Converting to post clips on the web...what codec/format to use?

[FreeBaGeL]

I am using a Hava (like a slingbox except it can record) to capture video from my Xbox 360 to my PC as I play. My main goal here is to take the gameplay footage I have an piece clips together into highlights of sorts.

People could then download them either on video share sites like zshare or I would host them on my website if those sites are going to chop them down too much.

I see all these guides around on how to convert x to y using z, but I'm just not sure what I should actually be trying to convert TO.

The files come out I believe in uncompressed mpg, does that sound right? They are .mpg files that come out to about a gig per 20mins of video.

Currently I am using VirtualDub to convert the source files to AVI, and then using Pinnacle Studio 9 to arrange all the clips together, add effects and audio, etc and then also using Pinnacle to convert the final compilation to MPEG.

However, MPEG resolutions aren't cutting it any more and I would like to go larger, but I can't get Pinnacle to do MPEG2 (says I have to activate it, then the link it gives me is a 404...I guess version 9 isn't supported any more now that they're on 11).

Is MPEG2 even the route I should be going here? Or Divx? Xvid? x264? I'm really new to all this stuff and have tried to learn on my own but have hit a bit of a stumbling block here just trying to figure out which format I should be converting to for this kind of stuff, and what I need to do it.

[redwudz]

MPEG is always compressed. From what I saw on the net, the Hava box should encode MPEG-2 at about 8000Kbps. If so, that should be about DVD quality. It also mentions MPEG-4, but doesn't say which codec or format it's using. Maybe Xvid? If you wanted to know more info about it's output, drop on of the videos into Gspot 2.70 and it should tell you quite a bit of information.

For the web, MPEG-1, WMV and Xvid are fairly good choices. I would go with Xvid myself as most viewers should have no problems playing it. You need to decide how big you want the videos to be. Even with a fast connection, many viewers may not want to download a 100+ MB file. H264 is very compact, but takes a lot of processing power to encode, along with time, and takes a fair amount of CPU to play back at higher resolutions.

Once you decide on the size, then use a bitrate calculator to set your bitrate to your desired output size. The VideoHelp Bitrate calculator will work for Xvid, MPEG or Divx. Then you set that bitrate in the encoder.

It sounds like your workflow is MPEG-2>AVI-edit>MPEG-2. You have two conversions in there and each one will have some quality loss. Avoid multiple conversions when possible.

Just me, but if Pinnacle can edit the original MPEG-2, then I would do the editing in the that format, then encode it to a higher compression format like Xvid. You didn't say what format your AVI conversion was? Highly compressed formats like Xvid are poor choices for editing. They are designed as the final output format. If you wanted to edit in AVI format, I would use a less compressed format like DV-AVI. It uses about 13GB/Hr hard drive space.

Anyway, all that may give you some ideas. Good luck.

[FreeBaGeL]

Good stuff man.

Looks like GSpot is telling me the Hava is giving me the video in MPEG2 at 60000kb/s bitrate.

Also looks like I can indeed do the editing in Pinnacle in mpeg2, then convert it. I can convert to Divx from within Pinnacle which is pretty convenient and is giving me manageable file sizes. Is there anything wrong with just using Divx over Xvid?

H264 is giving me tiny file sizes, and these are short clips so the time to encode isn't an issue and the resolution isn't high enough that it's going to be difficult for people to play back either. Is this just less recommended because people will have more trouble playing it back?

Looks like the source I'm working with just isn't that good. Here it is just leaving it in mpeg2:

http://www.vcize.com/mpeg2-test.mpg

[redwudz]

H264:

Is this just less recommended because people will have more trouble playing it back?

Exactly. It's becoming more common, though. You could provide a link to a freeware player and your 'regulars' would have no problem. It does make very small filesizes for the quality.

If your file running time is short and the MPEG-2 filesizes are small, that format would be OK and save you some time and effort. But MPEG-2 doesn't come with Windows. They would have to have a player or the MPEG-2 codec installed. Of course, as above, it you have the same visitors all the time and link to a freeware player that can also do MPEG-2, it's not really a problem.

One fairly universal player that works on most any OS and with most any format file is VLC Media Player. And it's freeware.