codec, resolution, question

[sketchyj]

been sifting through tons of old threads today learning a lot...here's a pretty straightforward question: if im bouncing clips into AE and manipulating, should i export to an avi or what to get the best quality...so far ive been using avis with cinepak codec on high quality with a res of 720 x 480...for right now i'm just creating stuff to put on dvd, so file size is not an issue...ive noticed some clips starting to lose quality after AE and a couple of transitions/effects applied in my editor (pinnacle studio 9 plus)...just wondering if i'm doing this the right way or not..thanks

[WordVirus23]

if I'm preprocessing and need to save for use in a later project I save as uncompressed, huge files, but when you're done w/ them just trash 'em (or burn/backup/etc)

I've no idea if this is proper (probably not), but results are acceptable.

[lotech]

Definitely don't use Cinepak for what you're doing - Wordvirus is correct if you can afford the HD space use uncompressed - renders will be ALOT faster - just takes up heaps of space.
If you're limited space use one of the MPEG4 variations (Divx, Xvid..). With a high bit rate you should keep degradation at a minimum.
For final playback with software live MotionJPG is rated pretty highly by users. Its good for scrubbing, file size and image quality.

[Sheppee]

Quicktime pro.

Menu - Movie - Movie properties - Quality - Enable High Quality - Save file - Reopen.

Ive had some sucess saving some shitty pixels using a software plugin called Genuine fractals. This is a photoshop plugin which can up res images up to three times. Using fractal based maths it calculates fake pixels and blends them in really unoticably.

Once you found a copy from somewhere export your footage into a JPEG sequence, then set up an action in Photoshop to upres the sequence.

[djMidnight]

You can use HuffYUV (http://neuron2.net/www.math.berkeley.edu/benrg/huffyuv.html) or the Midivid Archive codec (http://jasondorie.com/web/codecs.html) to store data smaller than uncompressed AVI, but still basically lossless. HuffYUV will be slightly faster, but Midivid Archive will be slightly smaller.

Both codecs give you roughly 4:1 over uncompressed AVI and require very little encoding / decoding time so they're great for editing. Once you've applied all the effects you want, compress your end result with Cinepak or whatever your final show format is.

Jason

[VisionsUnleashed]

I would recommend you never compress footage you are using in post production... it will just keep degrading further and further and your final product will look awful. I save every render as a sequence of *.png or *.tga which are full quality no compression and I save them as a sequence of pictures for a good reason. I regularily work with renders (2d and 3d) which are complex and take a very long time. If for some reason something goes wrong in the middle of rendering an *.avi for example, you lose the entire sequence which costs heaps of time and frustration. If you are rendering to a sequence of still images you can resume your render at the point at which the error occured. I don't have storage problems though, I'm spoilt (400gig).

[Amukidi]

Can't imagine why anyone is worried about file sizes anymore - ?45 ($85) or thereabouts gets you a Maxtor 160GB hard drive - for me this makes compressing footage obsolete (except, of course, for loading into your lappy). It's really easy to lose track on what processes you made to what clips (if you have a busy workflow) - and if you stick with the "no codmpression" rule - you'll always be able to lay your hands on a nice clean clip when you want it, plus the time you save is significant.

[sleepytom]

picvideo 3 @ 100% is lossless
sheer video is lossless
huffy is lossless (when in rgb mode)

all of these codecs compress very quickly - they add almost no overhead to rendertimes as against uncompressed and save you a lot of diskspace with no quality loss. they also make the editing process much smoother as cheap IDE / sata / firewire disks are not fast enough to edit multilayer uncompressed projects.

[many2]

sequences of still images is also a good way to store your content - TGA sequences are great for this and they are lossless. One advantage of this method is that if you ever get a bad frame in your render then you can re-render only that frame, not the whole sequence.

[Amukidi]

Top tip many2 - hadn't thought of that one!

[evomedia]

personally I've been exporting avi's as indeo 5.2 at 80% compression with the datarate set to 900 and keyframe every 2, for what I play that works perfectly, but then I never have 3 layers of video playing from one box, so really depends on how you play.

As for storing frames, then I agree its the best storage option, essentially thats what my PVR does, but a PVR drive will also play out perfect video direct from the stored frames, but playout is still avi's for me through resolume

[sketchyj]

maybe another dumb question but here goes:
how come i can use a codec to encode in AE, then when i try to import to pinnacle or another editor, it won't recognize certain codecs...seems like if a codec is available on one app it should be available system wide or maybe im wrong...do i just need to start installing buttloads of codecs?....does AE need a special plug in to encode mpegs or divx?

[famouswhendead]

Always make your movie/composition for the destined size.
(or a multiple there of) (all my comp are 720*)and i render at 360* or full PAL.

When rendering small clips for VJ'ing render them using the codec you will be using for playback etc.

Do not render to DV and then convert to 320*240 that is a huge quality hit.

IMHO it is also a waste to render to animation and convert that since you have the project and could do that all the time anyways.

[sketchyj]

i didn't catch the full meaning of that line till like 6 hours later...hehe it's friggin brilliant, why didn't I think of it?!!!!

man i wish i could steal it....are you really that brainy or did you steal it too? :)

[HotShot725]

Quicktime pro.

Menu - Movie - Movie properties - Quality - Enable High Quality - Save file - Reopen.

Ive had some sucess saving some shitty pixels using a software plugin called Genuine fractals. This is a photoshop plugin which can up res images up to three times. Using fractal based maths it calculates fake pixels and blends them in really unoticably.

Once you found a copy from somewhere export your footage into a JPEG sequence, then set up an action in Photoshop to upres the sequence.

Can you plz explain the process of making a videos quality better in this way... (I can't seem to get the process or how to work it)...

P.S. Yeah I don't really know how to use photoshop or how I'm gonna export my video media into a jpeg sequence and what to do after that, plus I'm so newb...

[Fulton]

I save every render as a sequence of *.png or *.tga which are full quality no compression and I save them as a sequence of pictures for a good reason. I regularily work with renders (2d and 3d) which are complex and take a very long time. If for some reason something goes wrong in the middle of rendering an *.avi for example, you lose the entire sequence which costs heaps of time and frustration.

I want to kiss you. I jumped out of my seat and did a lil dance, before I had even finished reading!
Had no idea that was possible!
Not exactly sure how to...using Vegas?
Any tips?
If not, that was pure brilliance and I bow.

Peace be with you.

[sleepytom]

in vegas 6 >> Tools >> Scripting >> Render Image Sequence.

[Fulton]

thank u

[borsi]

sorry, I cannot find the answer: what is the ideal resolution to work with? i have some videos of 320x240 but i'm not sure whether they are big enough to project. thank you in andvance.

[borsi]

halo ->

sorry, I cannot find the answer: what is the ideal resolution to work with? i have some videos of 320x240 but i'm not sure whether they are big enough to project. thank you in advance.
:confused:

[Meierhans]

Why don`t you use the search function? There was discussed alot about this topic.