Need a book suggestion

wm_b wrote on 1/11/2009, 11:39 PM

I'm looking for a technical book about video and video editing. Not techniques necessarily but technical information about video, video signals(?) and information contained in video files.

I'm a recording engineer and I understand the technical/electronic information about sound and sound files. I have a fairly sophisticated grasp on digital signal processing. Video as information seems profoundly more complex and I would like to know more about it. There is so much stuff in vegas that I see all the time while flying by the seat of my pants and I just don't know what enough of it means or what it can tell me. Whether it's Alpha Channels, Gamma or GOP's I don't know what it's telling me beyond some vague concept.

If it helps, I am interested in the type of information that might be helpful in a post production environment. I'm not trying to replicate any particular effect but I would like to be able to look at an image and understand the components that make it up. That's just one example.

I'm not a totally clueless person but then I'm not sure where to start looking either.

Thanks for any ideas

William

Comments

randy-stewart wrote on 1/12/2009, 3:39 AM

Try "The Full HD" by VASST. Here's the link: http://www.vasst.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=121&category_id=2&manufacturer_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=66
You can buy it at Amazon.com too. Lots of the technical side of video along with post production uses and how-to's. VASST has other publications that might help also. Mr. Douglas Spotted Eagle is author or co-author on all of them.
Randy

rs170a wrote on 1/12/2009, 4:04 AM

The SMPTE store (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) has links to several books that I'm sure are what you're looking for.
Tektronix ( a major test & measurement company) has literature and
webinars links on their site that I've always found very helpful and informative.
And if that's not enough, they also have a Guide to Standard and High-Definition Digital Video Measurements with even more info.
As you browse their site, you'll stumble across a lot of useful material.

Mike

wm_b wrote on 1/12/2009, 7:13 PM

Thanks very much for the suggestions. They are just the kind of leads I was looking for. Great stuff.

William