Digital Media Report ( Ma )

Written By Matt Angwin

Report on Digital Media Submitted to Avon Barksdale President of Bioware Technological Research Facility Maryland, Baltimore July 24th, 2007

By Matthew Angwin Head of the Black Mesa Research Facility Nevada, Mexico

Contents 2

(1.0) Executive Summary ……………………..…………. 4 (2.0) Audio ………………………………………..……… 5 (2.1) 5 (2.2) 5 (2.3) 6 (2.4) .7 (2.5) ...7 (2.6) 7 (2.7) 8 (2.8) 9 (2.9) 9

Audio Introduction ………………………………………….…………….... Audio Hardware ………………………………………….…………………. Recorders ………………………………………………….………………… Audio Editing …………………………………………….…………………. Production ………………………………………………………………… Delivery ………………………………………………………………………. File Types ……………………………………………………………………. Benefits ………………………………………………………………………. Future ………………………………………………………………………….

(3.0) Video …………………………………………………10 (3.1) 10 (3.2) 10 (3.3) 10 (3.4) 11 (3.5) .12 (3.6) ..12 (3.7) 13

Video Introduction ………………………………….……………………… Applications ………………………………………………………………… Video Hardware ……………………………………………………………. Delivery ……………………………………………………………………… Video Software …………………………………………………………… Benefits …………………………………………………………………… Future ………………………………………………………………………..

(4.0) Photography ………………………………………… 14 (4.1) Photography Introduction ……………………………………………….. 14

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(4.2) 14 (4.3) 15 (4.4) 15 (4.5) (4.6) 16 (4.7)

Photography Hardware ………………………………………………….. Delivery …………………………………………………………………….. Photography Software ………………………………………………..… Editing ………………………………………………………………………16 Benefits …………………………………………………………………….. Future ……………………………………………………………………… 16

(5.0) Report Conclusion …………………………………. 17 (6.0) References ………………………………………….. 18

Executive Summary This report is an analysis of digital media services that are expanding all over the business world. These services include podcasts, online advertising and video features. The digital media world will continue to grow steadily, that by the year 2015, over 52 million households will be exposed to daily digital media services. The keys to success will be subscriptions, ad targeting, and monetising the many ways that digital media will be consumed.

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Digital Audio (2.0)

Introduction (2.1) Digital audio uses digital signals for sound reproduction. This includes analogue-todigital conversion, digital-to-analogue conversion, storage, and transmission. Digital audio has emerged because of its usefulness in the recording, manipulation, massproduction and distribution of sound. Modern distribution of music across the Internet through on-line stores depends on digital recording and digital compression algorithms. Distribution of audio as data files rather than as physical objects has significantly reduced costs of distribution. (1)

Audio Hardware (2.2)

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As audio advances, more and more hardware becomes available for it. In recent years, audio players have become increasingly popular with the general population. These audio players include: Flash-Based Players, Hard-Drive Based Players and MP3 CD Players.

Flash-based Players

Fig 1. MP3

Fig 2. Ipod

These are solid-state devices that hold digital audio files on internal or external media, such as memory cards. Due to technological limitations, these are relatively lowstorage devices, commercially ranging from 128MB to 8GB, such as the secondgeneration iPod nano, the SanDisk Sansa series of players. (2)

Hard-Drive Based Players

Fig 4. LifeBox Hard Drive

Hard Drive-based Players or Digital Jukeboxes are devices that read digital audio files from a hard drive. These players have higher capacities, ranging from 1.5GB to 160GB, depending on the hard drive technology. (2)

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MP3 CD Players

Fig 4. MP3 CD Player

MP3 CD Player devices are that can play audio files from a CD-ROM in addition to audio CDs. It uses a lossy compression algorithm that is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners.(2)

Recorders (2.3)

Microphone (Mic) The microphone is a device used for recording different types of audio. This device has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it makes recording and editing easier.

Fig 5. Recorder

Fig 6. Shure SM58 Mic

Audio Editing (2.4) In recent years, with the growing popularity of GNU/Linux, a number of Open Source software projects have sprung up in order to develop an open source audio editing program. This movement has been bolstered recently by the development of ALSA, and the Linux low latency kernel patch, which allow the GNU/Linux Operating System to achieve audio processing performance equal to that of commercial operating systems. The multi-platform package Audacity is currently the most fully featured free software audio editor. (5) Other editing software include Quickaudio, Goldwave, Soundbooth and Wavesurfer. 7

Production (2.5)

With the advancements within the Digital Audio world, production in this field has never been more popular, with the development of Podcasting and Studio Sound, etc. It is becoming easier for the average person to create and access such material, and it will only grow stronger as time continues.

Delivery (2.6)

Optical Disk

Fig 7. Optical Disk

In computing, sound reproduction, and video, an optical disc is a flat, circular, usually polycarbonate disc whereon data is stored in the form of pits (or bumps) within a flat surface, usually along a single spiral groove that covers the entire recorded surface of the disc. This data is generally accessed when a special material on the disc (often aluminium) is illuminated with a laser diode. (1)

Internet As the Internet’s community increases, more and more people are using it to transfer, record and edit their audio. At the present day, the Internet is the most effective way to transfer audio.

Broadband Broadband in telecommunications is a term, which refers to a signalling method, which includes or handles a relatively wide range of frequencies, which may be divided into channels, or frequency bins. The wider the bandwidth, greater is the information carrying capacity. In radio, for example, a very narrow-band signal will carry Morse code; a broader band will carry speech; a still broader band is required to carry music without losing the high audio frequencies required for realistic sound reproduction.

Flash Memory

Fig 8. DiskGo Flash

Fig 9. 2.0GB Flash

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Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards, USB flash drives (thumb drives, handy drive, memory stick, flash stick, jump drive), which are used for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products. Examples of applications include PDAs and laptop computers, digital audio players, digital cameras and mobile phones. (3)

File Types (2.7)

There are a handful of audio file types you should be familiar with if you are planning to copy music off the Internet or even copy a CD. (1) Waveform Audio (.wav) MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (.mp3) Windows Media Audio (.wma)

Benefits (2.8)

As digital audio players have spread, new uses have been found for them. This includes podcasting, which are radio-like programs, or even TV-like video feeds, are automatically downloaded into the device to be played at the owner’s convenience. As the years progress, it is becoming easier to effectively use digital audio to our advantage. (1)

Future (2.9)

New digital audio services like satellite radio, online radio, HD radio, and podcasting with new subscription and data service business models are changing the way consumers listen to radio. All four digital audio markets will grow steadily — by 2010, 20.1 million households will listen to satellite radio and 12.3 million households will synchronize podcasts to their MP3 players. Broadcasters and music labels must learn to deal with this new, fragmented audience. The keys to success will be subscriptions, ad targeting, and monetizing the many ways that digital audio will be consumed. (4)

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Digital Video (3.0)

Introduction (3.1) Digital video is a type of video recording system that works by using a digital, rather than analog, representation of the video signal. This generic term is not to be confused with the name DV, which is a specific type of digital video targeted at the consumer market. Digital video is most often recorded on tape, and then distributed on optical discs, usually DVDs. There are exceptions, such as camcorders that record directly to DVDs, Digital8 camcorders which encode digital video on conventional analog tapes, and other high-end camcorders which record digital video on hard disks or flash memory. (4)

Applications (3.2) Digital video is more easily manipulated than analogue video. Digital video can be duplicated without loss of quality, which is important for editing applications. The ability to easily store and transmit digital video. The low bandwidth requirements of digital video also makes it easy to store and digital video can be stored on compact disc. (1)

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Video Hardware (3.3)

Cameras

Fig 10. Camera

Phones

Fig 11. Film Camera

Fig 12. Camera Phone Fig 13. Camera Phone

Delivery (3.4)

Analog tape formats Analog tapes are often referred to as a ‘dead technology’ as Digital tape and Optical disc continue to increase in popularity. Although still popular for home recording, the VHS tape has largely been replaced by DVD for pre-recorded home video content.

VHS

betacam

video8

Fig 14. VHS

Fig 15. BetaCam

Fig 16. Video8

Optical disc storage formats

DVD (“Digital Versatile Disc” or “Digital Video Disc”) is a popular optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high 11

video and audio quality. DVDs are modelled in size after the compact disc (i.e. diameter: 120 mm or 4.72 in, occasionally 80 mm or 3.15 in.); both are optical storage media so similar that a DVD reader or writer can usually read CDs, but DVDs are encoded in a different format of much greater density, allowing a data storage capacity 8 times greater. (3)

HD DVD, or High-Definition DVD is a high-density optical disc format designed for the storage of data and high-definition video. HD DVD has a single-layer capacity of 15 GB and a dual-layer capacity of 30 GB; the HD DVD-RAM has a single-layer capacity of 20 GB and a dual-layer capacity of Undecided. (3)

A Blu-ray Disc is a high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital media, including high-definition videoBecause of its shorter wavelength (405 nm), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format, which uses a red, 650 nm laser. A single layer Blu-ray Disc can store 25 gigabytes (GB), over five times the size of a single layer DVD at 4.7 GB. A dual layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost 6 times the size of a dual layer DVD at 8.5 GB. (3)

Software (3.5)

After Effects 7 After Effects uses a system of layers organized on a timeline to create composites from still images and motion footage, such as video files. Properties such as position and opacity can be controlled independently for each layer, and each layer can have effects applied. After Effects is often described as the “Photoshop of video”, because its flexibility allows compositors to alter video in any way they see fit, as Photoshop does for images. (2)

Premiere Pro 2 Adobe Premiere Pro, formerly known as Adobe Premiere, is a real-time, timeline based video editing software application. It is part of the Adobe Creative Suite, a suite of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications made by Adobe Systems.

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Benefits (3.6)

Analogue video recording is a mature technology and has almost reached limits determined by the laws of physics. Digital video technology has the potential to achieve much higher levels of quality and the technology is being improved at an increasing rate. But digital video does more than provide better pictures than analogue. It has a number of unique properties that make possible applications that could not be realised using analogue video. Firstly, digital video can be manipulated more easily than analogue video. In addition to this, digital video can be stored on random access media, whereas analogue video is generally stored sequentially on magnetic tape. This random access allows for interactivity, since individual video frames are addressable and can be accessed quickly. Finally, video in digital form can be transmitted across channels unavailable to analogue video. The applications unique to digital video rely, to varying degrees, on these properties. (1)

Future (3.7)

As the popularity for digital video increases, so will the technology for it. Exciting new applications become possible when video becomes part of products, which in the past, have been unable to incorporate video systems. The applications for video go far beyond mere playback of existing content. With advanced processing technology, not only is a higher quality user experience possible, so is a whole new range of innovative applications where the device itself is able to intelligently use video to improve quality of service, operating reliability and user safety. Consider a whole new world enabled by digital video technology.

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Digital Photography (4.0)

Introduction (4.1) Digital Photography, as opposed to film photography, uses electronic devices to record and capture the image as binary data. This facilitates storage and editing of the images on personal computers, and also the ability to show and delete unsuccessful images immediately on the camera or software itself. Digital cameras now outsell film cameras and include features that are not found in film cameras such as the ability to shoot video and record audio. Some other devices, such as mobile phones, include digital photography features. (1)

Digital Photography Hardware (4.2)

For several decades, the film cameras dominated the photography market, the ability to simply take photos with the camera and take them to a film developer became an everyday thing. Although in recent years, film cameras have become less popular as the digital camera took its place, as well as cameras being installed within most common mobile phones. (1)

Film Cameras

Fig 17. Film Camera

Digital Cameras

Fig 18. Film Camera

Fig 19. Digital Camera

Camera Phones

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Fig 20. Digital Camera

Fig 21. Camera Phone

Delivery (4.3) A large variety of data storage device formats are used in consumer digital cameras: • • • • • • •

Secure Digital card (SD) CompactFlash (CF-I and CF-II) Memory Stick MultiMediaCard (MMC) SmartMedia xD-Picture Card (xD) USB flash drive

Software (4.4)

As digital photography increases in popularity, more and more software has become available for the general public. The different types of software enable the user to make changes to his/her photos using a PC.

Examples of such software include:

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Auto FX Software, allows the user to adjust the lighting and shading within the desired photo, thus allowing the user to create the feel and tone they wish. BlackMagic, which allows the user to change black and white photos to colour and vice versa.

Editing (4.5) The most powerful program for editing photos is Adobe’s Photoshop. Unfortunately, it’s very expensive. The good news is that there is a less expensive version called Photoshop Elements, which has nearly all of features of the full version is can be downloaded for a free trial. An increasingly intriguing alternative is the The Gimp. The Gimp is a freeware alternative to Photoshop that runs on Windows, Unix and MacOS X. This is a complex program and the Windows version may not be completely bug free. (1)

Benefits (4.6) •

• • • • •

Cost: Every film shot involves film and development costs even if you don’t print. If you use rechargeable batteries, then each unprinted digital shot is essentially free since the cost in electricity and reduction in lifetime battery capacity is attitude zero. Time: If you like to share your photos through email or web based galleries, it is easier and faster if you start with digital in the first place. Instant gratification: You can view your results immediately. Learning: Since you see your results immediately, you can learn from your mistakes faster. Size: Digital cameras are available in a wide range of form factors, some of which can be smaller and more convenient than film cameras. No need to change film: You can fit many times more shots on a large memory card than you can on a large roll of film, and you don’t need to change memory cards to change ISO. (1)

Future (4.7)

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Despite technological advances, a few negatives remain: You may make a larger initial investment to get a digital camera instead of a film camera, and your cost per print may be higher – especially if you are printing on an inkjet printer at home. However, this is often offset by the fact that you save money by only printing the shots that you really want. Finally, digital can be less forgiving than film in some ways.

Report Conclusion (5.0)

Through this report, I have concluded that if your company wishes to stay ahead of the competition, more Digital Media elements are needed. Many companies use a combination of Audio, Video and Photography within their organization in order to help them expand. In conclusion of this report it is highly recommended that your company try to expand more into the digital media community in order to evolve your company for the coming years.

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References Audio 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio - Visited 24/07/07 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_player - Visited 24/07/07 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_drives - Visited 24/07/07 4. http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,72 11,36428,00.html - Visited 03/08/07 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_editing - Visited 24/07/07

Video 1. http://www.newmediarepublic.com/dvideo/compression/ad v01.html - Visited 01/08/07 2. http://focus.ti.com/lit/ml/spry066/spry066.pdf - Visited 01/08/07 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc - Visited 01/08/07 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video - Visited 01/08/07

Photography

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1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography - Visited 06/08/07

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