The new Speechi 3.0 version introduces major new features related to video and video / PowerPoint synchronization.

The new "Smart Import" feature is a major breakthrough, because it allows you to instantaneously create synchronized PowerPoint presentations with video embedded into them. Tools that allow such constructions typically cost 10 to 100 times as much as Speechi - not to mention you need hours to obtain a result close to what you will automatically get with Speechi.

What is "Smart Video Import"?

It is based on the following assumptions:

1. The Professor has been giving a class and has been filmed. Typically, in real life situations, note that this means that the Professor has been filmed by someone else (i.e. a cameraman or a technician who was present for this purpose).
2. The professor has been using Speechi Conference normally while giving his class from his PC.

 

This means that, when the class is over, the professor will have in hand:

1. a video movie (because he was filmed)
2. a Speechi Conference front-end (because he has been using Speechi during the Conference).

Note that these 2 files have exactly the same timings, because both are accurate reflections of the Professor’s session. In real life situations, those files will however have a constant time lag, due to the fact that the cameraman typically starts filming a few seconds or a few minutes before the Professor starts speaking using Speechi Conference.

So the only operation needed in Speechi Conference will be the initial synchronization of the 2 files. And this is just done in seconds.

How to import the Professor’s video into Speechi ?

In Speechi, there is now a new "Global Video Import" feature that lets you import any Flash video (.flv) file (Please click here to understand how to create a flv file from any numeric video movie). 2 cursors on the player let you indicate the beginning and the end of the video. Again, those indications are needed so speechi "knows" when to start (because the cameraman has begun filming before class begins and has kept filming after class has actually ended).

Position the 2 cursors and click on "Smart Import". That’s it ! Your Speechi has been created and you can take a look at it just by clicking on Speechi -> Browse button in the toolbar. It is THAT simple. Your Speechi now plays with a video, instead of a photo, at speaker’s photo location.

 

Additional features and remarks

The video can be made any size by the new Speechi viewer. A small handle now shows at the bottom right of the video window. Drag the handle anywhere and your video can be made smaller or larger (size of slides automatically adjusts).

Although it is absolutely necessary that the Professor gives his class with Speechi Conference activated, it is NOT needed to equip the Professor with a second microphone for that purpose. The professor needs to have one microphone only (so that video contains his talk) and Speechi Conference may very well record "nothing" (because no microphone has been plugged into Professor’s PC). This will not prevent Speechi to be perfectly in sync with the video.

"Non Smart video mode"

Although the Smart Video import mode is obviously the most spectacular and quickest way to create a video session, it is also very possible, using Speechi, to import video files and to sync them on a slide by slide basis. To do this, you should use the grid new 3.0 features. Basically, those allow to process video from the grid the same way sound could be processed in Speechi 2.x versions.

Using those features, you can import a video FLV file "into" any slide and synchronize it with your PowerPoint content. So if you have a PowerPoint with 10 slides, you may very well import 3 video files and just comment with sound the 7 remaining slides. This is especially useful in Studio Mode, when you need to prepare some content.

Video as Resource

Another way to embed video into your Speechi is to import video as a resource into one of the "Flash" or "Video" columns on the grid. When you import video as a resource, it appears in a frame located at the bottom of Speechi and you also have ways to sync it with the rest of your PowerPoint. Those features have been introduced in Speechi 2.5 and are still active and very useful. They have been improved in Speechi 3.0.

• Speechi 3.0 will let you add FLV videos as resources (Speechi 2.x version would only allow .swf videos or files)
• The frame where the video or Flash movie plays can now be moved anywhere in the viewer (very useful if you don’t want the video to hide a key portion of your PowerPoint slide)
• The import and synchronization methods have been improved, resulting in better and less CPU intensive Flash resource playback in Speechi.

 

 

 Print |  Email | Comment | Commentaires RSS | Trackback
4,640 View(s) | Tags: flash-video, podcast, PowerPoint, smart-video, video. Article publish at Sunday, January 28th, 2007 9:54 pm by Thierry in Speechi 3.0.