[Norwich University]

There are 4 different "products" or formats when scheduling an Echo Capture. 'Podcast' which is just the recorded audio, 'Enhanced Podcast' which is a capture of what was projected on the screen along with the voice of the instructor, 'Vodcast' which is also a capture of what was projected on the screen along with the voice of the instructor, and 'Rich Media'. How are people using the different choices and why?

Jon Scherbatskoy - Instructional Developer
Academic Computing - IT
Norwich University, Northfield VT.
scherbaj@norwich.edu

[Norwich University]

What is the difference between a 'Vodcast' and an 'Enhanced Podcast'? When I download these, they play the same in Quicktime, but the Vodcast has an extension of 'M4V' and is 1/2 the size of the Ehanced Podcast which has an extension of 'M4B'. both of these are useful in showing the Projector Screen with the lecturer's voice.

Jon Scherbatskoy - instructional Developer
Academic Computing IT
Norwich University, Northfield, VT
scherbaj@norwich.edu

[Matt Miller]

File Types & Extensions examined:

"Download Lecture Audio" media.mp3:
This is the Audio Only File that can be played back in just about any popular mp3 audio player.
(examples: iPod, iTouch, iPhone, Zune, Fuze, etc...)
This has the smallest file size

The rest of the formats are sort of confusing, so i'll first explain the .mp4 format.
.mp4 is a "Container Format", basically a format that may contain any number of audio, video, & subtitle streams.
so basically .mp4 is the MASTER FORMAT for MPEG-4, this file can hold audio only, video only, or audio and video.

While .mp4 is the only official file extension defined by the MPEG-4 standard, APPLE started popularizing different file extensions to differentiate the type of content in the .mp4 container. This has been popularized through the iTunes Store and widespread use of Apple's products recognizing these minor extension differentiations.

Examples:
.m4a = Audio Only - (generally un-protected content)
.m4r = Ringtones (Audio Only)
.m4p = encrypted by DRM (protected)
.m4b = allows "bookmarking" the last listening spot(usually audio books/Podcasts).
.m4v = mpeg-4 visual bitstreams

"Download Enhanced Lecture Audio" media.m4b
As explained above, this is a file format that includes "bookmarking" of the last listening spot, however Echo360 has conveniently added the video stream of the DISPLAY/VGA portion of the capture in this download. This format also conveniently includes the Chapters (broken down by the Rich Media Thumbnails).
This has a larger file then the .m4v filetype (in Echo360) because if the included video stream as well as the bookmarking and chapter information.

"Download Lecture Video" media.m4v
This one is sort of explainatory. This is the Video stream of the DISPLAY/VGA portion of the capture along with the audio as well.
This has a medium file size (because of the exclusion of "bookmarking" & Chapters)


Hope that helps a bit...

Matt Miller
Media Support Specialist
Echo360 Admin
St. John Fisher College
Rochester, NY USA
mzmiller@sjfc.edu

[Tom Zelickman]

Matt Miller, on 18 September 2009 - 06:45 PM, said:

File Types & Extensions examined:

"Download Enhanced Lecture Audio" media.m4b
As explained above, this is a file format that includes "bookmarking" of the last listening spot, however Echo360 has conveniently added the video stream of the DISPLAY/VGA portion of the capture in this download. This format also conveniently includes the Chapters (broken down by the Rich Media Thumbnails).
This has a larger file then the .m4v filetype (in Echo360) because if the included video stream as well as the bookmarking and chapter information.

"Download Lecture Video" media.m4v
This one is sort of explainatory. This is the Video stream of the DISPLAY/VGA portion of the capture along with the audio as well.
This has a medium file size (because of the exclusion of "bookmarking" & Chapters)

Wow, that was a great explanation of the formats! Mind if I borrow that in some of my emails?

I typically think of an enhanced podcast (M4B) as a narrated slide show.To add a bit more details, the M4B format allows for JPG images to be displayed at the appropriate times throughout the presentation. The M4V version is an actual video showing motion and has a bit looser coding requirements than an M4B file. This looser requirement means we can take advantage of better compression and thus get much smaller file sizes from an M4V format. Given the smaller file sizes and the ability to replay motion my recommendation is to only choose the M4B format for select cases in which the student has a very old personal media player that isn't capable of playing the video.

Sincerely,
Tom

--
Tom Zelickman
Solutions Engineer
Echo360, Inc.
571.482.9027 (Voice)
21000 Atlantic Blvd
6th Floor
Dulles, VA 20166

[Matt Miller]

No problem, Thanks!