Filing news packages via FTP
Through the use of FTP or File Transfer
Protocol and a high speed internet connection it's not that unusual for those
in the news reporting business to send broadcast quality video to their
television or cable network while sitting in a local coffee shop. What was
once only thought possible through conventional (and expensive) satellite
transmission is now finding it's way into the hands of anyone with a laptop
computer, some basic software and a broadband or Wi-Fi connection. Something
that's not hard to find in most major cities nowadays.
Just think about it. Television reporters in war-torn countries now shoot,
edit and file completed stories back to their network's home base anywhere
in the world by simply connecting their computer to the hotel's internet
system. FTP has totally changed the way some networks are able to get their
news reports back from the field. In fact, for single, point to point
transmission it makes more sense to use FTP than it does to use satellite,
which lends itself to broader, multi-point distribution. Throw in the fact
that the cost to do so is almost nill and it's really a no-brainer. Unless
there's a live shot involved (i.e. a reporter is speaking with the on-air
host or anchor during a live broadcast) many taped video feeds that are now
filed via satellite can be done using FTP if the production crew doing the
shoot is suitably equipped and has the wherewithal to do so. Time that,
in the past, was spent racing to an upload facility or Vyvx
drop can now be put to more productive use getting additional B-roll
or just taking a well earned break.
There is even a whole new class of
television reporter that has resulted from this merging of technologies.
The VJ or video journalist is the new one-man-band (or one-woman-band) of
old. Some television stations like San Francisco's KRON are now using one
person VJ's in place of the conventional reporter and cameraperson combinations.
Lightweight 3-chip DV cameras and laptop computers allow each VJ to cover
several stories per day and file them with the station from a Starbucks or
Kinkos while on the road. This is allowing KRON to have many more reporters
in the field sending back news stories than would be possible using costly
microwave trucks. It also opens up the stringer field to many more possible
outlets for their work than ever before. They call this laptop
newsgathering or LNG, for short. One network, NBC, has even coined the
term digital journalist and has started using them for the evening
news. One person with just a camera and computer out covering the events
of the world. They even claim this is "the future of NBC news". In fact,
New York
Film Academy is now offering a 1-year course in digital journalism.
On the technical side...
The key to keeping the quality level high is through the use of MPEG-2
compression with a data rate at or above 6 Mb/s. What's good enough for DVD
production is also a long accepted standard for moving broadcastable video
from one point to the other. Using good software, 6 Mb/s is generally considered
to be a transparent compression level for slow to moderate moving video.
Talking heads and B-roll with minimal panning should convert just fine.
Today's FTP software constantly
keeps track of the data it's moving and should there be an interruption because
of a disconnect, network drop, packet loss or for any other reason, it still
allows you to pick up where you left off without having to resend what's
already been safely received at the other end. Time saved.
Our system consists of a Dell
Latitude laptop computer equipped with a FireWire IEEE 1394
connection.
Since much of our work still involves shooting BetaSP, we have outfitted
a Sony BVW-35 portable Beta vcr with a DataVideo analog to digital signal
converter. This allows us to send a full bandwidth Y, R-Y, B-Y component
feed from the deck keeping the signal capture to DV as pristine as possible.
Audio channels 1 and 2 are split left and right, respectively, enabling mixing
of sources during the edit. In addition, we can supply a Panasonic AG-DV2000
deck for shoots using either DVCAM or Mini DV. Even though most digital cameras
now offer FireWire outputs directly, we feel there is something to be said
for having a standalone playback deck on site both for the redundancy factor
and for allowing the camera to remain unencumbered for further shooting,
should the need arise. This makes sense especially for timely news events
where things are happening at a moment's notice.
We use
Adobe Premiere as our
editing package. One extremely important feature of Premiere is the ability
to export to a format converter plug-in right off the timeline without having
to render out to a new file. This saves a generation of quality and also
the time it takes to render the file. Mainconcept offers their MPEG converter
free with the package and you also get the Microsoft WMV (windows media video)
converter. We prefer to use the
Canopus ProCoder
transcoder software plugin for conversion to MPEG-2. We feel it just
does a better job. It also has the added benefit of allowing us to convert
direct to PAL MPEG-2 should the final destination be for an overseas
client.
Throw in some basic "utility" software items like
Goldwave for recording your reporter's
VO (voice over), Adobe
Photoshop for touching up and resizing any digital stills you may need
to include in your piece, and you're good to go.
Don't forget your trusty FTP software.
We happen to like FTP-Commander for
it's ease of use and rock solid reliability when sending large files. If
you're going to be on the road an excellent source for Wi-Fi hotspots anywhere
in the world is a website called JiWire.
You can download and save the list in your computer and be able to search
for a potential Wi-Fi location anytime while offline.
If you're wondering how long this
all takes to render and upload, here's the nitty gritty. Using our Dell laptop
we can convert a two minute package right off the timeline at the highest
quality MPEG-2 setting using a CBR (constant bit rate) of 6 Mb/s in less
than twenty minutes. We use a factor of 10 to 1 for the MPEG-2 conversion.
That two minute MPEG-2 file is now compressed down to about 94 megs in size.
That's about 20% of what it was sitting on the timeline in DV25. Now the
upload time will depend on the quality of the broadband connection you're
able to make. Let's say the Wi-Fi hotspot location has a typical T-1 or business
class DSL drop with an upload speed of 350 - 400 kb/s. With your FTP connection
secured you're looking at perhaps thirty minutes to upload that file. In
about the time it takes you to eat your lunch the file will be delivered
to the client's server in full broadcast quality.
This system works well point to
point. However, in some cases there may be a need to get the story out to
more than one station or network and at the same time. Perhaps the end user
is not set up to accept video via FTP as many TV stations still are not.
This is where using a systems facilitator like
ENG FTP makes sense. You can upload your
MPEG-2 file to their server and have them deliver it back out via satellite
to any number of locations all in one shot - a process they call VST (Virtual
Satellite Teleport). Their expertise in this area is unparalleled. Check
out their web site for more information.
UPDATE 1:
Since we first posted this article
we have had the need to send the larger, full resolution DV25 files
to some of our clients. To enable us to do so we have begun using a software
product called WinRAR.
Designed for archiving data, WinRAR
allows you to reduce the size of the video file using compression.
The product is very fast and very easy to use. You simply tell it to create
a new archive and select your video file. The default setting, normal
compression, is prefferable. You should also check off "create self-extracting
archive" to guarantee the end user will have the means to unpack the file
by just clicking on it. A side benefit of doing this is the ability to add
password protection to prevent just anyone from accessing your material.
In our tests we found the product worked flawlessly. We were able to compress
the video file to about 70% of it's original size. This means the upload
time would be reduced by around 30%. When you are dealing with large files,
this time savings can be significant! Finally, testing the result by
uncompressing the file for playback we found no difference between the original
file and the archived/unarchived version. They were identical in every way.
Do not confuse the compression used by WinRAR with the type of compression
used for video. There is no loss of quality using WinRAR. The unpacked version
has all the data and is exactly the same size as your original.
BTW: Using this data compression
technique to send the smaller MPEG-2 files only resulted in a savings of
around 10%. Not sure why this is but we assume the MPEG files are already
fairly well packed, in and of themselves, thus leaving WinRAR with less to
do... but this is only a guess. However, it is still worth using even for
this modest savings in upload time and for the ability to password protect
your work.
UPDATE 2:
In addition to using MPEG-2 for
compressing your video prior to the FTP process, there is a new codec
that is gaining in acceptance. H.264, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10
or Advanced Video Coding (AVC) can produce results equal to or better
than MPEG-2 and at much lower compression settings. In our tests, using the
same data rate of 6 Mb/s, we were able to create a file 37% smaller in size
using H.264 than one made using MPEG-2. The picture quality was impressive...
very clean and sharp. There is an excellent guide to using H.264 as well
as links to a free H.264 encoder that is even faster than the one that
comes with Quicktime 7 Pro plus a free DirectShow filter for playback
at this site.
H.264 will likely become the codec of choice for FTP in the near future,
especially for uploading high def news material.
Copyright © 2006,
2007 & 2008 TFG Film & Tape All Rights Reserved |
