Good FLV video quality
by Beppe Mangione
on
Feb 8, 2008 at 5:31:47 am
I'm unsing Video2Swf to compress some video in FLV,
but I'm never happy with the quality of the images, especially if you watch the video in full screen mode.
My source material is DVcam, and I'm wondering if this can cause a problem...
But if I export from FCP with H264 codec, I'm happy with the quality!
Could be the software that I'm using? Video2Swf...
I even try to set the kpbs at 1600, with best quality, but it's always the grain of the image that it doesn't satisfied me.
Re: Good FLV video quality by Chris Clephane on Feb 12, 2008 at 4:49:15 am
Beppe,
Yes, the h264 will most likely look better than FLV.
Not many people will disagree with you on that point.
Please be aware that there are several other very important BASIC considerations that play into the encoding/delivery process as well.
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1) To receive h264 and play it back properly, your client machines (web viewing audience) will need to be at version 9+ of the Flash browser plugin. It is my understanding the majority of web browsers have not upgraded to the current version of Flash yet. 6 months to a year from now...most people will have upgraded, but the current numbers reported state that most browsers are not ready to receive h264. (Using Flash 7 & 8)
2) If you are trying to deliver this via a flash media streaming server..... (Again, the last time I checked compatibility) Adobe FMS and Wowza servers were still in Beta for delivering h264 and AAC audio.
So that means...(right now) no streaming delivery.
Only http progressive download of h264.
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QUALITY:
Again, you will be hard-pressed to find someone who does not agree that h264 (in general) DOES look a LOT better than the other current and older codecs....however as I said, your delivery options compatibility are VERY limited at the moment.
6 months to a year from now...h264 will play a greater role....But not right now. The world in general--right now-- is ill-equipped to receive & view it.
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All that stated...
If progressive download is ok AND you can get your recipients/vewers to use the current versions of the Flash plugin for their browsers....by all means go with h264.
But if you ARE looking to stream your video AND need universal playability, I would use the On2 product with VP6 to create FLV's. (That's what most of us seem to be using.)
AND always make sure you DEINTERLACE your footage for web/FLV delivery. (THAT setting is buried three menu layers down into the program....it takes some digging to find...)
-C
P.S. the ON2 product delivers absolutely STELLAR results (encoded FLV) with the VP6 codec and 2-pass encoding--especially when compared to the Adobe FLASH single-pass encoder. Be forewarned, one setting does not work with ALL video. (Bitrate/keyframes/etc.) You do have to perform some trial and error with the settings and bitrates to maximize the look of every piece. (Not all video is or encodes the same.) Suggestion: If you don't go with h264, then explore the ON2 encoding options a lot deeper and give the On2 package another chance.
And again, DEINTERLACE your footage. In my experience, that seems to make the single biggest quality difference (in general) with streaming encodes.
I edit video. I post sometimes.
I fix things. I eat marshmallows.
I play drums. I drink scotch.
I like TV.
Re: Good FLV video quality by David Thompson on Feb 13, 2008 at 6:59:02 pm
Following this with interest, as have been asking Qs re: h264 in another thread.
Just to check, Chris, by this:
"It is my understanding the majority of web browsers have not upgraded to the current version of Flash yet."
- do you mean that in order to view an h.264 file, user would have to upgrade their flash player to 9, which could be annoying but not the end of the world, or do you mean that some browsers don't support flash player 9 so users couldn't watch the video even if they were prepared to download the flash update?
If the latter, which browsers are they? I use firefox for mac, and I've watched what I think is h.264 in flash players.
Thanks for your expertise!
Mac Pro
2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
4 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Final Cut Studio 2
Re: Good FLV video quality by Ed Dooley on Feb 14, 2008 at 11:40:09 pm
He means to use H.264 in Flash. To play H.264 without Flash the user needs QT7.
Ed
[David Thompson]"Following this with interest, as have been asking Qs re: h264 in another thread.
Just to check, Chris, by this:
"It is my understanding the majority of web browsers have not upgraded to the current version of Flash yet."
- do you mean that in order to view an h.264 file, user would have to upgrade their flash player to 9, which could be annoying but not the end of the world, or do you mean that some browsers don't support flash player 9 so users couldn't watch the video even if they were prepared to download the flash update?
Re: Good FLV video quality by Luc Phelps on Feb 15, 2008 at 10:24:06 am
SOMEONE PLEASE VALIDATE WHAT I STATE BELOW - I'm not 100% sure of its correctness.
In my experience, there is another issue with .H264, namely that only you need a 'monster' computer to play it smoothly if you get above dimensions of 400px either h or w.
I have a 2yr old 1.67 GHz with 1.5 GB of RAM (granted, it's a PowerPC G4 processor) and whenever I try to view a larger .H264 it's choppy. Most people I know don't have a better machine than this.
Perhaps this is due to a particular issue with my machine, I'm not sure... Which is why it would be good for someone to validate my post.
