Encoding Quicktime in Vegas

I've been convinced to change our alternative video format from Real to Quicktime... although I do prefer the look and file size of Real Media over Quicktime.

So what are good encoding setting to use in Vegas?

Which codec is the most popular... Sorenson 3, H.263, etc.?

What quality setting should I use?

What streaming settings should I use?

What the heck is 'compressed depth' and why do I only have a 24bit option on my desktop and a 32bit option on my laptop?

Is there any other tricks or tips I should know about?

*bumpin' for Patti

I probably should have just PMed her instead. ;)


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sorry i can't help - i don't use sony for my quicktimes. i am using the codec sorenson video 3 pro, if that helps at all. and i don't use sony on my laptop - just on 2 desktops.

my suggestion - make 2 - 4 quicktime videos at the same bitrate using different compressed depths till you like what you see. if they all look the same, post them here to find out if everyone can see them. if everyone can see them, and they all look the same to the naked eye, choose the smallest one. if they're all the same in every way, toss a coin ;)

that's pretty much how i chose a codec and everything else :D

h.264 is the latest and greatest Quicktime/MP4 related format. From everything I'm hearing, it has better compression and higher quality than pretty much anything else out there, and is an open standard, so if I were switching from Windows Media, that's the format I'd be going to.

I believe it's also Ipod compatible if rendered at the right image size.

latest and greatest usually also means that a good part of current quicktime users may not be able to play it. that's why i suggested posting it here and having a bunch of webmasters test it first.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gaybucks_chip

h.264 is the latest and greatest Quicktime/MP4 related format. From everything I'm hearing, it has better compression and higher quality than pretty much anything else out there, and is an open standard, so if I were switching from Windows Media, that's the format I'd be going to.

I believe it's also Ipod compatible if rendered at the right image size.

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Something to be said for that. I think H.264 has been around for at least a year or more, but I dunno what version of Quicktime it requires. When I next encode some stuff, I'll encode something in H.264 and post it so we can all test it and see...

Quicktime 7+ is H.264
H.264 is good quality but watching it, it sucks lots of CPU power someone on a slower processor would have issues watching.

And encoding anything larger than 320x240 in H.264 can be slow unless you have a server farm stashed in the basement.

You'll have to play a lot till you get a result you like though, at least I had to.

And Vegas in general is so painfully slow which ends up in a nicer looking video but damn