Creator (software)

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For other uses, see Creation (disambiguation).
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (September 2008)

Creator was a software multimedia authoring application, originally designed for the
purpose of creating 'point of sale/point of information' (POS/POI) systems. The program
was designed and developed by Nigel Pearce whilst working for the monitor
manufacturer Microvitec.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 History
• 2 Description
• 3 References

• 4 External links

[edit] History
A predecessor of Creator was written for the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford in 1991. It was
written in Turbo Pascal for DOS and ran on touchscreen driven PCs housed in interactive
booths within the theatre foyer. The application allowed visitors to browse the program
for forthcoming shows, to book seats using a visual seating plan and to look for
restaurants in the locality. It was developed by Brian Lumb of Visual Solutions (Saltaire),
who along with Nigel Pearce helped to implement the working solution. Much of the
coding logic within the application was based upon the research by Pearce for his BSc
thesis: 'Point of Information Systems' undertaken at Sheffield Hallamshire University in
1992.

When Visual Solutions dissolved in 1992, Lumb brought the "touch interactive software:
concept to Microvitec where Pearce evolved the application into a Windows based
version using a mixture of the programming languages Visual Basic and C. This software
became the product known as Creator. Version 1 was released in late 1993 followed by
Creator Professional in 1994.[1] [2] [3] [4][5]

Creator was distributed by Cosmi UK between 1994-1995.

In 1995, Plymouth County Council adopted Creator as its general point of information
system across the city and was implemented using a network of touch screen driven PCs
connected via modems. The satellite systems received updates from the central control
server on a daily basis.

In 1996 Microvitec were suffering significantly in the sector and the rights to the Creator
application were sold to newly formed interactive whiteboard manufacturer Promethean
after Mike Lawton (the then Promethean MD) saw Creator demonstrated at Ceebit in the
same year. Pearce joined Promethean at the same time.

Promethean continued to maintain the Creator product and to support the user base until
mid 1999.

[edit] Description
Creator used a "book and page" system. The "book" was a Creator file containing one or
more pages where each page comprised a set of objects such as text, images and video.
Each object could have up to two programmable actions which when clicked upon could
link the user to another page in the book, change the appearance of another object on the
page or play a video or sound file (amongst other actions).

The program implemented the feature whereby each object on the page could be made to
replicate itself in a defined grid formation. Additionally each object could contain a list of
content references such as text strings, images or external file references which would
then be automatically displayed inside the replicated objects within the grid. This feature
provided the user with the ability to create interactive menus and scrollable data lists.

The application could run either unattended in "slide show" mode or be driven
interactively via touch screen, mouse and/or keyboard. Creator included database
searching techniques via SQL queries on the book data. The program also utilised
numerous page transitions and hi-resolution, true colour graphics to attract its target
audience. The Creator Server extension allowed for a system administrator to update
book and page content on any client machine across a LAN or to remote machines via
modem dial up.

[edit] References
1. ^ David Bradwell, "How To Develop your own multimedia software", Article,
What PC, Issue 74, September 1995
2. ^ Mike Magee, "From Here to Multimedia", Feature, Practical PC, Volume 4,
Issue 6, June 1995
3. ^ Paul Stevens, "Do It Yourself Multimedia', Article, PC Plus, Issue 106, August
1995
4. ^ John Taylor, "DIY Multimedia', Feature, CD-ROM User, Issue 10, May 1995
 5. ^ Simon Williams, "Creator", Windows Pro Choice Feature, CD-ROM Today,
Issue 16, August

Codec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about encoding and decoding a digital data stream. For other uses, see
Codec (disambiguation).

A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital

data stream or signal.[1][2][3][4] The word codec is a portmanteau of 'compressor-
decompressor' or, more commonly, 'coder-decoder'. A codec (the program) should not be
confused with a coding or compression format or standard – a format is a document (the
standard), a way of storing data, while a codec is a program (an implementation) which
can read or write such files. In practice "codec" is sometimes used loosely to refer to
formats, however.

A codec encodes a data stream or signal for transmission, storage or encryption, or

decodes it for playback or editing. Codecs are used in videoconferencing, streaming
media and video editing applications. A video camera's analog-to-digital converter
(ADC) converts its analog signals into digital signals, which are then passed through a
video compressor for digital transmission or storage. A receiving device then runs the
signal through a video decompressor, then a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for analog
display. The term codec is also used as a generic name for a video conferencing unit.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Related concepts
• 2 Compression quality
• 3 See also
o 3.1 Comparisons

• 4 References

[edit] Related concepts

An endec (encoder/decoder) is a similar yet different concept mainly used for hardware.
In the mid 20th century, a "codec" was hardware that coded analog signals into Pulse-
code modulation (PCM) and decoded them back. Late in the century the name came to be
applied to a class of software for converting among digital signal formats, and including
compander functions.
A modem is a contraction of modulator/demodulator (modem was called dataset by
telcos) and converted digital data from computers to analog for phone line transmission.
On the receiving end the analog was converted back to digital. Codecs do the opposite
(convert audio analog to digital and then computer digital sound back to audio).

An audio codec converts analog audio signals into digital signals for transmission or
storage. A receiving device then converts the digital signals back to analog using an
audio decompressor, for playback. An example of this are the codecs used in the sound
cards of personal computers.

[edit] Compression quality

• Lossy codecs: Many of the more popular codecs in the software world are lossy,
meaning that they reduce quality by some amount in order to achieve
compression. Often, this type of compression is virtually indistinguishable from
the original uncompressed sound, depending on the codec and the settings used.[5]
Smaller data sets ease the strain on relatively expensive storage sub-systems such
as non-volatile memory and hard disk, as well as write-once-read-many formats
such as CD-ROM, DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Lower data rates also reduce cost and
improve performance when the data is transmitted.

• Lossless codecs: There are also many lossless codecs which are typically used for
archiving data in a compressed form while retaining all of the information present
in the original stream. If preserving the original quality of the stream is more
important than eliminating the correspondingly larger data sizes, lossless codecs
are preferred. This is especially true if the data is to undergo further processing
(for example editing) in which case the repeated application of processing
(encoding and decoding) on lossy codecs will degrade the quality of the resulting
data such that it is no longer identifiable (visually, audibly or both). Using more
than one codec or encoding scheme successively can also degrade quality
significantly. The decreasing cost of storage capacity and network bandwidth has
a tendency to reduce the need for lossy codecs for some media.

Codecs are often designed to emphasize certain aspects of the media, or their use, to be
encoded. For example, a digital video (using a DV codec) of a sports event needs to
encode motion well but not necessarily exact colors, while a video of an art exhibit needs
to perform well encoding color and surface texture.

Audio codecs for cell phones need to have very low latency between source encoding and
playback; while audio codecs for recording or broadcast can use high-latency audio
compression techniques to achieve higher fidelity at a lower bit-rate.

There are thousands of audio and video codecs ranging in cost from free to hundreds of
dollars or more. This variety of codecs can create compatibility and obsolescence issues.
By contrast, raw uncompressed PCM audio (44.1 kHz, 16 bit stereo, as represented on an
audio CD or in a .wav or .aiff file) is a standard across multiple platforms.
Many multimedia data streams contain both audio and video, and often some metadata
that permit synchronization of audio and video. Each of these three streams may be
handled by different programs, processes, or hardware; but for the multimedia data
streams to be useful in stored or transmitted form, they must be encapsulated together in a
container format.

Lower bit rate codecs allow more users, but they also have more distortion. Beyond the
initial increase in distortion, lower bit rate codecs also achieve their lower bit rates by
using more complex algorithms that make certain assumptions, such as those about the
media and the packet loss rate. Other codecs may not make those same assumptions.
When a user with a low bit-rate codec talks to a user with another codec, additional
distortion is introduced by each transcoding.

The notion of AVI being a codec is incorrect as AVI is a container format, which many
codecs might use (although not to ISO standard). There are also other well-known
containers such as Ogg, ASF, QuickTime, RealMedia, Matroska, DivX Media Format
and containers defined as ISO standards, such as MPEG transport stream, MPEG
program stream, MP4 and ISO base media file format.

List of codecs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The following is a list of compression formats and related codecs.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Audio codecs
o 1.1 Non-compression formats
o 1.2 Lossless data compression
o 1.3 Lossy data compression
 1.3.1 General
 1.3.2 Voice
• 2 Text codecs
• 3 Video codecs
o 3.1 Lossless compression
o 3.2 Lossy compression
• 4 Other
• 5 See also
• 6 References

• 7 External links
 [edit] Audio codecs
Main article: Audio codec

[edit] Non-compression formats

• Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM, generally only described as PCM) is most
used format for uncompressed audio and it is also standard for Compact Disc
Digital Audio; note that LPCM is in a computer usually stored in AIFF, WAV,
AU container formats or as RAW audio format
o Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF, audio container format)
 FFmpeg
o WAV – Microsoft "WAVE", audio container format (format supports
compression, but it is rarely used)
 FFmpeg
• Pulse-density modulation (PDM)
o Direct Stream Digital (DSD) is standard for Super Audio CD
• Pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM)

[edit] Lossless data compression

Main article: Lossless data compression

• Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

o FFmpeg
o QuickTime
• Direct Stream Transfer (DST)
o MPEG-4 DST reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001/Amd.10:2007)
• Dolby TrueHD – Optional lossless surround sound format used by HD DVD and
Blu-ray, it uses MLP but adds higher sample rates, bit rates, and more channels
• DTS-HD Master Audio – Optional lossless surround sound format used by HD
DVD and Blu-ray, it was previously known as DTS++ and DTS-HD
• Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
o FFmpeg
o libFLAC
• Lossless Audio (LA)
• Lossless Predictive Audio Compression (LPAC)
• Lossless Transform Audio Compression (LTAC)
• MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 ALS)
o MPEG-4 ALS reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001/Amd
10:2007/Cor 3:2009)
• MPEG-4 Scalable Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 SLS, also used in audio profile HD-
AAC)
o MPEG-4 SLS reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001/Amd 10:2007)
• Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP), also known as Packed PCM (PPCM), it is as
Dolby TrueHD the standard lossless compression method for DVD-Audio content
 • Monkey's Audio (APE)
• OptimFROG (OFR)
• RealAudio Lossless
• RK Audio (RKAU)
• Shorten (SHN)
o FFmpeg (decoder only)
• True Audio (TTA)
• WavPack (WV)
o FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless

[edit] Lossy data compression

Main article: Lossy data compression

[edit] General

• Adaptive Differential (or Delta) pulse-code modulation (ADPCM, see Pulse-code

modulation)
• ADX
• Adaptive Rate-Distortion Optimised sound codeR (ARDOR)
• Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC, used in MiniDisc devices)
o FFmpeg (decoder only)
• apt-X
• Dolby Digital (A/52, AC3)
o FFmpeg
o liba52
• DTS Coherent Acoustics (DTS, Digital Theatre System Coherent Acoustics)
• Impala FORscene audio codec
• ITU standards:
o G.719
o G.722
o G.722.1 and G.722.1 Annex C
 libg722_1
 libsiren (part of libmsn and msn-pecan)
o G.722.2
 3GPP TS 26.173 - AMR-WB speech Codec (C-source code) -
reference implementation[1]
 opencore-amr (decoder)
• MPEG-1 Audio and MPEG-2 Audio
o layer I (MP1) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
 FFmpeg (decoder only)
o layer II (MP2) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
 FFmpeg
 tooLame (encoding only)
 twoLame (encoding only)
o layer III (MP3) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
  FFmpeg (decoding only)
 LAME (encoding only)
o Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (MPEG-2 Part 7)
 FAAC, FAAD
 FFmpeg
 iTunes
 Nero AAC Codec
• MPEG-4 Audio
o Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), (MPEG-4 Part 3 subpart 4), HE-AAC
 FAAC, FAAD2
 FFmpeg
 iTunes
 Nero AAC Codec
 MPEG-4 AAC reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
o Harmonic and Individual Lines and Noise (HILN, MPEG-4 Parametric
Audio Coding)
 MPEG-4 reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
o TwinVQ
 MPEG-4 reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
o BSAC (Bit-Sliced Arithmetic Coding)
 MPEG-4 reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
• Musepack
• Perceptual Audio Coding
• QDesign
• Siren 7
o libg722_1
o libsiren (part of libmsn and msn-pecan)
• Siren 14
o libg722_1
• Siren 22
• TwinVQ
o FFmpeg (decoder only)
o NTT TwinVQ Encoder, NTT TwinVQ Player
• Vorbis
o aoTuV
o FFmpeg (decoder only without external library)
o libvorbis
o Tremor
• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
o Windows Media Encoder

[edit] Voice
Main article: Speech encoding

(low bit rate, optimized for speech)

• Advanced Multi-Band Excitation (AMBE)
• Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction (ACELP)
• CDMA compression formats and codecs
o Enhanced Variable Rate Codec (EVRC)
o Enhanced Variable Rate Codec B (EVRC-B)
o QCELP (Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Prediction)
o Selectable Mode Vocoder (SMV)
o Variable Multi Rate – WideBand (VMR-WB)
• CELT
• Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP)
• Continuously variable slope delta modulation (CVSD)
• Dialogic ADPCM (VOX)
• Digital Speech Standard (DSS)
• FS-1015 (LPC-10)
• FS-1016 (CELP)
• ITU standards:
o G.711 (a-law and μ-law companding), also known as PCM of voice
frequencies
 FFmpeg (libavcodec)
o G.711.0 (G.711 LLC)
o G.711.1
o G.718
o G.719
o G.721 (superseded by G.726)
o G.722
o G.722.1
o G.722.2 (AMR-WB)
 3GPP TS 26.173 - AMR-WB speech Codec (C-source code) -
reference implementation[1]
 opencore-amr (decoder)
o G.723 (24 and 40 kbit/s DPCM, extension to G.721, superseded by G.726)
o G.723.1 (MPC-MLQ or ACELP)
o G.726 (ADPCM)
 FFmpeg (libavcodec)
o G.728 (LD-CELP)
o G.729 (CS-ACELP)
 G.729a
 G.729.1
• GSM compression formats and codecs:
o Full Rate (GSM 06.10)
 libgsm
o Half Rate (GSM 06.20)
o Enhanced Full Rate (GSM 06.60)
o Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR)
 AMR-NB
 3GPP TS 26.073 - AMR speech Codec (C-source code) -
reference implementation[2]
 opencore-amr
 AMR-WB
 3GPP TS 26.173 - AMR-WB speech Codec (C-source
code) - reference implementation[1]
 opencore-amr (decoder)
 AMR-WB+
 3GPP TS 26.273 - AMR-WB+ speech Codec (C-source
code) - reference implementation[3]
• Harmonic Vector Excitation Coding (HVXC)
• Internet Low Bit Rate Codec (iLBC)
• Improved Multi-Band Excitation (IMBE)
• internet Speech Audio Codec (iSAC)
• Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction (MELP)
• Nellymoser Asao Codec
o FFmpeg (libavcodec) (decoder only)
• PT716, PT716plus
• PT724
• Relaxed Code Excited Linear Prediction (RCELP)
• RTAudio - used by Microsoft Live Communication Server
• SILK - used by Skype
• Speex, patent free
• SVOPC - used by Skype
• Triple Rate CODER (TRC) - used in some pocket recorders.
• Vector Sum Excited Linear Prediction (VSELP)

[edit] Text codecs

• BiM
• Continuous Media Markup Language (CMML)
• MPEG-4 Part 17 (e.g. 3GPP Timed Text)
• Ogg Kate
• Ogg Writ

[edit] Video codecs

Main article: Video codec

[edit] Lossless compression

• Alpary
• ArithYuv
• AVIzlib
• CamStudio GZIP
 • CorePNG
• Dirac
• FastCodec
• FFV1
• Huffyuv
• Lagarith
• LCL
• LOCO
• LZO
• MSU Lossless Video Codec
• PICVideo
• SheerVideo
• Snow
• TSCC TechSmith Screen Capture Codec
• x264
• ZMBV (Zip Motion Block Video) Codec
• JPEG 2000 - using the 5/3 filter for Lossless coding - intra-frame video coding
• YULS

[edit] Lossy compression

• Audio Video Standard (AVS)

o OpenAVS
• Blackbird FORscene video codec
• Cineform
• Cinepak
• Dirac
o Schrödinger
o dirac-research
• DV
• Firebird[1] Original FORscene video codec
• H.261
o FFmpeg H.261 (libavcodec)
• MPEG-1 Part 2 (MPEG-1 Video)
o Cinema Craft Encoder
o FFmpeg
o Ligos LSX MPEG-1
o MainConcept MPEG-1
o TMPGEnc
• H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 (MPEG-2 Video)
o Canopus ProCoder
o Cinema Craft Encoder
o Elecard MPEG-2 Video Decoder
o FFmpeg
o InterVideo Video Decoder
o Ligos LSX MPEG-2
 o MainConcept MPEG-2
o TMPGEnc
• H.263
o FFmpeg H.263 (libavcodec)
• MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile)
o 3ivx
o DivX
o FFmpeg MPEG-4
o HDX4
o Nero Digital
o Xvid
• H.264/MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 Part 10 (MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding),
approved for Blu-ray
o CoreAVC
o MainConcept
o Nero Digital
o QuickTime H.264
o Sorenson AVC Pro codec, Sorenson's new implementation
o Vanguard Software Solutions
o x264
• Indeo 3/4/5
• MJPEG
o FFmpeg
o Morgan Multimedia M-JPEG
o Pegasus PICVideo M-JPEG
• JPEG 2000 intra frame video codec
• OMS Video
• On2 Technologies TrueMotion VP3/VP4, VP5, VP6, VP7, VP8; under the name
The Duck Corporation: TrueMotion S, TrueMotion 2
• Pixlet
• Apple ProRes 422
• RealVideo
• Snow Wavelet Codec
• Sorenson Video, Sorenson Spark
• Tarkin
• Theora
o FFmpeg
o libtheora
• VC-1 (SMPTE standard, subset of Windows Media Video)
• VC-2 SMPTE standard (a.k.a. Dirac Pro)
o Schrödinger
o dirac-research
• VC-3 SMPTE standard
o Avid DNxHD
o FFmpeg
• Windows Media Video (WMV)
 o WAX (Part of the Windows Media Series)

[edit] Other
This section has no content.
You can help Wikipedia by introducing information to it. (July 2010)

[edit] See also

Free software portal

• Open source codecs and containers

• Comparison of video codecs
• Comparison of audio codecs
• Comparison of container formats
• Comparison of media players
• RTP audio video profile
• Comparison of video encoders

[edit] References
1. ^ a b c 3GPP (2008-12-11) 3GPP TS 26.173 - AMR-WB speech Codec; version
8.0.0 Release 8, Retrieved 2009-09-09
2. ^ 3GPP (2008-12-11) 3GPP TS 26.073 - AMR speech Codec; version 8.0.0
Release 8, Retrieved 2009-09-08
3. ^ 3GPP (2008-12-18) 3GPP TS 26.273 - AMR-WB+ speech Codec; version 8.0.0
Release 8, Retrieved 2009-09-09

Sound Recorder (Windows)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Sound Recorder

A component of Microsoft Windows

Sound Recorder in Windows Vista

 Details
Type Sound recorder program
Included with Microsoft Windows
Related components
• Windows Media Player
• Media Control Interface
• Windows Audio service

• Audio Compression Manager

Sound Recorder in Windows XP

Sound Recorder in Windows 3.1

Sound Recorder is an audio recording program included in Microsoft Windows.

Versions prior to Windows Vista could only record 60 seconds at a time. The Vista
version can record for longer durations but contains fewer options, and cannot play back
recorded sound.

Many alternative utilities are available for download, including the open source tool
Audacity.

[edit] Features
Sound Recorder can record audio from a microphone or headset. In addition, many
modern sound cards allow their output channels to be recorded through a loopback
channel is typically called Wave-Out Mix, Stereo Mix or similar. The recorded audio can
be saved in .wav. Sound Recorder can also open existing uncompressed or compressed
.wav files. To successfully open compressed .WAV files in Sound Recorder, the audio
codec used by the file must be installed in the Audio Compression Manager (ACM).

In all versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista, Sound Recorder was based on Audio
Compression Manager.[citation needed] It could open and save audio in 8-bit or 16-bit
uncompressed PCM format (.wav) from 8 kHz to 48 kHz, including CD Quality audio
(44,100 Hz, 16-bit, stereo PCM).[citation needed]

Although Sound Recorder only saved in the .wav format, it could use any of the installed
ACM codecs to compress the audio; typically several voice codecs and the MPEG Layer
III (MP3) codec were installed by default. As ACM supported only Constant bitrate
(CBR) stereo audio files[citation needed], Sound Recorder also had these limitations[citation needed]
and did not support Variable bitrate (VBR) files or multichannel audio[citation needed].

All versions prior to the Windows Vista version of Sound Recorder could apply some
simple audio transformations:

• Convert the bitrate, bit depth and sampling rate of the audio file[citation needed]
• Use Audio Compression Manager (ACM) to compress the audio using installed
ACM codecs or convert it to a different codec format.
• Inserting and/or mixing in audio from other files.
• Splitting out parts of the current audio clip.
• Increasing or decreasing volume in 25% increments.
• Increase or decrease playback speed in 100% increments.
• Adding an echo (without reverberation).
• Reversing the current audio clip.

Command line switches are needed as it will not auto-play a file referenced in a batch
file, startup folder, or task scheduler event. Use the /PLAY switch to launch the playback
automatically. (SNDREC32.exe /PLAY "C:\Path\File.wav") Use the /CLOSE switch at
the end of the string to close the application. (SNDREC32.exe /PLAY "C:\Path\File.wav"
/CLOSE) In Vista, Sound Recorder is instead called SoundRecorder.exe and has different
command-line switches. Vista's SoundRecorder.exe can be started at the command line
by using the /DURATION switch (example: SoundRecorder.exe /duration 1000:20:30
will record for 1000 hours, 20 minutes, and 30 seconds) and is automatically terminated
after the duration.[1] The SoundRecorder icon will be displayed in the task bar during
recording.[2] Using the /FILE switch (examples: /file filename.wav /file filename.wma)
allows you to name the file and select a file type.[3]

In editions before Windows Vista, on computers with more than 2 GB of RAM, after
recording (but not when playing), Sound Recorder will return an error message indicating
that there is not enough memory. This is a design flaw of older versions of Sound
Recorder and officially cannot be resolved except by reducing the amount of available
physical memory.[4] There does, however, exist an unofficial patch that resolves this
problem.[5]
Under some circumstances, Sound Recorder will not default to the Windows default
recording device (set in Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Audio tab, Sound
recording, Default device). In this case, one must manually select it by clicking Edit,
Audio Properties.[citation needed]

The new version of Sound Recorder included in Windows Vista uses the hard disk for
recording audio [6] and can therefore record audio up to any length as long as there is free
space on the hard disk drive. Also, tags such as Artist, Album, Title, and Genre can be
added to the sound file directly from the Save dialog. However, Sound Recorder lacks
several features that were present in the earlier version of the program. It cannot open
existing WAV or WMA files,[7] and by default, it only allows saving to the lossy WMA
format at 96 kbit/s. (Windows Vista N only allows saving as WAV; on other editions, to
force Sound Recorder to save as WAV, the user must start Sound Recorder with the
command line "soundrecorder /file outputfile.wav".)[8] Sound Recorder has been stripped
of all basic audio processing features, foremost the ability to play an audio file, but also
lacks sample rate conversion, adding echo, reversing the audio, changing volume and
playback speed, splitting, and inserting and mixing audio. The overhaul of the user
interface resulted in the removal of the sound wave graphic display.

Versions of Sound Recorder before Windows Vista recorded audio to memory, rather
than to the hard disk, and the length of recording was by default limited to 60 seconds.
Microsoft recommends recording 60 seconds and pressing the Record button again to
record another minute. Alternatively, it was possible to open a previously existing blank
file of the desired length and record over it. Also, the user could implement the Decrease
Speed function several times to extend the length of the recording. The most sensible
solution, however, was to record a bit of audio, then copy and paste the sample, repeating
the process until the file reached the desired length.

Like other programs that ship with Microsoft Windows – such as Notepad – freeware and
shareware programs are available that can replace Sound Recorder. These third-party
programs often have more features, such as voice activated recording, automatical songs
splitting and tagging, multi-track recording), but care must be exercised to ensure that
these programs are obtained from a trusted source to be certain that malicious code is not
executed when running such programs.

To record sound in Windows Vista and Windows 7, users need to enable Wave-Out Mix.
As an alternative it is possible to use software that doesn't need Wave-Out Mix for
recording sound.

[edit] References
1. ^ "Windows Vista Help: Troubleshoot audio-recording problems".
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/58f5d06b-5ad2-434a-
9f48-1871bf9fc7c61033.mspx. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
 2. ^ "Windows Vista Help: Troubleshoot audio-recording problems".
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/58f5d06b-5ad2-434a-
9f48-1871bf9fc7c61033.mspx. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
3. ^ "Windows Vista Help: Troubleshoot audio-recording problems".
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/58f5d06b-5ad2-434a-
9f48-1871bf9fc7c61033.mspx. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
4. ^ "You receive a "Not enough memory available to complete this operation" error
message when you try to record a .wav file by using Sound Recorder".
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/284893. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
5. ^ "Devious and terrible sndrec32.exe (in russian)".
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-
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%2F89763%2F&sl=ru&tl=en.
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84e2-28514948bf7c1033.mspx
7. ^ Sound Recorder in Windows Vista cannot open existing files
8. ^ "Windows Vista Help: Troubleshoot audio-recording problems".
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9f48-1871bf9fc7c61033.mspx. Retrieved 2007-08-21.

Video player (software)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

A video player is a kind of media player for playing back digital video data from media
such as optical discs (for example, DVD, VCD), as well as from files of appropriate
formats such as MPEG, AVI, RealVideo, and QuickTime.

In addition to VCR-like functions such as playing, pausing, stopping, rewinding, and

forwarding, some common functions include zooming/full screen, audio channel
selection, subtitle selection, and frame capturing.

Many of the video players also support simple playback of digital audio.

[edit] See also

• Comparison of media players

Video editing software

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may
be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

Video editing software, also known as Non Linear Editing (NLE), is application
software which handles the editing of video sequences on a computer. NLE systems
replace traditional flatbed celluloid film editing tools and analogue video tape-to-tape
machines.

NLE software is typically based on a timeline interface paradigm where sections of

moving image video recordings, known as clips, are laid out in sequence and played
back. The NLE offers a range of tools for trimming, splicing, cutting and arranging clips
across the timeline. As digital NLE systems have advanced their toolset their role has
expanded and most consumer and professional NLE systems alike now include a host of
features for colour manipulation, titling and visual effects, as well as tools for editing and
mixing audio in conjunction with the image.

Once a project is complete the NLE system can then be used to export to movie in a
variety of formats in context which may range from broadcast TAPE formats to
compressed formats for the internet, DVD and mobile devices.

[edit] See also

• List of video editing software
• Comparison of video editing software
• Comparison of video encoders
• Non-linear editing system

[hide]
v•d•e
Video editing software

Free Avidemux • Blender (VSE : Video Sequence Editor) • CineFX •

software/Open Cinelerra • Kdenlive • Kino • LiVES • OpenShot Video Editor • Open
source Movie Editor • PiTiVi • VirtualDub • VirtualDubMod

Freeware Pinnacle Videospin • VideoThang

Adobe Premiere/Premiere Pro • Adobe Premiere Elements • Avid Xpress

Pro Studio HD • Avid Liquid • Avid Media Composer • Dayang
Montage Extreme • Cinestream • Edius • Final Cut Express • Final Cut
Pro/Studio • Free DV • CyberLink PowerDirector • FORscene • iMovie
Proprietary
• MainActor • Media 100 • Mpeg Video Wizard • Mpeg Video Wizard
DVD • Pinnacle Studio MediaSuite • Pinnacle Studio • MoviePlus •
Sony Vegas • Ulead MediaStudio Pro • Ulead VideoStudio Plus •
VideoReDo Plus • Windows Movie Maker • MAGIX Movie Edit Pro