Compression recipies

Given how often we get asked how to compress stuff for the web, I thought I would ask if anyone would be willing to share their compression recipes.
So, what do you use for :

Long form, quality not that important (more than five minutes?)
Medium form, quality sort of important (two to .. five minutes?)
Short form, quality essential (less that one minute?)
and/or
short form, small size imperative.

Of course, there are a lot more possible combinations, but I thought I'd just give this starting list a shot. Feel free to add any combinations you like.

I'm talking codec, frame sizes, FPS, audio settings, etc.

Bump.

And a note that there would be a disclaimer in the FAQ that people will still need to experiment within the bounds of the recipes depending on thier particular case. These are just mean to be jumping off points....

Compression seems to be the art form that baffles most everyone. There are the tools and then the skill to use those tools to effectively use them.

Last evening I was talking with a group of editors and the subject of " How does Apple do those on the Quicktime pages" With a ton of experience and many failures, that subject opens up all sort of emotional outbursts.

Most think Apple and the other Movie web sites use some form of propriatery software to encode the web movies we see. According to their hype it should be H.264, but when others try it it doesn't always work out as well.

The popular tools are Cleaner - Sorenson Squeeze and Quicktime with Sorenson Video plugins. Not sure about the PC tools but we are on MAC's.

I've put up several trailers on the web already. I must've made over a hundred versions of each trailer, using different compressins, formats, etc. After all this I still consider myself a beginner.

I like to post my trailers on Google, because I can make them big in size and Google reduces them down when they do their Flash version. On the last trailer I did I discovered that about 15 MB is good for a 4 to 5 minute trailer -- h.264 mpeg 4, with best compression presets in compressor and mono sound 44 kHz.

But I'm not happy with the quality.

On another note relating to compression markers. I got some excellent advice to a question I posted a few days ao. I read some articles i was refered to by Ken Stone, I believe, and I started adding compression markers everywher there were significant changes in light, color, movement, speed, etc. I tried this with a 50 MB clip and the result was a 25 MB clip, everything else left the same way. The quality looked identical.

This is all true, but I think that what people reading this kind of advice are looking for is something like this:

When I want to make a small, good quality, web ready version of my PAL 16:9 work, I choose File > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion. I choose Format > Quicktime Movie > then click the 'Options' button to access a new menu.

Then Video > Settings > Compression type > H.264.
Frame rate > Current
Keyframe > Every 24
Quality > High
Data rate > Automatic
Encoding > Best quality
Press OK.

Then I click on Size and choose Custom.
In the boxes, because I am doing 16:9 PAL, and I want to reduce it to a third of the size, I type in 341 x 192. (this is 1024 dived by three, and 576 divided by three)
Leave the other boxes unchecked and press OK.

For sound I often use Qualcomm purevoice, because I am often working with voiceover. Mono, 22.050, although this sometimes involves further experiments. Press OK.

Then check the box with 'Prepare for internet streaming' and select 'Fast start' from the dropdown menu.

Click OK and off you go.

Of course, this is a H.264, so only people using Quicktime 7 can see it. For me , I don't really care, because my audiences are limited - I'm not trying to get a bazillion users to see it. For others this might be a problem.

So, anyone who reads this can have a shot at my settings, see how they work for their project and go from there. Is the file too big? Reduce the quality settings, or the FPS, or the size. Need it bigger? Sound not that good? Working in NTSC 4x3 frame size? All easy to change. But at least they have a place to start.

Now, what would you use if you had to send a TVC approval version to someone via email? Wanted to put up your five minute Xmas greeting video for the family overseas? Ipod sized pilot? Video Blog? Etcetera.

Should we include how to make a reference movie so Quicktime selects the movie that is correct for the viewers QT settings?

Quote
Should we include how to make a reference movie so Quicktime selects the movie that is correct for the viewers QT settings?

Not necessary. People just want to know a 1, 2, 3.. step process. Of course it's more of a 1-45 step process, but lets keep it as simple as one can.

Michael Horton
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This is a very helpful thread to me. I like it to be as simple as can be done practically. Please continue. And is there any other tutorial or FAQ that would also cover this territory?

Regards,

You might want to pick up "The Art of Encoding with Compressor"
by Ripple Training
lafcpug Price - $89.00
It's pretty good.