iPod, Super, Frames per second question

[clothesburner626]

First, went to Apple this morning. This is one of the video formats iPod accepts:

H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

When I open Super and select Apple - iPod in the output container window and H.264/AVC in the output video codec window the program defaults to this:

Video Section

Video Scale size for Apple - iPod = 320 x 240
Aspect = 4:3
Frame/Sec = 25
Bitrate = 672

Audio Section

Sampling Freq = 22050
Channels = 2
Bitrate = 48

Refer back to the video format above that iPod accepts.

Super defaults to 25 frames per second, iPod accepts 30.... what do I do here? Go with the default? Is this setting dependent on the frames per second of the original or can I go with whatever I want? Obviously, if I know the fps of the original is 29.97 I'll want to stick with that - or do I? Most times, I do not / will not know what the frames per second of the original was or is.

Super also defaults to a bitrate of 672. Will raising this to 768 Kbps improve the quality or just make my file bigger? These are going to be loaded onto a server so I want to conserve as much space as possible, however if there'll be a significant change in quality, I'd be willing to go the 768 Kbps route.

Also, notice the Sampling Freq and bitrate in the audio section. Super defaults to 22050/48. iPod accepts 48000/160. My opinion is to go with the highest audio quality setting possible. That way, the audio cannot be degraded in any kind of way. For example, if the audio of the original is 44100/96, a setting of 48000/160 will not degrade it; a setting of 22050/48 (the setting Super defaults to) will.

Thanks for your responses.... and wish me luck. I've been working on this for a couple of days now.

[clothesburner626]

I sent this post to SUPER. This was their response:

All profiles in SUPER(C) without exception are set to a very optimized
level between quality and file size. As you can tell, SUPER(C) is very
oriented
portable devices (cellphones, Walkman, iPod, PSP, PocketPC..) therefore
filesize
is an important issue.

Please read this http://www.erightsoft.com/faqt.html#Q010 concerning the
increase of both Video or Audio bitrates.

In iPod profile mode, you can find 8 different frames per sec.
We had to select 1 by default, it happen to be the 25.

If your original file is recorded at a different value, set SUPER(C)
to that value. The same logic apply to the Sampling rate selection and so
on.
Reducing the Audio sampling rate from 44100 to 22050 is hardly noticeable
but it reduces the file size.
Double click the source file in the job-list, the media analysis box will
show you its internal structure, fps, bitrate, used codecs..
We provided a default setting because there must be ONE.
It is up to you to set to the best value of your choice.

[David K]

You do understand that you can change each of the "default" settings.
You're not limited to them.
You click on any one of the options (like 30 frames instead of 25).
Go ahead and pick the settings you want and SUPER will encode what you have set.

[thefiddler]

Yes, as the SUPER people said, set your FPS to whatever the input video is. The iPod shouldn't have trouble with any of the framerates SUPER gives you.

Oh, and there should soon be a new version of SUPER that will encode in the new higher-res iPod format (for updated firmware iPod videos).