Whats the best format for good video quality with reasonable file size

[hasanali00]

Hi

A quick question: on mac and by using ffmpegX what format & settings I should convert my future videos so that the video quality and file size is reasonable and that I can import them into Premiere CS4 ??


Some Background

I have moved from Windows to Mac and I need some help to convert my future videos.

I used my Sony HDD camera to capture videos in MPEG2 then on windows I used AutoGK to convert them to Xvid Avi.

The original MPEG2 video are 2GB for 50 minutes. With AutoGK I could convert them to 700MB with 80% quality.

Then I could edit the Xvid video in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Now, on Mac I am using ffmpegX and Adobe Premiere CS4. I have realised that in Premiere CS4 my old Xvid videos are not being imported.

Anyhow, my question is: on mac and by using ffmpegX what format I should convert my future videos so that the video quality and file size is reasonable and I could import them into Premiere CS4.

[edDV]

Depends on your perception of quality. Is this all SD video? For re-edit, I wouldn't drop below MPeg2. AVC formats should be considered for destination playback only. They don't recode well.

[Nelson37]

I always answer such questions in this way.

Can you tell me the Precisely Correct amount of ketchup to put on my french fries?

Or should I use mayonnaise?