Video Formats: Conversion / Transfer including CD and DVD video and file formats. (FAQ)

Common Terms:

Container - A container is a special file format used either to store a single video or audio stream, or to interleave one or more video and audio streams. Containers may also hold other streams, such as the still images used for subtitles and menu highlights on DVDs.

Codec - stands for Coder/Decoder. Basically it is a piece of software or a driver that adds a support for a certain video/audio format for your operating system. With codec, your system recognizes the format the codec is built for and allows you to play the audio/video file (decode) or in some cases, to change another audio/video file into that format (encode).

AVI - which stands for Audio Video Interleave. This format is normally used for uncompressed videos and the file size is very large. Most of the time the file size is so large you need a very powerful computer to do anything with it. Estimate 1GB for every minute of video. Compression can be done but it is complicated. We do not recommend this format unless you speak to a conversion specialist first to outline your needs.

MPEG - stands for Moving Pictures Expert Group. This is the most common format for the Windows environment. MPEG has three main standard formats MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

• MPEG-1 original format most Windows systems should read this without any special software. Great video quality. Average file size.
• MPEG-2 same as MPEG-1 but this format does need special codecs to view the video. Video quality is also the same but you can get better compression with MPEG-2 then MPEG-1.
• MPEG-4 was designed for high compression. Files can be compressed very small but the smaller it gets the worse the picture quality gets.
• MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 require special codecs that some computers do not have.

MOV/.mov – is a video Container format for QuickTime. It is very popular on the MACs. Windows can use them if the user has installed QuickTime or special Codecs. This format has good video quality and good compression.

WMV – Stands for Windows Media Video. Used in the windows environment. This format has good video quality and good compression
 

Resolution - In computer terms, this means the number of pixels shown on the screen. A video with a resolution of 720x480 has 720 pixels horizontal and 480 pixels vertical. The higher the resolution, the better the quality of the video, but also the bigger the file size.
 

FAQ’s

How do I know what kind of video I have?
It is easy to look at the files to determine what kind of files you have. Normal DVDs that play in set top boxes on TVs will have a VideoTS folder. In that folder you will find .VOB files plus some other files. The extension of the file name determines what type of file you have. In most cases, the extension of the file is the name of the file type. AVI will have .avi. WMV will have .wmv, etc. Sometimes you will see .mp4 for an MPEG 4 file but Mpegs should have a .mpg.

How do I know what kind of video I need?
If you want to watch your video on a TV, then you will need the standard DVD format that consists of VOB files. If you are editing your files on a Windows computer and you want high resolution files, we would suggest Mpeg or WMV files. If you are editing your files on a MAC, you would need MOV files. If you want to post a video on the web, the application your are using to design the web page determines the file type. It could be a WMV, MOV, Mpeg or even a Flash Video (.FLV) file.

Home much video can fit on a DVD?
2 hours max at standard quality. It is possible to fit more, but the more there is, the worse the quality gets. It will start to look like video from the web. An important note: converting a video to Standard DVD format does not make the video look any better - it might even make it worse. This is because a video created for the web might be low resolution – and in order to fit a TV screen, it will have to be stretched - which will make it look pixilated. The more motion you have in a video the more noticeable it becomes.

Can my video be put on a CD?
Sure! Just keep in mind that CDs are for computers and not TVs. If you want the disc to play on a TV, then it must be converted into a standard DVD format and burned to a DVD disc. If it is for computer use only, then you need to consider what kind of files you are going to distribute. Some files work better on MACs and some on PCs. MPEG is probably more standard, but tend to be a bit large in size.

Can I convert my VHS to a digital file?
Yes! We just need to know which format you prefer (see notes above).

Can I combine multiple videos or edit parts out to make it a single video?
Absolutely. We just need detailed instructions with time stamps of where you want the edits to occur. We can convert to standard DVD format or any computer file you request.