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Are all MPEG-4 plug-ins the same?
I have Vegas Pro 10.0. I finally found (I know, I’m teaching myself and still don’t understand Codecs) a good MPEG-4 plug-in that I can render as. The only one I found before this was Xvid MP4 and was not very good in final render/upload (I’m talking in terms of getting as “perfect” as possible), and it was really just an off-shoot of .AVI. I have “FFDShow MPEG-4 Decoder” now. It’s way better render/upload quality, and shows up as its own render template type.
But I figured since I’m doing this now, I should make sure… is there any other MPEG-4 plug-in version that would be better? Since I feel very ignorant to Codecs and plug-ins I want to make sure I’m not wrong in assuming that one MPEG-4 plug-in is basically the same quality as any other.
If they’re all different, how do I figure out which will work best for me? I know I need to figure out codecs, but it all seems homogeneous and overwhelming to find the right ones. Hopefully it’s clear what I’m actually asking, too.
Thanks, guys. -
6 Replies
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[Mark Lynch] “… is there any other MPEG-4 plug-in version that would be better?”
Have you looked at the two that you already paid for in Vegas Pro? (i.e., MainConcept AVC and Sony AVC) Are they not high enough quality? I only ask because the Sony AVC codec produces Blu-ray quality MPEG4.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
As Jon pointed out to you mark, Vegas covers your mpeg4
needs….No need to get confused and go hunting.Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Maker
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956 -
Hm, I’d forgotten about that because in both 10.0, and 8.0, the Mainconcept AVC/AAC MP4 was limited to low-resolution:
https://i52.tinypic.com/2h7qnix.jpgAnd the Sony AVC MP4, while having tons of options, always ends up looking low quality for some reason:
https://i51.tinypic.com/1zdpw1j.jpgCould you give me any advice on what rendering options are best in Sony AVC? I’ve set the “System” to MPEG-4, and the properties to as close as the original as possible. But beyond trying the best possible settings (16 Mpbs video stream, 30p, 60i) with the various video settings (“Blu-Ray/Internet/Memory Stick”), I don’t know what else to do, or what criteria to go by. (EDIT: In case it matters, I’m talking optimization for Youtube/Vimeo, etc, though that’s probably assumed, haha)
My project/video properties are:
Video: AVCHD (.MTS)
Dimensions: 1920×1080
Upper Field First
Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.000
Fps: 29.970p
I’m pretty sure this confusion with these many render-types under Sony AVC have been my main problem the past few years. I really appreciate the help.
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[Mark Lynch] “Could you give me any advice on what rendering options are best in Sony AVC? …(EDIT: In case it matters, I’m talking optimization for Youtube/Vimeo, etc, though that’s probably assumed, haha)”
The Internet 1280×720-30p template is designed for YouTube. Normally it uses 6Mbps but I rendered this one at only 3Mbps so you should get a lot better quality using the defaults:
“SOMEBODY TO LOVE” on YouTube
That was shot with my Sony Z1U.~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
You can also use this free plugin to render your videos as mp4
for youtube or any other online viewing.
https://vegasaur.com/free-toolsSteve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Maker
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956 -
The Main Concept AVC CODEC only comes with lower resolution presets. But it’s perfectly capable of rendering higher resolution output. It does variable bitrate, which the Sony AVC CODEC does not; on the other hand, Sony can do High Profile, while Main Concept can do only Baseline and Main. Not that anyone particularly cares for a YouTube upload.. YouTube these days will take just about anything, but I can’t swear I’ve seen improvements on the final YouTube results going much beyond 6Mb/s (I have uploaded 20Mb/s clips, just to see what would happen).
The one weird thing I’ve found recently: I can get smooth 720/24p playback at 6Mb/s (with peaks to 8Mb/s) on my Android tablet (Tegra 2 based) via MainConcept, but only 4Mb/s via Sony. And Baseline, Main, or High (for Sony) all produce the same result. Weird.
-Dave
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