The Best DVD Editing Software

ScreenCastle.com is a new service. It uses a small Java application to record your screen. Once you are done recording the video is uploaded to ScreenCastle as a Flash format video file (flv). They will give you a unique ID and several codes (embed, forum, thumbnails, download) to share it with your friends and the world.

Here is my first attempt at a ScreenCastle video:

NOTE: The volume is low. The cause is probably a combination of my computer settings and the Java application itself. I do not usually record audio directly from the computer, but if you do, be careful it is properly set up.

The service allows you to record audio from your computer microphone as well. It also allows you to move the recording window even if the recording has already started.

The whole process is very straightforward and the test video above took less than 5 minutes from opening the application to getting the publishing link. That’s incredibly fast!

There are some troubles with the quality, and getting an FLV video makes editing difficult, but all in all it is a great FREE service. As long as you have Java installed and enabled in your browser, you can do a screencast anytime.

Try ScreenCastle now!

Technorati Tags: audio, capture, download, embed, flash, flv, java, online, recording, screen, screencast, screencastle

This is a common question that many people have. The answer is somewhat simple. The best format to use for encoding when the final outlet will be the web is the h.264 format. Other options include AAC and MP4.

When exporting for YouTube or similar services, the optimal resolution is 640*480 or 720*480. Which matches the regular resolution used for the DVD format (MPEG2). In comparison, HD and fullHD are 1024*720 or 1280*720 and 1920*1080. The difference is whether or not the video is in wide screen format.

Depending on your software of choice the exporting process might be a little different. The important information to keep in mind is the resolution and the bitrate. A good bitrate for high quality video would be 3000 kbps.

The next question would be the FLV video files. Videos being displayed on the web are usually in the FLV format, which stands for Flash Video. A simple strategy for converting between FLV and h.264 or MP4 videos is to use the FFMPEG software.

Here is a simple example:

MP4 > FLV
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy output.flv

FLV > MP4
ffmpeg -i input.flv -vcodec copy -acodec copy output.mp4

Technorati Tags: aac, encoding, flash, flv, mp4, video, web, youtube

Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 comes packed with a punch. It comes with a nice collection of upgrades that will not only save you big chunks of time, but they will pay for themselves with the amount of work you could be doing. As Michael Testi puts it “Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 attempts to reduce the complex process that is video production. It does this by including copies of the products Adobe OnLocation CS4 and Adobe Encore CS4 to try to make each step of the video production more efficient and giving you more time to work your story”.

Among the many upgrades, here are the few that I consider the best. First, the support for HD video, both on the hardware edge and on the software edge. That is, the support for AVCHD cameras and the support for full HD Blu-Ray auhoring. This one is something everybody wanted. Now you can connect your HD Digital Camcorder to the computer and start working on your video in minutes. When you finish, just pop in a Blu-ray disc and you are done (well almost).

Second, the batch encoders. Now on Premiere CS4 you can easily render HD videos, DVD’s and SWF (Flash) files from the same master. It might not seem like a big deal, but it will save you a tremendous amount of time. Add to this that you can directly export your video to Encore CS4 and you have 3 distribution channels for the price (and time) of one.

Lastly, there is a nice additional feature that goes more into the breakthrough technology than the productivity suite. Adobe has included a speech recognition engine that automatically transcribes what is said in the video. This turns into keywords (for easy search) and full transcripts. Although it is not a very developed feature it has many possibilities and will surely flourish in upcoming updates.

Adobe Premiere just got better, if you are looking forward to improving your productivity and render the best professional videos, Adobe Premiere CS4 is your best bet.

Technorati Tags: Adobe, blu-ray, cs4, definition, dvd, editing, encore, flash, hd, high, onlocation, Premiere, professional, swf, video, youtube