[Roph] Video Compression

I have a 5-6 minute art video I want to put up on YouTube. Actually, it's already up, but the visual quality is shit and it loads too slowly (or maybe that's just here, on this shitty internet...). The original video (without sound) is 720 x 480 (widescreen, unlike the failed version that's already up on YouTube), and is about 700 MB. It was designed for projection on a screen. Ideally, I want it 40~70 MB (I guess?), and still look crisp, and bright.

...so, how can I accomplish this? I have Final Cut Pro, but I have no idea what parameters or settings to use.

He;lp?

Download Sorenson Squeeze(free), drop the highest quality output of your file (hopefully a .mov) into Squeeze.


Then open the drop down menu, and drag/drop something like a DVD NTSC/Lg onto the video you just dropped in.


Then 'Squeeze It"

And wait.

Poof!

I have no idea how to use that software =o

._.

700 sounds way overkill for a video that short and that low resolution.

I'm not actually certain if Squeeze is for Windows or not. I used it a lot over the summer specifically for compressing raw and edited footage to fit on a single DVD. The MPEG-1/2 has a pretty strong compression, and you could keep doing it if need be.

MPEG2 video is poor quality / efficiency. MPEG2 video is the format behind SVCDs, where even an 80 min movie is hard to fit onto a CD with it. Wheras with h.264 you can not only fit the thing on there, but do it in HD.

There are 2 kinds of MPEG4 video. First off was part 2, implementations of which are XviD, DivX, "Mpeg-4 Video" and so on. Then there's the newer MPEG4 Part 10 (I think) Video standard, known as AVC (to match AAC) or known by its ITU name of h.264. H264 kicks standard MPEG4 video's ass, and assrapes MPEG2.

A good encoding app that exposes the right settings, to the right user who knows how to utilize them can result in fantastic quality small filesize video.

/fallsasleeep3lf23jjjjjjjjjjjj

I have no idea how to use that software =o

._.

700 sounds way overkill for a video that short and that low resolution.

Uh, no, I said the original 720 x 480 version is 700 mb, very high resolution, and very high quality.
Also, that was exactly my point ... I need to make it smaller, and still have it look nice. The original (700mb) I have is pure, and completely uncompressed.
The one up on YouTube now is my failed attempt to compress it (and make it smaller) and bring down the file size for YouTube.
Failed, because it destroyed the quality, and didn't bring the file size down enough. It's not 700 mb anymore, but it still takes way too long to load.

So, yeah, the original 700 mb 720 x 480 file is a .mov. I'll get the software and give that a try. Thanks, Graf.

Squeeze has many other types of compression. (Mannnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyy) lol. There's a lot in there, I just happened to have used the MPEG-1/2 mostly since I was always converting a file that was several Gigs into something that'll fit on a single DVD. Also, my conversion would take forever, but Arlen, yours is only like a 5 minute video, so it shouldn't take more than like 10 minutes to compress it, so you might be able to just check out other compressions if ya need.

It would always take me like an hour or two with my stuff :[

Uh ... yeah, that program is confusing me, too. It's like I can't bounce down a video without publishing it immediately and I don't want to do that.

Really, I just wanted to know what settings I should use. I can use Final Cut, or that video program that comes with CS4 to do the work.


Here's an update, though! Going through my backup drive, I found the original 5.1 audio I used with the video.

So, here's the updated question: How can I put up a 5-6 minute 720 x 480 video with surround sound up on youtube?

What video settings and aspect ratio should I use?

Is the original video 720x480 or are you trying to make it that small? This is really really confusing

Uh, no, I said the original 720 x 480 version is 700 mb, very high resolution, and very high quality.

Anyway, I use MediaCoder when re-encoding videos. A general rule I use is to take the total PIXELS (720 x 480 = 345600) and divide it by ~410 (345600 / 410 = 843kbps). Honestly though, that bitrate seems huge to me but at least it'll get your video down to the size you want it to without any apparent loss of quality. For audio, ~128kbps is plenty.

I use the same things Roph uses when encoding his videos (H.264 for video and AAC for audio in an MP4 container).

The original version is 700 mb, and 720 x 480. By original version, I mean the version I used for projector display at my Junior Recital. That version is from a full year ago.
It is NOT the version up on YouTube. The version up on YouTube is a smaller resolution, a smaller file size (but not small enough), and is encoded/compressed horribly. I made that version in a hurry 10 months ago. Sorry that was so confusing.



Actually, it doesn't matter anymore. I just remembered that I already did this 3 months ago! I completely forgot! (LOL)
http://ryanleber.com/content/timestep.html

That version is under 50 MB, and loads quickly. It's still not that great, quality-wise, but it's not quite as washed out, so I'm happy with it. I'm going to take down the old bloated and washed out version I left up on YouTube and replace it with the one currently on my website.


I'll try re-encoding it for shits and giggles tomorrow anyway, though. Maybe I can save the quality even more using the settings posted here...

It's just confusing since 720 x 480 isn't a very high resolution. It seems like you're saying "No! The original 720x480 video (that is still 720x480) actually has a very high resolution (that is 720x480)." Derp.

No, that's not what I meant. I was probably using the word resolution when I meant something like definition. Sure, 720 x 480 isn't that huge in terms of resolution, but that 700mb version is much, much crisper and smoother than the versions I have online now. This is what I was attempting to remedy.

Youtube will put any video through its own encoding algorithms and churn out something that looks/sounds like shit. I don't think there would be much difference between a <60mb and 700mb file at a resolution of 720x480 (WOOPS FORGOT TO ADD THIS) and a length of 6 minutes, though.

So there's nothing at all I can do to get around this? I'm stuck with youtube turning it into shit?

In general, youtube will always make it like shit lol. I haven't uploaded to youtube in a while, so I'm not sure if you can upload directly to HD settings or not. I personally prefer Vimeo =o

Youtube uses specific resolutions.

Any video outside of these resolutions gets scaled to the nearest one (downwards). Uploading a 1279x719 video won't get you a 1280x720 HD youtube video, but a much smaller SD version. If you want to put content on youtube, it's best to stick to the resolutions it uses. I've been doing 1280x720 youtube videos for over a year.

And youtube doesn't support surround sound, only stereo.

Just use h.264 (though apple's implementation of h264 is complete shit, and worse than even xvid) and a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Apple's implementation? What if I'm using an Adobe program ON a mac? 

Apple's h.264 encoder, found in quicktime, which I assume final cut uses to save.

I couldn't encode my movies so good and so small if I used apple's encoder. x264 implements (efficiently) nearly all relevant parts of the h264 featureset.

I dunno if adobe uses the quicktime framework to save, though it seems likely.

When I used Final Cut and the Adobe software, it specifically said which encodes used Quicktime, so I'm pretty sure both programs can NOT use them if you tell them to.