approprieatte codec

Hi,

What codec is appropriatte to turn a 5minutes 40sec
edited in Final Cut 5 into a 100mb video?

Can I export it using quicktime conversion or do I need to use Compressor?

How do I calculate this?

Thanx,
from Rio de Janeiro

<<<What codec is appropriatte to turn a 5minutes 40sec
edited in Final Cut 5 into a 100mb video? >>>

....for posting on YouTube.

That's important because our answer changes depending on who gets the video when you're done.

Koz

make a QT movie in H 264 mpeg 4 compression highest quality across the board

that will get you toward 100 MB

Thanx Koz and Filmman,

actually I want to upload my movie to Atomfilms,

I did what filmman reccomneded me, using quicktime conversion and mpeg 4 compresssion,
highetst quality, and it got me my 5minutes and 40secs into a 910 MB file, far beyond the limit.

Did I do something wrong?
I didn´t get what across the board means...

I only got under 100 MB using poor quality, which is, unfortunately, pretty poor indeed.

<<<I didn´t get what across the board means... >>>

Don't worry about it. He talks in American Slang.

Actually, you should have used H.264 Export, not MPEG4. H.264 is the compressor that can make very nice videos in a small file. H.264 and MPEG4 are cousins of each other.

I do wonder about making the video really small for posting. Most web sites like YouTube convert your video to something else. It's Flash in the case of YouTube. That means the best efficiency and quality you can ever have is the quality of YouTube--or Atom films, not Final Cut.

That's why I asked you about YouTube at the beginning. The 100M file limit is the clue. If you start with an excellent 100M movie, YouTube will turn it into an OK, but slightly distorted Flash Animation. If you send them a very highly compressed movie, they have to take it apart first and then create the Flash. It's going to look much worse than it did when you sent it.

Koz

Try this from the FAQ How do I compress for the Web?

Using filman's advice is like swimming in an ocean full of jellyfish...eventually you will get stung pretty badly

A very important question filman neglected to ask you before offering up his advice that you blow out your H.264 as an MPEG4 (which is incorrect) at Full Quality was...what is your target size / dimensions (aspect ratio)? This is crucial. I just did an export test of a 15 second NTSC D1 spot I just finished - right out of QT Pro with the following settings:

H.264 (not MPEG4, which is a seperate codec choice)
Keyframes - Auto
Compressor Quality - High
Encoding - Best Quality (Multi-pass)
Data Rate - Restrict to 1500 kbits / sec
Optimized for: Download
Size - 480x340

The file went from 265 MB to 2.66 MB and it is razor sharp.

- Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

sorry for jumping the gun, Koz. I didn't mean mpeg4...

Joey, that's very helpful. Those are great settings. I'm going to write them down and use them next time I post a movie on the Internet.

Sorry about that, Buñuel -- by the way Louis Buñuel is one of my favorite directors of all time (I love his Los Olvidados) -- anyway, you're looking for the highest quality within 100 MB though. And it's for the Internet. Okay.

So you should go ahead and do an H 264 but be sure to increase the quality more than what Joey suggested because you'll be only at 30 MBs if you go that way.

Go with highest quality, frame rate equal to the original (if it's for computer monitor viewing, use 30 fps, if it's for television, use 29.97), size: go with 720x480.

For television go with interlaced, for computer monitors go with progressive. Keyframes: go with keyframes every one. In other words, make them all keyframes. That'll add up the MBs pretty fast :-)

Please double check everything and EXPERIMENT...

Quote

filman wrote: sorry for jumping the gun, Koz. I didn't mean mpeg4...

Why apologize to Koz when it was the poster that suffered from your advice? If you didn't mean it, why did you post it? Vic, you have to KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING before posting. People post here looking for help, not misdirection. A lot of folks come in here stuck & scared about missing deadlines and your "advice" could cost someone their job someday.

How would you know that he should increase anything to if you don't even know what size his movie is or what his target is?? Please do everyone a service get all the facts before giving out poor advice that causes people to waste time rendering files that they don't want or can't use.

BTW...with my QT Pro formula, you CAN'T increase the quality...that's what "Best Quality (Multi-Pass) means.

RMPL (Read More Post Less)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Thanks Joey for the heads up :-)

Actually there is a better Chinese saying:

think much

say little

write less

It is important to test the codec you use--
Dont take it for granted that the Video sites you use
will work well with H264 -- Many Dont --

Some problems that happen when the site is not Happy with H264--

Blocky Gray artifacting -- Really Bad -- usually at first of video -3-5 sec.
then it usually clears -- not always tho --

Really wacky audio glitches -hard to discribe -
audio speeds up Slows-- off and on - Wacky --

Sometimes Good picture- No audio -

Some sites wont work with H264 at all--

On the sites that are fully H264 ready - it Looks Good and works good --- Jay--