The Codec Question

[Maj]

What are the best codecs for quality and compatibility? We've never really discussed this in depth. I think it's worth going over, even though providing download links for our combo video releases has become uncommon.

Personally i know very little about the current field. I've been using x264 in MPEG4 format since my Evo Guile video. My biggest complaint was that not every player supported it. I also remember older versions of VLC causing the audio to desync whenever i clicked away from the player window. But these compatibility issues seem to have been sorted out, as far as i can tell.

Does that make x264 the best option still? Does WMP have native support for x264 yet? I can't even tell because i've installed so much codec-related crap over the years, due to people randomly using strange unsupported codecs.

Also what's the best codec and encoding settings for u2b uploads?

[Rufus]

What are the best codecs for quality and compatibility?

Also what's the best codec and encoding settings for u2b uploads?

Yeah, I'd like to know that and, more generally about how the various options trade off size for quality.

[Magnetro]

Eh, I'd say compatibility at this point could be WMV or H264 (not x264). Everyone's PC nowadays can play either of those, I think. H being official and X being the open source version of H264. So MP4/AVI/WMV containers would probably be the most prevalent out there.

I don't know what settings to use for u2be for sure. But all the high quality, fake-hd files that I've uploaded have been encoded at 1280x720 X264 30FPS @ 5000kb/s. It's probably overkill but the UL limits are pretty relaxed now.

As for encoding a good quality/size file, I had great luck using what Joo suggested/used for his DVD Preview video: http://www.mediacoderhq.com A 15 min 60fps 640x480 video with a bit rate of about 1500kb/s came out to 158mb and it looked really clear.

Alternatively, you can just try using the Premiere Encoder tool and choosing WMV or H264 for your encoding.

[preppy]

^-- I generally agree with chuckles here.

For the absolute most compatibility, use MPEG1.
For next highest compatibility, use WMV (WMV9 Main Profile with WMA Standard).

MPEG4-based codecs should generally work on new-ish machines. I don't know what the current mix of Windows 7 machines in the Windows ecosystem is, but all those machines have H264 support in-box.

At this point generally is either in the MPEG4 bandwagon or doing something a little crazy (webM, etc). Sticking with MPEG4/H264/MP4 is generally a solid bet at this time provided you don't have lots of clients on legacy systems.

The sweet spot for content varies upon the content. I'd trust Joo/Magnetro on that, since they're tailoring for weird video game footage more so than most other people.

[Maj]

Thank you sirs, much appreciated. I've been using 5000kbps for u2b uploads as well, so i guess i'll keep doing that even though it's obviously overkill.

[Bob_Sagat]

So yeah, I'm trying to render my first and only combo vid at 1280 x 720 with the H264 codec. It's only 2 and a half minutes long, but it keeps ending up several gigs big. I did the editing in Premiere and it doesn't let me configure the codec when I hit render. Anybody got any advice for me? It's basically the only part of the process I really suck at and I really wanna finish this project already. Thanks in advance.

[error1]

what's your bitrate?

[Bob_Sagat]

Well, that's one of those things I can't really seem to get to. Like, Premiere doesn't let me hit the configure button when I go to render.

[error1]

I've never used Premiere, you could re encode it in super c or megui

[CPS2]

There's some good tutorials for megui on youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v-B2D5qDa4

You probably won't want to use these exact settings, but this will make you familiar with the program at least.

Basically how I use it is use the avs script creator, open the video, click on the script tab and change audio=false to audio=true, add a line "trim(0000,0000)" if I only want to encode part of the video (entering the start and end frames instead of 0000), then make sure the bit rate is 10MBps, click auto encode, select no size limit and AVI container. I also use XvID codec for video and lame mp3 for sound, i find that works best (currently) for videos going into my editing software, but encoding them for youtube you'd probably want H.264 codec and I'm not sure if the container (AVI, MP4, etc) makes any difference.

[Bob_Sagat]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll try that meGUI thing. About what you said about re-encoding CPS2: It doesn't matter that my video is already compressed? I can just run it through meGUI after rendering it from Premiere? (ima noob/Mario voice)

[error1]

if it's encoded in something wmp can play, directshowsource should be able to decode it

[CPS2]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll try that meGUI thing. About what you said about re-encoding CPS2: It doesn't matter that my video is already compressed? I can just run it through meGUI after rendering it from Premiere? (ima noob/Mario voice)

Yeah run it through megui after rendering with premiere.

Ideally the files you put into premiere would be raw uncompressed avi's but my capture card records compressed video (using H.264), so i need to encode the videos before editing because otherwise the editing software won't recognise the files. But if I record with an emulator, I don't encode before editing. You're pretty much at the final step anyway so this isn't really important for this video.

[Bob_Sagat]

Yeah, the files in Premiere are uncompressed, but I have to compress it when rendering out of Premiere, otherwise it won't work(and the file would be really really really huge).
I'm trying to put it through MeGUI now, but when I load the .avi in the Avisynth script creator, it shows this error:

MeGUI encountered a fatal error and may not be able to proceed. Reason: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.

Now, I've already looked this up and someone else with the same error was given the advice to get rid of all the filters he wasn't using. Sounds simple enough, but where are they? They keep talking about the filters folder or something, but I can't find it at all in the MeGUI folder. I've looked in the MeGUI folder as well, but the only mention of filters is in the Docs folder, and there's only .htm files in there.

Sorry if I'm being stupid, but I just really suck at this whole computer thing.

[CPS2]

I think I've had that error before, maybe. I've only had one instance where megui didn't work properly, and in that case I just went back to what I was using before, OJOSoft Total Video Converter. I'm a noob at megui tho, maybe error1 knows >_<

[error1]

I'm not sure what that error is. you have avisynth installed and are running it as an administrator right?
you might try super c, it's a little easier for noobs

[Bob_Sagat]

Hm, ok. The error comes up as soon as I load the video and it attempts to show an image of the clip. I'll try that other program then, thanks.

[Bob_Sagat]

Thanks to everyone who helped me out here, especially error1, SuperC was exactly what I needed.
You can see the Youtube version in this topic: http://combovid.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=546 Downloadable 60 fps version coming soon!