Rich Media PDFs

Problem Statement

You've seen multimedia that you would love to use in corporate communication. Unfortunately, the corporate IT department is very security-conscious. They resist installing a new server or web application inside the firewall, and they forbid putting corporate information on outside hosts. They 'encourage' everyone use the company's secure document management system (.e.g., Lotus Notes or Microsoft Sharepoint) for all business communication. Is video out of the question?

iPOV's Rich Media PDF

iPOV has refined a way to embed sophisticated, animated Flash videos inside a standard Adobe PDF file. The result is an integrated, thoroughly standard PDF. If you give us a Word document and a video (in almost any format), we will return a polished 'Rich Media PDF' like the following examples. Note: In keeping with their PDF format, these should be downloaded to a local disk and viewed from there. Download times will vary according to file size:

Right Click on Thumbnail and Save PDF to Disk in Order to View	Example Application
	Software Instruction Memo (1.7MB, 1 video clip) - It's pretty common that a minor software problem will get in the way of productivity. Wouldn't it be nice to record a quick fix or procedure change and send a totally unambiguous memo to let everyone know what to do.
	Video work instruction (2.2MB, 2 video clips)- This shows the correct method to perform the sort of factory or distribution task that is used throughout industry. The work instruction design contains two video clips. One shows the task being performed at full, expert speed. The second shows it being performed step-by-step to make the subtleties more evident.
	A video prospectus for a real estate property (11MB, 1 video clip) - Most of the information in this flyer is given in the embedded video clip. Even though the video has no commentary, it still gives a more accurate impression of the property than any text or still picture could ever achieve.
	Instruction sheet for a computer maintenance task (1.9MB, 1 video clip)- This video-enhanced document combines a step-by-step written procedure with an illustrative video clip. The listing ensures that the viewer has a complete guide to the tasks. The video clip ensures that the viewer can put the list of instructions in their proper physical context.
	Procedure for using software (16MB, 5 video clips)- Video clips with screencast movies of a software application have been added to a detailed step-by-step procedure. The procedure provides the accurate details for the task, while the videos provide situational context and a sense of the flow of the transaction. A viewer can remember the transaction flow far more easily than they can memorize a list of steps.
	How to change the oil in your car (4.7MB, 1 video clip)- This is a simple procedure, but it illustrates how a synchronized script can be added to the video clip to make the speech clearer. The companion script could also be used to add extra description or even warnings that are synchronized with the action.

Who would need this?

These PDFs will play on any computer where Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Flash Player are installed. Presumably, anyone who wants to view a PDF will have Acrobat Reader installed and, according to Adobe's statistics, Flash Player is installed on 98% of computer desktops. Companies can handle situations where a multimedia web page is not feasible:

• IT security policies make it difficult to put the video on a web site.
• Bandwidth limitations make it difficult to stream video to the target audience.
• The target computer is not connected to a high-speed network.
• Users are carrying laptops into areas with low connectivity.
• The company's official documents must reside in a document management system like Sharepoint or Lotus Notes.
• The company assembles collections of documents to distribute on CD or DVD to stakeholders beyond the firewall.
• The company deals extensively with overseas offices that have slow connections.
• etc.

In each of these situations, a Rich Media PDF would offer an attractive alternative. This format will fit in many of those awkward places where a multimedia website cannot reach.

Requirements, Time and Cost

• The cost depends on the amount of processing that iPOV must apply to the video. To prepare a video (without additional editing) and place it in a PDF with customer-supplied text (e.g., with the formatted contents of a Word document) typically costs $75/page, or less in larger quantities.
• If iPOV is asked to apply its standard video transformations to the video clips, the cost will generally be determined by the transformations. Since the 'flattened Flash movie' is an iPOV standard output, PDF page publication fees are typically waived.
• Simple page constructions are returned in 1 to 2 days.

Bottom Line

Rich Media PDFs are a useful compromise between static text and graphics documents on one hand and multimedia websites on the other. They offer rich multimedia, with a level of portability and flexibility that a website cannot match. Finally, they offer rich media in a package that is widely accepted by security-conscious IT departments. If you have text documents and videos that you would like to display together, consider giving us a call.