Video in Interactive Media

Now the first question you could be asking yourself is, ‘how is video used in interactive media?’ well, this time round I intend to answer that.

What is the definition of Video in Interactive Media?

A method of communication in which the program's outputs depend on the user's inputs, and the user's 

inputs in turn affect the program's outputs. Interactive media engage the user and interact with him or her in a 

way that non-interactive media do not. Websites and video games are two common types of interactive media. Movies and most TV shows are generally not considered interactive media; however, shows that require audience participation could be considered interactive media.

(Investopedia.org)

A feature of media interactivity is that the machine and the person controlling it, both have a mutual role in the interactivity, they are both active. In fact, any form of interface between the end user and audience should be considered interactive media.

Where can I find it?

You can find Video in Interactive Media, everywhere! You can find it in the World Wide Web, e-mails, DVD’s, CD’s, Mobile Phones/Devices and even in your local supermarket.

Think about it, when you are using the self checkout at Tesco’s (or IKEA as shown here) the little woman on the screen showing you how to use it, is a video, and it’s interactive, therefore, it’s a Video in Interactive Media!

When you get a CD single (you don’t anymore, but you know what I mean), you generally get a bonus track hidden on your CD for use on a computer, usually a music video; this is another example, of Video in Interactive Media.

Video Games are another form of this, simply because it’s a Video, Game. A video, controlled by you, this, along with Websites makes for the 2 most commonly used Videos in Interactive Media. TV shows and Movies aren’t generally considered interactive media, unless there is a form of audience participation.

Platforms

Platforms, or simply put, what you view/use the media with. A very immediate example is this blog right here, this is a piece of interactive media, because you can comment on it. As previously mentioned, Websites are ranked 2# in the grand scheme of most commonly used interactive media. A popular platform these days are next gen phones, my current phone, Google Nexus, allows me to watch HD YouTube videos, stream from any Java/Flash video streaming site, watch Sky Sports, Sky 1 etc, and play games such as Fifa 12 and Madden 12. A drawback of using mobile phones for Interactive Media such as Internet TV and Video Games is it is hugely consuming on the battery. Currently, if I play a game such as Fifa on my phone, it will drain 10% of my battery after around 5 minutes of game play, this is where a similar platform comes into play. The iPod touch was developed for just this type of stuff, with a more equipped battery, you can watch movies and play games on long journeys (going on holiday) and still have enough battery for your wait for the bags.

But with the introduction of the new Duracell Mobile Charger, you can charge your phone out and about using 4 AA batterys.

There are also other mobile devices offering this kind of service, Tablets such as the iPad and Tablet PC’s allowing for full windows experience can vary in quality, as some screens can barely seen under light, and batteries can be very temperamental with these. Another drawback with Tablets is their size, although this could be considered an advantage (bigger screen for movies and games).

Lossy Vs Lossless

This is when stuff starts getting considerably more difficult and somewhat a bit more boring (for most of you). So let’s start with their contexts, compression.

What is compression? Compression is a way of making a file smaller whilst minimizing quality that is being lost; here is an example of an uncompressed image, against a compressed image.

So what is lossy compression? Lossy compression is a form of data enconding, or compressing, of which some of the image is ‘lost’. The procedure aims to minimize the amount of data that need to be held, handled, and/or transmitted by a computer.

The advantage of lossy methods over lossless methods is that in some cases a lossy method can produce a much smaller compressed file than any lossless method, while still meeting the requirements of the application.

The different versions of the photo of the dog demonstrate how much data can be dispensed with, and how the images become progressively coarser as the data that made up the original one is discarded (lost). Typically, a substantial amount of data can be discarded before the result is sufficiently degraded to be noticed by the user, repeatedly compressing and decompressing the file will cause it to progressively lose quality. This is in contrast with lossless data compression, where data will not be lost via the use of such a procedure.

You can lossy compress 3 types of media, not just images, you can also compress music and video, popular formats such as MPEG-4, H.264, JPEG, AAC, MP3, AMR and OGG can be lossy compressed.

Lossless

Lossless compression is another type of data compression which allows the exact data to be reconstructed from the compressed data. The term ‘lossless’ is in juxtaposition to lossy data compression, which only allows an approximation of the original data to be reconstructed, in exchange for better compression rates. Lossless data compression is used in many applications. For example, it is used in the ZIP file format, winRAR and the MP3 encoder, LAMEMp3.

Lossless compression is used in cases where it is important that the original and the decompressed data be identical, or where deviations from the original data could be detrimental.

Some image file formats, like PNG or GIF, use only lossless compression, while others like TIFF and MNG may use either lossless or lossy methods. Lossless audio formats are most often used for archiving or production purposes, with smaller lossy audio files being typically used on portable players and in other cases where storage space is limited and/or exact replication of the audio is unnecessary.

Formats which use Lossless compression include, but are not limited too; FLAC, REAL, WMA, PNG, TIFF, Quicktime, MPEG.

The compression rate is 5 to 6 % in lossy compression while in lossless compression it is about 50 to 60 % of the actual file.

Video File Formats

Let’s talk video file formats, below is a small list I composed myself of the most common and frequently used video formats.

·         .3gp – Previously, the most common video format for mobile phones, lossy compression is used, for the file has to be very small sized to send in MMS messages which generally have a very, very small cap on what you can send, size wise.

3gp - The Best Quality, ever.

·         .AVI – Audio Video Interleave, introduced by Microsoft in 1992, this format has become synonymous with PC’s around the world, AVI was not intended to contain video using any compression technique which requires access to future video frame data beyond the current frame. AVI is currently a lossless compression format.

·         .MPEG-4 – Introduced by Apple, is the premier HD codec for video files, as it allows a huge data rate at a lossless compression.

·         .WMV – Windows Media Video, once again, introduced by Microsoft, it was released for use in internet streaming appilications (more on this later) and as a competitor for RealPlayer, through standardization, WMV has become the go to choice for encoding HD DVD and Blu Ray.

To Conclude

A few last notes to consider, internet streaming.

Internet streaming really has come to the forefront of how media is displayed to a mass audience, with innovations such as BBC I-Player and 4OD, internet streaming really is big business. However, what people need to consider when creating a stream is, resolution and bit rate.
Generally, the greater the resolution, the greater the quality, as long as your codec and file can be stretched to this size with lossless compression, and if the file is native to a resolution of the size, for example, the quality lost with a video of a native 800x480, and you want to display in 1920x1080, you will have a hell of a problem stretching it to that size without loosing any quality.


Bit-rate, bit-rate is a rate of how much information can be transferred at any one time, for example, Blu Ray transfers at 40Mbit/S, that's a whole forty megabytes a second, the size of 13 average length mp3's, where as SDTV (freeview, standard non HD channels) transfer at a meer 3.5Mbit/s. So what do you do? Stream at 720p quality but sacrifice a whole 19Mbit/s bandwith? When the U.K average is 8.2 MB/s internet speed on Virgin Media?
You will have to wait for the programme to buffer, for a long while.


I hope this has been helpful, entertaining or just simply something to take your mind of doing this bit of work yourself.


Cheers.