Unit 5: Audio and video
Nature of sound
Vibration Ear
(mechanical wave: (outer, middle and
propagation inner ear, nerves
through a medium, and electrical signal
amplitude, to the brain)
frecuency, …)
Sound that is perceptible by humans has
frequencies from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz
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Analog-to-digital conversion
Sound is an analog parameter (infinite number
of values). The computer works with digital
information (a limited set of values: 0 and 1)
Analog Sampling Digital
signal and coding signal
01101100
11000110
...
Time
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Summary:
• To store sound on the computer (capture)
we have to digitize it (Analog-to-Digital
conversion)
01101100
• To play sound (eg a song) on the
computer, the opposite process must be
carried out (Digital-to-Analog conversion)
01101100
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• To capture sound we can use a
microphone and a sound card.
The sound card has:
• Microphone input
• Speakers or headphones output
• Line input: to connect the computer to a
sound source.
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Technical vocabulary
• Podcast: Digital audio file or recording that can
be downloaded from a website.
• Streaming: Technique to display an audio or
video file without downloading the entire file. It
means listening to music or watching video in
‘real time’ (ie live online).
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Technical vocabulary
• Mono/stereo sound: monophonic sound is
recorded with only one microphone.
Stereophonic sound creates the impression of
sound coming from different places (like in a
concert hall) by recording from two independent
channels, left and right.
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Audio file formats
• aac (advanced audio coding file): similar to mp3
but with higher quality.
• mid/midi (musical instrument digital interface): it
does not contain actual audio, but audio data
so that the MIDI musical instrument can play
the music.
• mp3 (moving picture expert group layer 3):
compressed audio format with near-CD quality
in a file roughly 1/10 the size of a wav file. The
quality depends on the “bitrate”, eg 128, 160
and 192 kbps.
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• ogg (ogg vorbis compressed audio file):
unpatented and free compressed audio
format. Similar to mp3, with higher quality.
• ra/ram (real audio file/media): Used by Real
Player. Compressed. It allows streaming.
• wav (wave audio file): standard digital
audio file format. CD quality.
Uncompressed.
• wma (windows media audio): Compressed
with Windows Media (Microsoft)
compression. Similar to mp3.
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Video
To capture video we can use:
• Digital video camera: records on Memory
card.
• WebCam
• Digital video recorder (DVR): records on
Hard disk drive and Memory card.
• Video capture card: for PC.
• Smart TV: records on USB drive.
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Technical vocabulary
• Frame: each of the still pictures or images that a video is
composed of. Frames are shown one after another at
high speed.
• TDT: digital terrestrial television. There are several
standards around the world with different and incompatible
features: DVB-T/DVB-T2 (Europe), ATSC (North America),
ISDB-T (South America and Japan) and DTMB (China).
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Technical vocabulary
• codec: software used in multimedia files
(audio and video) to encode or compress
data in the origin for transmission, and to
decode or decompress in the destination
or receiving end. The purpose of the
codec is to reduce file size.
• Format conversion: wmv avi or mp4,
with HandBrake, VLC, Format Factory, ...
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Video file formats
• asf (advanced systems format file):
developed by Microsoft for streaming. It
can be compressed using a variety of video
codecs.
• avi (audio video interleave file): created by
Microsoft. It can be compressed using a
variety of video codecs. It uses less
compression than similar formats such as
mpeg and mov.
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• divx (divx-encoded movie file): High quality
and high compression. It supports video
resolutions up to 1080 HD.
• mkv (Matroska video file): open-source
multimedia container format. Typically
used for movies.
• mov (Apple Quick Time movie): developed
by Apple.
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• mpeg/mpg (MPEG video file): standard format
from the MPEG (Moving Picture Expert
Group). Types of compression: MPEG-1 or
MPEG-2.
• mp4 (MPEG-4 video file): standard format
from the MPEG, similar to mov and qt,
commonly used for streaming video on the
Internet.
• rm (Real Media file): used by Real Player. It
allows streaming.
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• vob (DVD video object file): DVD format
including video, audio, and subtitles. Usually
formatted as MPEG-2.
• webm (webm video file): open-source format
developed by Google, designed for sharing
video on the web. The video is compressed
using a VP8 or VP9 codec.
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• wmv (windows media video file): Video file
based on the Microsoft asf format.
Compressed with Windows Media
compression.
• xvid (xvid-encoded video file): open-source
video codec published under the GNU GPL
license. Compressed as MPEG-4. Allows for
faster data transmission and more efficient
storage of video files.
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Audio and video editing
In this unit we will learn how to use two free
editors:
– Audacity (audio editor)
– Kdenlive (video editor)
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