Sorenson Squeeze 4 - Any Suggestions?

[GPallan]

I've been experimenting with some of the different .wmv .rm .mov and .mpg codecs that Sorenson 4 offers but i'm not too pleased with the final quality of the vids. There are so many different things that you can fine-tune for each codec and i don't know what combos work best.

Do you guys have any favorites?

I want to provide my vids at two speeds in two (maybe three) different formats (would .wmv and .rm be sufficient?)

Thanks in advance!

Allan

[GPallan]

for example, here are the different settings for a 512k .wmv codec. where do i start??? at this setting i get a totally crappy result

[gaybucks_chip]

I'd definitely go with 2-pass CBR or 2-pass VBR. It will take longer to encode but will definitely make a difference in quality. Also, you might try adjusting the keyframe frequency. It won't make a huge difference, but depending on the specifics of the video (backgrounds, scene changes, etc) it can affect the quality somewhat. And if you can afford the bandwidth, you may find that upping bitrate to about 500-550 will make a noticeable difference.

We use Windows Media 9, but we're considering changing to Flash because the newest Flash encoders seem to have an amazing ratio of quality to file size, and it is viewable by practically anyone with a computer; WM often has problems on the Apple platform and isn't an option on Linux. Real is a great cross-platform option, but my impression is that it's fading in popularity.

[basschick]

why not have a higher and a lower bandwidth version? then you can give your members better than 512k.

[GPallan]

I'd definitely go with 2-pass CBR or 2-pass VBR. It will take longer to encode but will definitely make a difference in quality. Also, you might try adjusting the keyframe frequency. It won't make a huge difference, but depending on the specifics of the video (backgrounds, scene changes, etc) it can affect the quality somewhat. And if you can afford the bandwidth, you may find that upping bitrate to about 500-550 will make a noticeable difference.

We use Windows Media 9, but we're considering changing to Flash because the newest Flash encoders seem to have an amazing ratio of quality to file size, and it is viewable by practically anyone with a computer; WM often has problems on the Apple platform and isn't an option on Linux. Real is a great cross-platform option, but my impression is that it's fading in popularity.

Thanks Chip! Some great tips. At this stage, i can pretty much use all the advice i can get re editing and encoding

This is going to sound totally amateurish, but when you see a vid on a website at 512k, does that refer to the data rate? as in 512kb/sec? i'm thinking that it doesn't cuz a vid would be HUGE at 512kb/s

[GPallan]

why not have a higher and a lower bandwidth version? then you can give your members better than 512k.

yeah, for sure. I was thinking that at the higher quality end, i'd like to offer a 10 min vid at about 60MB. I think i should be able to get a pretty decent vid at that size (that's 100kb/sec) but that's not the case the way i have Sorenson set up right now

[basschick]

60mb for 10 minutes is not uncommon in straight sites. i've seen much bigger - and better.

let me ask you - are you trying to give them good, serviceable video or do you want them to say "damn! this is nice!"?

[GPallan]

60mb for 10 minutes is not uncommon in straight sites. i've seen much bigger - and better.

let me ask you - are you trying to give them good, serviceable video or do you want them to say "damn! this is nice!"?

"damn, this is nice" for sure i want to be known for quality

but i don't want to go too much over that 60mb for a 10 min video. I've seen some pretty good results at that size on some sites

[Jasun]

If you're doing a CBR file (constant bit rate), I'd only change to 2-Pass, and that should solve your problem.. but what source are you coming from? AVI captured from Tape?

If you wanted to do a 3-speed VBR file (Variable Bit Rate), it would make it look a bit better, but you'd have to have a streaming server to make it work properly.

and Mac users won't be able to view it properly.

[GPallan]

If you're doing a CBR file (constant bit rate), I'd only change to 2-Pass, and that should solve your problem.. but what source are you coming from? AVI captured from Tape?

If you wanted to do a 3-speed VBR file (Variable Bit Rate), it would make it look a bit better, but you'd have to have a streaming server to make it work properly.

and Mac users won't be able to view it properly.

Thanks Jasun! yeah, the source is a raw AVI file (i followed your tip on printing to tape ) captured from a tape.

It's very important to me for the vids to be cross platform (well, at least PC and Mac) compatible. So in that case, i should stay away from the 3-speed VBR then?

In your opinion, what and how many formats do i need to be compatible on both PC's and Mac's? is Windows Media enough on it's own? or do i also need to introduce a Real Media format?

[Jasun]

I never use real player.. but what we do on Fratmen for our full-length moveis is encode them twice.. once in Windows Media (we do the 3-speed) and once in Quicktime. Makes the most sense... we let the web-browser figure out which file to point to, and the end user doesn't know they're seeing a different file.

Real Media is OK, but if you want by two bit opinion, unnecessary.

[GPallan]

and how about the audio? at the above 48kbs, the sound jerks whenever someone increases their pitch on the vid.

[Jasun]

hmm.. you're using the same audio settings that I am.. You can lower it if you want to lower the file size, but I think you'll be fine with that.

[GPallan]

I never use real player.. but what we do on Fratmen for our full-length moveis is encode them twice.. once in Windows Media (we do the 3-speed) and once in Quicktime. Makes the most sense... we let the web-browser figure out which file to point to, and the end user doesn't know they're seeing a different file.

Real Media is OK, but if you want by two bit opinion, unnecessary.

That's a great idea. So the PC guys will usually view the file in the Windows Media format and the Mac's in the Quicktime format right? (umm....quicktime is compatible with Mac's, right?)

So, what's your advice on encoding in Quicktime? would you still use the 3-speed format?

btw...i don't see the 3-speed option for either Windows Media or Quicktime in Sorenson

[Jasun]

There's no multiple speed with Quicktime, I don't think.. we dont' use it, anyway.

and in Sorensen Squeeze, it's called "MBR-Dial_UP_Stream"

you just have to choose how many speeds you want and what the data rates are.