These practice video files are for use in planetary image processing programs like AutoStakkert!, AviStack, RegiStax and Images Plus.

You should copy these practice video files to your hard drive to make them easier to work with. Just right click on a file below and, depending on your browser, select "Save Link As", or "Save Target As", choose a location, and save it on your hard drive.

If you want to load these video files directly off the CD-ROM into a planetary image processing program, use the program's open command and navigate to the CD-ROM drive and then to CHAPTER5 and the PRACTICE folder.

• CLAVIUS.AVI
• CLAVIUS.MOV
• CLAVIUS.SID
• JUPITER.AVI
• JUPITER.MOV
• JUPITER.SID
• SUNSPOTS.AVI
• SUNSPOTS.MOV
• SUNSPOTS.SID

Note that if you just click on the links above, the AVI and MOV video files may or may not open and play, depending on which media players and codecs you have on your computer. The SID files will definitely not play in a web browser, they will only play in Images Plus v5.0 or higher.

There are three types of practice video files:

• AVI - This file type is recorded to your computer with a Live View recording program such as Astro Photography Tool, BackYard EOS, or EOS Camera Movie Record. AVI files are what most planetary image processing programs require. AVI files can also be produced by VirtualDub from converted MOV files.

• MOV - This file type is the same as video files recorded in a Canon camera shooting 640x480 Movie Crop Mode for high-resolution planetary imaging. It uses an Apple Quicktime movie format compressed with the H.264 AVC codec. MOV files will not open in most planetary image processing programs (except Images Plus). MOV files must be converted to an AVI file with VirtualDub.

• SID - This file type is recorded to your computer recording Live View with Images Plus. It can only be opened with Images Plus v5.0 or higher. SID files can be converted to BMPs in Images Plus for use in other programs.

These MOV, AVI and SID files are very short. If you open one in a normal media player, they will go by in the blink of an eye because they only have 10 - 20 frames per video. This is less than one second of video. But there are enough frames for you to use them in a planetary image processing program like AutoStakkert!, AviStack, RegiStax or Images Plus to learn how to use them.

Normally video files that you record with your DSLR camera will be much longer with hundreds or thousands of frames. Unfortunately there simply wasn't enough space on this CD-ROM to include longer video files like that.

A short video has the advantage of allowing you to go through the steps quickly to familiarize yourself with the way these programs work.

These videos do not contain enough frames to make a really good final image - they are just for practice for learning how to use those programs covered in this book.