Movie File Format

[BPoese]

What do most people use as a format for a movie file? I have been making mostly DVD's through Premiere CS4 and was asked to make a movie file. I tried mpeg1 and was very disappointed in the clearity of the image. Actually I guess I am asking 2 questions. What format for a "small" file - something to show someone just as a proof of concept and then the other as a final product where size is not all that important. Most of these files will be shown on a projection screen.
Thanks
Bruce

[[Admin] osborn4]

I've always had best luck with WMV, being windows based.

[petereit]

H.264. Awesome clarity, small size.

[bladeaudio]

I'm liking .mov files using the H.264 codec more and more. But if your playback is on a PC, then you may want to consider .wmv.

(On a side note - and I know "double" compressing is a no-no - But I've found that converting a .mov H264 encoded video to a .WMV video in Adobe Media Encoder converts very quickly and with little quality loss, especially for projection on a PC.)

When encoding in Premiere/Media Encoder, be sure and select Quicktime, and then under the video format select H.264. (Rather then selecting H.264 directly which will result in an .mp4 file.)

There is a little check box called "Limit data rate to:" at the bottom of the video tab settings for encoding an H264 video in Adobe that is by default not checked. (At least in CS5 it is) The result is that the file will use the highest data rate it wants to. This means your H264 videos will always be HUGE, until you check it and set a reasonable data rate.

[Paris MkVI]

Since we're a PC house and still doing everything in standard def, we go the WMV route. It does everything we need it to do. We'll change it when there is a need to change it!

[petereit]

Originally Posted by bladeaudio

When encoding in Premiere/Media Encoder, be sure and select Quicktime, and then under the video format select H.264. (Rather then selecting H.264 directly which will result in an .mp4 file.)

I don't know if this may be related to your comment, but I have found that if take an h.264-encoded .mp4 file on a PC and simply rename the extension to .mpg, PowerPoint will play it just fine.

[[Admin] osborn4]

Originally Posted by petereit

I don't know if this may be related to your comment, but I have found that if take an h.264-encoded .mp4 file on a PC and simply rename the extension to .mpg, PowerPoint will play it just fine.

I'm pretty sure you need an h.264 codec installed for this to be true.

[jameshorsley197]

I am usiing WMV also. Lot less headaches

[KeckCreative]

I used to use Quicktime h.264 pretty consistently until started using MediaShout and then basically do everything in .wmv format and have been happy with the results both filesize and quality. Now if you are trying to make a movie to be played on DVD players outside of the computer and to be compatable with as many DVD players as possible you are going to want to use MPEG-2 compliant format. If you are getting poor image quality, you may need check your bit rates. Common bit rate for good/excellent quality is 6Mbps (6,000 kbps).

[BPoese]

Thanks to all who responded. I tried the .mov using the H.264 codec with a bit rate of around 6 Mbps. The video display was so much better than what I had!! Thank you.

Not konw what I am doing, how does increasing the bit rate effect the clearity? If I increased it to 12 Mbps would that be noticeable or am I just increasing file size by doing that?

Again thanks for telling me exactly what to do. Your directions were simple and easy to follow. Thanks!
Bruce

[petereit]

Increasing the bit rate will increase clarity but it will also increase file size. You just need to experiment to find the lowest bit rate that gives you satisfactory quality and/or file size.

[TongBlack]

For videos that we display using our Media Shout PC, I typically render to .wmv. It's really just the easiest way to go for us.

In 720p, I typically use a data rate around 33 meg/sec. That's just a little bit too much to stream it off the server, but we just drop it onto the hard drive first and no problem.