ECL 71 94 R134 R137 creating 71 80 84 89 R136 R137 R151 encoding events 78 82 83 R134 editing an 74 R152 merging 90 use of 77 90 R135 R152 editing tasks see tasks editing Encode Control List s see ECL Encode Definitions window 19 R124 Encoder Seitings window 20 53 65 encoding project file 18 31 35 96 R116 encoding task types 26 R111 entry point injecting 89 R153 extended search distance 57 R148 R165 filters 57 58 R146 R147 R164 R165 applying globally 57 58 R146 R164 R165 FIR 58 R146 frame rates 62 63 R158 changing 62 63 R158 193 MPP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 194 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL Gamma filters 82 R134 GOP size changing 60 61 R154 GOP closed see closed GOP hybrid search see search technique hybrid I frames 75 77 88 89 R152 177 179 180 injecting 75 77 88 89 R152
116. lobal filters it feels are necessary You can over ride this option by selecting one or more of the available filters Since the filters are global they will be applied to the entire video stream 57 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 58 Median This filter is useful for removing noise from video that has a lot of calm areas areas with low levels of detail This filter will help remove some of the unwanted artifacts in the video stream while preserving the edges An example of a good time to use the MEDIAN filter would be if you wanted to remove black flecks from a clear blue sky FIR This is a signal processing filter designed to eliminate spikes It may help reduce crawling and haloing around objects Nonlinear This filter will apply a smoothing effect to your clip The effects of this filter are highly dependent on the media it is known as an adaptive filter If your lines are too harsh using this filter can help reduce those effects This filter is also helpful in reducing aliasing or staircase effects Global Settings Inverse Telecine is the process of removing duplicate frames which have been placed in a video Stream as a result of converting motion picture film to videotape Motion pictures are manufac tured at 24 frames per second while videotape records at 30 frames per second Therefore when you convert motion picture film to videotape six frames are duplicated in order t
117. longer search ranges While a HYBRID search with medium search ranges may prove a very effec tive compromise for encoding these contrasting video segments you might wish to specify a specific SEARCH DISTANCE and SEARCH TECHNIQUE for each contrasting segment of the video source To do so you must know the exact frame where each segment starts and stops or the exact time code where each segment starts and stops You can use the ECL EDITOR BY FRAME window to step through your video however as this is a frame by frame process it may prove time con suming on longer segments You may wish instead to calculate exact in and out points using your digital editing system 83 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 84 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL Once you have confirmed the in and out timecodes or frame numbers in and out you can easily create encoding events that correspond to these segments ECL Editor by timecode 2 xi TimeCode Event Parameters Notes 7 m Frame Number EM Type Frame Number here MECL Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms Type Timecode here SES NN TN Event Parameters a b amp d List of Available Events Bc om Events Available Add Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF Z FIR Filter ON _Bemove FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF zl The MAI Lx Cancel Open Save As By Frame Help 1 Inthe ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE wind
118. making a DVD with multi angle camera shots or may be required by some authoring systems 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task i 3 Click on the EDIT SETTINGS button 4 Click on the VIDEO2 tab 5 Click on the CLOSED GOP checkbox 6 Click OK 155 PP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 21 ADJUSTING ASPECT RATIO You can adjust the ASPECT RATIO from the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task Click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO2 tab Choose a value from the ASPECT RATIO box Click OK oOo0cA amp 0nmvm Encoder Settings eo m 08157 0 3815 1 0255 1 0695 10950 11575 4 1 2015 m MPEG1 templates have more ASPECT RATIO choices than do MPEG2 templates The ASPECT RATIO list shown for MPEG2 templates differs quite a bit from the list shown for MPEG1 templates Reference aspect ratios for MPEG2 sequences refer to the ratio of the display 156 ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 22 ADJUSTING VBV SIZE You can adjust the VBV buffer size from the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window 1 Create a new project or open an existing project H 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task 3 Click the EDIT SETTINGS button 4 Click the VIDEO2 tab 5 Enter th
119. me Simply put the more information to build the current frame the better the image will appear Be oe E 2l GL Go Truck is interpolated and predicted car is predicted A picture is composed of one or more slices The height of a slice is one macroblock and the length can be the entire picture or any portion thereof Slices can be used to aid in error recovery In the case of perfect transmission mechanisms such as CD ROMs there is normally one slice to one picture Compared to imperfect transmission mechanisms like terrestrial broadcast APPENDICES MPEG uses three different types of frames The primary difference among these frames is how motion vectors are used in them Intraframes I frames do not use any form of motion vectors Predictive frames P frames make use of predictive type motion vectors Bi directional frames B frames make use of both predictive and interpolative motion vectors A typical GOP illustrating information flow from and P frames to B frames and frames to P frames 179 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 180 APPENDIX II OPEN VS CLOSED GOP AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE From our discussion of I P and B frames in Appendix you should already be familiar with much of the terminology relating to a Group of Pictures and the three types of frames that make up the GOP For a more compl
120. n functionality which includes MPEG2 video MPEG audio and the minimum required PCI and DSI data for playback Additionally MPEG Power Professional 2 0 generates basic menu and navigation control files required for simple DVD use of these VOB files By generating a VOB file using MPEG Power Professional 2 0 you can quickly and easily cre ate DVDs using many of the inexpensive DVD burning packages on the market Additionally you may use MPEG Power Professional to create the elementary video streams needed for use in third party DVD authoring packages For more information on creating a DVD please refer to Chapter 5 of this manual APPENDIX IV WHAT IS THE POWER OF THE HEURIS MPEG EXPORT ENGINE The HEURIS MPEG Export Engine allows you to export directly from any program using the QuickTime Export Interface API This feature allows you to encode your video to professional quality MPEG using MPEG Power Professional without the need to open the program To do this simply choose EXPORT TO HEURIS MPEG PRO from the export menu of your program choose one of the built in templates the encode type and the destination file name and start encoding Best of all the HEURIS MPEG Export Engine Pro is part of your MPEG Power Professional software package so you can begin using this feature right away 181 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 182 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL If you need to make changes to your encoder
121. n to create six thirty second files from that three minutes of material You can edit that material into six separate clips and export all six of them from your nonlinear editing system or you can string the clips together into one large file spacing the clips with seg ments of black f you export six separate clips you will have six separate source files potentially six video only files and potentially six audio files f you export just one large source file you will have considerably fewer files to deal with but you will introduce the additional step of creating separate ecl files when you set up your encoding tasks Each option has advantages and disadvantages but basically you are choosing between creating separate files within your nonlinear editing system or creating separate files within MPEG Power Professional To encode six separate clips from one large source file follow the same procedure as was described previously for encoding still pictures but substitute MULTIPLEXED ENCODE VIDEO ENCODE or AUDIO ENCODE for the encoding task types Use the ECLEDITOR BY FRAME to determine exactly where each segment begins and ends 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Choose INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click on the INSERT TASK icon on the toolbar 3 Select and add your SOURCE FILE Choose VIDEO ENCODE AUDIO ENCODE or MULTIPLEXED ENCODE as your ENCODING TASK Choose a BASE TEMPLATE
122. nalysis generated e MECL Time Code 00 00 14 01 Inject I Frame Frame 421 Analysis generated e Hrs Mins Secs Frms 00 00 14 15 Inject I Frame Frame 435 Analysis generated e 00 00 14 26 Inject I Frame Frame 446 Analysis generated e o o o o 00 00 16 02 Inject I Frame Frame 482 Analysis generated e 00 00 16 11 Inject I Frame Frame 491 Analysis generated e m Event Parameters 00 00 16 20 Inject I Frame tt Frame 500 Analysis generated e a b c d 00 00 16 28 Inject I Frame Frame 508 Analysis generated e 00 00 17 09 Inject I Frame tt Frame 518 Analysis generated e p u p 00 00 18 06 Inject l Frame Frame 545 Analysis generated e 00 00 18 14 Inject l Frame Frame 553 Analysis generated e r Notes 4 00 00 18 24 Inject I Frame Frame 553 Analysis generated e I 3 00 00 19 03 Inject I Frame Frame 572 Analysis generated e 00 00 19 12 Inject I Frame Frame 581 Analysis generated e 00 00 19 21 Inject I Frame Frame 590 Analysis generated e Events Available 00 00 19 30 Inject I Frame Frame 599 Analysis generated e 00 00 20 08 Inject I Frame Frame 607 Analysis generated e lt Add Median Filter ON 00 00 20 18 Inject l Frame Frame 617 Analysis generated e Median Filter OFF 00 00 20 27 Insect l Frame Frame 626 Analysis generated e Removals FIR Filter ON FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF gt Alese l ee
123. ng tasks Create an abs source file audio encode Create a vbs source file video encode Create a mpg file multiplexed encode If you do not want to create separate audio and video MPEG files you can define a single encoding task Create an mpg file multiplexed encode In Chapter 1 you learned how to create a mpg file based on a source mov or omf file In this section you will learn how to create a multiplexed file based on separate audio encoded and video encoded source files To create an audio only encoded file first create a new project 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu e 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear Type a path and a file name in the SOURCE FILE box or browse for your file Choose AUDIO ENCODE as the encoding task type Choose a BASE TEMPLATE Type a file name in the DESTINATION FILE box Click the OK button to include this task in your current encoding project This returns you to the encoding project window NOOR OO 29 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 30 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL Using the same steps you just learned you can add an encoding task to create a video file based on the same source material From the same active encoding project window 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project
124. nline search format Additionally for Windows users we have included a context sensitive cursor to help you along should you find yourself stuck as to what a certain button on the screen you re working in should do If you need a more detailed description press F1 or drag the question mark over the button box or portion of the screen you are having trouble with A box will appear with an explanation of the area or process as well as references to the relevant topics in the online help system For Macintosh users we have included Balloon Help to help you to easily figure out the purpose of items on your screen To use Balloon Help simply choose SHOW BALLOONS from the HELP menu Then as you are moving your cursor around the MPEG Power Professional M window balloons will pop up where your cursor is positioned To turn off the Balloon Help choose HIDE BALLOONS from the HELP menu Finally we have included links to various areas of our website including a link to HEURIS Technical Support If you are unable to find your answer in the manual or online help system perhaps our website will contain the information that you need or a link to someone who does To link to our web simply go to Help on the menu bar and choose whatever link interests you Please note that you will need to have an Internet browser and Internet service on your machine before you can utilize these links CONTACTING TECHNICAL SUPPORT With your purchase of MP
125. ns Secs Frms p Ie IE JE Event Parameters E Events Available Inverse Telecine Phase Change Set Log Search Set Hybrid Search Set Complete Search Set Two Pass Search Start Encoding Stop Encoding Once you have selected all of the encoding events you wish to include in this ecl file you must save the file and return to the active project window 1 Choose SAVE AS to save this ecl file or CANCEL to discard it 2 Click OK to return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 3 Make sure the USE ECL FILE checkbox is selected 4 Confirm the rest of the encoding options you have selected and click OK to save the encoding task The active project window will appear From this window you can choose to START ENCODING or go on to a different task For every still picture you want to encode you must create a separate encoding task using the above guidelines Several still picture encoding tasks can be included in the same project regard less of whether or not they are based on the same source material but only one still picture can be encoded in each task 92 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL 4 10 ENCODING SHORT SEGMENTS OF LONGER SOURCE FILES The START ENCODING and STOP ENCODING event options can also be used to encode seg ments longer than a single frame For example suppose that you have edited three minutes of material on your nonlinear editing system and pla
126. nt within MPEG is the group of pictures GOP This is a self contained completely decodable unit It may consist of an arbitrary number of frames of any of the primary types I P or B frames Blocks are composed of an array of 8x8 pixels The DCT is performed on the block level Macroblocks are composed of blocks in MPEG1 a macroblock consists of 4 luminance blocks and 2 chrominance blocks Motion prediction and interpolation are performed at the macroblock level Motion prediction is useful when objects are just appearing in the current frame and will continue to exist in future frames e B Bus is predicted 177 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 178 Prediction can also be used when the object exists in the past and exists in the current frame Jl gi ill CEE O pee OO Truck is predicted It is important to note that MPEG can also make use of interpolation This is useful when much action is taking place in the scene Since the truck exists in all frames it can be reconstructed with information from both the future frame and the past frame The truck is therefore interpolated The average of the two will result in the final reconstructed truck On the other hand the car is predicted since it only exists in the future frame Use of both prediction and interpolation results in a better quality current fra
127. number one out of one If you need to interrupt this encoding project in progress for any reason you simply click on the INTERRUPT button in the ENCODER PROGRESS window A confirmation message will appear N Really suspend this encoding project If you select SUSPEND the project will be suspended and all of the partially encoded files will be saved If you select CONTINUE you will return to the ENCODER PROGRESS window and the project will continue encoding without interruption 39 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 me 40 To resume an interrupted encoding project 1 Select INTERRUPTED ENCODES from the VIEW menu The INTERRUPTED ENCODES window will appear listing all of the currently interrupted encod ing projects You can choose to resume or discard any of these interrupted projects or to view the associated log file Interrupted Encodes untitled 1 mpr mpp2 mpr Discard Resume View Log 2 Highlight the name of an interrupted encoding project 3 Click on the RESUME DISCARD or OK button RESUME will restart the encoding project from where it was originally interrupted The ENCODER PROGRESS window will appear so you can continue to monitor the progress of this encoding project DISCARD will delete the interrupted encode without resuming it WARNING If you discard an encoding project any incomplete encodes will be lost Finished
128. o save the project file and start encoding 1 Select SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon on the toolbar e 2 From the PROJECT menu select START ENCODING or click START ENCODING icon on the toolbar Now you re encoding a DVD project 102 LET S MAKE A DVD 5 7 MONITORING AN ENCODING PROJECT IN PROGRESS As soon as MPEG Power Professional starts encoding a project the ENCODER PROGRESS window appears Encoder Progress Project Name HEURISdvd m Task 1 of 1 Encode Task Data Destination Filename testdvd Encode Start Time Mon Nov 29 18 18 02 Estimated Time of Completion Mon Nov 29 18 31 10 Encoding Frame 7 of 240 p ssx Preparing sources Variable Bitrate Encoding YBR Checking video settings Maximum target video bitrate 9000000 bits per second Encoding video sequence Average target video bitrate 4500000 bits per second Closed GOP Encoding GOP size 15 frames Reference interval 3 frames Target video resolution 720 horizontal 480 vertical Non progressive Sequence Encoding From the ENCODER PROGRESS window you can monitor the progress of specific tasks within the encoding project At a glance you can see The name of the current project What time the encoding process started Which task MPEG Power Professional is currently encoding You can also View an
129. o create the encoding task at a later time In either case follow these steps to load an ecl file with a video encoding or multiplexed encoding task 1 Check the USE ECL FILE box in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 2 Type the path and file name of the ecl file you want to use in the USE ECL FILE box in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window MPEG Power Professional will incorporate all of the video events detailed in the ecl file when it processes the corresponding video encode task 79 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 bd 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 4 5 CONTROLLING SPECIFIC ENCODING EVENTS During an analysis only pass over your video source MPEG Power Professional primarily looks for scene changes cuts titling fades and other video information that can impact the encoding process It will typically prepare an ecl file detailing where I frames are to be injected and where Telecine phase changes occur when you have selected the INVERSE TELECINE option on the VIDEO tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window There are a variety of other encoding controls that you can apply selectively to your video source based on timecode values or frame numbers Those encoding events include Injecting entry points to create an access point for playback Turning specific filters on and off of segments of a larger video source file Applying any of the MPEG Power Professional SEARCH TECHNIQUES and SEARCH DISTANCES to selected
130. o have a total of 30 frames Inverse Telecine will calculate which frames are duplicate frames and will remove them from the final MPEG stream If you want MPEG Power Professional to automati cally adjust the INVERSE TELECINE phase calculations you must mark AUTO ANALYZE on the VIDEO tab If you want to manually specify inverse telecine phase calculations use ECL events Cropping Source Video Cropping is the process of trimming off a small section of video around the edges of your source video stream This process can be useful when your video stream has black areas or control lines around its edges These unwanted areas often appear during the digitizing process Cropping your source video during the encoding process is simple TIP If you have field based source media crop values are applied to each field If you have frame based source media crop values are applied to the entire frame The cropping control boxes are on the bottom of the VIDEO1 tab The area is labeled SOURCE CROP pixels There are four boxes X Y dX and dY The X and Y values are the number of pixels in the X and Y direction respectively that you want cropped from the upper left hand corner The dX and dY values are the number of pixels along the X and Y axes that you would like to include in your final MPEG clip MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS WARNING When entering values for the crop bounding box keep in mind that it is at the resolution of the source vi
131. odes when quality is the most important factor to you Please note that using these tips may increase the time it takes for your files to encode AVOID SCALING Never scale your source up to a target resolution and avoid scaling down to target resolution unless you specify an even multiple ie one half width etc Instead use crop ping to better scale your video i e 720x240x2 src MPEG by cropping center 704 horizontal pels then setting target resolution to 352 x 240 resolution reduced by half each way Use noise free source Avoid using filters if you don t really need them any filtering operation will muddy your source signal to some extent Use ECL events to match the encoder behavior to your source video content Use LONG or EXTENDED search ranges for parts of your sequences with high speed motion Use SHORT or MEDIUM search ranges for parts of your video with little or slow motion to conserve bits e Analyzing your source video will inject frames for you which results in better overall image quality Raising your BIT RATE will result in better image quality in most cases but will also result in a larger file size 165 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 166 APPENDICES 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 168 APPENDIX HOW MPEG WORKS THREE IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF VIDEO Video is simply a sequence of still images displayed or projected quickly in s
132. ological listing of all the encoding events included in an ecl file You can add encoding events by highlighting an event from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list typing in a corresponding frame number or timecode entry and clicking on the ADD button You can also remove encoding events from the timeline by highlighting an event in the timeline and clicking on the REMOVE button From this window you can Click on the BY FRAME button to switch to the ECL EDITOR BY FRAME view e Click on the OPEN button to open an existing ecl file Click on the SAVE AS button to save the current ecl file Click on the OK button to close the ECL EDITOR and return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window You will be prompted to save any changes you have made to the active ecl file since you opened it Click on the CANCEL button to close the ECL EDITOR without saving changes you have made since you opened the active ecl file 6 22 THE ECL EDITOR BY FRAME WINDOW The ECL EDITOR BY FRAME window displays a bitmap of a specific event in the encoding timeline In the ECL EDITOR BY FRAME window you can Add encoding events by highlighting an event from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list typing in a corresponding frame number or timecode entry and clicking on the ADD button Add encoding events by stepping through the video one frame at a time or ten frames at a time to find the desired frame for the encoding event highlighting an event from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list
133. oolbar Qo 7 0 Oi e 09 TIP One Adaptec engineer has recommended an INITIAL CLOCK REFERENCE of 1200 for VideoCD streams for best compatibility with Adaptec Easy CD Creator Check the recommenda tions of your authoring package for appropriate values if you experience difficulty using MPEG streams with other applications 163 MPP2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 164 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 7 30 ASPECT RATIO CHART FOR MPEGI AND MPEG2 MPEG1 MPEG2 Square Pels Square Pels 0 6735 4 3 display 0 7031 16 9 625 line 16 9 display 0 7615 2 21 1 display 0 8055 0 8437 16 9 525 line 0 8935 0 9375 720x576 at 4 3 0 9375 0 9815 1 0255 1 0695 1 1250 720x485 at 4 3 1 1134 1 575 1 2015 7 31 TIPS TO HELP YOU MAKE THE FASTEST ENCODES The following are some tips to help you make the fastest encodes when time is a factor to you Please note that these tips are for the fastest encodes not necessarily the highest quality encodes Crop your source to match your target dimensions or an even multiple thereof Choose HYBRID as your SEARCH TECHNIQUE Choose a SHORT or MEDIUM SEARCH DISTANCE Use ECL events to turn off HALF PEL SEARCH Use ECL events to turn off INTERFIELD SEARCH Turn all GLOBAL FILTERS off ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 32 TIPS TO HELP YOU MAKE THE HIGHEST QUALITY ENCODES The following are some tips to help you make the highest quality enc
134. or reduction of the chrominance component Now that we have discussed frame rates frame sizes and touched the surface of color and color space let s talk about MPEG s definitions of these values For the purposes of this discussion let s assume our video source is a typical professional digital video format called ITU T 601 for merly known as CCIR 601 In this format we see the video is represented in the following fashion frame rate of 30 frames a second picture size of one frame 720x480 NTSC color and colorspace YCrCb 4 2 2 Luminance is sampled at full resolution each chrominance component is sampled at full resolution one half as often On average then it takes 16 bits to represent each pel Using these values it is easy to calculate the total disk space required to hold one second of uncompressed video in this format 720 horizontal pixels X 480 vertical pixels 345 600 pels per frame X 30 frames per second 10 368 000 pels per second X 2 bytes per pel 30 736 000 total bytes per second APPENDICES This means that the average 200 Megabyte hard drive could hold about 10 seconds of uncom pressed video Clearly this is not practical for most applications This is where the incredible com pression power of MPEG comes in MPEG 1 will reduce this 20 Megabytes second to 187 500 bytes second about 1 5 Megabits second This is a compression ratio of over 100 1 Bits Bytes and other Mysteries There is a great
135. ow type in the timecode or frame number where you want to insert an encoding event 2 Highlight the encoding event you wish to insert from the list of encoding EVENTS AVAILABLE 3 Type any notes you wish to make about the encoding event into the NOTES box 4 Click on the ADD button ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL For example if you have calculated that your beauty shot segment begins at a timecode of 01 02 30 00 1 Type that figure into the EVENT TIME CODE box 2 Highlight the SET SHORT RANGE SEARCH event option 3 Enter whatever notes you wish into the NOTES box 4 Click on the ADD button The SET SHORT RANGE SEARCH event will appear in your event timeline You would then set a corresponding encoding event at the same timecode for SET COMPLETE SEARCH Encode Control List Editor TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Event Frame Number 01 02 30 00 Set Short Range Search 112500 01 02 30 00 Set Complete Search Event Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms o 02 so o Event Parameters Event Notes Set Long Range Search Set Extended Range Search Inverse Telecine Phase Change Set Log Search Set Hybrid Search Set Complete Search Set Two Pass Search gt 85 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 86 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL The segment of high detail fast moving video begins at 01 06 20 00 You would add an event at that timecode to SET LOG SEAR
136. ower Professional is currently encoding You can also View an image of the currently encoding frame See which frame number is currently encoding out of a total number of frames Get an estimate of when the current encoding task will be completed 121 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 122 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL Project Name tutorial mpr Task 1of1 Interrupt Cancel r Encode Task Data Destination filename Encode start time Estimated time of completion Encoding frame P2 Tutorialtutorial mpg Mon Sep 27 12 03 56 1999 Mon Sep 27 12 05 21 1999 38 of 412 BB Starting video encode Encode Start Media Frame 0 Encode Stop Media Frame 411 Total Encode Frames Media Time 412 Starting Audio Sample 0 Total Audio Samples 606300 Enabling MM acceleration Encoder matching sample frequency of source The bottom half of the ENCODER PROGRESS window displays a synopsis of the current encod ing activity At a glance you can see what parameters MPEG Power Professional is using to encode the current task Once the current encoding project is complete all of the encoding tasks have been completed a log file of this encoding activity can be accessed from the project window 6 15 IMPORTING SOURCE FILES MPEG Power Professional supports digital input from all major nonlinear editing systems QuickTime and all NLE system
137. project REFERENCE Please refer to Chapter 1 for step by step instructions on the above if necessary In order to interrupt an encoding project in progress you must have an encoding project process ing on your workstation For example let s go back to the encoding project we did in Chapter 1 Let s assume that this project is currently encoding on your workstation The ENCODER PROGRESS window appears on your screen enabling you to monitor encoding in progress As you learned in Chapter 1 you can follow the progress of your encoding tasks and find out at a glance which encoding tasks have been completed PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Let s assume that the clock mpg encoding project has reached the state shown in the following picture of the ENCODER PROGRESS window Encoder Progress Project Name untitled 1 mpr Task 1 of 1 Encode Task Data Destination Filename clock mpg Encode Start Time Mon Nov 8 12 34 24 Estimated Time of Completion Mon Nov 8 12 36 55 Encoding Frame 29 of 412 LE Preparing sources Global search distance Medium Range Search Checking video settings Encoding an MPEG 1 sequence Encoding video sequence Constant Bitrate Encoding CBR Encoding 412 frames Encoding at 29 97 FPS 00 00 00 00 Set Hybrid Search 00 00 00 00 Set Medium Range Search As you can see MPEG Power Professional is currently processing task
138. r video stream is no longer there This could cause a glitch in playback for a slight period of time that would be noticeable to the user When you change streams your prior GOP does not con tain correct picture information for displaying the new stream s B frames If you have a closed GOP the switch between camera angles is much more immediate because each of your frames is relying on information found only within its GOP Thus the user can switch the angle and not notice a glitch as the playback device attempts to orient itself in the new video stream APPENDICES With the closed GOP feature in MPEG Power Professional you have the ability to create MPEG appropriate for this type of multi angle DVD playback All you have to do to close your GOP is click the CLOSED GOP checkbox on the VIDEO2 tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window For a more complete discussion of the steps to follow to edit this or any other encoder settings please refer to Chapter 3 APPENDIX III WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A VOB VOB stands for Video Object A specially constrained MPEG2 program stream which contains additional information used exclusively for DVD video A VOB may include video data audio data sub picture data Presentation Control Information and Data Search Information Most of this information is generally assembled by a DVD authoring system In order to be useful for DVD prototyping MPEG Power Professional 2 0 provides a basic VOB creatio
139. r edit an existing task Click the USE ECL file checkbox Click the EDIT ECL button Make the desired changes to your ECL Click the SAVE AS button Enter the name of your file and click SAVE Click OK Put the name of your file in the USE ECL FILE box of the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Create a new project or open an existing project OMNOORWOND Encode Control List Editor Ei TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Event Frame Number Event Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms o o Jo o Event Parameters Inject I Frame Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF 151 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 152 7 14 EDITING AN AUTO GENERATED OR MANUALLY CREATED ECL You can edit an ECL by making changes in the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox Type in an ecl file name Click the EDIT ECL button Make desired changes to your ECL Click the SAVE AS button Click OK oo oosmvy 7 15 USING AN ECL FILE WITH A TASK You can specify which ECL a task should use while encoding This is done in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window MPEG Power Professional will use this ecl file as it encodes your clip 1 Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox 2 Enter the nam
140. rame Frame 581 Analysis generated e z 00 00 19 21 Inject I Frame tt Frame 590 Analysis generated e Events Available 00 00 19 30 Inject I Frame Frame 599 Analysis generated e 00 00 20 08 Inject I Frame Frame 607 Analysis generated e lt Add Median Filter ON 00 00 20 18 Inject l Frame Frame 617 Analysis generated e Median Filter OFF 00 00 20 27 Inject l Frame Frame 626 Analysis generated e E FIR Filter ON _Bemove gt FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF gt By Frame Help Open Save As Cancel At a glance you can see a list of encoding events with corresponding timecodes 74 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL MPEG Power Professional assigns a sequential timecode value to each frame The timecode is formatted in hours minutes seconds and frames The first frame of your video source corre sponds to 00 00 00 00 the second frame corresponds to 00 00 00 01 the third frame to 00 00 00 02 etc WARNING Do not confuse the MPEG Power Professional timecode feature with the SMPTE time code assigned with the original source For example if you wish to insert an encoding event at a scene change in your video you proba bly have recorded the exact SMPTE timecode that corresponds to the scene change The SMPTE timecode must be converted to MPEG Power Professional timecode before it is insert ed into an Encode Control List You do this by subtracting the SMPTE timecod
141. rders the data so that it is easier to throw parts away that are not particularly visible Generally the DCT results in data in the upper left hand corner as data to keep while the bottom right contains data that can be thrown away possibly noise in the image APPENDICES 231112 267 414 0 0 E 4510115683 324 211 3 o 71 12223 41311 01 1 92 082 4441421 0 9 2 80 1 2644 4 1 o 2 o o The key to using the DCT is quantization The purpose of quantization is to keep only the pixels in the 8x8 block that are most likely to be visible to the human eye Quantization also attempts to make the data more compressible by making values near each other more similar to others the more similar the values are the higher the compression One example of quantization is rounding 1 421 26 3 In rounding several digits become fewer digits This is the only step of MPEG that is considered lossy Again using the rounding example once a number is rounded to 1 it is impossible to determine whether the original number was 1 2 or 1 4 or any other number between 051 and 1 5 At this point the data in the 8x8 block has been DCT transformed and quantized which helped to organize the data In the next step the data is actually compressed and redundant data is dis carded The compression takes place by removing the redundancies in
142. return to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Encoder Settings 2 xi Template Audio Video Video2 Multiple Based on 1x CDROM New Template Name fr x CDROM Notes Default settings for single speed CD ROM r User Flags Save Template Restore From Base Template C None NTSC specific template PAL specific template Cancel p Help 143 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 i 144 7 5 ADJUSTING AUDIO BIT RATES You can adjust the audio BIT RATE from the AUDIO tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window The available options range from 32 to 384 kilobits per second You can also adjust the audio mode The available audio mode options are MONO STEREO and DUAL CHANNEL 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window click the EDIT SETTINGS button The ENCODER SETTINGS window will appear Click on the AUDIO tab Choose the bit rate from the BIT RATE box Choose the appropriate audio mode from the MODE box Click OK e NOOSA TIP Music requires higher bit rates while voices can be successfully encoded at lower bit rates Encoder Settings 12 x Template Audio Videot Video2 Multiples Bit Rate x 1000 bits sec Mode p Sampling Frequency C Mono Auto Stereo C 48 kHz C Dual channel C 441 kHz
143. rial originated in film Additionally here you will find information about advanced encoding options including GOP sizes reference intervals and frame rates This chapter also discusses the different multiplex targets and types including VOB creation Chapter 4 discusses a special task type available within MPEG Power Professional analysis only mode The MPEG Power Professional analysis tool examines your video source material for the location of cuts wipes fades and other information that can impact the MPEG encoding process Analysis mode generates an Encode Control List ECL An ECL contains instructions for the encoding software to apply specific filters or search ranges or insert l frames at various points in the video in order to enhance the video quality of your finished encoded image Chapter 4 will show you how to generate an ECL by analysis only or manually how to edit it and how to apply an ECL to a specific encoding task Chapter 5 will take you through the steps necessary to prototype a DVD using MPEG Power Professional A discussion of creating the VOB files and then burning the image using a DVD burning package is covered Chapter 6 of the manual contains a comprehensive quick reference guide Here you will find specific instructions on how to quickly perform many tasks within MPEG Power Professional As the title suggests refer to the quick reference guide when you have a specific question about how to perfo
144. rm a specific task without worrying about how it relates to other tasks If you want to see how the tasks relate to each other as specific steps in a process then refer to the appropriate chapter or chapters earlier in the manual The reference guide is broken down into two chapters Each chapter overview contains a table of contents to help you find specific information quickly and easily Refer to Chapter 6 for topics relating to project encoding basics and to Chapter 7 for topics relating to advanced encoding features and special how to instructions for various encoding tasks The manual also contains several appendices which should help you to further understand MPEG and fully utilize the features that are included in the MPEG Power Professional 2 0 product Finally the manual contains a comprehensive glossary and index The page numbers with an R prefix indicate that page is located in the reference section of the manual A page number without an R indicates that the topic is discussed within the first 5 chapters of the manual 11 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 12 INSTALLING MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL Please see the instruction bulletin included in your product packaging for installation instructions GUIDE TO ICONS AND ABBREVIATIONS IN THE USER S MANUAL A set of graphic icons appears in the manual highlighting important information A WARNING This icon appears next to text that is
145. rs MPEG Power Professional is fully compliant with the QuickTime Export Interface API You can access the powerful features of MPEG Power Professional M from within other QuickTime compliant applications such as Media Cleaner Pro Avid Cinema Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects There is no need to render to other file formats saving time effort and disk space MPEG Power Professional is a true cross platform product that works on both PC and Apple Macintosh systems You have the flexibility to choose whichever platform is most convenient and cost effective to digitize edit add effects to and encode your video MPEG Power Professional includes a batch encoding feature You can set up encoding projects ahead of time and then encode them all whenever it s convenient even overnight MPEG Power Professional has many application specific built in templates You can quickly easily and reliably create MPEG files fully compatible with specific applications such as DVD Video CD and the Internet with just one click MPEG Power Professional is purely software You always have the very latest features and improvements through frequent and inexpensive upgrades HEURIS MPEG EXPORT ENGINE PRO The HEURIS MPEG Export Engine Pro is an export component for QuickTime and for the MoviePlayer that comes with Apple s QuickTime Pro Adobe After Effects and Avid Cinema and other products that support the Quick
146. ry However you will not be able to review or edit the list of encoding events generated prior to encoding That list is used during the encoding phase and then discarded The ANALYSIS ONLY task type allows you to run an analysis of your video as a separate task prior to encoding MPEG Power Professional takes the information it gathers during an analysis only pass over your video source and saves it out into an editable file format called an Encode Control List or ecl file Any encoding events that will be used when it actually encodes your video source are logged with a corresponding timecode or frame number You can review the suggested encoding events and delete or modify any of them prior to encoding However you must process the same video source file twice in two separate encoding tasks in order to use the contents of the ecl file while encoding A third option is to combine the results of an auto analysis pass with encoding events you have manually created This option allows you to define very specific custom encoding parameters while taking advantage of the MPEG Power Professional auto detect scene change capabilities Inverse Telecine and auto filtering options You create a custom ecl file and then combine it with auto analysis during encoding MPEG Power Professional will take the ECL events you defined and merge them with the results of auto analysis 71 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 72 2 MPEG POWER PROFE
147. s Encode Control List Settings 2 Use ECL file Move Up Move Down Edit Encode Control List ais E m Task Description r Destination File Name DK Cancel Help 6 Choose your ENCODING TASK 7 Choose your BASE TEMPLATE 8 Name your DESTINATION FILE 9 Click OK You return to the Project window SAVE your project and START ENCODING ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 29 ENCODING A VIDEO CD You can encode MPEG appropriate for Video CD by using the built in templates in MPEG Power Professional Additionally you can make your Video CD Adaptec Toast compatible with the click of a button To create a Video CD 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear Specify your SOURCE FILE Choose your ENCODING TASK Choose the VIDEO CD template Click the EDIT SETTINGS button Go to the MULTIPLEX tab Click the VIDEO CD button 9 If you need to make a Toast compatible CD click the TOAST COMPATIBLE checkbox 10 Click OK This returns you to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 11 Enter the name of your DESTINATION FILE 12 Save your project by choosing SAVE AS from the FILE menu or clicking the SAVE icon on the toolbar 13 Choose START ENCODING from the PROJECT menu or click on the START ENCODING icon on the project t
148. s for width and height in the areas provided on the tab When changing the default DISPLAY RESOLUTION keep in mind that your picture will look best if encoded at a resolution less than or equal to your source media In practice the upper limit is usually 352 x 240 for MPEG1 and 720 x 480 for MPEG2 since most MPEG playback devices treat that as standard display resolution and are not capable of displaying files larger than this MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS Video Bit Rate To the right of the DISPLAY RESOLUTION box is the BIT RATE box In this box you are able to choose between CONSTANT RATE and VARIABLE RATE for your encode Please note that the VBR option is available only on the MPEG Power Professional DVD and MPEG Power Professional Transport packages To set up a CBR encode make sure the CONSTANT radio button is checked and enter your desired bit rate in the available box To set up a VBR encode make sure that the VARIABLE VBR radio button is checked Then enter the maximum allowable bit rate in the MAXIMUM RATE box and the average bit rate in the AVERAGE RATE box Search Distance and Technique MPEG encoding uses a series of algorithms to analyze each area of the video from one frame to the next attempting to determine where motion has occurred between the two frames SEARCH TECHNIQUE and SEARCH DISTANCE affect how these algorithms are implemented SEARCH TECHNIQUE dictates the method that the encoder uses to search
149. s using the QuickTime Export Interface API Media 100 Avid Media Composer and omf files Adobe After Effects AVI QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS MPEG Power Professional uses the source files as digital video and audio source material to produce these MPEG files abs audio only vbs video only mpg multiplexed encode msp still picture ecl analysis only There are three common ways to import source files from your nonlinear editor 1 Transfer data by some physical medium such as a removable drive or digital tape Examples include Bernoulli ZIP or Jaz drives Advantage Reliable data transfer Disadvantage Large video files may exceed the capacity of some removable medium 2 Transfer data over a local network Advantage Large file sizes can be accommodated without the need to write to an external tape drive Disadvantage Getting your Windows encoding workstation to talk to Mac based editing systems can be difficult 3 Leave the data on the encoding workstation and encode remotely Advantage Avoid copying data and save drive space on the encoding workstation Disadvantage Editing system could disappear from the network in the middle of the encoding process because some editing systems shut off networking while they are running To add a source file to an encoding task 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK on the proje
150. s will work for all audio video streams encoded using MPEG Power Professional as well as some other MPEG encoders 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 3 Type the name of the audio source file in the SOURCE FILE box or browse for its location Repeat step 3 to add the video source file to the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window 4 Choose MULTIPLEXED ENCODE from the ENCODING TASK box in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window Choose a BASE TEMPLATE Type a file name in the DESTINATION FILE box Click the OK button to include this task in your current encoding project Choose SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon button on the toolbar Select START ENCODING from the FILE menu or click the START ENCODING icon on the project toolbar OOND O1 The video and audio source files that you created in a previous encoding project will be multi plexed together into one MPEG file 7 27 ENCODING FROM A SERIES OF STILL IMAGE FILES MPEG Power Professional has the ability to read Targa files to create MPEG files from still image frames In order to encode a Targa sequence follow the steps outlined below 1 Select NEW from the FILE menu 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 3 Select your SOURCE FILE
151. sk Choosing Encode Settings Editing Encode Settings Naming Your Destination File Start Your Encode Monitoring an Encoding Project in Progress Viewing Your Finished MPEG file Chapter Summary CHAPTER 2 PROJECT ENCODING BASICS Chapter Overview 2 1 2 2 The Four Types of MPEG Encoding and Analysis Only Mode Choosing a Built in Template for MPEG Encoding Encoding Separate Audio and Video Files Managing Encoding Projects Interrupting and Resuming Encoding Projects Specifying Source and Supported Media Multiple Source Files One MPEG Stream Batch Encoding Editing User Preferences Chapter Summary CHAPTER 3 MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS Chapter Overview 3 9 Why Make a Custom Template The MPEG Power Professional built in Templates Custom Templates How to Edit Encoder Settings Edit Template Tab Settings Edit Audio Tab Settings Edit Video1 Tab Settings Edit Video2 Tab Settings Edit Multiplex Tab Settings Chapter Summary MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL Chapter Overview Why Analyze your Video Using Analysis Only Reviewing an Analysis Only Generated ecl File Adding and Removing Encoding Events from an ecl File Controlling Specific Encoding Events Manually Creating an ecl File Merging ecl Files Practical Applications for ecl Files Still Pictures 4 10 Encoding Short Segments of Longer Source Files Chapter Summary CHA
152. sks at one time MPEG Power Professional allows you to add all of your encoding tasks to one project to encode whenever you feel like encoding them You can start the encoding process at the end of your day allowing the encoding to happen overnight There are two ways to add multiple tasks to a project You can add them manually one at a time as has been discussed earlier in the chapter This is useful when your tasks each require customized encoder settings You can use the TASK GENERATOR Using the Task Generator The TASK GENERATOR automatically creates individual encoding tasks for multiple source files located in the same directory This feature is useful when you have a number of encoding tasks to accomplish which will have the same encoder settings Using the TASK GENERATOR you can group your tasks together quickly customizing your settings only once for the entire group of tasks and begin encoding in a batch process Task Generator General Encoding Parameters r Encode Type C Audio Encode C Video Encode Multiplexed Encode Still Picture C Analysis Only Output directory c WINDOWS Profiles post Desktop Template 1 CDROM default Internet DVD 1x CDROM PAL 2x CDROM PAL r Source Media Selector Current source directory Media OMF edited omf flower omf gun omf Sorby Type C Name Jes gt Exec a Current source files
153. source file In this case let s browse to find our source file from the HEURIS CD ROM Click on the button to the right of the SOURCE FILES box SELECT button for Macintosh users and three dots for Windows users Browse for your CD ROM drive Choose the MEDIAfolder the source file gun mov and click OPEN You ll notice that the file you selected appears in the SOURCE FILES box 97 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 3 In the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window you need to select the type of encoding you plan to do For now we ll leave MULTIPLEXED ENCODE as our encoding task gt Encoding Task C Audio Encode C Video Encode Multiplexed Encode C Still Picture C Analysis Only WARNING If you are using third party authoring software to create your DVD you cannot create a multiplexed encode Third party DVD authoring software requires you to import elementary streams that is audio only and video only encodes The authoring software will then multiplex the streams together as part of its process REFERENCE For a discussion on how to do audio only or video only encodes please return to Section 2 3 5 3 CHOOSING ENCODING SETTINGS Select a BASE TEMPLATE Choose the template you want to use from the list of BASE TEMPLATES In this case let s use the DVD template When you use the DVD or DVD PAL template the settings automatically select CLOSED GOP and DVD VOB 98 LET S MA
154. splayed on your playback device 67 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 68 CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 70 CHAPTER OVERVIEW Chapter 4 discusses analysis only mode one of the task types available within MPEG Power Professional and the creation of Encode Control Lists or ecl files You will learn How analysis can benefit your video encoding How to analyze your video What an ecl file is What specific encoding events you can control with an ecl file How to edit an ecl file Practical applications for ecl files 4 1 WHY ANALYZE YOUR VIDEO In a word quality MPEG Power Professional takes information it gathers during an analysis of your video source and uses it to make decisions about the best way to encode your video MPEG Power Professional analyzes your source video looking for such video events as scene changes For example it is generally considered beneficial to inject an I frame at a scene change The Inverse Telecine process provides another opportunity to effectively use the analysis mode If you have 30 frames per second video that originated as 24 frames per second film there are advantages to restoring the video to its original 24 frames per second as it is encoded Inverse Telecine accomplishes this transformation by removing the duplicate frames that were created in the original
155. st rules regarding CPU speed and bit rate You will need to experiment with your target system to determine its upper speed limits Finally image quality and storage issues will also help you make your decision when setting the values of your custom template Often higher bit rates mean higher image quality However higher bit rates also mean greater storage requirements for your MPEG file MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS 3 4 HOW TO EDIT ENCODER SETTINGS The encoder settings are edited by clicking the EDIT SETTINGS button in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window When you click the EDIT SETTINGS button on the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window the ENCODER SETTINGS window will appear with five tabs TEMPLATE AUDIO VIDEO1 VIDEO2 and MULTIPLEX 3 5 EDIT TEMPLATE TAB SETTINGS The TEMPLATE tab is where your new templates are named and saved At the top of the tab you will see the template that was the base for your new template in the BASED ON TEMPLATE box Underneath you will find a box for entering the name of the new template Also there is an area for attaching notes to the template You can place any comments you want to save regarding your new template inside this box Encode Settings Template Multiplex Based On Template 2 x CDROM s New Template Name 2 x CDROM Template Notes Default settings for double speed CD ROM User Flags amp None CQ NTSC Specific Template PAL Specific Template Clicking the SAVE TEMPLAT
156. sting project 2 Insert a task by choosing INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERTTASK icon on the project toolbar 3 Choose your SOURCE FILE Choose your ENCODING TASK type For third party authoring systems you will need to create elementary video and audio streams Choose VIDEO ENCODE as your encoding task type Select your BASE TEMPLATE either DVD or DVD PAL Edit any encoder settings you wish to change by clicking on the EDIT SETTINGS button Name your DESTINATION FILE Repeat the above steps for your audio source files choosing AUDIO ENCODE as your encoding task type 9 Open your authoring system 10 Drag the newly created files to your authoring system 11 Start your encode by choosing START ENCODING from the PROJECT window or click the STARTENCODING icon on the project toolbar B ONO LET S MAKE A DVD CHAPTER SUMMARY In this chapter you have learned the basic steps you will need to make a DVD with MPEG Power Professional You have learned how to Create a DVD using the VOB feature contained in MPEG Power Professional and an inexpensive DVD burning package Create a DVD with elementary streams created in MPEG Power Professional and a third party authoring system The same basic processes discussed above can be used for most of your DVD development projects 105 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 106 CHAPTER 6 QUICK REFERENCE TOPICS PROJECT ENCODING BASICS PP2
157. t Notes Inject l Frame Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter ON FIR Filter OFF Gamma Filter ON Gamma Filter OFF Nan l ina ar ON 147 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 10 ADJUSTING SEARCH TECHNIQUES AND SEARCH DISTANCES You can adjust the SEARCH TECHNIQUE and the SEARCH DISTANCE values found on the VIDEO tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window The available options for SEARCH TECHNIQUE are AUTO LOG COMPLETE TWO PASS and HYBRID The available options for SEARCH DISTANCE are AUTO SHORT MEDIUM LONG and EXTENDED Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window click the EDIT SETTINGS button Click the VIDEO1 tab Choose the desired SEARCH TECHNIQUE from the pull down menu Choose the desired SEARCH DISTANCE from the pull down menu Dap Encoder Settings 21 x Template Audio Video Video Multiplex Display Resolution pixels r Bit Rate bits sec Width EE Height 240 Constant rate 1856000 Search Technique Auto Psspe iets Search Distance aw f Constant Variable VBE Global Filters i LL C LLLLZTT r Global Settings v Auto Median Nonlinear Inverse Telecine FIR Source Crop pixels x p Y p az dX p dY p Display Frame Cancel 7 Click OK TIP If yo
158. t a CUSTOM RATE CDi and VIDEO CD which you can make Adaptec Toast Compatible by clicking the checkbox You can also allow MPEG Power Professional to determine the target based on the template you selected by using the AUTO setting This setting will select an appropriate multiplexing target for your combined audio and video bit rates 65 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 66 Multiplex Type You can choose a MULTIPLEX TYPE for your multiplexed encode in this section You can choose between SYSTEM PROGRAM DVD VOB and TRANSPORT Please note that not all options are available for all templates Specifically the PROGRAM option is available in only MPEG Power Professional 2 and higher the DVD VOB option is only available with MPEG Power Professional V DVD and higher and the TRANSPORT option is only available with MPEG Power Professional V Transport First Stream ID The FIRST STREAM ID box on the MULTIPLEX tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window allows you to set the ID for the first stream in your multiplexed encode This will only set the first stream ID MPEG Power Professional will add 1 to the ID number you select for each additional stream For example let s assume you want your first video stream ID to be 4 and your first audio stream ID to be 4 You would type 4 in the AUDIO box and type 4 in the VIDEO box If you have more than one audio or video stream the next stream would have
159. t either copy your MPEG encoded files to an MPEG capable machine or install an MPEG player on your computer To view these MPEG files you need to have QuickTime 3 or higher or Media Player 6 x or higher CHAPTER SUMMARY Congratulations you ve made it through your first encode You have learned how to process the basic encoding tasks using MPEG Power Professional You now know how to Create an encoding project to manage encoding tasks Define encoding tasks Process an encoding project Monitor an encoding project in process More importantly you now know how to create a finished mpg file using source files from your nonlinear editing system and the MPEG Power Professional built in encoding templates These same basic processes can be used to create a variety of MPEG encoded files for use in a wide range of applications 23 PEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 24 CHAPTER 2 PROJECT ENCODING BASICS 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 26 CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter will act as a continuation of the quick tour of the product you received in Chapter 1 Chapter 2 will take you on a more extensive tour of project based encoding In particular you will learn more about The four types of MPEG Encoding and Analysis Only mode Choosing a built in base template for MPEG encoding Encoding separate audio and video files Managing encoding projects Interrupting and res
160. t with various encoding templates to find on that works well with your software MPEG player before you encode large amounts of video Generally the 1 X CDROM template produces MPEG files suitable for software playback 115 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 116 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 6 7 CREATING OPENING AND SAVING A PROJECT Quick Reference How to create a new project file 1 From the FILE menu select NEW or click on the NEW icon on the project toolbar 2 An empty project window will appear with a default name of Untitled1 Quick Reference How to open an existing project file 1 From the FILE menu select OPEN or click on the OPEN icon on the project toolbar 2 Select your saved project file mpr 3 Click OPEN to open the selected project file 4 The project file window will appear with the name of the active project in the title bar Quick Reference Saving a Project File 1 You can save the active project file at any time but you must save the active project file prior to selecting START ENCODING 2 Select SAVE AS from the FILE menu or click the SAVE icon in the project toolbar 6 8 INSERTING A TASK INTO AN ACTIVE PROJECT With the active project window open 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click on the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 2 Define an encoding task Add one or more SOURCE FILES
161. tail in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 HAPTER 3 MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 50 CHAPTER OVERVIEW In this chapter you will learn the basics of creating custom templates in MPEG Power Professional for use in your encoding projects First the default templates are reviewed in more detail Then the chapter discusses creating custom templates by editing the settings in more detail Next the chapter discusses creating custom templates by editing the settings that can be found on the TEMPLATE AUDIO VIDEO1 VIDEO2 and MULTIPLEX tabs of the ENCODER SETTINGS window The ENCODE CONTROL LIST will be discussed in Chapter 4 These options are provided for completeness and to allow the reader to have complete control over the encoding process However be aware that MPEG encoding is a delicate balancing act of a number of interrelated factors Very often changing one value will require another value to be updated as well WARNING Generally the advanced encoding options have default values as outlined by the MPEG standard specification When these values are changed it marks a departure from the standard and the behavior of the encoding process and the resulting MPEG file may vary drastically In some instances the encoder can generate an MPEG file that can not be displayed on an MPEG playback device 3 1 WHY MAKE A CUSTOM TEMPLATE Why make a custom template when ther
162. that 256 shades of the primaries may be represented as an 8 bit value 2 raised to the 8th power equals 256 Since it takes three primaries to represent a single value it takes 84 848 or 24 bits to represent color for a single pixel 8bits red 8bits green 8bits blue RRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGBBBBBBBB 24 bits As a final note about color and video it is possible to choose different primaries or entirely differ ent colorspaces colorsystems The way we described colors above is not the only way to identify colors Different colorspaces or methods of describing colors have different uses For example 169 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 170 the common colorspace for printing is CMYK or cyan magenta yellow and black CYMK is use ful to describe color for print purposes because these color components correspond to the color of the inks used Another colorspace is YCrCb or luminance shade intensity and chrominance red and chromi nance blue chrominance components define the hue and value of the color This last colorspace is commonly used in video primarily because it more closely resembles the colorspace of human eyes where rods detect luminance components and cones detect the chrominance components of color Because you have many more rods than cones in your retina you are much less sensi tive to chrominance than luminance For this reason video uses often rely on imperceptible sub sampling
163. the data or more specifi cally reducing the entropy For example we can see that x x x x x can be represented as 5x One example of reducing the entropy or redundancy within the data is as follows 178 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 Le i 0 0 o o o Q jooooooodc 200095000 0000000 0 0 Q D 0 0 8 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 63 0 This notation implies that there is a number 23 followed by 63 0 s This is clearly a compression of the original data That is it is shorter to write 23 63 0 than 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 with sixty three zeroes written out There are two types of mathematical processes for entropy encoding Huffman encoding and arithmetic encoding MPEG uses Huffman encoding The DCT along with quantization can depending on your source material compress data from 10 20 1 without unacceptable video artifacts errors or noise visible on the screen The amount of compression is mostly a function of the amount of quantization that takes place The remaining 4 83 Megabytes second is now reduced to 0 322 Megabytes second 15 1 compression The next major feature of MPEG compression is the realization that the interframe differences are also small intraframe is within a frame interframe is between frames If you have ever looked at two frames of video side by side you would be hard pressed to see the differences Or better put the major
164. the field encoding parameters if you are encoding from a field based source If you want to encode from a field based source to a frame based output you can click on the PROGRESSIVE ENCODE button on the VIDEO2 tab Choosing this option will interlace your fields If you do not want to interlace your fields click on the DROP SECOND FIELD IF AVAILABLE checkbox If there is a second field it will be dropped If you want to encode your field based source file as a field based output file click the NON PROGRESSIVE ENCODE button on the VIDEO2 tab This will stack your fields top to bottom If your source media is created by a system that intends for the bottom field to be displayed first click the SET BOTTOM FIELD FIRST checkbox In most instances the default template settings for field encoding built into MPEG Power Professional are going to be appropriate However should your playback device require a dif ferent configuration you have the ability to set it here Please consult the documentation that came with your playback device if you have questions as to what your field encoding parameters should be A 63 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 64 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL Field Preparation The FIELD PREPARATION box on the VIDEO tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window gives you the ability to tell the encoder what to do with sources that are marked incorrectly or fields that may exist in your source video For example you ma
165. uccession to one another As a result the human mind is fooled into believing that people or objects in the present ed sequence move In terms of computers there are three important characteristics of video How fast each picture is displayed frame rate How many elements create each picture in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions frame size This is normally given in terms of pixels How many different colors the picture pixel is made from Frame rate is the number of frames that are displayed to a viewer each second For example in motion picture film in the United States it is common to display 24 frames each second In color television for the US home called NTSC 29 97 frames a second are displayed Even though computers are not normally thought of in terms of frame rates most computers refresh the screen by repainting every element of the screen as often as 72 times a second Frame size or number of picture elements is the next component of video This is measured hori zontally and vertically in pixels Pixels also referred to as Pels are picture elements the small dots that make up the displayed picture Some common dimensions or resolutions numbers in the computer world include 640 horizontal pixels x 480 vertical pixels 1024 horizontal x 768 verti cal and 800 horizontal x 600 vertical pixels The number of colors that make up each picture or frame is the third component of video As is the case with a
166. uide of encoding your first project and in Chapter 5 where you will be taken on a step by step guide of creating a DVD We will use these source files throughout the book in our encoding examples Also included in your software packaging is the HEURIS DVD This DVD contains additional information to help you get started using MPEG Power Professional This DVD contains the entire contents of the tutorial CD ROM as well as MPEG samples and a grid of filters bitrates and search methods This section shows you what clips look like at various bitrates and with various filtering and search options applied during the encoding process Finally the DVD includes sample MPEG applications and examples from several of our partners and friends We gratefully thank them for their support and hope you enjoy their efforts 13 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 14 ONLINE HELP INFORMATION Although HEURIS attempts to make our products as straightforward to use as possible we know that there are going to be those times when you might need help encoding Therefore we have built a comprehensive help system for you so that you are able to find the information that you need quickly and easily First we have built a comprehensive full text search online help file for the Windows platform and comprehensive HTML help for Macintosh users These files include all of the topics contained in this manual in a friendly o
167. uld indicate that each pixel is 3 4ths as high as it is wide For a stan dard computer monitor the aspect ratio is 1 0 For MPEG2 the aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of the picture display to its height If you know that your target playback device will be used to display the target application on a device other than a standard computer monitor you can change this value to correspond with your target hardware This will help preserve the proportions of objects in your MPEG clip For example you encode an animation of a spinning globe and you use an aspect ratio of 1 0 standard computer setting and then create a CDi application CDi applications are often displayed on televisions that have a different aspect ratio than computers This could result in 61 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 A A 62 an MPEG encoded clip of a spinning globe that is no longer quite round So it is important to match your aspect ratio to the intended application playback device Keep in mind that this set ting does not actually perform any aspect ratio conversions It functions as a label that is attached to your MPEG file to indicate the correct setting to the playback device WARNING The MPEG aspect ratio is the pixel aspect ratio not the picture aspect ratio as commonly referred to in many graphic software packages However the MPEG2 aspect ratio is the picture display aspect ratio WARNING Some hardware
168. ultiplex Height 240 Constant rate 1856000 fp Search Technique Auto een iU Semen Distance jo Constant Yerable VER Display Resolution pixels _ r Bit Rate bits sec Global Filters Global Settings V Auto Median Nonlinear Inverse Telecine EIR Source Crop pixels i x p Y p dX b dy p Display Frame Cancel Apply Help 146 ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 9 APPLYING FILTERS TO SECTIONS OF SOURCE VIDEO VIA THE ECL You can insert events into an ECL created by the ANALYSIS ONLY option or you can insert events into an ECL which you construct yourself ORO 7 8 9 Create a new project or open an existing project Insert a new task or edit an existing task Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox Click the EDIT ECL button Enter the EVENT FRAME NUMBER or the EVENT TIMECODE of the frame where you wish to start applying the filter Select the desired ON filter event from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list Click ADD Enter the EVENT FRAME NUMBER or EVENT TIMECODE of the frame where you wish to stop applying the filter 10 Select the desired OFF filter event 11 Click ADD TimeCode Event Parameters Notes Encode Control List Editor Event Frame Number Do Event Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms eie p o Event Parameters a b c Even
169. uming encoding tasks Specifying your source and supported media Batch encoding including use of the Task Generator Editing user preferences 2 1 THE FOUR TYPES OF MPEG ENCODING AND ANALYSIS ONLY MODE With MPEG Power Professional you can produce four different types of MPEG compressed files Audio Only file extension abs Video Only file extension vbs Multiplexed Encode file extension mpg Still Picture file extension msp Each encode file type is produced by creating a corresponding encoding task within an encoding project Each type of MPEG encoded file is used for a different purpose in creating your interac tive application An audio only file can be used anywhere in your application that you need to play a CD quality audio only clip This kind of MPEG file generally takes less time to encode than video only files do An audio only file and a corresponding video only file can be created as separate tasks in the same project using the same source material or can be encoded in separate projects A video only file can be used anywhere in your application that you need to display video that does not have associated audio The most commonly used MPEG file is the mpg file or multiplexed file Every mpg file or multi plexed file can contain zero or more abs audio only and vbs video only files To create finished mpg files for your applications first encode an abs file and a vbs file The process of
170. ur newly created ecl file appears in the window ONOABR C 161 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 162 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL 7 28 SOURCE FILE CONCATENATION MPEG Power Professional gives you the ability to easily concatenate your source files into one MPEG file Using the ability to lay files end to end and encode them you can easily circumvent the source file size restrictions imposed by the operating system on your computer To concatenate source files 1 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the project toolbar The ENCODE DEFINITIONS window will appear 2 Insert your first source file by typing the path or browsing for your source 3 Insert each additional source file in the same manner 4 Highlight your second source file 5 Click the button An arrow with a plus sign will appear in the box indicating the concatenation Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each additional source file youwish to concatenate Encode Definitions 2 xi m Source Files gt Encoding T ask m Encode Settings File Name Base Template default c 4 c Program Filess amp vid Technology a amp udio Encode Video Encode Add Remove Multiplexed Encode C Program Files QuickT ime S ample m S C Program Files Avid Technology avir Still Picture G C Program Files Avid Technology svi 1 x CDROM PAL 2 x CDROM PAL zl C Analysis Only Edit Setting
171. ur video has little motion such as a duck floating on a pond you should set your CA SEARCH DISTANCE to a smaller value If your video contains more dynamic content such as a N race car set your SEARCH DISTANCE to a larger value If your video has a lot of chaotic motion such as an explosion then set your SEARCH DISTANCE to AUTO or MEDIUM 148 ADVANCED TOPICS AND SPECIALIZED TASKS 7 11 ENCODING SMALLER SECTIONS OF SOURCE OMF OR MOV FILES VIA THE ECL You can encode a portion of a source clip by setting the start and end encode points manually in the ECL EDITOR BY TIMECODE window 1 Create a new project or open an existing project e 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task i 3 Select your video SOURCE FILE 4 Click the USE ECL FILE checkbox 5 Click the EDIT ECL button 6 Enter the FRAME NUMBER or TIMECODE of the frame where you want to start the encode 7 Choose START ENCODING from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list then click ADD 8 Enter the FRAME NUMBER or TIMECODE of the frame where you want to end the encode 9 Choose STOP ENCODING from the EVENTS AVAILABLE list then click ADD 10 Click OK ECL Editor by timecode HE TimeCode Event Parameters Notes erg yea pm ECL Time Code Hrs Mins Secs Frms p f b Event Parameters a b G d p p Cen Ce r Notes Events Available lt Add Median Filter ON Median Filter OFF FIR Filter
172. w click the EDIT SETTINGS button The ENCODER SETTINGS window will appear 4 Click the VIDEO1 tab 5 Enter the picture WIDTH and HEIGHT values in the DISPLAY RESOLUTION box 6 Click OK WARNING For MPEG1 NTSC hardware decoders when changing the default display resolu tions you may want to keep in mind that your picture will generally look best if encoded at a reso lution less than or equal to your source media In practice most MPEG1 NTSC hardware play back devices treat 352x240 as the standard display resolution and may not be capable of dis playing files larger than this This warning does not apply to MPEG1 PAL using these same hard ware decoders or to any other type of MPEG decoder 145 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 7 8 APPLYING GLOBAL FILTERS You can change your global filter settings from the VIDEO1 tab of the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window The available filter choices are AUTO MEDIAN FIR and NONLINEAR e 1 Create a new project or open an existing project 2 Insert a new task or edit an existing task 3 From the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window click the EDIT SETTINGS button The ENCODER SETTINGS window will appear 4 Click the VIDEO 1 tab 5 In the GLOBAL FILTERS box check off the filters that you wish to apply to your entire video stream during encoding 6 Click OK Encoder Settings 21x Template Audio Videol Video M
173. w best to use the manual to accomplish your encoding tasks Chapter 1 walks you through encoding your first project using source files provided on the MPEG Power Professional tutorial CD This first chapter gets you started with the basics of project based encoding including how to define encoding tasks based on built in encoding templates You can choose the built in template that best suits your application and all of the encoding controls will be pre set for you at optimized levels Chapter 2 will show you how to create and manage encoding tasks within projects how to add and delete tasks from the encoding project window and how to interrupt and resume encoding task projects This chapter also contains information about creating multiplexed MPEG files con taining more than one video and audio source file You will also learn how to use the Task Generator and the source file concatenation feature to make your encoding job easier Chapter 3 will help you in customizing all of your encoder settings The chapter goes through the encoder settings option in detail and will help you create your own custom templates for MPEG encoding by adjusting some of the more basic encoding parameters including bit rates resolution INTRODUCTION and cropping your source video when necessary Also included is a discussion of video filters how to choose a global filter to suit your video and how to select the inverse telecine option if your video mate
174. where practical When you have a large number of clips to manage however you may choose to break them up across a number of encoding projects In Chapter 1 you learned how to create a multiplexed file mpg by selecting an omf mov or avi source file and choosing MULTIPLEXED ENCODE as the encoding task type Earlier in this chapter you learned that you can also create a multiplexed file by first creating separate MPEG encoded audio and video files and then multiplexing them into an mpg file REFERENCE For more information about multiplexing audio and video files together see section 2 3 PROJECT ENCODING BASICS For example suppose you are producing ten different mpg files from the two different source data files but based on the same base template for the same end use application First you must decide if you wish to encode separate audio files and separate video files or just encode multiplexed files Once you have decided what type of files to encode you can break up the encoding tasks in a number of ways You can encode ten abs files together in one project and ten vbs files together in a separate project plus a third project to multiplex the MPEG files You could encode two separate projects with five matching abs and vbs encodes plus a third project to encode all the mpg files You could encode ten multiplexed files in one project if you decide you do not need separate audio and video files There
175. y be encoding a file that says that it is a frame based file but may actually contain some fields To tell the encoder how to read fields that it cannot accurately detect click the IF NOT DETECTED ASSUME FIELDS ARE checkbox and then choose either the INTERLACED or STACKED option below that depending on how you want the encoder to read your fields Additionally if you think that your fields are stacked backwards that is with the bottom field on top and the top field on the bottom you may choose the SWAP FIELDS IF AVAILABLE checkbox This will reverse the order in which the fields are stacked TIP Swap fields performs the same action with a true field source MODIFYING ENCODER SETTINGS 3 9 EDIT MULTIPLEX TAB SETTINGS The MULTIPLEX tab also contains many options that allow you to customize the encoding process From this tab you can set your MULTIPLEX TARGET MULTIPLEX TYPE FIRST STREAM ID and INITIAL CLOCK REFERENCE Encode Settings Template i i Multiplex Multiplex Target _ Multiplex Type First Stream ID Q 1x CD ROM Q 2x CD ROM DV L Q 4x CD ROM Transport Aux Initial Clock Reference Auto Q Set Initial SCR QO Video CD Q Set First PTS o Toast Compatible C Multiplex Targets In this section you can set your playback device target for multiplexing You can choose between 1 X CDROM 2 X CDROM 4 X CDROM se
176. ysis pass of your video check both USE ECL FILE in the ENCODE DEFINITIONS window and AUTO ANALYZE on the VIDEO tab of the ENCODER SETTINGS window TIP Manually created events will take precedence over auto generated events in the case that there are conflicts between the two 4 8 PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR ECL FILES In addition to the custom encoding events that you can apply to specific portions of video sources by creating or editing an ecl file there are two other very practical uses for the encode control list Encoding still pictures msp files Encoding smaller segments of a longer source file as separate finished files Both of these encoding tasks are accomplished the same way using the START ENCODING and STOP ENCODING event parameters ANALYSIS MODE AND THE ENCODE CONTROL LIST ECL 4 9 STILL PICTURES There are two ways to encode still pictures You can choose to export a single frame of video from your nonlinear editing system as a complete source file You can elect to pull a single frame from a larger source file and enable a START ENCODING event in an ecl file which corresponds to that single frame of video If you are encoding several MPEG still pictures from the same source material the latter is the most efficient method 1 Create an encoding project 2 Select INSERT TASK from the PROJECT menu or click the INSERT TASK icon on the toolbar Choose STILL PICTURE from the list of ENCODING
177. ystems and a saved states folder where the appli cation resides on a Mac You can change this to whatever directory you choose by either typing the path or browsing for the location you wish to use for temporary storage 47 2 MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 MANUAL MPEG POWER PROFESSIONAL 2 0 48 CHAPTER SUMMARY In this chapter you have learned how to Choose an encoding task type Choose a built in base template for MPEG encoding Encode separate audio and video files Manage encoding projects Interrupt and resume encoding tasks Specify source and supported media Concatenate source files Batch encode and use the task generator Edit user preferences Coupled with the skills you learned in Chapter 1 you now have all the tools necessary to produce MPEG encoded files for a wide variety of end use applications using MPEG Power Professional s built in encoding templates What about applications that call for custom created MPEG files with special encoding parameters outside of MPEG Power Professional s built in base templates and basic encoding toolset The encoding parameters in MPEG Power Professional s base encoding templates are optimized for the majority of applications and playback platforms But you also have complete access to all of these encoding parameters and can customize one or all of them to meet the demands of a spe cific application These settings will be discussed in de

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