Compressing video for playback on web
by Brad Keppler
on
Jun 6, 2008 at 3:06:18 pm
Hey all,
I apologize if this has been addressed before. I'm new to the boards here.
I'm doing some video tutorial work for a home building company that has a website they like to channel some of the content through.
Trouble I'm having is that I'm trying to find the best format/method for compressing my original uncompressed video file(around 6-7gigs at 8mins30secs I believe) into something that can either be downloaded or streamed in a reasonable amount of time while retaining as much quality as possible. (At the moment, my efforts to compress into a lower file size leave me with a heavily pixelated mess that makes the graphics a pain to read... and my subject doesn't even move from his seat once!)
I know it's GOT to be a possibility as I've seen countless websites with some great looking vids that run in excess of 10 mins and were clearly formatted from a much higher quality original file size.
Sorry for the long description. But if anyone has any insight into what might work best for what I'm trying to do, I would greatly appreciate the help.
Re: Compressing video for playback on web by Brad Keppler on Jun 6, 2008 at 3:46:57 pm
Shane,
Thanks a billion for the really speedy response.
Of course, I'm going to have to show my true newbie colors here when it comes to Compressor but...
I've tried the H.264 thing after reading it was the way to go. I ended up getting the file size I wanted (it was under 50 megs), but the video came up looking pretty horrible. I use a lot of text to supplement the tutorial, and it was nearly unreadable.
I should have been more specific, and I apologize. I should have asked if someone would be awesome enough to maybe break down the exact settings that one would typically use to get the desired video render. I messed with some of the settings in Compressor when it came to H.264, but I kept getting the same soupy mess.
Again, I reeeeally appreciate the quick response and hate to confound the question further, but do you or anyone else have anymore insight/linkage to something that could just logically beat me over the head with an answer 'till I get it?
Re: Compressing video for playback on web by Ken Summerall on Jun 6, 2008 at 5:02:09 pm
[Brad Keppler]"I've tried the H.264 thing after reading it was the way to go. I ended up getting the file size I wanted (it was under 50 megs), but the video came up looking pretty horrible. I use a lot of text to supplement the tutorial, and it was nearly unreadable."
Brad,
I too have been less than impressed with Compressor's encoding to h.264. I have switched to using Elgatos Turbo.264 encoder. It is a truly amazing little piece of USB hardware. You plug it in, install a little comtroller, drop in your QT file from FCP, select a preset and let it go. It is much faster than Compressor and has better quality.
You would probably use one of the two iPod presets.
I know, you hate it when someone tells you to go buy something to solve you r issues. I do too, but this little gadget costs about $80 and it is worth much more than that in saved time and headaches. Most of my stuff is DVCProHD and it renders it at about 24-25 frames per second, DV comes in at about 40 fps. Another great thing is that it doesn't really matter what you plug it into. I get about the same speed on my 2 year old MBP as I do with a 9 month old MacPro.
Re: Compressing video for playback on web by Brad Keppler on Jun 6, 2008 at 5:17:41 pm
Man, you guys are some kind of speedy.
I greatly appreciate that.
At this point, my client is kinda knockin' on the proverbial door for the web stuff to be up there, so I'm open to purchasing stuff if need be.
Gonna check out the review for the product--which was also very cool, thanks--and try and get this thing settled.
Re: Compressing video for playback on web by Ed Dooley on Jun 6, 2008 at 6:03:08 pm
And you might want to post your web compression questions next time in the Compression or Web streaming forums because that's where the compression guys hang out.
Ed
Re: Compressing video for playback on web by C David Miller on Jun 8, 2008 at 8:09:29 pm
I got tired of using Compressor and it's outcome, I just make a QT file of my work for the web and then use a little application called Visual Hub. It converts to many different formats and the outcome has seemed very good, with many options to choose from.
