query: digital video

[Ulrike Zeshan]

Dear colleagues,

this is a call for technical expertise from people on the list, of which
there is a lot out there, I am sure. In short, the problem is this: I have
so far used analogue video recording (VHS), but I want to go digital now.
Since I don't have a lot of technical knowledge, it is a major and very
time-consuming problem for me to find out what will be best for me to get.
Of course, salespeople are not used to people using video for sign language
research, so who could give you better advice than other sign linguists
working with digital video. Based on what I need to do with my videos (see
below), I would like to invite your suggestions about what hardware and
software you think is good, or you are using yourselves. If there are
enough responses, I will summarize for the list.

Here is what I will need to do:
- digitize some old VHS videos, as well as outputting some digital video in
an analogue format; that is, I would like a system where the input can be
either analogue or digital and the output can also be either analogue or
digital;
- edit video, including cutting up the video in smaller pieces (files),
fade-in/fade-out, sub-titles, removing the audio (voice) or adding on a
voice, adding written titles in between, capturing single frames and saving
them in separate files; this is for producing educational materials in
India and for getting examples to go with published articles and books;
- I will want to use some sign language analysis program on the digital
video data; my favorite so far is the analysis-cum-database program they
are developing in Hamburg, but I am not sure if it is ready yet, otherwise
either SignStream or SignWriter may do;
- of course also video filming in a sign language research setting.

I am using the following hardware:
Macintosh PowerBook G3, HD 3GB, FireWire and USB connections,
CD-ROM/DVD-drive, MacOS 9

Apart from general suggestions, I am specifically interested in these
questions:
- Do I need a special video editing program, or can the functions I need be
covered by camera-internal functions or functions in a
SignStream/SignWriter-like program?
- If I should have an editing program, which ones do people use and what
are the experiences?
- What is the most efficient way to store large amounts of video data (I
will have at least 10 hours of video data each from my two next field
trips)? Store it on a CD-ROM? Record it back onto the video camera?
- Are there any problems of compatibility that one should aware of? I
wouldn't want to get any hardware or software that is not going to work
together with the rest of my system.

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I am sure other people have gone
through some of the same questions when going digital, and others may be
thinking about them. For the benefit of the latter, I will summarize
responses for the list.

Best regards,

Ulrike Zeshan


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Dr. Ulrike Zeshan
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
Institute for Advanced Study
La Trobe University
Victoria 3086, Australia
ph. +61-3-94673084
fax +61-3-94673053
u.zeshan at latrobe.edu.au
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