Creating and Using Audio and Video Files

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Creating and Using Audio and Video Files

• Louise Sheeran
• l.sheeran_at_ucl.ac.uk

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Overview of Session

• Why use audio and video in language learning
  exercises?
• How to digitise audio material
• demo followed by a practical session
• How to digitise video material
• Questions/discussion

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Using Audio and Video in Language Learning
Exercises

• Access to spoken word
• Access to culture
• Supports different types of exercises
• e.g. listening pronunciation
• Students like it
• It adds interest
• Other?

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Creating an Audio File

• Make an analogue or digital recording
• aim for highest possible quality
• If digital
• transfer file to PC
• If analogue
• transfer to PC
• digitise
• Encode/compress

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Encoding 1

• Encode the digital file
• Make it smaller!
• Real software digitises and encodes at the same
  time

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Encoding 2
MP3 Encoder
wav file
MP3
wav file or analoge
RealComposer
ra or rm
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File Formats

• File formats
• Uncompressed
• .wav (standard Windows format)
• Compressed/encoded
• .mp3 (MPEG layer 3 - very popular and versatile)
• .ra (proprietorial RealPlayer format)

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Your Requirements for Audio

• Audio Card, Speakers/headphones
• Tape recorder, microphone, or existing digital
  materials or links to external web sites
• Digitisation software (your college or department
  may have some)
• Encoding (compression) software (MP3 recommended)
• Players (Windows Media, Real, Quicktime, etc.)

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Your Students Requirements

• Internet Access or CD-ROMs
• Audio card, speakers/headsets
• Players

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Putting Audio Files on the Web

• Check
• quality
• file format
• size
• Inserting the audio file into the Web page

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Practical Session

• See handout
• Questions

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Creating and Using a Video File 1

• Video files much bigger than audio files
• Quality vs. file size is an important issue
• Each clip must suit the application, e.g. lip
  synchronisation for pronunciation, size for sub
  titles.
• Demo of video clips
• If file sizes are large
• consider CD-ROM
• audio only

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Creating and Using a Video File 2

• Digitisation
• FireWire or Video Capture Card
• Encoding
• Software (e.g. Cleaner 5) or hardware
• Formats
• MPEG1 (video), MPEG3 MP3(audio)
• .rm (Real)

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Creating and Using a Video File 3

• Players
• Windows Media, Real, Quicktime
• Will all play MP3 (audio) and MPEG1 (video)
• What affects quality?
• Hard disk
• Server
• Processing power
• Network

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Additional requirements for Video

• FireWire or Video capture card
• Digitisation and encoding software
• Hard disk space

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Making it work

• Check all pages in both Internet Explorer and
  Netscape Communicator
• Providing transcriptions for audio and video
  files for people with special needs will be a
  legal requirement from September

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Useful Web sites 1

• Netscape Composer
• www.netscape.com
• RealPlayer and RealComposer
• www.real.com
• For more information on the mp3 format and to
  download players and encoders
• www.mp3.com
• For software in general
• tucows.mirror.ac.uk

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Useful Web sites 2

• For more information about Microsofts players
  and encoders
• www.microsoft.com