Digital Video Formats:
It tough when you are at a party and all of the sudden some guy says “I like the new 3G2 format better than MP4” and I don’t have a clue what he is talking about. There is just so much to know! I have been kind of a jack of all trades when it comes to digital, and really not a master of any. I can hold my own in a conversation on the benefits of RAW, but that is something that most of the people that I know don’t care a bit about. If we are going to argue about MP3 vs. AAC the MP3 decision is firmly established in 99% of the people. So that covers photo and audio. When it comes to video I have never really given it much thought. There is DVD (VOB) and then there are a couple of computer video formats, primarily WMV (Windows), MPG, and AVI. That’s it right?

Oh my am I wrong! There are over 30 different video formats, each doing something that the others cannot. I started looking at all of these for a couple of reasons. First, I downloaded my first VCD last week and had a wonderful time figuring out how to watch it. It works and I am amazed. Then I had to get a program to convert to MP4 (the preferred format for the new video iPod that my beloved has). That has actually turned into an exercise of looking at nearly every single program out there that converts video. I settled into the Xilisoft Video Converter. This program takes any file source format and converts it into any others. So cool! I took the VCD movie and with a few clicks I had it on my wife’s iPod in the MP4 format. So later tonight when I am in bed I can watch the latest great flick on the small screen.