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302 Using High-Speed Video with 3rd Party Applications |
We have been getting a lot of inquiries about how to use the high-speed video obtained from our cameras in third party applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint. Without some manipulation, these large video files make these applications run poorly.
The first thing to check in your high-speed video is the playback rate. The most common mistake is that the video’s play rate is set to the record rate of the event. At such high frame rates one of two things happen:
• The video tries to play back at this high rate and just shows one or two frames.
• The computer bogs down while trying to show every frame of the video at this high rate.
The second most common problem is trying to embed a high-speed video sequence that is many hundreds of Megabytes into a presentation or similar application. Most of these applications were not designed to handle video of this size. As a result, they bog down a less than adequate system while trying to manipulate the data.
A simple fix for this is to resave the high-speed video with a lower playback rate and compress it with a codec. Both of these tasks can be achieved with the Photron Fastcam Viewer (PFV) available for free download in the Tech Support section of our website.
To set the default play rate to be embedded in your high-speed videos, launch PFV, click on the Option menu, and select Configuration. When the configuration window pops up, look for the “Put default play rate in AVI file” section located second from the top in the right hand column. The drop down menu will allow you to select the playback rate you want for your high-speed video. Typically, 20 – 30 frames per second works out nicely.
Next, you want to load your high-speed video in the viewer and select a codec for the compression. Pushing the “options” button next to the file format dropdown box can do this.
The codec you select is dependent on whether or not the video will be used on the computer saving it or not. If the video will be moved, then the computer it will be played on must have the codec used to compress the video installed. Codes that are usually available on all Windows based computers are the Indeo 3.x and 4.x families, Cinepak, WMV, and Microsoft MPEG4. These work fairly well and give roughly a 10:1 compression ratio on the video. Codecs that work much better are in the MPEG4 family, but are not widely available on all computers. However, these can give up to a 100:1 compression ratio on the data and maintain superb video quality. Some examples are the Microsoft MPEG4 codec, Divx, Xvid, and H.264.
Now that your high-speed video is compressed and the default frame rate is set, you should be on your way to very flashy presentations!
Need help determining your high-speed imaging technical considerations?
Continue to High-Speed University 401 - How to buy a High-Speed Imaging System
