Video Platforms For Handhelds
Until recently, the video encoder and compressionist has been responsible for encoding video into a variety of Internet-related formats—QuickTime, Real Player, Windows Media, MPEG-1, and MPEG-4—and addressing all the subtleties to ensure that the video looks as good at 56Kbps as it does at 500Kbps. If your focus has been DVD authoring, you've also had to master all of the nuances of MPEG-2—probably at variable bit rate—while taking into consideration the bit budget and destination media.
The latest Palm OS handhelds from Palm Computing and Sony, as well as the Pocket PC platforms from HP, Compaq, Casio, and others, have introduced yet another new and diverse set of platforms for which you must learn to encode and optimize video. These platforms' strengths, weaknesses, and subtleties vary more extensively than what producers of Web and disc-bound content have been used to, and have created for compressionists a rather formidable task.
Whatever the challenges, video producers should give serious consideration to the handheld format. The Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) platform represents a powerful communications vehicle; that is, a more portable and intimate way to view video and listen to audio. If you can remember back to the Internet's early days (circa 1994), no one seriously thought that watching video on a computer would prove to be so popular, let alone economically viable. There is no reason to think the same kind of revolution in communication can't happen with the PDA. Whether it's distributing a movie trailer, music video, or commercial spot, the Palm-based PDAs and their Pocket PC brethren provide myriad opportunities for content creators to get their messages out in a new medium.
WHO'S WHO IN PALM OS: TOOLSETS & PLAYERS
To encode video for playback on the Palm OS—which includes the original Palms as well as the latest m-series, Zire, and Tungsten models, Handspring's Treo and Prism, and the Sony Clié platform (the NX, NR, S, and T-series)—there are five applications to choose from: Firepad, Inc.'s FireConverter Desktop, Generic Media's gMovie Maker, Kinoma Producer, TealPoint Software's TealMovie, and Discreet's Cleaner 6.
Before you even begin using the toolsets discussed, remember you must follow the same protocols you would use for Internet and DVD video encoding:
• top-notch source material and encoding equipment
• a rich 720x486 D1 source, keeping the source capture raw and uncompressed
• audio at 16-bit/44kHz stereo
Even though your aim is to optimize video for a tiny handheld display, as opposed to a computer monitor, television, or home theater, you'll need the richest video and audio source to deliver professional-quality results.