Video compression with QT Pro

[char-dawg]

Hi Everyone,

New to the forums and pretty much a newbie/technically unsophisticated when it comes to video. I'd be very grateful if someone who actually knows what they're doing could help me out with a problem...

I have an hour-and-a-half long video that I want to serve from an ecommerce site. I have done what I can to make the file size as small as possible, but it's still almost 1GB, which is too big to be practical. Unfortunately, due to my payment processor's rules I can't split the video up into smaller bits. It has to be one file.

As I said, I'm a newbie and I'm sure there's stuff I don't know when it comes to compression. I did all the work using iMovieHD, and exported the video using a 15 fps frame rate, h.264, optimized for streaming, and setting the quality to "high" rather than "best". Still, too large. Tried Stuffit, but that didn't help much. The stuffed file was still over 840MB, and I need to get down to about 500MB or so.

So here's my question: Is there any way to reduce the size of the video further? I don't want to buy some $1000 professional software, but I wouldn't mind getting QT Pro (or something similar) if it will do the job. I just don't want to spend the money if it won't.

If it helps, my version of iMovieHD is 6.0.3, and I'm working on a Macbook with 2GHz Intel Core Duo processors and 2GB of memory. OS is 10.5.8.

Thanks for any help or suggestions. If I can give more information, just let me know.

P.S. Did a search on this but couldn't really find anything...

[Baldrick]

To get smaller file size you must lower the bitrate or make the clip shorter. I have no idea how to do adjust bitrate exactly in imoviehd though, maybe you can just change quality settings. Try google bitrate imoviehd.

1.5 hours in 500 MB would require a video bitrate around 678kbit/s with 96kbit/s audio. ( https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/bitrate-calculators )

You could also try another converter like the free handbrake, it can convert to mp4 h264, under the video tab you just select desired target size. It will work in flash players.

[char-dawg]

Thank you for the information. I will try Handbrake and see what the final version looks like. If the video quality is sufficiently good, that sounds like it will be the best option. Just choose your file size and go!

Thanks again.

[char-dawg]

Just a quick follow-up note to say thanks again. I got Handbrake (couldn't find a Mac option on your link, but it was easy enough to Google) and it worked great. I am now considering naming my second child "Baldrick".

Seriously, much appreciated. Thanks for the help.

[Baldrick]

Great!!!

But I wouldn't name him Baldrick...see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldrick .