Digital Multimedia
What's new in Digital Multimedia?
Canon Optura – digital video camera
Radius – photo and video editing software
Digital Arthroscopy Video Capture
Introduction
What are we trying to do and where are we trying to go? The ultimate is to have one box (CPU) that captures still arthroscopy images, arthroscopy video, outside still and outside video. The download from the cameras should be fast, and firewire fits the specs. The digital images are processed, edited and stored for use in presentations and patient/physician education CD's. There are several new innovations on the market, some I have tried and others I have only read about. The ideal is to have a turnkey box with all the peripherals and accessories configured and ready to go. We are not there yet! I have spent a lot of time and effort to get the present system up and running and I am still running into problems with the video.
This ultra-slim notebook allows you to input the still digital photos into the Sony laptop. More information and buying online
http://vaiodirect.sel.sony.com/
Sony has made a commitment to the consumer market with this digital studio loaded on a desktop computer. With firewire you can capture both still images and digital video. This can be edited with the software that is already loaded. The advantages of this system are:
- the firewire card is factory installed, avoiding the IRQ conflicts
- price, $3,000 US
http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/products/pc/tower/pcve308ds.html
I have not yet had an opportunity to personally try the Sony products, but I recently had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Jim Esch and I think that he has made this process as simple as it can be for the average working guy. He records digital video from the outside view in the room with this Sony TRV900 triple chip video camera. He plugs in his arthroscopy camera with a svhs cable to the input of the same camera. He can now record everything digitally (both outside and inside view). (Sony camera $2,200 ) He bought the latest Sony Viao desktop PC with the digital editing suite. ($3,000) He is able to download with firewire to the computer and produce video clips in both .avi and mpeg compression for use in powerpoint presentations. This is the most cost effective ($5K) way to do digital editing that I have seen.
Dr. Esch at work with his Sony editing system.
Firewire is the name for a direct IEEE-1394 connection that is 13X faster than USB. This connection is direct between the digital camera and the computer. By the way, firewire and i.link (Sony) are the same.
I have been using the Radius software on a HP desktop with 128 RAM, and the Canon Optura digital camera.
One of the best capture and edit software (for both stills and video) is available from www.radius.com
Radius is now digital origin www.digitalorigin.com
Cannon Optura digital videocamera
This digital camera feels like a 35 mm SLR, takes stills and video and saves it on digital tape. There are several outputs; svhs to TV, to vhs videorecorder, and the firewire output to the computer. The missing link was the software to edit the images and video, which is now available from radius.com
Motodv captures the video as quick time.
We have now upgraded this camera to the Canon XL1. This is more a broadcast quality camera that uses the same digital dv mini tapes.
You still have to use Adobe Premier to import the captured quick time video from radius. This is professional software with a significant learning curve, but the end result is a edited video with titles, transitions and endings. Premier now has a software plug in that allows you to output in mpeg 2 format. This is the full screen DVD quality video. Now we are getting close to matching the svhs video shown full screen.
Check the specifications of the Optura on http://www.canondv.com/optura/prodinfo/prodinfo.html
The best price for the Canon ($1,500) is from B&H in New York City or online at:
Digital Arthroscopy Video Capture
The Sony system works well for Jim Esch, see above.
The Sony DSR-20 is a digital vcr that captures on the same mini dv tape as the camera uses. A s-video line out from the arthroscopy camera goes to the back of the deck, similar to the s-vhs vcr that you now use. When you capture to the mini dv tape you can import the digital video into your computer using firewire and no significant loss of quality.
Digital Photos
This are some examples of digital photos taken with the Canon Optura, downloaded with firewire with PhotoShop 5.0 This camera obviously works best with lots of light. The size of the pictures are 640X480, satisfactory for the internet, but not for printing. (most of these photos are 100- 200 kb)
These are recent photos from the OR during a open tibial tubercle osteotomy. The zoom close ups are acceptable, but overall the quality is not as good as with the megapixel cameras such as the Olympus D600. (or the new Kodak DCS 560)Video advice from Paul Wright for the independent guy with no big av department, and a Canadian budget
Do it all on a laptop. Choose sony VAIO with firewire. I bought a PCG F270 as it had all the video feature. Just be sure and stay away from the CELERON processor. These do not handle video as well. Upgrade to 192 Ram or you may face a bottleneck if opening more that 2 clips in another programme at the same time.
A Digital Video 8 is the cheapest way to get into it and it HAS NO IMPROVEMENT IN IMAGE QUALITY until you get into a 3 chip camera. This will improve capture but not transfer of previous video footage. You are far better off to invest in a light than anything else to improve video quality. They are a pain to carry around however.
I know you get a lot of advice from a lot of people but I tried multiple systems and I think that if Jim Esch and I are both able to make it work that it must be really easy to use.
Digital Video
There are several different drivers for video. Your computer may have one of the following:
Video for windows - plays the .avi files
Cinepak - plays the cinepak file
Intel - plays the intel file - check to see if it is 5.0
Quick time - plays the quick time video
mpeg 1
mpeg 2 - this is the format for full screen DVD video. You need to have a software encoder on your laptop (a separate PC card from Margi will do this for older laptops) If your new laptop comes with a DVD player, you can play the video with it.Where do you check on your computer?
Go to - Start - control panel - multimedia devices - advanced - media control devices and video compression codecs. There you see a list of the video drivers that your computer has. Pick the video below to match.
Streaming video for the internet
What's the best format? I have tried several and at the present time favour the real media file. It seems to be the most popular on the news web sites. If you have any that you prefer, let me know
click here to view the patellofemoral video in indeo 5 progressive download file
click here to try mpeg 1
Click here for quick time
Click here for a real video on arthroscopy graft passage
You need to download the realplayer from:
For more information on mpeg video see:
http://www.gti.ssr.upm.es/~vadis/faq_MPEG/mpegfaq2.html
