iFinish Transcoder Read Me

Media 100® Inc. is pleased to present the iFinish Transcoder with non-square pixel and square pixel support. The Transcoder lets you choose from the following video standards: 

•  NTSC 640 x 480 
•  NTSC 720 x 486 
•  PAL 768 x 576
•  PAL 720 x 576 

About the Transcoder

The iFinish Transcoder lets anyone with a compatible PC open and view media from a iFinish system without having iFinish hardware installed. This allows you to edit the material and use M-JPEG B to render it. You cannot, however, compress a file using the Transcoder, nor does it provide real-time playback.

QuickTime® is a video and animation system from Apple® Computer, Inc. that accommodates the storage, retrieval, manipulation, and playback of time-based data, such as video and audio. Since the iFinish system is compatible with QuickTime, you can use any QuickTime application with the iFinish system.

Note: You must have QuickTime installed on the system to use the Transcoder.

Installing the Transcoder

With the iFinish Transcoder installed, you can open and view QuickTime movies compressed using a Media 100 CODEC on a computer that does not have the iFinish hardware installed. 

To install the iFinish Transcoder

1 Double-click My Computer.

2 Double-click the <Boot Drive>.

3 Double-click the WINDOWS or WINNT folder.
   If you cannot see the files and folders, click Show Files.

4 Drag the ‘M100WinTranscoder.qtx’ file into the system32 folder.

Note: The iFinish Transcoder does not provide real-time playback.

Using the Transcoder

Use the Transcoder to open iFinish files on a computer that does not have the Media 100 hardware installed. Use a third-party QuickTime application to open the file, make changes, copy it back to the iFinish system, and master to tape without significant loss of image quality. Once installed, using the Transcoder is straightforward.

To use the iFinish Transcoder

1  Open the third-party application, then open or import the iFinish file. 
2  Create a new QuickTime movie incorporating a title overlay or graphics effect. 
3  Compress the movie using any available format or CODEC. 

The iFinish application instantly incorporates media rendered in the Media 100 CODEC via "InstantMedia Integration." 

When the Media 100 CODEC is not available, the Transcoder lets you see the media, but you cannot create media supported by InstantMedia Integration. Render to a standard QuickTime CODEC or a sequence of graphics files (TGA or TIFF), which you can then import into iFinish. This import process is not real-time.

Usage Restrictions 

Consider the following restrictions when using the Transcoder to create movies to import into an iFinish program. 

Alpha Channels
The iFinish Transcoder depends on the M-JPEG B CODEC and is subject to the limitations of the CODEC capabilities. M-JPEG B does not support alpha channels. Therefore, alpha channels in iFinish movies are not usable once transcoded into M-JPEG B format. Also, you cannot create M-JPEG B movies with alpha channels for import into iFinish projects. If the Media 100 CODEC is not available, use the animation CODEC for alpha channels.

Field Dominance
The iFinish Transcoder requires first-field dominance for NTSC 640 x 480, PAL 768 x 576 and PAL 720 x 576. First-field dominance means that each video frame has a first field of odd-numbered scan lines followed by a second field of even-numbered lines. First-field dominance is also known as upper- or odd-field dominance. Incompatible field dominance causes video to stutter when played back. Refer to your application documentation for information on selecting field dominance. 

The iFinish NTSC 720 x 486 video standard uses second-field dominance. Make the appropriate settings when using a third-party application. 

Native Frame Size
The frame size of the movie you import must equal the video standard frame size for the iFinish project into which you are importing the clip.

For NTSC iFinish projects, the M-JPEG B QuickTime movie can have a frame size of 640 x 480 pixels or 720 x 486 pixels.

For PAL iFinish projects, the M-JPEG B QuickTime movie can have a frame size of 768 x 576 pixels or 720 x 576 pixels.

If you import an M-JPEG B QuickTime movie with any other frame size, the decompress/compress cycle applied to it takes longer and can result in loss of image quality.

Copyright © 2003, Media 100 Inc. All rights reserved. 8-1-03