How did you prepare your video materials?

[coverdale76]

Wondering how you experienced VJs prepare your own video materials before use them on stage?

In my beginning practice, I used Sony Digatal Camera(P72, old one) to capture some short mov clips with MPEG compression format. Then use them into Resolume directly! They works fine, but unstable with ArKaos VJ.

I use DV later. Capture video into computer by premiere then compress them into avi, according to the Resolume manual format suggestion as below:

File Type: Microsoft AVI
Compressor: IndeoR video 5.10
Frame Size: 640 x 480
Frame Rate: 25
Pixel Aspect Radio: Square Pixels(1.0)
Quqlity: 100%
Keyframe Every 1 frames (from video scratch)

I use both Arkaos VJ & Resolume on Win PC. So I choose avi for my video format. Compress then all by premiere.

How about yours?

[makemassair]

apple fcp/motion 15fps. 320x240 converted to pjpeg 80% avi and then with resolume 2.3 on my sony vaio.

currently thou, lookin to change that very soon

[6071842]

Originally Posted by coverdale76

Wondering how you experienced VJs prepare your own video materials before use them on stage?

In my beginning practice, I used Sony Digatal Camera(P72, old one) to capture some short mov clips with MPEG compression format. Then use them into Resolume directly! They works fine, but unstable with ArKaos VJ.

I use DV later. Capture video into computer by premiere then compress them into avi, according to the Resolume manual format suggestion as below:

File Type: Microsoft AVI
Compressor: IndeoR video 5.10
Frame Size: 640 x 480
Frame Rate: 25
Pixel Aspect Radio: Square Pixels(1.0)
Quqlity: 100%
Keyframe Every 1 frames (from video scratch)

I use both Arkaos VJ & Resolume on Win PC. So I choose avi for my video format. Compress then all by premiere.

How about yours?

pretty much what i do but i have the resolution at 720x567
quality100 and indeo video 5.10

i run a desktop so thats why i have it all full quality.

[Meierhans]

I found that Indeo works pretty fast and stable, but lacks quality when it comes to smooth grades and saturated colors. Picvideo MJPEG works much better while taking just a small bit more CPU and HDD. Apple MJPEG has same quality but decodes alot slower (at least on PC).

I do record in 1080i HDV, deinterlace or 2:1 slomo, (color-)correct and apply basic effects in After Effects (with MagicBullet), then render out into 720p (1280*720, much handier since its quadratic pixels, not PAR 1:1,333).
I backup this for later "HD use", and batch convert the clips with a 2:1 reduction. Results are 640*360 (=720p / 2) clips that look very sharp and smooth. Better then most stuff shot in DV and left at original resolution.
Sometimes when I want to pan around live I also do render stuff into 1024*1024 or 1024*512 and load them as video texture into Visual Jockey.
I never touch the framerate if I do not desire a timelapse or slomo effect, I always record at 25 FPS and set Vjo to playback at 25 FPS.

[RapideyeVJ]

Raw DV:>
Into FCP or Prem Pro
>chop, bash, slash
>export to .mov - Pjpeg 720x576 PAL med-hi quality (adjust depending on file size)
>fine tune or chop-on-the-go (usually at the gig) with quicktime pro

same process/res for flash animations, sometimes use flash direct in arkaos
most other apps i try to achieve the same res/output

[coverdale76]

Originally Posted by RapideyeVJ

Raw DV:>
>720x576

WOW! Lots of you use the file size close to DVD format.
Heard about some VJs use HD format directly too.

I haven't try that size or above. Guess my poor NB will get stuck in no time...
What's the computer requirements for running HD format video loops? If somebody use it can share?

[spaceraimo]

? used some years the indeo video codec at some 95% or so,
but now I am using picvideo V.3 codec - framerate 25 and size 640x480 - quality at 18 or 19 (20 being maximum). Sometimes I compress to 400x300 if ripping some low quality content for loops, because upscaling doesnt help you.

I find picvideo very slick. Faster compress time, better quality.

[johnnylocust]

What's the computer requirements for running HD format video loops?

In all actuality, most modern computers can decode multiple HD mpeg2 streams with ease. (most of the work is done by the GPU). It's the speed of the hard drives that kill it quick. I've made a rendering engine based off of DXVA and DirectX 9.0c that can mix 5 mpeg2 720p streams without a hiccup on an Athlon 2600XP + nVidia 6600gt, but only as long as they're streamed from memory. Try to do it from the hard drives and it starts to look like like an epileptic etch-a-sketch.

[makemassair]

Originally Posted by johnnylocust

In all actuality, most modern computers can decode multiple HD mpeg2 streams with ease. (most of the work is done by the GPU). It's the speed of the hard drives that kill it quick. I've made a rendering engine based off of DXVA and DirectX 9.0c that can mix 5 mpeg2 720p streams without a hiccup on an Athlon 2600XP + nVidia 6600gt, but only as long as they're streamed from memory. Try to do it from the hard drives and it starts to look like like an epileptic etch-a-sketch.

I WANT ONE.

[Meierhans]

I managed to stream 4 720p streams from onboard RAID 0 with 2 HDD.