Sometimes video that is working fine in one application won't work in another or on a different computer. For example, using the Insert Video command within Powerpoint or Google Sites might result in a black box being displayed without audio or video. Why? How can it be fixed?
The problem exists because there are multiple standards for digital video. Different digital camcorders, cameras, computer applications and operating systems use different video formats. Significant investment is made by different companies and organizations in developing a video format and each wants its format to be the dominant winner. The competition between companies has sometimes kept video formats from being used on a competitor's system. Microsoft will not allow Apple's (.mov) format to play in Powerpoint on Windows computers. Adobe's Flash animation software will not provide output into windows (.wmv) format and so on. It all seems a bit silly as third party companies then write programs that make possible what the competitors will not. Further different formats meet different needs for quality and compression making it unlikely that one video format will be best for all situations. So, it is common to need a conversion from one video format to another. Sometimes more special conversions are needed, for example, an inexperienced camcorder shooter whose shooting doesn't get checked at the shoot site may have rotated the camera and the view in the video editor shows things sidewise.
Sometimes the converter comes with the camcorder or camera, and sometimes one has to be found by a Google search. Some examples can be helpful. The FlipCam camcorder comes with an application in its System folder that once installed automatically converts the video from the highly compressed format within the camera to a less compressed format that Mac or Windows video editor applications can understand. The Kodak i8 camcorder, a competitor to the FlipCam, which does not provide any conversion software to different formats and requires different solutions depending on which version of Windows software is being used though its files run fine on Macs without conversion. Uploading audio and video to Web pages can require complex HTML code or conversion to the dominant format of a site providing Web page services, such as Google Sites requirement for Flash Video (.flv) format for basic Web page insertion.
For commercial Web sites, those posting and sharing videos from their own site must eventually pay a fee to the company of the video format they are using. For anyone feeling entrepreneurial, that can increase the initial costs of starting up or maintaining a business. What is needed and in development is a video format that is open source, that is in the public domain that does not require addressing challenging licensing issues (e.g., Theora). There are huge economic/political forces wrestling over this issue (Allaire, 2010). Perhaps this issue will be settled in the next few years. In the meantime... read on.
There are two general conversion needs that have been brought to my attention: rotating the video image; and converting the video to a different format.
Video cameras do not shoot square images. Unlike still images, video does not have a portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) perspective. Video is always in landscape mode because playback screens from TVs to movie theaters are always horizontally biased. If an inexperienced camcorder holder turns the camcorder on its side, any rotation of a rectangular video frame will require that portions of the image be trimmed away to fit the new perspective. Potentially significant portions of the image will be lost depending where the lens was aimed. The recommended solution is to reshoot the scene. However, if up against a deadline, and a videoclip must be rotated, some video editor software makes this possible. Whether it looks adequate or displays the needed visual elements will simply have to be tested and a decision made.
One application that can handle rotation is Movie Maker for the Windows operating system. The details vary slightly between the older version that comes with for XP, Windows Movie Maker (WMM) and the newer version for Windows Vista and Windows 7, Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM). To rotate, import the video and add the video clip to the sequencer window at the bottom (Storyboard or Timeline view). Right click on the videoclip and choose Effects or Video Effects. Pick a choice of rotation, such as 90 degrees. Either click OK or drag and drop the choice onto the video clip image. Finally continue on with editing and sharing the completed movie by saving the movie file or publishing (same process, different words).
There are two general problems that occur that require a converter application. Sometimes the video editor does not recognize the video's file format that comes from the camcorder. Sometimes the video editor will not export or save the file in Flash video format for use on many Web site services. If so, use a video converter application to put the video in the needed format. There are video converter options below that work on just Mac or just Windows computers and others that work on both.
Mac
Win
Windows Movie Maker can put video into Microsoft's .avi and .wmv formats but currently not those of its competitors (.mov and .flv).
Option B: For those interested in a version with more options to control the conversion process, use MediaCoder, a free open source downloadable application. Of the many YouTube clips explaining its use, one titled Tutorial-MediaCoder appeared adequate.
Both Mac & Win Users
The best solution for making video playable at Google Sites is to convert the video to Flash Video format (.flv) using one of the video converter applications above. The next step is to add the files to Google sites File Cabinet and insert into a Flash player gadget. There are a few detailed steps to this process.
Upload the files
For the assigned activities of the video editing chapter, upload the two files (one low bandwidth and one high bandwidth) to Google Sites that were converted to flv format. In the File Cabinet they will have the extension of .flv.
Right click on the file name and from the pop-up menu pick the command that will allow you to copy the Web address to the clipboard.
Insert Video Player Gadget on a Web page
To put the video in your File Cabinet page as a clickable and watchable video on a Web page at Google Sites requires a video gadget or player, and the only gadgets they have that work for video require Flash Video format. Flash video format uses the .flv extension on the file name.
Do this twice - Create Two Video Players
That is, the assignment was to use the video editor (iMovie or Movie Maker) to create a two-minute video in two sizes, one small and one medium, so that those with dial-up or slower Internet bandwidth have a chance of seeing the smaller version, while those with faster connections could see a better quality version.
So, a separate video player gadget for each one needs to appear on the same Web page holding the same video composition. The only difference will be in their quality. You can have quality or speed but not both in the same file. Label these gadgets so readers of the page will understand which is which.
Testing a Converted File
If you've uploaded a file to Google Sites and set it up to play within a gadget and it still does not play, it is useful to test original file to see if the file was OK before it was uploaded. That is, it is possible that the file that was uploaded was corrupted in the upload and just needs to be uploaded again, or not. The Flash video (.flv) format generally requires the Flash application from Adobe or the video embedded in a Web page before it will play back. However, there are some standalone Flash players. The one I've found that works reliably on both Mac and Win computers is a Flash video player called Wimpy. To check Flash video files, click the Folder symbol in the bottom right of the window to find the folder where the file was placed and open the file. Finally, click the play triangle in the bottom left of the player.
What other examples are needed for using converted video files?
Parent page | Page author: Houghton | Version 1.0 created September 29, 2009, Tuesday, 1:19 pm | Version 1.22 February 17, 2010