Problem With Compression

[360Spider]

I am trying to encode a HD (720p) movie I have just made in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, which is in a 1280x720 square pixel 16:9 format, into less than one gigabyte. The movie is about 3:30 long and I know there has to be a better way to get the compression better. I would like to use the H.264 codec since that seems to give me the best possible compression and video quality but every time I use that encoder, it comes out at just over a gig (1.15GB to be exact). I know there has to be a better H.264 compressor out there that retains quality just as well. Heck, the new HD movies on iTunes are 1hr 30min long and are only a small bit over a gig. Why is my 3:30 video going over?

So what is the best possible H.264 compression codec I can use that will give me smaller file sizes and great quality? Or is there another better codec that isn't h.264?

Thanks!

[Baldrick]

What encoding settings are you using? To get smaller file size you either lower the video bitrate setting(for 2-pass or 1-pass encoding) or quality settings(for so called constant quality encoding).

I use x264 encoder for all my h264 encodings. You can use it together with a gui like xvid4psp, handbrake, etc. And then I use 2-pass encoding and specify the output file size. Superb quality.

[360Spider]

I'm going to give that a shot right now! Thanks a bunch! I appreciate it!