Compressing/Exporting....

Can someone please explain to me what the following three compression types are - H.261, H.263, and H.264. What I mean is, I tried one - took the file size WAY down and still looked great - but I found out that it isn't playing on a friend's computer.

I have about 18 files - averaging about 800 megs at full size - that need to be under 2 megs - which I have dropped them down to 320 x 240 - but can't seem to get them under 5 megs without them starting to look really crappy. I've tried the Sorenson 3 and MPEG compressions - and a few others.
I have been compressing them at 15 fps with keyframes every 300 limiting the bitrate to 6400 kbits/sec. Took the audio down to 22khz - 16 - mono.

Any suggestions? Could it be something as simple as changing a bit rate?? Or do i need to...???

any help...all help...appreciated.

What is your ultimate playback goal? Web or computer desktop for example?
How broad of a "reach" do you want? All recent macs, all recent pcs, just for a particular person's use? What are you compressing with and which version?
You don't mention how long (time) each file is.



Craig Seeman
[thirdplanetvideo.com]

These are all 30 second promos - that will be used on my website as portfolio pieces....so any "potential employer" would be viewing.
They vary - some are video intensive with lots of cuts and effects, others are more motion graphics intensive -
I have tried using compressor 1.2.1 - and have used the quicktime conversion straight out of FCP HD...
does this help?

why have you imposed upon yourself a 2 meg limit? i have a number of 5+ meg videos on my site with no problems. as a progressive download, they will begin playing as soon as enough data is achieved to begin playback. so it will play as it downloads...

The designer who is doing my site asks that I try to keep them under 2 megs - so, trying to make him happy - I have been trying - but if you think I am just beating my head against the wall for no real reason - PLEASE tell ME!

But I am still curious as to why the movies compressed with the H.261, H.263, and H.264 formats will not work - anyone?

Who are your targeted employers?

If it's video facilities they should be able to play Quicktime mov (I would not use H.264 yet since it requires QT7 and is only a "preview" release on Windows). If you do corporate work you'd want WMV. Many business don't have Quicktime on their servers.

For Quicktime you should use Sorenson Pro (NOT Sorenson) codec. You'd have to purchase it for use in Cleaner or QuicktimePro (or FCP). The later two don't allow the better 2 Pass VBR for Sorenson Pro. If you get Squeeze it includes Sorenson Pro and allows 2 pass VBR.

If you need to do WMV, gete Flip4Mac, which will work in QuicktimePro, FCP, Cleaner, Squeeze.

You could encode MPEG4 but I'm not a big fan of it. At similar data rates, it doesn't look as good as either Quicktime encoded with Sorenson Pro or WMV. For MPEG4 though you might try Compressor 1.2.1s "MPEG 4 NTSC / MPEG 4 - Improved NTSC Large Progressive." For Compressor 2.0.1 it would be "Web Download Quicktime 6 Compatible MPEG4- 800Kbps."

320x240 is a reasonable size although some might bump it up to 384x288. Larger image means viewer needs faster internet connection.

Since I suspect you're looking for higher end clients high data rate is good since you'd be targeting people/businesses that likely have reasonably fast internet connections. Some businesses do have slower DSL connections. I'd target a data rate of 500-700kbps/s but you might want to be closer to 350kbps/s for those with slower DSL connections.

Generally you'd be better off doing a 2 Pass VBR with higher key frame rates for fast motion / complex movement video. Don't forget to deinterlace. To show off video work always run at your standard frame rate (29.97 NTSC). 15fps motion looks horrible IMHO unless you're doing talking head interviews.



Post Edited (07-20-05 07:54)

Craig Seeman
[thirdplanetvideo.com]

yes, as i understand the "H." codecs are only available for internet playback under quicktime 7, and thats going to limit availability to pc users for a while. i say sorensen3 or better yet FLV/SWF - if you want super small file sizes and dont mind a very slight bit of artifacting. i have yet to come across a corporate machine that doesnt have the latest version of flash player...