At the Movies, Act 2

This column was first published in the MUGOO Newsletter in October 2000.

Don't touch that mouse! Let's jump in. Several movies (well, snips from movies) can be found at http://home.att.net/~myperforma. In order to view or hear the movies, either Movie Player 2.5.1, SimpleText 1.4, or QuickTime 2.5 software must be installed as a minimum!

There are several choices for creating movie files on my Performa. My choices are limited by the type of digitizing hardware used to convert data received from a device which is the source that generates or stores the audio/video data. The two parts must be compatible in order to create a readable file.

The table below matches digitizing hardware with the data source, whose output can be saved as a file that can be played by an appropriate application such as QuickTime.

The Connectix QuickCam is connected by a serial cable to the motherboard via the serial port. An Apple TV/Tuner Card is not required. The output is audio/video recorded as a "Quick Movie" file. Note that my QuickCam records in black and white as well as shades of gray.

Several different ways to record or retrieve video and/or sound are possible using the Apple TV/Tuner Card. Movies are recorded in millions of color by using a VHS video camera. I use a Panasonic PV-320D (circa 1987) video camera to either record video or as a VCR on the fly to play back previously recorded movies. I then hook the camera to the video card input ports using cables with RCA jacks. The output is a SimpleText movie file.

By hooking up a TV antenna, hooked into the TV card, which in turn, is installed directly onto the motherboard, my Performa can be used as a VCR to record a TV show, let's say M*A*S*H. The output again is a SimpleText movie file, albeit quite large. The same is true of audio files generated from using a plain talk microphone or CD-ROM the device to generate data that is then digitized. The files saved are large files.

Reading and playing back files is a matter of hardware and software. And fun to use!

Next Time: Software and editing movies.