Specs for Google videos?

[sky captain]

I've been reading about Google's new video hosting site. It's this section of the Google FAQ (at https://upload.video.google.com/video_faq.html) that has me scratching my head:

What file formats do you accept?

Google accepts video in a wide range of popular formats. The fastest way to get your videos into Google Video is to submit each file in MPEG4 format with MP3 audio or MPEG2 with MP3.

While we also support other digital formats such as QuickTime, Windows Media, and RealVideo, it's important to note that submitting your files in these formats may significantly delay us from using them on Google Video. In some cases, we may not be able to add your video at all.

Here are our preferred video specs:
NTSC (4:3) size and framerate, deinterlaced
Video Codec: MPEG2 or MPEG4 (MPEG4 preferred)
Video Bitrate: at least 260Kbps (750kbps preferred)
Audio Codec: MP3 vbr
Audio Bitrate: at least 70Kbps (128 Kbps preferred)

I'm confused by this. How do I make an MPEG4 file? I thought MPEG4 was just a codec used in Quicktime and DIVX files. Is there a way of making a file that has MPEG4 or MP4 as a suffix?

[Baldrick]

divx,xvid,avc/h264 are some mpeg4 video codecs. mp4 is a container format, it is no video codec and they doesn't mention anything about it.

[sky captain]

So what do you think I should be sending them? I like working in Quicktime, but they say they prefer MPEG4 or MPEG2.

When I make MPEG2's, I usually make them silent with a separate WAV file for use on DVD. So I'm not comfortable with making them with MP3 audio.

[redwudz]

I found an interesting article in USA Today about Google's new video format. I doubt if Google is amused.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/hacking/2005-06-29-dvd-jon-google_x.htm

[sky captain]

Someone just told me that Quicktime Pro allows you to export as a MP4 file.

So... I guess that's what I'll do. Funny, I hadn't heard of that before.