Video format for Powerpoint

Badrakumar wrote:
I have a DVD recorder which records my endoscopic operation in a DVD recorder. I want to edit these videos and put it in powerpoint for presentation.

The maximum resolution will be dependant upon the maximum resolution being recorded by the Endoscopic to the DVD, of which, I am assuming results in a regular playable DVD (PAL or NTSC, Standard Definition)?

I tried editing with iMovie. If I store the edited video in .mov format I was able to play it on the slide but the resolution was poor with pixcelation. If I store in DV format, resolution is good but Powerpoint does not support.

When you are exporting from iMovie, what are you selecting? If the results are poor via "Export Movie..." option try "Export using Quicktime..." and the selected export shouldn't be an interlaced codec and the dimensions also shouldn't exceed that of the original.

Ok, I've tried finding information about Powerpoint, but Microsoft doesn't make this easy, so a quick google reveals that to be truly compatible the exported file should be .wmv, but others such as mpg, mp4, mov are hit and miss.

So you may want to consider the Flip4Mac ( http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_studio.htm) and quicktime pro if you don't already have it.

There maybe someone else out there that has more experience than I do with getting clips to work with PowerPoint.

Badrakumar wrote:
Recently I read in the forum that DVD disc recordings are not editable and they are recommending recording in the DV cassette which can be exported in avi format which can be edited.

DVD .VOB (MPEG-2) files do need to be converted to an editable format, but for use in iMovie the video footage needs to be DV Stream (one track for video and audio) and shouldn't be held in a .AVI container, but either by itself as a .dv file or .mov container.

Badrakumar wrote:
Suppose If I have to use final cut express (FCE) which format should I use.

Since your footage is in HDV, then to use it in FCE the footage needs to be converted to AIC - 1080i50 which is PAL.

Will .avi work in FCE I am planning to buy a mini DV cassette camcorder for this purpose. What do you think

.AVI is not a native editing format, and is no longer a real supported media container or format, so it will need to be converted to DV/HDV/AVCHD which are native to FCE.

If you decide to record directly to a video camera rather than to a DVD, then get yourself a HDV camera that records to miniDV tapes and has a firewire or iLink port - FCE will do the conversion for you. This will enable you to directly capture the footage straight into FCE whilst maintaining the high resolution from your medical equipment.

i.e Canon HV20 might be a good starting place for you.

Or another possible option would be to record directly from the medical equipment into FCE via Canopus ADVC 110 or the more expensive and much better ADVC-300 @ http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC300/index.php

[quote="peterjohndean"].AVI is not a native editing format, and is no longer a real supported media container or format ...[/quote]

Not true. There is Sheervideo ([http://www.bitjazz.com/en/products/sheervideo>link[/url]) and other people interested in porting Huffyuv ( link) and both are .avi containers and designed for editing. Huffyuv may not be ready for work on a Mac but the .AVI continer is far from dead.


That said, you are best off recording in something other than MPEG-2 (DVD Video). Using a separate HD Camera will give you much better results than the original DVD.

When adding video to Power Point, be careful of using Power Point to resize the video. Microsoft does not know how to re-size any image or video.