Video Edit Magic: Media Editing Terminology

Media Editing Terminology

Before going ahead with learning media editing with Video Edit Magic, it is essential to understand the terminology involved. Terms related to Media Editing and capturing are used throughout this document.

Timeline

A Timeline is a graphical representation of media files, video effects or video transitions on a time scale. The time scale runs horizontally on the timeline. A Timeline consists of multiple tracks.

Group

A Group categorizes tracks. There are four types of groups in Video Edit Magic

  1. Video Group
  2. Audio Group
  3. Effects Group
  4. Transition Group

Sources in tracks that belong to the same group are represented by distinct colors in the timeline.

Track

A Track is a linear sequence of clips. Each track is associated with a particular group. A track consists of one or more sources.

Source

A source is any media file, video effect or video transition added to and represented in a track in the timeline. A source is added to a track of a particular group. For instance a video file that consists of video and audio both is added separately to a video track and an audio track. Sources can be edited individually.

Media

Video and/or Audio may also be called as media. A media file may contain both Video and Audio or only Video or Audio stream.

Stream

A stream is video or audio data that composes a media file. A single media file may contain one or more video and/or audio streams.

Media Properties

Media Properties defines a video or audio stream.

Video Properties

  1. Dimension: Measured in pixels, dimensions of a video is the height and width of the video. For example, a video of 320 x 240 pixels is 320 pixels wide (width) and 240 pixels long (height).
  2. Color Depth: Measured in bits per pixel (bpp), color depth of a video is the amount of color information it stores per pixel. High color videos are typically of 24bpp.
  3. Frame Rate: Measured in frames per second (fps), frame rate of a video is the number of individual video frames that are displayed per second. Higher frame rates are used to shoot high motion videos.
  4. Bit Rate: Measured in bits per second (bps) or kilobits per second (Kbps), bit rate of a video is the amount of data that can be transferred in one second. Bit rates are directly related to frame rates.
  5. Key Frame Rate: Measured in frames per second (fps), key frame rate of a video is the interval at which a key frame is inserted. Key Frames affects video seeking capabilities and are also used in some high-end compression techniques.

Audio Properties

  1. Frequency: Measured in Hertz (Hz) or Kilohertz (KHz), frequency of an audio is the number of audio samples transferred in one second.
  2. Bit Rate: Measured in bits per second (bps) or Kilobits per second (Kbps), bit rate of audio is the amount of audio data that can be transferred in one second.
  3. Channels: An audio channel forms a part of an audio stream. Mono channel audio have 1 channel per audio stream while Stereo have 2 channels per audio stream.

AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)

AVI is a simple format that is best suited for editing purposes. Video Edit Magic is capable of making movies in AVI format.

Compressor/Codec

AVI files save images sequentially at a particular frame rate. Media files that save uncompressed images, though good in quality, can take up huge amounts of disk space. Media Compressor/Codec significantly reduces the size of AVI files. Video Edit Magic lists all Compressors/Codices installed on a PC. These Compressors/Codces can then be used to compress AVI files. Compression depends on Media Properties and Compressor/Codec in use.

WMF (Windows Media Format)

WMF is a high end video format that is characterized by small size and streaming capabilities. Video files saved in Windows Media Format have an extension WMV (Windows Media Video) and Audio files saved in Windows Media Format have an extension WMA (Windows Media Audio). Some Windows Media Format files may also have the extension ASF (Advanced Streaming Format).

MBR (Multi Bit Rate)

Multi Bit Rate is a type of WMF file that consists multiple video and/or audio streams encoded at varying bit rates. This enables MBR media files viewable over a wider range of bandwidth. For example a video with 7 video streams encoded at bit rates from 16Kbps to 128Kbps can be viewed by audience with internet connection speeds from 16Kbps to 128Kbps. WMF files made for playback on the local computer (not across the internet) are typically not MBR.

Profiles

A Video/Audio Profile is a file that contains information related to media properties. When making WMF files, an appropriate profile is selected. The media properties contained in the profile is then read and a WMF file is made accordingly. Each profile is intended for a particular audience and videos made using a profile targets the intended audience. Video Edit Magic is able to list both system and custom profiles in a PC. 

Capture Devices

Capture Devices is a collective term used for video and audio devices attached to your PC that capture video or sound. Web Camera (WebCam), DV Camera etc. qualify as video capture devices while microphones are audio capture devices. Video Edit Magic can use and capture from all capture devices.

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