Author Topic: Video geeks - codec info?  (Read 1227 times)

P95Carry

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Video geeks - codec info?
« on: July 02, 2005, 01:15:08 PM »
Ok - here's the deal.  I am using a format converter to change a quicktime to AVI.  Once that is done, I import into Pinnacle where I can do some editing etc.  But - hassle - cannot seem to keep sound, which is transposed as MPEG layer3 currently.  Maybe I should leave sound un-compressed?  That is one question.

Main question tho - I have a good choice of codecs but am at a loss as to which to choose to best serve needs.  Maybe I should convert with no compression on vid or sound?  If I do a grab (camera, dvd, whatever)  thru Pinnacle, of course the resulting AVI is full size, zero compression - maybe that's way to go with conversion?

Anyways - I took some screen grabs to make up this small GIF - which shows my codec choices.  The prog defaults to Cinepak Codec by Radius - this makes a 570Mb MOV down to approx 40Mb AVI.  I tried a DivX 5.0.3 conversion - that gets size down to 11Mb.

At this stage size is not too important - main thing is a transfer of some form of AVI that I can work on - but keeping sound.  I can then really bite it down as WMV when done.  Just seeing if anyone knows a bit more on these codecs.... any one better than another etc.


Chris - P95
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caseydog

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Video geeks - codec info?
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2005, 04:51:05 PM »
Chris ,

Hiya first , long time no see ! Been very busy !

I have found that it is always best to use no compression(raw AVI) until the last stage , where you make your DivX or WMV file. The problem your having is quite common when using an intermediate compression , although usually you don't lose sound altogether it just gets terribly out of sync.

Hey you have a hotrod machine now , those 4gb movie files should be no problem at all Tongue

Ray

Err , by the way Cinepak sucks !
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P95Carry

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Video geeks - codec info?
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2005, 06:03:17 PM »
Hey dude - yeah - where ya bin you old bugger!!!!!

I did actually as a try-out - do a conversion uncompressed on on vid and audio - seemed like that was way to go.  Finished up with a 570Mb original MOV - on to raw AVI - Pinnacle and then -  made a 6.4Mb (very acceptable) WMV  - so got there in the end.

Still tho keen to know more about the codecs - point taken re Cinepak BTW!  Others worth considering?  Indeos always seem to have been around.
Chris - P95
Guns don't kill people - people kill people.
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caseydog

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Video geeks - codec info?
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2005, 06:27:53 PM »
DivX has become the universal codec of the file sharing / newsgroup community , very good compression and very good quality . The WMV series (btw get the version 9 codec pack if you haven't already) is great , but some balk at it cause it's a Microsoft product , those are the best bang for the buck in high compression applications.

The Microsoft mpeg-4 codecs in your list interest me , I haven't done any serious codec research in a while but the last I looked MS had abandoned further development of the mpeg-4 series in favor of some new breakthrough in the wmv. MS Mpeg4 was the stolen "intellectual property"  that spawned the divx project. Interesting to see version 2 and 3 in the list.

My everday stuff is mpeg-2 for DVD writing or high quality archiving , divx for keeping a copy on file or sending a CD, and wmv for web use and e-mail.

Ray
Be kind as you speak to others , they may be facing demons you are unaware of...