Compression Help
This page is to help you with the final submission of your videos.
This year, all videos must be both submitted to both randon (in [[ //randon/etc/classes/Visual_Story/Assignemnts/Assignment#/ ]]), and placed on the lectern computer in the MPR. There will be a folder on the desktop for you. This is to ensure that your video plays correctly for the class. This isn't silly... last year many videos didn't play correctly due to poor compression and very large files.
Proper compression can be tricky, and we will do everything we can to help you to do this correctly.
The MPEG4 Codec was chosen as it provides the best balance of compression with video quality at SD resolution.
If you are using Premier (Windows) :
Download Preset
This Preset will allow you to quickly export your video in the proper format, directly from Premier. A quick note: The compressor in Premier is not the best, and there may be some quality loss using this. Try to use Super! (below) or transfer your video to a Mac for your final compression.
- When you are finished with your project, save it.
- Go to [file]->[Export]->[Adobe Media Encoder]
- A new window should pop up.
- In the first pull-down menu, select "quicktime" as the video type
-Click on the the folder icon [open] in the top right corner. It will ask you to import a file. Locate the file you downloaded above [Visual Story 2007.vpr]. This will add the Visual Story preset to your preset drop-down list. It may ask you for a name. You can call it whatever yo want.
- You can see a summary of the Codec options (they should be Apple MPEG4 Compressor settings). Hit [OK] on the bottom right of the Transcode Settings window.
- It will ask you to save your file. Give it a name, keeping the *.MOV extension.
- Enjoy!
General Compression (Windows) :
Download Super
There is no good program that I have yet found that can easily perform MPEG4 compression in Windows. Super is a great application that can perform all sorts of compressions, but it is tricky to get used to. This program operates on an existing video file. You will first have to export your video from Premier. To do this:
- In premier, go to File->Export->Movie. In the popup, hit settings. Make sure that the file type is Microsoft DV AVI. Click on the Video section in the left bar. Make sure that the Compressor is DV(NTSC). The framerate 29.97. The Pixel Aspect Ratio is D1.DV NTSC (.9). You can leave all the audio settings the same.
- Download, install, and run Super. There may be an error when the Help file opens up for the first time. Ignore that, it's ok.
- Super has a *ton* of options, so follow the next steps carefully, or you may end up with an unplayable video.
- The default options are what we want. Handy, no? You should see "MP4" as the container, "H.264/AVC" as the codec (that's just the formal name for MP4), and AAC as the audio codec. If you do not see these options, please choose them from the drop down menus.
- Under the Video options, in the Video Scale Size box, click the "MORE" box. Type in [640] for the width, and [480] for the height. In the Fame/Sec box, select 29.97. In the Bitrate Kbps box, use the drop down to select 5040 kbps. Make sure that "Hi Quality" and "48k audio" remain checked.
- In the Audio options, make sure that the Sampling Frequency is 44100. Keep the channels on "2". Use the drop down in "Bitrate KPBS" to change it to 128. Ignore the DVD box.
- Once this is all done, you can drag and drop your video file into the box at the bottom of the window. Hit the encode button, and your video will be made.
- Note: Your video files, by default will be saved to [ "C:\Program Files\eRightSoft\OutPut\" ] or [ "C:\" ]. You can change this by right clicking on Super! and changing the "Output File Saving Management" Options.
- Enjoy!
Compressor (OSX) :
Download Compressor Droplet
I made this as easy as I could. If you have compressor 2 or higher on your Mac (may also work with compressor 1, but I don't know), download the Droplet above. All you have to do is drag your video file, or Final Cut save file on to it, and it will automagically make an MPEG4 video file for you. Done and Done.
Enjoy!
General Compression (OSX) :
If you have a machine with Quicktime Pro (V 7 or higher) You can perform the following steps.
- Open your video in quicktime.
- Go to [FIle] and [Export].
- Click on the "Export" drop down at the bottom of the pop-up, and choose "Quicktime Movie" (not MPEG4!).
- Click "options" and new window will pop up.
- Make sure that both video and audio are checked
- Under Video, click on settings.
- In the new Popup, choose H.264 as your compression type.
- Keep the Frame Rate to 'current', and the keyframes to every 24 frames.
- Under 'data rate', you can leave it on "automatic".
- Slide the compressor quality to 'high', and leave the option on "Multi Pass".
- Hit ok, and in the previous window, open up the sound options.
- Change the format to AAC. Channels = Stereo. Rate = 44.100. Quality = Normal. AAC Encoder Settings; Bit Rate = 128.
- Hit ok, and then ok, and you can save your file!
- Enjoy!