Cue Video for Event - Best Way to Do It

[Dale Stoltzfus]

Hi!

I have a client who wants me to make several segments of video which will be played throughout the evening at a dinner event. What would be the best way to do deliver the video? There would be plenty of time between segments, but they would have to start pretty much on cue. Should I just create several DVDs - one for each segment? Oh, and I probably won't be able to be behind the scenes cuing the video, so it would have to be something someone else could do quickly and accurately.

Did I make myself clear?

Thanks in advance.

[Don Bloom]

There are a number of ways to do this. I've done it with DVDs, mini tape and beta tapes (using the proper playback machine of course)

No matter what medium I try to make sure I have at least 5 seconds of black on both ends, a headset to get the cue from the "director" and an offline preview so I can see the next starting point. For many of the gigs I use a switcher because there are other things going on, be it a powerpoint or just a company or organizational logo on the screen. Have the medium cued up and when I get the cue, hit play and the switcher. When it's done hit the switcher to go to whatever is supposed to be there an hit stop on the playback. Preview it and set it for the next playback and wait for the cue. Go thru the process again.
Don

[Peter Wiley]

One way to do it is to create the DVD so that when each segment is done the DVD jumps to a menu with one button linked to play the next segment. The between segments can be stills with an appropriate image or all black so that a black screen will be displayed.

This way all the operator has to do is press play when the cue comes up.

Of course a lot depends on the details of what is going to be happening between segments and how quickly the cue needs to hapeen. There is always a slight delay between pressing play on a DVD and playback -- and the delay can vary between players so it's hard to predict. Rehearsal is the key to getting to work right.

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Dale Stoltzfus

it would have to be something someone else could do quickly and accurately.

This may seem extreme, but stay with me. It works really well, but you need to jump through a few hoops.

I do a lot of VT play out for conferences, and whilst a VT Engineer working with a show caller and a properly clocked video is excellent, and separate DVDs with a 1-2 second lead in is pretty robust, here's a very useful alternative:

I compress my videos to WMV at full resolution and high bitrate (3500 Kbps) or to a muxed MPEG2 (e.g. like an MPEG1 file, but bigger) for PCs and import into PowerPoint, which then means I can create a running order with holding slides in between - or incorporate presentations if necessary.

Okay, so PowerPoint has a slight blink between slide and video, and some laptops don't like doing 'dual scan' (so you can see on your screen what goes on the projector) - the movie will only play on one of the screens.

I don't like that, so where possible, I use a Mac with KeyNote, and use the PhotoJPEG codec on my movie. I find it more reliable, and I like the ability to do transitions between movies, and to put text on top of movies.

This means you have a re-orderable deck of movies which you can cue with a wireless mouse, or have an assistant backstage dutifully pressing the space bar at appropriate moments. YOu can also call up videos in a different order if you know which 'page' or 'slide' the video's on.

I've been using this method for a decade on very high level events down to friends' weddings.

And FWIW, turn off all your screen savers, Norton scanning, eMail, Messenger, etc. Keep your PC in 'always on' non-sleep, non-rest, highest performance mode. Check the playback of videos on an external monitor as early as you can.

And finally, make sure it's all 'progressive scan' - deinterlace your video if necessary. It keeps things sharp and high quality on data screens which in general don't do interlaced video without halving your resolution.

As a little side note, I also do a lot of mixing live video with motion graphics which gets output at 1280x720 - yup, PPT and data projectors are already HD ready. :)

[Dale Stoltzfus]

Thanks, Matt. I actually was considering PowerPoint and to hear you recommend this method is good. My client will have PowerPoint between the video segments, so I don't know if it would be better to incorporate my video slides with theirs or to use some sort of a switcher - I'll see what's available at the venue and how they will be handling their other media. One obvious concern would be that the laptop hosting the PowerPoint file would have enough HDD space, but since these clips are going to be short (four clips, probably about 1-2 mins each) it should work out.

One cool thing about this project, is that I'm going to be able to rely on stock photos and video, meaning that I can do it in HD - my very first high-definition project! I'm planning on using 1080X720 30p.

One side question: I'm working in PP2.0 on a PC. Would it be better for me to go with MotionJpeg codec or DVCPRO HD? One advantage of using MotionJpeg would be that I can get HDV files in those codecs. For this project, full HD probably isn't necessary and HDV stock footage is cheaper than HD footage.

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Dale Stoltzfus

Would it be better for me to go with MotionJpeg codec or DVCPRO HD?

I'd stick to MJPEG and keep to square pixels on output if it works within PowerPoint. I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't because PPT/PC does not work with QuickTime based media.

I think you're safer using Microsoft Widows Media Encoder (free download and very good) to make a high bitrate WMV version. Don't forget VC9 - a HD standard - is basically rebadged WMV 9 at anything up to 9 Mbits per second. Fine for playing off hard disk on a studly laptop, but I'd stick to 2.5 to 3.5 Mbits and standard def for wide compatibility.

And don't forget the cardinal rule: copy video files into the same folder as the PPT file BEFORE you import the movie, and when you move the PPT, move the movies too. Apologies if we're into 'Advice for Octogenarians regarding Ovum Pneumatics' territory - I provide it for the lurkers. :)

[Richard Alvarez]

'Advice for Octogenarians regarding Ovum Pneumatics' territory

Hahaha! 'Don't teach me how to suck eggs boy!' - Love it!

[Dale Stoltzfus]

Originally Posted by Matt Daviss

I'd stick to MJPEG and keep to square pixels on output if it works within PowerPoint. I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't because PPT/PC does not work with QuickTime based media.

Actually, you misunderstood my question. My fault - sorry I didn't make myself clear. I know I'll want to use WMV for final output, but since I'll be using stock footage, in what codec should I purchase the footage? I'll be buying from RevoStock and I'm not knowledgable enough to know the differences/advantages of those two formats. I believe that DVCPRO HD is better quality, but will PP2.0 accept it? What about MJPEG?

Originally Posted by Matt Daviss

I think you're safer using Microsoft Widows Media Encoder (free download and very good) to make a high bitrate WMV version. Don't forget VC9 - a HD standard - is basically rebadged WMV 9 at anything up to 9 Mbits per second. Fine for playing off hard disk on a studly laptop, but I'd stick to 2.5 to 3.5 Mbits and standard def for wide compatibility.

So you're saying that I should not use HD? Remember that this will be projected onto a VERY large screen. Just to give you an idea of the size: the stage at this venue is probably three stories from floor to ceiling and a little more than 1.5 times as wide. The projection screen goes from floor to ceiling and is 4:3.

Originally Posted by Matt Daviss

And don't forget the cardinal rule: copy video files into the same folder as the PPT file BEFORE you import the movie, and when you move the PPT, move the movies too. Apologies if we're into 'Advice for Octogenarians regarding Ovum Pneumatics' territory - I provide it for the lurkers. :)

Gotcha. ;)

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Dale Stoltzfus

what codec should I purchase the footage? I'll be buying from RevoStock

Well, as a RevoStock producer (and I think one of my files is the top seller) my views may be biassed, but most HD Revostock (all?) is provided as PhotoJPEG QuickTime at between 75% and 99% - which is really rather good. It will need rendering in your edit, but that's a good thing. No matter what edit codec you choose: HDV, AIC, ProRez, DNxHD or DVCProHD, you'll get the best quality the footage can supply. Purchase the footage at the resolution and format of your final edit (1080, 720 or SD PAL/NTSC). When supplying various formats, RevoStock producers must specify the original format, so I can't pass off HDV 1080i as 720p from an HVX or varicam.

Originally Posted by Dale Stoltzfus

So you're saying that I should not use HD?

Oops, mea culpa, no - Microsoft's flavour of HD is very viable, totally and especially in PPT. But I made a very serious error in my post. I've consulted my notes (from a long time ago). It's VC1, not VC9, and after further checking, VC1 has more in common with MPEG4 than WM9 (and my sources tell me it's the audio side that makes it non-MPEG). So it isn't really a variant of WMV, just Microsoft taking MPEG4 and doing enough to make it a non-standard standard by using WMV audio in an MPEG4 wrapper.

Well, "That, or thereabouts." MPEG4 can appear to be a very large can of worms at times, even though truffles are contained therein.

Me? In PPT? I'd go for 1280x720 HD footage in VC1 format at about 5000 Kbps, and so what it's in 16:9 - deal with it. :) Check out MS's demos of Robotica, Flight and the one with waves in it, plonk the movies in PPT and play through a projector. You won't want DigiBeta afterwards.

[Dale Stoltzfus]

Thanks, Matt. I had my first meeting with the client last Wednesday and I found out that the project is smaller than I though it was and there is budget is also smaller than I thought. This means that it may be better budget-wise for me to shoot footage myself with my XL2, meaning, of course, SD footage. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for all the help and specifics!