Media Format

Media Formats

SiteCam offers four modes of saving images. These are standard graphic image files (PICT, GIF and JPEG) and QuickTime movies. These file formats offer both Mac-only (PICT) and cross-platform (JPEG, GIF, QuickTime) support. The resolution and size of the images will depend on the format chosen, the image quality, the size of the image, and the number of colors saved.

PICT files are used on the Macintosh for a variety of applications. PICT files cannot normally be used outside the MacOS environment.

JPEG (pronounced jay-peg) is designed for compressing either full-color or grayscale images of natural, real-world scenes. JPEGs work well on continuous tone images like photographs or natural artwork. JPEGs support 24-bits of color depth or 16.7 million colors (2^24=16,777,216 colors). JPEG is the recommended format for still video images.

GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF, pronounced "jiff") is the oldest graphic file format on the Web, and nearly all browsers support it. GIFs support up to 8 bits per pixel, which means a maximum of 256 colors (2^8=256 colors). Due to the 256 color maximum, it is not generally recommended.

QuickTime is Apple's award-winning multimedia environment that encompasses video, sound, MIDI, and virtual reality. SiteCam lets you create QuickTime movies containing a time-lapse series of images.

Video Capture Size

You can specify the size of the video being captured. The larger the image is, the larger the files will be. Some video digitizers only allow certain video capture size settings. If an image size is not supported, the new size setting will not be made when saved. However, most digitizers support arbitrary sizes.

Viewing Application

SiteCam itself does not have any facilities for viewing saved images. You can, however, choose which application will be used to view the files that SiteCam creates. The default for viewing images is PictureViewer, an image viewing application by Apple Computer. QuickTime movies default to Apple's MoviePlayer. Advanced users: if your favorite application is not available in the popup menu, the application's creator type can be entered.

Image Quality

Setting the image quality determines the quality (and size) of JPEG and QuickTime movies. The higher the quality, the better it looks and the more disk space is required to store the image. Lowering the image quality will increase the speed at which the image can be transferred over the Internet.

Colors

Video digitizers must capture video at a specified number of colors. Some digitizers can capture images at any depth (number of colors), while others can only capture images at a certain number of colors. The more colors you select, the better the image and the larger the file. You need to set this based on what is allowed by your digitizer and according to your bandwidth needs.

Extension

Files that will be sent over the internet need a file extension. This extension will be added to the end of each of your file names. Normally you will not need to change this setting.

Orientation

SiteCam lets you rotate images so that you can mount your camera however you wish: horizontally,vertically (portrait mode), rightside-up, or upside down.

Digitizer

The digitizer menu lets you select which digitizer this webcam document will use. The menu contents will be a list of each available digitizer. This option is only needed when you have more than one digitizer.

Camera Index

Setting the camera index lets you use multiple inputs with a single digitizer. It should be left on "Default" if you are using just one input on a digitizer.

When an index (0 through 10) is selected, the SiteCam document will set the input to that index just before grabbing a video image. On a digitizer with multiple inputs (s-video, composite and/or TV Tuner) setting this popup menu will select the input you choose before grabbing each image. This lets you set up multiple SiteCam documents--each grabbing video from the same digitizer--but using different inputs.

On the QuickCam USB versions, this lets you access multiple cameras all connected to your USB capable Macintosh. Note: Rebooting your machine or hot swapping the cameras may change the order of the inputs--so that camera 2 may become camera 1, etc. If this happens, you can reset the camera index.

Warning: If you use a camera index on any document, you should use the same or a different input index on all other documents--otherwise you might get unpredictable results.

Note: You can have multiple webcam documents open at once!

Go to the Multiple Camera Support documentation for more details about using multiple cameras with SiteCam.