Preparing video for Web

[vjpixylight]

Thanks for that correction tom
I'm not sure how Jasper came up 360x304?? Oh wait, I guess I was looking at the size of his movie with the QT control strip added.

[BIOPTIX]

Originally Posted by sleepytom

384x288 is the correct size for PAL quarterscreen square pixel video

Thanks for the update Sleepytom, I just tried the first export but it sounded like it was playing underwater, think I got the bitrate wrong 20k/bits/s instead of 24k/bits/s. The video data rate is 200K/sec do these have to match up? It looked good though so I'm on track, thanks for the tips, I'll have to get Flash 8 next!

[holly]

Don't do the "prepare for streaming" that is actually a different protocol (streaming v download). What you want is something called "Compress Header" and also "Fast Start". These are other words for "Progressive Download" (well actually they are a part of progressive download, but I don't want to confuse on semantics).

Sometimes your app will prep it this way automaticly, but it changes from time to time (actually from QT version to QT version) so in QTPRO, do a SAVE AS... and resave the mov with MAKE SELF CONTAINED checked. It is an annoying extra step but it really makes the people on your website much happier because they don't sit staring at the the big blue Q for the whole time it downloads. Instead they sit on the first frame (do not start on a black frame, better to have a title or splash as the first frame) and when enough has downloaded it will begin to play while the rest downloads.

[holly]

Ooh, also go ahead and make your web movs the full fps of your source video. There won't be a huge file size difference in Sorenson3 (maybe 10-15% bigger) but it will look smoother than half-fps video. These days only really slow computers need 12 or 15 fps.

[BIOPTIX]

Ok, I exported again, the sound is still a bit on the wet side but better. Video looks good and file size is 38.1 MB which is ok, I think.

Just one more question. At some points in the video there is footage of an oscilloscope wave (YAWN, yes I know!). In the original clip it appears on my camcorder and my laptop screen as a solid block of colour, however when I play it in Quicktime (or even in media player as an imported avi) it is see-through or invisible in places. How can I alter that, I already tried to deinterlace but that doesn't help. Is it down to the frame rate, or something to do with the screen? I hope I can fix it coz it comes at a very central part of the music vid. Cheers.



Sorry Holly missed your post! Thanks for info 25fps it is.

BTW I just found something else in Premier Pro ie. exporting to Adobe Media Encoder, it seems to relate to steaming and download compression settings for various modems and data rates. Is this another way of formatting video for the web?

[mxmai]

personally i like to use Windows Media Video 9 for web content. the image quality is excellent even at low bitrates and the audio's decent too.

Also as someone mentioned above, the new codec shipping with Flash 8 (i believe it's an H.263 variant) is quite good too, and embedding video into flash movies makes them very accessible straight away for a large audience.

[sleepytom]

most mac users cannot view windows media - quicktime or flash is much more crossplatform.

[pedrolopes]

Originally Posted by BIOPTIX

Thanks very much pedrolopes. I hadn't heard of Cleaner Ez before. 9mb for 5mins sounds perfect. My video is just over 4mins. I use Premiere Pro aswell but I'd rather use the imbuilt Quicktime compressor to save having to download more software.

Cheers for the tip tho!

Thanks Vjpixylight, what dimesions does 30% quality give you? Also, does the pixel shape need to change ie 'Square pix'. Sorry but I don't have a clue!

Cheers

you're welcome :-)

[BIOPTIX]

Okay, so I finally managed to sort out my broadband problems and have uploaded the video (you can also see it at www.myspace.com/bioptix). I thought I'd post it here to get some feedback. I'm a bit nervous to be honest, but I respect this forum's opinions and any feedback would be helpful. Sorry the quality is so bad, it looked a lot better before the upload. Cheers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PtsBJqEka0