Recommended rendering settings for downloads
by Michael Cass
on
Jun 23, 2008 at 5:15:34 am
Hello, I’m a bit confused about rendering videos that are suitable to be downloaded by my friends. I was hoping someone experienced might be able to point me in the right direction. Here is some background info:
-They are recordings using a program called FRAPS. They are from a mixture of video games, however they are all recorded at 1680x1050. FRAPS is set to record at 30 fps, but my computer performance limits me to 10-30 fps I think, depending on the situation.
-The videos range from 5 to 15 minutes.
-Preferably no more than 300MB for a 10 minute video. Obviously it’s not going to be stream-able, but I don’t want to blow out peoples download caps either!
-I’m hoping for clean crisp video, so small text and details can be read.
If they are recorded at 1680x1050, do I need to render them at that res? If I make it a half or a quarter of the size, will the pixels look bad? If I keep it at 1680x1050, will it look bad for people with smaller monitors? Also, any tips on file type? I’m told .wmv(9) is a good quality to file size ratio, but would any other codec be better for my particular circumstance? I was under the impression .avi (DivX, Xvid, etc?) was the latest and greatest these days. Lastly, does fps have a big impact on file size? Is 30 fps really 3 times as large on disk as 10 fps?
I appreciate any responses regarding any of my questions!
Thanks
Re: Recommended rendering settings for downloads by Rob James on Jun 24, 2008 at 2:16:38 am
Hey Michael, I've always had great success with Windows Media Video V9 .wmv format. Of course that won't help you if your end-user is on a Mac. In that case choose QuickTime .mov format, with similiar settings to the ones I'm about to describe. Once you've selected Windows Media Video V9, in the Template slot choose 512 kbps. Then Hit he Custom button. On the Project TAB choose BEST. In the Audio TAB choose, CBR at 128 kbps, 44.1kHz stereo. In the Video TAB choose CBR Windows Media Video 9 and Image size to 320X240 Animation. Frame rate to 30 fps. (And no frame rate has no bearing on the file size) Slide the video smoothness bar fully to the right (100) In the Bit Rate TAB choose Internet/LAN (500K). This incidently is also the BEST render for submissions to YouTube as well, so save it as a Template at the top and call it YouTube. Hope this helps? The video will be smaller than usual, but crystal clear, and will the audio. Do a test render and see if you like it. It will download fast, almost stream as well. A 1 gig .AVI (3 minutes)will come out at around 15 megs, making it perfect for the Internet. Here's a short example http://www.robjames.net/Huge.wmv
