Editing Video UsingUlead Video Studio©

Johanna E. Katchen

National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

http:/mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen

katchen@mx.nthu.edu.tw

What Hardware Do I Need?

• You need a reasonably modern computer, Pentium 3 or above for processing power.

• You need lots of memory, both for processing and for saving—you can use an external hard drive for this

• Any equipment for capturing video—a webcam, camcorder, DVD player

• A DVD burner if you want to save on DVD

• You will need a video (capture) card in your computer to input video. NOTE: this is not the same as a TV card for watching TV on our computer

• Desktop models may not have a video capture card installed; most standard and above notebooks do

• If your notebook uses a detachable DVD drive, then this is the port you use.

• Often this is a fire wire (1394), slightly larger than a USB and rounded on one end. On some notebooks it may be a USB

• It is the same port you would use to connect a camcorder; Ulead Video Studio© comes bundled with some digital camcorders

The Software• Ulead Video Studio© is not free, had been

about 69 or 79 USD; my current version, 11, came bundled with a camcorder

• I started with 6.0 over ten years ago, used 8.0, 9.0, now 11.0. The most recent is 11.5, which I have not tried; the specifications do not show it having any extra features I need right now

• With all video editing software, there is still a learning curve: you need several hours of practice to get the result you like and to use it with ease

• Other software is also fine; Windows Movie Maker comes installed on newer PCs; disadvantage—it captures in multiple clips, making editing a little more troublesome

• Windows Movie Maker is much more flexible and user-friendly with regard to adding titles and allows one to paste in text, whereas Video Studio does not permit pasting in text (my students’ names)

Let’s Get Started!

• If you want to capture from an external source such as a camcorder, it must be properly connected, turned on and playing

• When you enter the CAPTURE mode on the software, your video should be playing through into your computer—If it is not check your connections

• Start your input device playing at least 15-20 seconds before the part you want; you can edit out anything extra later

• Start CAPTURE

• When you pass the section you want, click STOP CAPTURE

• You file will be saved automatically with the date as its name in the folder you chose

What format should I save it in?

• The best processing standard is AVI, but the size is huge

• MPEG2/MPEG4 is also big, for making DVDs

• Consider how you will use the file. Big is fine for burning a disc, but for the Internet you want to compress to a small size.

• Bigger has better quality, smaller worse.

• Can save on VCD

• If you make your own DVDs, VCDs, and even audio CDs, they may not play on DVD players such as the one in your language lab or classroom

• Some software such as Ulead asks you if you want to include the option of playing on DVD player—and this does allow you to play them on DVD players

• Self-made digital videos are likely to play on a computer, but appropriate DVD/VCD playing software has to be installed

• Make sure you have the proper region code, then there’s +RW, -RW, and so on

• Video Studio 11.0 does not allow you to save in Flash Video (flv)—not yet

• Uploading to YouTube will do it for you, then you can download it with Real Player in flv format (more about how to do that later)

Saving in Windows Media .wmv

• Capture (step one in digitizing) can be done with troublesome files

• Can be found on most PCs, so you can play the file

• Choice of different levels of quality (on Ulead); its high quality rather good, but takes about 5 MB per minute

• I take a flash disc to class in the language lab and play it on the computer

Uploading to the Internet• Most important question: How much space do you

have?• Windows Media gives good quality, at 3 to 5

MB/minute• Real Media using the free Real Player compresses

more, 1 MB/minute, quality is not so good for language teaching materials and students have complained about this

• Compression rates are getting better as time goes by

Thank you!

• This presentation can be downloaded through March 21 at http://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen