Help for Video Background, Stock Video and Stock Footage

What Is MPEG2?

MPEG2 is a video compression codec that is the same format used on commercial DVDs. It's also commonly used in satallite tv, DVRs, and digital camcorders. Most video related software made today supports MPEG2, but please check to make sure that your software is MPEG2 compatible, or whether your MPEG2 feature needs to be unlocked by contacting the maker of your software.

What is a codec?

Codec stands for compression/decompression or encode/decode used to compress video and/or audio information so that it is easier to deliver to the end user's system. In order to make large video clips more feasible, compression is necessary.

Playing Video Footage in MPEG2 Formats

Even though you may have DVD authoring or video editing software installed that supports MPEG2, you may not be able to view these files in MS Media Player. Many sites on the internet have free MPEG2 codecs available. This free MPEG-2 codec will allow you to open MPEG-2(DVD,SVCD,VOB) files in MS Media Player, plus a host of other programs. You may need this codec for playing our video backgrounds and stock footage mpeg2 files.

Can I use your video backgrounds as a PowerPoint background?

Absolutely. The WMV versions of our video backgrounds work great in PowerPoint and are your best option for this software. However, it is important to note that PowerPoint does not support text over video for any video format.

Inserting video footage clips into PowerPoint

The Windows Media Video (.wmv) format may be used as PowerPoint video background. Simply download the video file you want by clicking on the link 'Windows Media Video File' and selecting 'Save', or by right-clicking and selecting 'Save Target As', then save your file to your hard drive. Then insert the .wmv video background into your powerpoint presentation.
• Inserting video as an element:
In PowerPoint, go to the top menu, click 'Insert', select 'Movies and Sound', then click on 'Movie from File'. Select one of the .wmv files that you have downloaded. This will bring up a requester asking "Do you want your movie to play automatically in the slide show?" Click 'Yes' if you do, or click 'No' if you want to start it yourself by clicking on the movie while the presentation is going. The video will now be an object that you can drag, resize and add a border around. However, it is important to note that PowerPoint does not support text over video for any video format. Stock video and stock footage can be added to PowerPoint presentations using this method.
• Embedding video:
This method inserts Media Player controls below the video footage clip with a playback status bar and the file name. This is helpful if the video is longer since it allows you to pause to make a point or answer a question. Click on 'Insert', then 'Object'. A dialogue box asks you to select from a list of object types. Choose 'Media Clip'. This will open another interface. Go to the 'Insert Clip' menu, then to either 'Directshow' or 'Video for Windows" to browse for your desired clip. Depending on your version of PowerPoint and what type of file your looking for you may need to tell Windows to 'Show All Files' to find your clip. Another benefit of this method is that you can do clip-trimming within the Media Player window. However, it is important to note that PowerPoint does not support text over video for any video format. Stock footage and stock videos that are embedded will provide more functionality and options then inserting them.

Text over video in PowerPoint

PowerPoint™ does not allow video to play behind text or other elements; you can place an element or text in front of the video, but when it plays that item is forced behind the video. This can work well if you're putting a title over the video and want it to disappear when you manually start it. In the 'Picture Toolbar', you can change the video color to be 'Grayscale', 'Black & White', or 'Washout'. This color effect will vanish once the video plays so it's best to use when you plan on starting the video manually. One work-around is to import one of our WMV video backgrounds into a video editing application (Windows™ Movie Maker comes standard with XP™ and iMovie™ comes with Mac™ OS X), then add your text and export it back out as a WMV file. The new video footage can then be used to give your presentation the look you want.

Do you have PAL versions of Video Backgrounds?

For the time being we are not offering PAL versions of stock videos, video backgrounds or video footage.

You say these loop, so why for me do they only play once then stop?

If you're playing our video backgrounds in an external player such as Windows Media™ Player or QuickTime™ Player, then check your options or preferences for a loop setting that can be switched on. Likewise, in DVD authoring software you can have the video as a looping background on a menu page, but you may need to set an option to have it keep looping. In video editing software, you can make the clip loop exactly the number of times you want by copying and pasting the video clip end-to-end along the timeline. If you're using stock footage or video footage for a video background you'll probably want it to loop and will have to implement one of these solutions.

What is the resolution and specs of your Video Footage, Stock Video and Video Backgrounds?

QuickTime™ (.mov) - 720 x 480 DV NTSC, Photo-JPEG at 99% quality, 24 bit color, progressive frame format, 29.97 FPS, cross platform flattened

Windows Media™ Video (.wmv) - 640 x 480 square pixel, progressive frame format, 29.97 FPS, 1.21 Mbps

Why 720 X 480 for your QuickTime™ files?

720 x 480 is a DV NTSC standard frame size common for many video cameras and editing software - just off from the traditional 720 x 486 screen standard. 720 x 480 is well within the "broadcast safe" boundary, which means when played on a monitor or TV screen, the outer edges are just outside the "frame" of the screen - which crops off about10% of the visible image.

Why do you use QuickTime™ for your higher quality format?

QuickTime™ is an industry standard that has become widely used in most nonlinear editing systems. All of our clips are QuickTime™ movies which means the Photo-JPEG codecs are wrapped in the QuickTime™ playback architecture. Any recent version of QuickTime™ installed on Mac™ or PC based edit systems will play our clips.

How can I convert the video to another format or as an image sequence?

If you own a video editing application, it's possible you'll be able to save in another format. If you don't have such a program, RAD Game Tools (www.radgametools.com) has a free downloadable program that converts a number of formats to a different format. We suggest using the QuickTime™ version of our videos to convert into another format in order to maintain the best quality.

Will Windows Movie Maker play your video backgrounds?

The only type of video file we have that we recommend using in Windows Movie Maker is the WMV format. Windows Movie Maker will not recognize QuickTime files, and it can be problematic playing MPEG2 files. Here's a quote from Microsoft's site, "The MPEG2 format has several codecs that are not supported by Windows Movie Maker. Even if you have downloaded and installed these codecs on your computer, files in the MPEG2 format may not work in Windows Movie Maker or may cause other problems. Converting the MPEG2 format to another compatible format may work for most MPEG2 files. However, some MPEG2 codecs include copy protection schemes that will prevent you from converting the file."

Will these videos work on a Mac?

Yes, the stock footage, video footage and video backgrounds that are in the QuickTime format will work well on a Mac, in fact QuickTime video files we provide are the best option for using on a Mac. QuickTime and Mac computers are both products of Apple computers and are meant to be used together.

Can I use your video backgrounds for my website?

Our video backgrounds would not work well as a website background, and it is unlikely they would work at all unless heavily modified. Our video backgrounds, stock video and video footage are intended for editors, DVD creators, and PowerPoint users. Due to the files sizes of our videos, using them on a website would greatly increase the time it takes to download the web page.

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