Best settings for mov that will be used to create flv's?

Hey all, I'm hoping you can help me out.

I'm working on some projects that are eventually being sent to a CMS to be turned into flv's of various sizes and I'm having trouble figuring out what settings to use in Compressor for that. The way it works is this:

I export the project from FCP as a Quicktime Movie.
I import it into Compressor where the mov is turned into three wmv versions for downloading from the web (low, medium and high quality) which are then uploaded onto my boss's server. No problem.
Now I need a smaller mov version to upload to the server, which will then be sent to the CMS to be converted into flv's.

Uploading the QT movie as is is way too big, so for a long time I was using a tweaked version of Compressor's H.264 setting, which got the movie down to a manageable size and the CMS would then have no problem turning it into flv's. But somewhere along the way I must have changed something because now the CMS won't convert the mov (though it still converts older movies I've done; we tested). I've compared the properties of a recent movie with an older one that works, and they are both H.264 with AAC sound. I've been going nuts trying to figure out what's suddenly different, but I'm thinking I need to start from scratch with a new setting.

So basically I need suggestions for a setting that will compress the QT movie down to an uploadable size and also make it so that the CMS will be able to convert it to flv. I'm working with FCS3 on a Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard. Please help! Thanks in advance!

hmmm..so will the quality of flv's will be same as of mov?

Sorry. I completely missed this one. What's a CMS?

If you need to get it to FLV (I'm assuming you are using VP7), then do not feed a heavily compressed Quicktime to the encoder. It is effectively what you'll get when you send a file to Vimeo or Youtube. Quality is like trying to take a good photograph with a Xerox printer. Send your full resolution quicktime file.

However, in most cases, flash players, since Flash 9, are able to stream h.264 quicktime files. So you don't have to encode to flash at all.



www.strypesinpost.com

I have no idea what VP7 is. I'm just using Final Cut Pro 7 and Compressor.

CMS is Content Management System. When I upload the mov version, my boss enters it into the CMS where there are presets which automatically batch export it to all the different versions he needs for the video (an ipod version, a slightly lower quality mov version, a flash version, etc).

He needs a flash version that will play right on the website and respond to the on screen controls, and it just needs to be "decent" quality, not the exact high quality of the original mov file... maybe he doesn't realize it needn't be a flv video and instead can be a regular h.264.

However I did find a trick to turn the h.264 into flash... I just changed the extension from mov to flv... It probably works because the flash player is capable of playing h.264 regardless of the extension, right?

>I have no idea what VP7 is.

Sorry, I meant VP6 (i thought we'd have moved up to VP7 by now). VP6 is the codec used for flash video (Flash 8).

>It probably works because the flash player is capable of playing h.264 regardless of the extension,
>right?

Yes. You could also try a .mp4 extension and I think it'll work. The .mov extension should work too. Let me guess... you skipped the CMS and pumped out the file onto the server and streamed that in a flash player? Yes, that works too, in fact, that's what i'm suggesting. Flash H.264 may not work on machines that do not have flash 9 installed.

Okay, admittedly, I'm not sure what the CMS does. What you're saying is that it's kind of an online batch encoder, kinda like a cloud app?



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote

Let me guess... you skipped the CMS and pumped out the file onto the server and streamed that in a flash player?

Yeah, I just made a copy of one of the mov versions and changed the extension to flv. I'm not sure why my boss needs it to be an flv file specifically, I just figured he knows what he's talking about but that may not be the case, so I'll let him know he might be able to just use one of the mov versions.

I guess you could say that the CMS is a kind of cloud app, since all I need to do is log onto a website to get to the server. I just upload the file, check off which presets I need it in, and it outputs them automatically. For some reason, it wasn't converting my h.264 mov files into flash anymore even though it used to do it just fine (and still works on older mov files I've created).

Thanks to all of you for your help and suggestions. Being primarily interested in and concerned with the art and craft of editing, I find all this other stuff about codecs to be a bothersome, sometimes frustrating distraction. So I may yet return with another question!