HD lecture capture test

Problems

• SMIL method we used is too labor intensive and slow. Sample
• cost too much to buy "solution" - MediaSite and a lot and a lot of other commercial podcast/lecture captures solutions (or try get other schools' inhouse solution, free?).
• "iPod video" size (320x240) too small [iPone too expensive] to shoot screen directly [pending - upload test pics of those]
• some "solution" capture still every second, that's just too brute force, won't capture animation/video either.
• Camtasia costs too much.
• Too labor intensive to have a camera operator to pan between instructor and display

Solution

Shoot high definition (HD) directly, capture both computer screen and presenter.

Implementation

HDV (1080i like Sony HVR-Z1U) is much cheaper than it used to be. 25Mbps just like DV.

Picture of setup

1440x1080 anamorphic test image (1.84MB PNG)

same test image resized in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 to square pixel 1920x1080, so it won't look squashed because of 1.33 pixel aspect ratio (2.18MB PNG)

[pending - upload test .mpeg, .wmv]

Not tested

• didn't setup wireless mic (audio would be better) , just on board
• didn't setup key light (less shadow and brighter) for traditional 3 point setup, only soft fill and back light (kicker)
• 23" 1920x1200 running at 1680x1050 (PowerPoint doesn't WUXGA), there are black bars on sides, which is ok since it is much cheaper to buy 22" 1680x1050 WSXGA+ anyway.

Pending

• direct capture to HDD with Adobe OnLocation CS3 (or VLC, only does HDV at this time, not AVCHD)
• convert to Real 10 video codec, waiting for system to upgrade server and Real 10 Producer Plus
• conversion to FLV 9u3 (moviestar). Adobe Flash CS3 can only encode Flash 7 Spark and Flash 8 On2 VP6 at this time.
• QT H264 .mov, iPod/PSP mp4
• cacti traffic analysis, waiting for management to add VLAN access
• scripts for signin (like Apple Store Concierge reservation?), auto upload .m2t/.mpg \\acfiles or rmvb to \\real (metalink .rm to \\acfiles), email URL link to users

Alternatives

• AVCHD [MPEG4 Part 10, H.264]) also possible, even lower bitrate (15Mbps max. on Sony HDR-SR7)
• 1080p (like Sony HVR-V1U's 24p [need to use 24A mode, not "24P" to edit in Vegas])
• 100Mbps DVC-Pro Panasonic P2 class like HVX-2000 probably would be even better, we can't afford one (+ HD-SDI etc. to go with it) to test
• Direct capture from HDMI equipped camera like Sony HDR-HC3 via Blackmagic Intensity probably even better (+ 4Gbps Fibee Channel RAID to substain the throughput, can't afford that either)
• 1280x720 720p even cheaper, we don't use that format usually after disappointing image quality from the 1st gernation single CCD camera of that format. Should be a lot better now, particularly with the JVC Pro HD models.

References

• Drexel Rich Media Conversion Project (SD only), "Campus Technology" article August 01, 2007
• University of Notre Dame Lecture Video Capture for the Masses ITiCSE’07, June 23–27, 2007 [added October 4, 2007]

Date Created: September 21, 2007
Date Modified: October 4, 2007 20:46