Using WebM in Episode 6

Several people have now emailed me asking where and how to use the new open source webm extension in Episode 6.  I thought it might be easiest to just do a quick recording and show you how to create a new preset or edit an existing one to change it to webm and vp8.  hope this helps!

Making a WebM Setting in Episode 6 from Andy Beach on Vimeo.

Two other quick notes - first off, sorry for the audio - i used a headset mic and the audio is a little "poppy."  I have a much nicer mic for recording these type videos, but didn't have the time to set it up.  Secondly, let me know if this type of video tip is helpful as I would like to do more.  Feel free to drop me a line with suggestions for video compression things you need help with and I'll try and answer it with a video!

Update on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 11:33AM by Andy Beach

Just a quick note - make sure to try watching this at full screen - much easier to see all the "action"!

Details on iPhone 4 video

I know, I know, I need to finish posting about the iPad video (i had it half written and it got deleted in a tragic blog accident).  While I pull myself together to rewrite it, I thought I'd post some clips fro the iPhone 4 camera showing what its cameras can do.

 I've published 4 different clips - 2 from the rear camera which records 720p content and two from the front facing camera which does 480p content.  One clip from each is is direct sunlight, while the other is in shade. The details that stand out to me is the 720p camera records at 10.5 Mbps and the 480p records around 3.5 Mbps.  The video codec, of course, is H.264 (Apple's consumer codec of choice). Ironically, Final Cut Pro can not yet edit H.264 content very well, but iMovie for the iPhone has been released for editing short movies right on the phone.

All in all, for a phone video camera, it does a fairly good job, though the colors on the flowers in the sunlight seem a little over saturated (though only on the rear facing HD camera).  People are already taking advantage of that HD camera for more than just home movies - I found this link pointing to a short film shot and edited (in iMovie) on the iPhone 4 by Michael Koerbel.

Want to check the videos out for yourself?  Click here to download all four clips.

Here are the details from the MediaInfo:

Front Facing Camera Report (640x480)

General / Container Stream #1

Total Video Streams for this File.................1

Total Audio Streams for this File.................1

Video Codecs Used.................................AVC

Audio Codecs Used.................................AAC LC-PS

File Format.......................................MPEG-4

Play Time.........................................14s 326ms

Total File Size...................................6.24 MiB

Total Stream BitRate..............................3 656 Kbps

Encoded with......................................4.0

Encoding Library..................................Apple QuickTime

Video Stream #1

Codec (Human Name)................................AVC

Codec (FourCC)....................................avc1

Codec Profile.....................................Baseline@L3.0

Frame Width.......................................640 pixels

Frame Height......................................480 pixels

Frame Rate........................................29.970 fps

Total Frames......................................429

Display Aspect Ratio..............................4:3

Scan Type.........................................Progressive

Color Space.......................................YUV

Codec Settings (Summary)..........................1 Ref Frames

QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.389

Codec Settings (CABAC)............................No

Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................1

Video Stream Length...............................14s 313ms

Video Stream BitRate..............................3 583 Kbps

Video Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR

Bit Depth.........................................8 bits

Video Stream Size.................................6.11 MiB (98%)

Video Stream Title................................Core Media Video

Date of Original Encoding.........................UTC 2010-06-29 21:19:12

Color Primaries...................................BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Transfer Characteristics..........................BT.709-5, BT.1361

Matrix Coefficients...............................BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Audio Stream #1

Codec.............................................AAC

Codec (FourCC)....................................40

Audio Stream Length...............................14s 326ms

Audio Stream BitRate..............................64.0 Kbps

Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR

Number of Audio Channels..........................2

Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L R

Sampling Rate.....................................44.1 KHz

Audio Stream Size.................................112 KiB (2%)

Audio Stream Title................................Core Media Audio

Date of Original Encoding.........................UTC 2010-06-29 21:19:12

Rear Facing Camera Report (1280 x 720)

General / Container Stream #1

Total Video Streams for this File.................1

Total Audio Streams for this File.................1

Video Codecs Used.................................AVC

Audio Codecs Used.................................AAC LC-PS

File Format.......................................MPEG-4

Play Time.........................................17s 461ms

Total File Size...................................21.9 MiB

Total Stream BitRate..............................10.5 Mbps

Encoded with......................................4.0

Encoding Library..................................Apple QuickTime

Video Stream #1

Codec (Human Name)................................AVC

Codec (FourCC)....................................avc1

Codec Profile.....................................Baseline@L3.1

Frame Width.......................................1 280 pixels

Frame Height......................................720 pixels

Frame Rate........................................29.970 fps

Total Frames......................................523

Display Aspect Ratio..............................16:9

Scan Type.........................................Progressive

Color Space.......................................YUV

Codec Settings (Summary)..........................1 Ref Frames

QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.379

Codec Settings (CABAC)............................No

Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................1

Video Stream Length...............................17s 451ms

Video Stream BitRate..............................10.5 Mbps

Video Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR

Bit Depth.........................................8 bits

Video Stream Size.................................21.8 MiB (99%)

Video Stream Title................................Core Media Video

Date of Original Encoding.........................UTC 2010-06-29 21:18:46

Color Primaries...................................BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Transfer Characteristics..........................BT.709-5, BT.1361

Matrix Coefficients...............................BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Audio Stream #1

Codec.............................................AAC

Codec (FourCC)....................................40

Audio Stream Length...............................17s 461ms

Audio Stream BitRate..............................64.0 Kbps

Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR

Number of Audio Channels..........................2

Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L R

Sampling Rate.....................................44.1 KHz

Audio Stream Size.................................136 KiB (1%)

Audio Stream Title................................Core Media Audio

Date of Original Encoding.........................UTC 2010-06-29 21:18:46