Quicktime to AVI?
by Shawn Marshall
on
Jun 25, 2008 at 2:24:36 am
Hi:
I've completed a three minute After Effects project, rendered at 720x540, 30fps with the animation codec. The client wants three versions delivered: an h.264 Quicktime, a wmv, and an AVI; I don't believe this will ever be used for NTSC. I'm working on a Mac Pro.
I used Quicktime Pro to export the h.264 Quicktime and the Flip 4 Mac Pro exporter to create the wmv, but my AVI export choices seem pretty limited in the Mac Quicktime player. If I export an AVI using "None" compression the file is 5 GB; they want something around 60MB. The Cinepak codec is ancient and crappy. The other codecs are various flavors of DV. I imagine these videos will be viewed predominately on Windows machines, and I don't know if DVCPro50 is a standard codec on that platform.
I could run Windows XP under Boot Camp and use some video conversion software on that side. My hope is that there'd be better codecs available for AVIs. I know DivX works well, but I'd like to use something that's standard to Windows if possible.
Any suggestions as to what codec to use?
Any suggestions as to what conversion software works well?
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Chris Wright on Jun 25, 2008 at 5:34:01 am
click limit data rate to..(bitrate calculator) less than 5GB
cinepack, indeo, and microsoft codecs that comes with windows are only sure bets. Not everyone who owns windows even has divx. There's also a Windows DV AVI. That would be my first choice.
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Tom Brooks on Jun 25, 2008 at 11:38:02 am
What's the point of making the AVI? I can only think that it would be to provide compatibility with really dated PC computers. In that case, you need to pick a codec that is likely to be on those old things. Can you make an AVI with Flip4Mac? If so, choose Microsoft MPEG-4 V1 or V2 (older WM codecs, not related to Quicktime MPEG-4). Another choice is Cinepak. Indeo is a candidate, but which version and you might have trouble finding the codec to use in your encoding software.
Otherwise, try using MPEG Streamclip for the conversion. Another approach is to make an intermediate AVI with MPEG Streamclip at PhotoJPEG 75% quality and then find a PC with Adobe Premiere on it to make the AVI from that in Microsoft MPEG-4 V2. This method is limited to a 2GB file size, but your 3-minute intermediate file should fit within that.
That's a bunch of ideas. Good luck sorting it out!
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Kevin O'Neill on Jun 25, 2008 at 1:22:47 pm
VisualHub is a great program for converting videos to various formats, .avi being one of the options available. I haven't converted to .avi with it myself, however I've found it does a good, quick job of converting to and from mpeg-4/mpeg-2/wmv.
I know download.com has a version available - not so sure of what the licensing/limitations may be...
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Robert Houghton on Jun 25, 2008 at 3:58:44 pm
We just had to do this for a few contest entries. We ultimately ended up using the AVI DV codec at the highest setting. The file was a fraction of the full AVI size although as was said earlier you might need to adjust either the quality or bitrate settings to fit it into 50MB.
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Shawn Marshall on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:55:23 pm
Hi Rob:
So did you do your DV AVI from Quicktime player on the Mac? I can dial down the quality but can't adjust the bitrate; those options are greyed out. I thought DV was fixed at, like, 4.5 MB/sec.
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Robert Houghton on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:31:35 pm
Yes, you are correct there. I mistook the AVI export from QT pro for another codec. You are pegged at 4.5 MB a second for DV.
We had to clarify with the client on the AVI export. It turned out to be their generic term for an uncompressed windows media file. That 50MB ceiling they gave you would be possible if you use the AVI file as say a container for a high bitrate .MP4 file. Although honestly you already have that with the H.264 QT file. It sounds to me that they might want the AVI for editing purposes. You may need to clarify that with them for what the purpose of it is. I'm a bit rusty on what you can get for freeware to create that however. Have you checked sourceforge?
-Rob
Motion Graphics Animation
Professional & Freelance
Respond2
Opinions expressed above are not in any way connected to Respond2.
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Shawn Marshall on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:44:12 pm
Hi:
I've asked the agency we're working through for clarification, and I think I'll ask them whether the end client plans to use this AVI for distribution (which wouldn't make sense these days) or for editing.
This PC stuff is out of my comfort zone. When you're editing in NLEs or working in AE on PCs is the standard media format AVIs, as opposed to Quicktimes on the Mac?
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Dave LaRonde on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:53:30 pm
[Shawn Marshall]"This PC stuff is out of my comfort zone. When you're editing in NLEs or working in AE on PCs is the standard media format AVIs, as opposed to Quicktimes on the Mac? "
You might consider getting Flip4Mac, which in conjunction with Sorenson Squeeze can create all the different files you need from one high-quality, Animation-codec AE file.
And everybody's right: it helps to get the SPECIFICS on the AVI you need. Just like Quicktime, an AVI is a media container, and the media it contains can be encoded by several different codecs.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Shawn Marshall on Jun 25, 2008 at 8:01:28 pm
Hi Dave:
Thanks for your reply. I did mention in my initial post that I used the Flip 4 Mac Pro exporter within Quicktime Pro to create a nice-looking 60MB wmv. The 1-pass version ended up looking better than the 2-pass version. I see no option to export AVIs through Flip 4 Mac.
I've asked the agency to ask the end client what their plans are for the AVI. Do they want to use it for distribution or are they looking for an archival, uncompressed copy?
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Dave LaRonde on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:25:24 pm
[Shawn Marshall]"I've completed a three minute After Effects project, rendered at 720x540, 30fps with the animation codec... I don't believe this will ever be used for NTSC."
Well, unless you know that for a fact, and if the three-minute time limit is a hard and fast limit, I'd use a 29.97 frame rate. The reason: if you have to conform your 30fps video to 29.97 at a later time, its length becomes 00:03:00:06. Furthermore, computers don't particularly care if the frame rate is 29.97 or 30.
Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA
Re: Quicktime to AVI? by Shawn Marshall on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:50:27 pm
Hi:
Thanks for all your replies. I really don't know why they want an AVI, but that's clients for you.
I'll confirm that this won't be used for NTSC; in addition to working at 30fps (I'm matching a project they provided) I've been working full raster, pretty much ignoring safe title.
