.KEYWORD tealmovie
.FLYINGHEAD PALMPOWER CLASSIC
.TITLE Movies for your low-cost Palm handheld
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Because Palm recently introduced a low-cost color device, their new m130 handheld, we feel it’s important to showcase some interesting applications. Although we originally ran this article last year, it’s still interesting — and now relevant to a wider audience. There’s a very prolific developer named Vince Lee who’s written a whole bunch of wonderful software. Last year, he figured out how get video clips to play on handhelds (including synchronized sound). In this PalmPower Classic (updated and re-edited for this issue), you can learn about the potential applications of this technology and get some tips on how to best take advantage of TealMovie, his cool software.
.AUTHOR Vince Lee
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.H1 About this PalmPower classic
Because Palm recently introduced a low-cost color device, their new m130 handheld, we feel it’s important to showcase some interesting applications. Although we originally ran this article last year, it’s still interesting — and now relevant to a wider audience. There’s a very prolific developer named Vince Lee who’s written a whole bunch of wonderful software. Last year, he figured out how get video clips to play on handhelds (including synchronized sound). In this PalmPower Classic (updated and re-edited for this issue), you can learn about the potential applications of this technology and get some tips on how to best take advantage of TealMovie, his cool software.
.END_SIDEBAR
Movies on a Palm handheld? A few years ago, most people wouldn’t have thought it even possible, but the flurry of product releases in the past years have shown that it can not only be done, but it’s a hotbed of activity and the newest "cool" thing. At the PalmSource 2000 developer’s conference in Santa Clara, no fewer than four companies were exhibiting some form of movie playback technology. Curiously, their booths were all located in close proximity to each other, apparently by pure coincidence.
.H1 What’s it good for?
Sure, playing a small video clip on the Palm handheld makes for a really great demo, but what’s it really good for? If you talk to some of the companies working on the technology, they often talk about its use in corporate training, scientific visualization, and education. While this type of copy has probably helped make handheld video the current darling of some hi-tech investors, is the ability to view a video clip on a handheld compelling enough to have a real, practical use?
At the very least, movies on a Palm computer have undeniable "wow" power. And perhaps herein lies its greatest potential. Whenever I start to play a video clip on my Palm handheld, it’s amazing to watch people gather around in wonder and disbelief. "I didn’t know a Palm handheld could do that," is what they almost always say. And if they have Palm units themselves, they inevitably follow with "Hey, can you beam that to me?"
This kind of excitement opens up the possibility for creating a whole new channel for content distribution, where worthwhile mini-movies and clips are enthusiastically shown, copied, and traded between Palm handheld owners. From a commercial point of view, this suggests that a standard should be supported by Sony, Handspring, TRG [now HandEra], and Palm itself. Imagine watching a full-length movie loaded onto a 1 gigabyte micro drive plugged into a TRGpro [and now, in 2002, you can put huge movies on an SD card and plug them into almost any modern Palm-branded handheld]. You could board a plane carrying a whole film library in a single pocket.
.H1 State of the software
A number of competing technologies have emerged on the Palm OS platform, which is surprising given the number of issues that need to be addressed to provide a viable movie solution. These issues include size of the completed files, quality of the compressed imagery, smoothness of playback, usability of the compression software, and support for synchronized sound. My company, TealPoint Software, has developed TealMovie (at http://www.tealpoint.com/softmovi.htm), which we humbly consider to be the first product to provide a true all-around solution. It runs on all Palm models and supports sound on all models newer than the original Palm III. In fact, it currently is the only product to offer any kind of sound support at all. Best of all, TealMovie can be used on a 30-day free trial basis, so you can try it out and evaluate the technology before purchasing it.
.H1 Making movies
TealMovie files are made using TealPoint’s TealMovie Encoder, which comes as part of the $19.95 TealMovie Encoder/player package. It’s pictured in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A Create TealMovie files using TealMovie Encoder.
The TealMovie Encoder runs under Windows and reads in standard AVI files. The encoder provides a good number of configurable options and can perform any necessary scaling, cropping, or color processing. Still, a few hints and tricks can help to get optimal results.
.H1 Video source material
As is the case whenever working with video, it’s always best to start with the cleanest source material available. If your original footage is in a video format, you can capture it using a video capture card and export it to AVI format, which all PC video programs support.
When taping new footage, pay careful attention to lighting and focus to make sure you have sharp, high-contrast video with a minimum of graininess and video noise, as these can be amplified in the compression process. If working with files already in a digital format, beware that the footage is probably already compressed and that any noise or glitches (artifacts) introduced by the compression used can look much worse when converted to a Palm handheld. Thus, when generating your own AVI files, it’s usually best to save them as "uncompressed" AVIs, as this will ensure that no additional noise is added to the image as part of the AVI-writing process.
If the quality of the video leaves something to be desired, you can sometimes compensate by using a third-party video processing tool. Use one to make sure that the blacks are a full, dark black, the whites a full, bright white, and the colors true. TealPoint provides a link to the freeware program VirtualDub (at http://www.virtualdub.org), which has some powerful image processing and conversion functions, including the ability to convert MPEG files to AVI. A slight warning, though: VirtualDub’s interface takes some getting used to. Video newbies might be more comfortable with a commercial package with a comprehensive manual like Adobe Premiere (at http://www.adobe.com), which is a pricey but powerful industry standard.
.H1 Audio source material
Finding a good audio source is just as important as video. Musical soundtracks work well on the Palm handheld, and there are many sources for music suitable for this purpose. If you plan to upload your work to the Web, you’ll need to find a sound recording you can legally distribute. While there are almost no examples of genuine public domain sound recordings, there are many sources where you can license audio tracks for one-time fees of as little as $15 per track. To find some, search online for "royalty free music."
Audio source material can sometimes benefit from some processing as well. Voices, particularly deep ones, can be hard to understand on the Palm handheld’s small speakers. To compensate, you can use any audio package to equalize or boost the volume of a sound file. Sound files on the PC are typically stored in .WAV format. The TealMovie Encoder can do some basic audio boosting as well and can read audio from either an AVI or a separate wave file. The Audio options screen is pictured in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B The TealMovie Encoder gives you a few audio options.
.H1 Encoding options
The Encoding options screen, pictured in Figure C, lets you adjust the encoding speed, color, data rate, and frame rate.
.FIGPAIR C Adjust the encoding settings with the Encoding options screen.
The settings you choose depend on a number of factors that I’ll outline below.
.H2 File size
TealMovie can compress videos to surprisingly small files. The nice thing about the compression scheme is that its data rate is variable, allowing you to adjust the trade off between file size and image quality. The TealMovie Encoder supports rates from 600 to 3000 bytes per frame. The default setting is 1600 bytes per frame, which gives good results and works out to about one megabyte per minute at 10 frames per second. While your tendency might be to always use the maximum bit rate setting, remember that if the file is too large, few people will be able to install and enjoy it.
.H2 Frame rate
TealMovie supports different frame rates, depending on the Palm handheld model. The Palm III can run up to 10 frames per second, while other models can run up to 15 or 25fps (frames per second) depending on video screen size and presence of audio. Selecting lower frame rates when encoding leads to smaller video files, while higher ones provide smoother video playback. Due to the screen persistence, movies on monochrome Palm handhelds look perfectly smooth at 10fps, while color Palm handhelds look fine at 10fps, but slightly better at 15fps.
TealMovie lets you choose from two frame rate options. In automatic mode, the encoder selects the highest frame rate below 18fps that divides evenly into the frame rate of the source video. For NTSC (National Television System Committee) video, which normally runs at 29.9fps, the resulting TealMovie is 10fps. You can also specify a frame rate manually. TealPoint recommends using a 10fps frame rate, which seems to work well for most videos. For fast motion movies with fast cuts, though, it might be worth running at 15fps instead, if the 50% gain in file size is not a problem.
.H1 Screen shape
One issue with converting existing footage to the Palm handheld is the shape of the screen. A Palm computer display is a square 160 x 160 pixels, while source video is typically rectangular. To convert a movie, there are two standard ways to work around this. First, the source imagery can be cropped, cutting off the left and right sides of the image to make the viewable area square. This option makes good use of the Palm handheld display, but some important imagery can be lost on either side.
Alternatively, the image can be shrunken to fit entirely inside the square screen, with the extra space on the top and bottom filled with empty black bands. This option, called letterboxing, guarantees that the whole original image is kept, but the resulting imagery is significantly smaller than with the cropping option, and some details can be hard to see. TealMovie addresses the issue by providing additional flexibility, allowing you to choose either method or any combination of cropping and letterboxing to find a happy medium most suitable for the source.
The full screen option is usually good for informal videos such as home movies or movies designed for the square screen, while letterboxing is preferred when converting over existing pieces, where framing of the footage or titles place important details at the edges of the screen.
.H1 Putting it all together
Creating a TealMovie file is a fairly simple process. Once you’ve specified your conversion settings, your source AVI file, and the source audio file–which is typically either the same AVI or a separate WAV file–simply press the "Encode" button to begin. The encoding process is fairly fast, typically taking a few minutes for a one minute-long video. A Palm-format file is created, which you install on the Palm handheld for playing on the TealMovie viewer.
.H1 Now playing
If you’d like to check out some examples, the TealPoint Web site has an extensive archive of TealMovie files at http://www.tealpoint.com/movies.htm. Figure D shows a still from a video called "Best of Milan" as it would appear on a color handheld.
.FIG D Fashion designers can use TealMovie as a mobile showcase.
This TealMovie file was put together by CinemaElectric.com at http://www.cinemaelectric.com. It’s a very cool, fast cutting video of models showing off the latest Spring 2001 fashions in Milan, accompanied by appropriate techno music. It’s a good example of how fashion designers could use TealMovie as a mobile showcase.
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The same could be true of automobile makers, as evidenced by this still of a BMW commercial pictured in Figure E.
.FIG E Car makers can display their latest models with TealMovie.
It doesn’t have to be all business, though. You can use TealMovie to amuse your friends. Figure F shows a still from a video called KungFu, created by John Schafer. It’s a funny parody of the Kung Fu genre, complete with voices and sound effects.
.FIG F Everyone was KungFu fighting.
The tips I outlined above are intended to provide a few pointers for creating movies on your Palm handheld, but nothing beats the best teacher: experience. If you have an idea, create it, share it, and learn from it. Popular Web sites like PalmGear (at http://www.palmgear.com) and Handango (at http://www.handango.com) accept Palm movie file postings, and uploading your work there can bring you a wide audience, valuable feedback for your efforts, and maybe a little fame too. Good luck!
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on TealMovie, visit http://www.tealpoint.com/softmovi.htm.
For the TealMovie archives, visit http://www.tealpoint.com/movies.htm.
For more information on VirtualDub, visit http://www.virtualdub.org.
For more information on Adobe Premiere, visit http://www.adobe.com.
For more information on CinemaElectric.com, visit http://www.cinemaelectric.com.
For more information on PalmGear, visit http://www.palmgear.com
For more information on Handango, visit http://www.handango.com.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
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.BIO Vince Lee founded TealPoint (at http://www.tealpoint.com), where he’s led the company’s development of products such as TealDoc, TealInfo, TealMovie, and TealPaint. Prior to entering the Palm world, Vince was a Project Leader at LucasArts Entertainment Company, where he created the hit titles Rebel Assault and Rebel Assault II. Vince has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley and currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6fe5b
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