Clipping College Students with DVD Software
by Shepard
Gorman
No, it isn’t the time for haircuts or wool harvesting but it is almost
always the right season for using the proper multimedia material to enhance a
presentation. Some new features on a classic program makes this easy and even
fun. InterVideo WinDVD 8 is the newest version of what is now staple media
playback software. This version has added a number of features that are great
for classroom use.
First, is its ability to capture 30 second video clips of any media played.
That’s saying a lot because WinDVD can use any video format. These including the
new HD standards, the H.264 format used on portable media devices like the iPod.
It may be the only commercial program that includes the latest iteration of DivX,
a highly compressed format in use around the world.. When viewing a movie on
this program, clicking the film icon (see below) will pop-up a panel with a
familiar VCR display. A Sidebar of thumbnail displays of the captured clips
will appear. If you press the Record button ( Go for it Bucko!), the next 30
seconds of the film will be transferred to a relatively low resolution (VCR
quality) image that can be easily pasted into PowerPoint presentations. The
fact that these clips have no sound is disappointing for those of us who would
like to have a choice of whether to anesthetize our students with our verbal
eloquence ourselves or have others do it for us.
Second, the many audio and video adjustments that program provides enhance
its usability for presentations. If you want to create a particular mood for a
clip or a long presentation, two clicks set up a host of video effects including
B & W, sepia, and even a fuzzy, silent movie mode. The audio adjustments
optimize any output from headphones to 7.1 surround sound systems. It even
makes the tinny speakers in Smartboards and laptops sound better. If the spirit
moves you, the included digital sound processor you can make your commercial or
your home-brewed DVD sound like the a Broadway theatre or the Chicago Symphony
hall
Third, the Platinum version of this program ($60 list price, about $40
street price) has a very worthwhile server feature that can let you stream
videos from one PC to another across a network.
This is useful for those of us who don’t want to carry multi-media materials
with us but prefer to have them sit on a local server ( really any PC ) like an
old jukebox and play them back from a remote location,
Fourth, it has a “hurry up” mode. Originally this was designed for the
business traveler who had a flight to catch or didn’t want to miss the end of
the movie, the playback goes up to twice the original speed with a feature that
keeps the audio intelligible. While the sound track is not really too
understandable past 1.5 X speed, it is handy to be able to squeeze in that
perfect clip before the end of a lecture. For those challenged by base-60
mathematics, it even has an ending time feature, changing the speed to meet the
end time you select.
Finally, we all know that occasionally, but most assuredly infrequently, we
may want to interject our own unique, certainly brilliant but modest thoughts on
the spur of the moment while media plays. Enter the “Boss” key. Designed to
keeping cubicle workers employed, hitting F12 will instantly pause the
presentation and blank the screen. Hitting it again resumes Play. Dilbert’s
gain is ours too. We can interrupt easily interrupt the less erudite work of the
original filmmakers and continue to do so until the din of negative comments
from students becomes quite voluble or until we have gathered enough slightly
used fruits and vegetables. ( My dry cleaner really sees this as a source of
new revenue.)
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