Ulead MEDIASTUDIO PRO 6.0, User Manual

Page: 340 / 360

MEDIASTUDIO PRO USER GUIDE 340
Inside digital video
There are three components that go into the makeup of digital video:
frame rate, frame size, and data type. The frame rate refers to how
many frames appear each second, while the frame size is the actual
physical size of each frame, and the data type determines how many
different colors can appear at one time. How you work with these three
elements is determined by the type of video capture board you have and
how you want to distribute your video. For example, if you have a high-
end capture board and are planning on sending your video back out to
video tape, then you need to be working at the best quality possible, such
as 640x480, 30 frames per second 24-bit color (for NTSC devices). If
you have a less expensive capture board, or are planning on distributing
your video on CD-ROM or over the Internet, then your decision on the
type of video you will use is determined by the type of machine or medium
it will be played back from. This is because different machines and
mediums have different abilities at moving amounts of video data. This
ability is referred to as the data rate, which measures how much data can
be moved within one second.
Working with the data rate
The problem with most playback devices and mediums, such as CD-
ROMs, the Internet, and hard drives, is that they have trouble moving
large amounts data continuously, which is what video is. When you look at
the specifications for many of these devices they give you an indication of
how many kilobytes can be moved at any one time. For example, double
speed CD-ROMs have a data rate of 300 KB per second while eight
speed CD-ROMs transfer at 1200 KB per second. Compare that to the
Internet where many people operate with 14.4 and 28.8 KB modems
which equates to a top data transfer of rate of less than 30 KB per second!