HD Web presets for Compressor

Has anyone stumbled upon (or created) a good H.264 Web preset for Compressor? I've got a 5 min. DVCProHD interview that the client wants up on their web site, with instructions to make it look "as good as the Apple trailers." My first attempts look good but they're way too big, and the more I mess with the settings the more insane my transcoding times get (18 hours??) I'm trying to do make two versions that pop up in QT player, a 480p and a 720p...

JK

> Has anyone stumbled upon (or created) a good H.264 Web preset for
> Compressor? I've got a 5 min. DVCProHD interview that the client wants up
> on their web site, with instructions to make it look "as good as the Apple
> trailers."

If you make the movie file H.264, I think a good number of people won't be able to play it because it's an Apple format, and PC users might have trouble accessing that. I'd be happy to be corrected on that perception, though, if anybody else knows different.

I've gotten satisfactory results using MPEG-4s and WMVs exported using Flip4Mac.

Eighteen hours for a five-minute clip!?!? I smell a rat in the house.

the eighteen hours comes from somewhere in the "HD" thing. im not sure if its a "rat" or what. but when i did my HDV tests i had a 1 minute clip that took about 2 hours to fully render through compressor down to an SD DVD

Although each video has different demands, download an Apple trailer you like and look at the data rate they target. Keep in mind that they were likely shot on 35mm and have been compressed by experienced professional compressionists and/or hardware compression.

H.264 is not an Apple format. It requires Quicktime 7 though and many Windows users either don't have Quicktime or haven't updated to Quicktime 7. People into entertainment and/or those that have iTunes on Windows are likely to have updated to 7 though. I wouldn't use H.264 for "business" demos or communications but it can work if you're targeting filmmakers or those into such trailers since so many of them are in H.264. It's a good idea to say on the website that the video needs Quicktime 7 (Windows/Mac) and include a link to it.

Always do tests on 1 or 2 minutes sections that are the busiest (fast action, transitions, motion graphics) and make those look good. Using 2 Pass VBR will go through the entire video and change data rate according to the image so if you get the tough parts to look good you've gone a long way to make the movie look good. Keep in mind that you're also expecting your viewership to have fast broadband and a newer/faster computer for decoding.

Doing a good WMV version with Flip4Mac can certainly help you reach those Windows users who don't have Quicktime 7 though.



Post Edited (05-24-06 07:46)

Craig Seeman
[thirdplanetvideo.com]

Actually, the people who would watch these clips are filmmakers, and most likely will have decent Macs to watch these on. And they specifically requested the same format as the Apple HD trailers at the same sizes so I can't change those specs. I am, however, going to offer smaller non-HD downloads, probably as Mpeg-4s which should work for any stray Windows users who are still on QT6.

Targetting the data rate did help (thanks Craig) and I was able to crunch the 5:00 pieces down to around 80mb; the Batman Begins 480p trailer clocks in at 2:24 and 41mb, so that's close enough for horsehsoes.

As for the insane encoding time, I did get it down to around 6 hours for these 5 min. pieces. Considering the age of my machine (Dual G4 QS) and the demands of H.264 that's probably the best I can expect...

Thanks,
JK