H264 Compression Sorenson Squeeze... HELP!

[DWTV]

Hello All

I'm new to the forum but am pleased to have found it. I can tell already that i'll be on here all the time. I will do my best to help out with advice in the future but for now i need HELP!

I use FCP to edit and export my videos as .DV's. I then need to FTP my videos around the globe so as much as the videos are only 3 to 4 minutes long the .DV files are just too heavy. Speed is also an issue for me. I need to get them out there as quick as possible.

I have just bought Squeeze so I can output to the fantastic H264. I need the MPG4 H264 video file to be of a very high resolution so it's suitable for broadcast TV usage but at the same time I need the receivers to be able to re-compress the video for web use, cell phone use, PC use, Mac use etc etc

I would be eternally grateful if someone could guide me through the parameters/ so i can achieve my goal. I promise to give them a ton of compliments and if you're in LA i'l buy you a beer!

All the best

DWTV

PS. LONG LIVE THE INTERNET TV REVOLUTION!!

[Soopafresh]

So you're all Mac, right? Download the free mpegstreamclip as well. http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/MPEG_Streamclip_1.8.dmg . It'll make a few things easier for you.

Frankly, you don't need Squeeze at all, but then again you haven't created any problems by buying it.

For what you sound like you're doing, I'd go 640x360 IPOD 5.5 and Apple TV compatible settings.
That's basically 640x360 h264 in an .MP4 container. Most PCs and macs can play that, if they have Quicktime 7 installed. It will also play on iPods.

Squeeze probably has a setting called just that or similar. Here's the PC version of MpegStreamClip showing similar settings.



Remember, .MP4 is just the envelope in which .h264 video and .AAC audio are placed.

Here's a short clip as an example.

muxed.mp4

[hiptune]

So a QT movie and a MP4 both are the same deal when you go the h264 route? I notice both offer H. 264 settings, but I do not know the difference.

Thanks,
J

[Soopafresh]

Yes, but the MP4 will be compatible with more portable devices. Both .MP4 and .MOV are equivalents - containers in which to place your encoded audio and video.

[DWTV]

Thanks for the info. I've just actually been speaking to a friend in the TV industry and he advised me on the below settings. I've attached a grab.

The H264 comes out really nice and is a quarter of the size of the .DV.

Do you see any problems with this compression?

h264.tiff

[Soopafresh]

Looks okay, but you have everything set to 11 (Spinal Tap ref). Not say that's bad, but you can probably make the size even smaller with a bit of tweaking. If you're paying for the bandwidth, this will be something you should do. And if you're watching it from the site, like a Youtube video, you'll prolly need to set it to streaming.

[DWTV]

Loving the Spinal tap ref! My main concern is that it will look superb on TV. With it being such a high res i think if it's re-compressed it will look great too.

Agreed?

[DWTV]

I'll definitely be giving your projected parameters a shot though. I'm all up for testing!

[Soopafresh]

All that matters in the end is if you like it.