-
h264 flv and bit rates
Afternoon all
Currently reviewing how i encode my flv files.
I want to be able to have a nice lo bit rate on my files, around 700k. I appreciate that there will always be fluctuation on the bit rate, but i am trying to avoid any big spikes, when there is a lot of motion for example.
Sooooooooo, at present i simply render out to flv, using the On2 VP6 codec, and im now looking to use the all new magical H264 codec, producing a H4V file. When i select H4V in the output module settings, i dont get a choice of codec, its just the MainConcept one, with Profiles of High, Main and Baseline.
Question 1: Which codec pack should i upgrade to, so i get more Profiles and hopefully more options.
Question 2: What is the best way of getting a nice steady bit rate on a H264 encoded file? So far im getting quite a spikey file where there is a lot of movement.
Obviously i also want to keep my render times down, so i dont want to do too many passes, just the one if possible. Id also like to do this straight out of AE, i dont want to be rendering avi files that i then drop into a stand alone converter.
Thanking you all in advance
Cheers
Ian -
3 Replies
-
From Dave LaRonde
Dave’s Stock Answer #3:
Don’t use AE to compress files for final delivery. The various compressors are there only to make quick ‘n dirty files showing a project’s progress to producers, clients, the kids, etc. AE is incapable of doing multipass encoding, a crucial feature that greatly improves the image quality of H.264 and MPEG-type files in particular.
Render a high-quality file from AE, and use a different application to do the compression. Popular ones are Adobe Media Encoder, Sorenson Squeeze and Apple’s Compressor, which comes bundled with Final Cut Suite. Even compressing in Quicktime Pro is better than compressing in AE.
Making good-looking compressed files is almost as much an art as it is a science. It is NOT straightforward at all. I recommend asking a few questions at the COW’s Compression Techniques forum.
– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.
-
Didnt even know there was a Compression Techniques forum! Thanks!
The problem being, using a third party compressor, essentially doubles the amount of time i spend getting the damn thing to screen.
A complete ball ache!
Cheers
I -
Just jumping on the bandwagon:
I agree that you should render and export pristine movies with lossless compression out of After Effects and then use a separate encoding and compression application (Adobe Media Encoder, QuickTime Pro, Sorenson Squeeze, etc.) to create the movies for final distribution and delivery. I say this as a member of the After Effects team at Adobe. So, uh, I guess it’s official.———————————————————————————————————
Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
———————————————————————————————————
If a page of After Effects Help answers your question, please consider rating it. If you have a tip, technique, or link to share—or if there is something that you’d like to see added or improved—please leave a comment.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up