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Best render for computer viewing?
I’ve got some Mpeg2 files that came off of a mini DV cam and was wondering what file format and setting I should use for best playback on a PC? I want to preserve the files on an external hard drive for future playback and will not be re-editing them again. One of the files is 1 GB in size and when rendering as an AVI it doubled the size to 2 GB so is there a better format to render these in that wont blow up the size? Thanks
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2 Replies
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Two entirely different issues here: (1) “best playback on a PC” and (2) “to preserve the files”. The second issue is easy: If you are pulling the raw files straight off your camcorder, then the native format they are already in is the best and only archive format you should consider, sans any sort of editing at all.
Now, as to the best playback, editing your video and file size, that depends on your source video, but I’d bet rendering to an H.264 (MP4) file will give you the most bang for your buck, in terms of file size vs. quality. Again, this depends on your source (SD? HD?), but a 10-20 Mbps data rate is a good guess. Keep in mind, this is a high-quality distribution format and not and archive format (although it will look really really good!). Keep your raw files and keep your project files and you’ll be able to render out to whatever super new format comes out next year!
Anyhow, I think the experts here will need a tad more information to give you more specific recommendations. For example, a 1 GB file might be large or not: How long is it? A 30-minute video in 1 GB is pretty small! Is it SD? HD? What kind of camera (manufacturer/model)?
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> I’ve got some Mpeg2 files that came off of a mini DV cam and was wondering what file format and setting I should use for best playback on a PC?
MPEG2 does not come from a mini DV camera. Either the camera was not mini DV or the files did not come from the camera itself but rather they were created from the DV AVI files that came from the camera. In which case they are lower quality than the original camera files already.
Either way, you DO NOT want to do anything else to them to archive because they are already in a highly compressed format. Processing them any further will only loose more quality. Just archive MPEG2 the files that you have. That’s as good as it gets.
As for viewing on your PC, I would do as Eric suggests and use the h.264 codec (Sony AVC or MainConcept AVC). It will give you a smaller file size with the best quality for that file size.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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