DVD/AVI to files for online sharing

[NotAgain]

Hi,

I need some help in determining what is the best quality video that I can generate from DVD and some of my captured AVI files for uploading to my online photo/video sharing site. My current site is phanfare and they will keep upto 4Mbps (video+audio) file for backup/archiving purpose. Any better quality will be re-encoded to 4Mbps.

I'm new at these conversion and ripping process, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I read a lot of the forum threads here, but could not find the exact info I needed. Maybe it's out there but I couldn't understand(?).

I recently got Poloroid DRM-2001G DVD recorder for capturing my VHS and HI-8 tapes. It does a great job as far as I can tell so far. I also have some of my vacation movies captured to avi using a camcorder. I own Premiere Elements 2 and have used Windows Movie Maker 2.

I have a question for those of you out there with a lot of video experience: If you had to archive your video collection and had a limit set to 4Mbps, what would be your #1 target (from DVD/AVI sources)? I think phanfare takes avi, mov, and wmv files. Because of the file size I'd rather avoid uploading the avi files.

So far, I was able to edit some of my avi files in WMM2 and exported to WMV "high quality" video (~2.1Mbps). I think this is the best I can do with WMM2. Do I have better choice that will take advantage of the 4Mbps limitation?

Thanks for your help.

[guns1inger]

If you must use WMM2, get Papa John's templates. You will be surprised at the increase in quality you get by using them.

If you look at one of the mpeg 4 variants like Xvid or H.264, then 2 Mbps will give you pretty good quality, and 4 Mbps will be more than enough. Be aware though - at this time, H.264 encoding is incredibly slow.

[NotAgain]

Hi guns1inger,

Thanks for the info on Papa John's templates. I actually could not figure out what this is, but searching about "papa john" led me to a great how-to newsletter about DVD to WMM2. I'll dig in some more to find out what this template is about.

By the way, I don't have to use WMM2. I also have Premiere Elements 2 option, which I have tried. I previously converted my DV-AVI file to 4Mbps mpeg2 file. But the resulting quality was really bad with horizontal jaggies around medium speed motion areas. It was worse in that respect than WMM2's 2Mbps quality. I'm sure I didn't configure PE2's export options correctly. But I'd rather take less sharp WMM2 video than PE2's sharper but more jaggy video.

My main question is, though, if you had to do this conversion, how would you produce the best looking 4Mbps video? mpg, mov, or wmv? Any reference to tools used and their sequence would help me a lot here. Thanks!

[guns1inger]

DV needs a high bitrate when encoded to mpeg2 unless the camera was mounted on a good tripod. Handheld footage needs a lot of bitrate. Also, DV is interlaced, and if being converted to DVD should remain so. The jaggies do not appear on your TV.

I would use Xvid at somewhere between 2 and 4 mbps. Personally, I think 4 mbps would flood the encoder - you don't need that bitrate unless you have higher resolutions. 2 - 3 mbps Xvid would be the same as 8 mbps mpeg2 in most cases. Put it in an avi container.

[NotAgain]

Thanks again for a guick and concise reply. The info is very educational to me

I'll try the Xvid conversion (gotta figure out how to do it first, though ) and if I have more questions, I'll come back.

[guns1inger]

AutoGK is a good, simple place to start

[killerhex]

where can i get the Papa John's templates

[guns1inger]

papajohn.org : follow the menu down the left and look under Save Movies, Custom WMV Profiles.