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VisorVision Explained


Sun Jul 1, 2001 - 8:10 PM EDT - By James Hromadka

At this year's PC Expo, VisorCentral attempted to provide its readers with video interviews and product demonstrations straight from the show's floor. There are times when writing an article doesn't convey a product's features effectively the way a video demonstration would. We wanted to give our readers a better idea of what was happening at the show, and the best way to do that is through video.

Tradeshows are expensive, both for the vendors demonstrating their wares and for the media to cover. Video equipment, however, can be costly. Fortunately, the VisorCentral staff had most of the components necessary for video editing, and less than $400 in additional equipment was necessary.

The computer that was used was my Apple PowerBook G4 400 running Mac OS X 10.0.4. Video editing was accomplished using iMovie 2.1. Video editing was performed by Marcus Adolfsson and Kenneth Crandall (pictured), neither of whom had used iMovie before.

Filming was done on a Sony digital video camcorder which was purchased before the conference. Quicktime 5 Pro, a microphone, and camera were also purchased, completing the video solution. Interviews and product demonstrations were filmed on the floor at PC Expo and then transferred via Firewire to the PowerBook Adolfsson or Crandall would then edit the film, render broadband and modem Quicktime movies, and then upload the finished files to Darwin Streaming Server, allowing readers to immediately be able to view the videos.

The entire process from filming an interview to uploading the video to the server took less than fourty minutes per clip. This was far more efficient than posting short text news blurbs and then staying up half the night writing articles or transcribing taperecorded interviews. In fact the VisorCentral staff was able to attend various media events each night instead of sitting in front of a computer. This allowed us to collect even more information for our readers, not to mention get a good night's sleep!

More than just editing >>