Capturer is a video device to acquire media data such as camcorder, web camera, digital camera, microphone, and tv tuner. The media can be video, still picture, sound or music. A portable capturer may have a local storage as mini DV, SD card, or Hard Disk. The local storage data can be converted into a workstation via fireware 1394, USB cable, or DV cable.

Workstation acquires data from capturer and makes processing. A workstation can be a laptop or a desktop PC with GPU to support real-time video mixing and effects. Ladybug Mixer is running on the workstation as a video mixer.

Server is used to record and store videos from workstation. There are many ways to record and store videos, for example, through TV tuner, or vga connection. A server can be a dvd recorder, dvr, pc, or media center. Although workstation and server can be combined as one computer, usually to achieve real-time processing, it is better to separate these two functions.

Publisher distributes media to network, dvd disk, flash card, or hd dvd disk.

• Video Remix and Share on Internet

  Shoot, remix, record and publish, this is a way for video processing. Following video demonstrates the effects of video remix by Ladybug Mixer.

  We shot Canada Goose video by using Panasonic PV-GS320, a new model of 3CCD camcorder for consumers. The advantages of GS320 are impressive video quality, decent low-light performance, and very effective optical image stabilization. Its new SDHC interface for second generation SD card and Web camera function are bonus. In contrast 3CCD camcorder can generate video with vivid color.

  The scene was a park of Toronto. We used a FireWare 1394 4x4 pin cable to connect GS320 to a HP DV9005 17" laptop. The Movie Maker in Windows Vista was easy to accept DV camera where the driver for GS320 had been pre-installed.

  Movie Maker in Windows Vista allows you to publish video in many formats from low-bandwidth mobile video to HD 1080p video. To publish on YouTube you may need to publish into a DVD format, then convert DVD video to 320x240 resolution for YouTube.

  To use Ladybug Mixer, we opened Canada Goose video in channel 1 and Butterfly video in channel 2. The effect was selected as [Duo Channe] Wipe Circle. Then we watched the mixed video in real-time.

  To record the remix video we shot the LCD screen directly by using GS320 camcorder. That is an advantage of LCD monitor. It is better to shoot in the dark room. The new video was sent to PC again and it was transfered to a server through file sharing wireless network. Finally the video was uploaded on to YouTube.

• Chroma Key and Green Screen

  Chroma Key is a technology that compsites a foreground video along with a background video. The foreground video can be an actor in a room surround by a green wall while a background video can be a beach. The value of chroma key is the value of green color. Both foreground and background videos can be composited so that the green scene of the foreground can be replaced by the corresponding scene of the background video. Chroma Key technology can be represented as an C expression

  

  result = (color0 == key) ? color1 : color0

  You can apply Ladybug Mixer to generate Chroma Key effects by selecting Chroma Key Green or Chroma Key Blue effect along with foreground video in channel one and background video in channel two.

  You can also replace the foreground picture as a video in above example. Note: it is better to save a jpeg picture in 100 percent quality and disable sub-sample image. That will remove many jaggies in the remixed video.

  In addition to the use of video post-processing in the movie industry, video pos-tprocessing has been widely used in the industry such as oil and gas industry for its large video analysis as well as the manufactures for pipeline monitor and product vision.

• Remix and Record via TV Tuner

  An TV tuner allows your to watch TV on your computer. In addition, most of PCs have an TV output, so you can easy to connect a laptop as a Workstation to a desktop Server through TV cable such as S-Video or RCA cables. This analog connection allows you to convert High-Defintion video in real-time.

  A TV tuner is not expensive today. For example, Sabrent USB 2.0 External TV Tuner costs only $30. WinTV HVR 950 USB Tuner from Haupage cost $90 will be able to accept digital HD TV analog TV from antenna or cable. You may need an AV to RF modulator (price $14) to convert S-video output to coaxial cable input of WinTV HVR 950.

  To record the display of Ladybug Mixer, an PC connected to TV Tuner will receive the output of another PC via TV Tuner.

  To record audio, you need a cable with an 1/8" plug on one end and a pair of RCA-type connectors on the other end. Connect 1/8" plug in the headphone jack of the laptop and the RCA-type connectors (red and white) to the audio inputs of DVD recorder, then adjust the audio to the correct level on DVD recorder, you can record sound from the laptop.

• Remix DVD and Record via DVD Recorder

  Below is a sample DVD remix diagram. Three USB external DVD drives along with one internal DVD drive are sources of dvd/vob media. A notebook with Ladybug Mixer on Windows Vista is a video remix center. The effects after remix are burned on a DVD-R in the DVD recorder in real-time.

  

  Laptops with an S-Video output connector (a mini-S-Video connector requires an adaptor) can be linked to the S-Video input of an DVD recorder directly. And the DVD recorder should be set to get input from S-Video channel. To switch video output of the laptop to the DVD recorder, you can press Fn + proper Fx (F4 for HP) keys. Furthermore you can use a television that is connected to the DVD recorder as a monitor.

  To record audio, you need a cable with an 1/8" plug on one end and a pair of RCA-type connectors on the other end. Connect 1/8" plug in the headphone jack of the laptop and the RCA-type connectors (red and white) to the audio inputs of DVD recorder, then adjust the audio to the correct level on DVD recorder, you can record sound from the laptop.

  Now you can play Ladybug Mixer in fullscreen and record the video in an DVD-R simultaneously. So why use an DVD recorder instead of the internal DVD burner on the laptop? The answer is real-time recording. By using an enternal DVD recorder you can apply more power of your laptop on video playback and effects in real-time without frame dropping.

• Record Ladybug Mixer Video By Capture Software

  There are many video capture software that can capture video in a region. A free small software called CamStudio is one of them. You can download CamStudio here and download Ladybuy Mixer here. A commercial capture software Camtasia Studio with more functions is also available.

  By using Ladybug Mixer and CamStudio you can easily make a composited video to distribute on Youtube. The procedure to make a composited video is quite simple: select, preview, and record

  In summary you can remix video by Ladybug Mixer and record final video by Capture software, DVD recorder, or TV tuner.