CODECS and Transcoding

[Ben G unguren]

Make sure qt is installed on your pc, which will put a lot of your listed codecs on your pc if they aren’t there already.. I suggest MPEG Streamclip as an excellent free app for transcoding. Adobe Media Encoder is terrific if you have it….

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

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[Christopher Rotter]

Any other options besides the original QT ? The codecs listed in the second part of my message, is there any in that list, I can delete that are old ?

[Walter Soyka]

I’m trying to understand the question behind the questions you’re asking.

What is it that you’re really trying to accomplish? What’s your workflow like? Why do you want to delete codecs from your system?

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Kevin Camin]

You’re going to lose quality whenever you transcode, unless you are going to an uncompressed format. That’s why you often transcode in the first place, to reduce the file size so it’s more manageable during the edit or for final output.

You can think of codecs like file types. In Photoshop you can make jpegs, tiffs, pngs, gifs, psds, etc. A tiff, psd, or png is lossless, meaning it is uncompressed and unaltered. These files can be big. Whereas a jpeg will create a very small file by performing an algorithm to simplify the visual data; I believe it averages clusters of pixels and reduces the number of colors. In video, the ‘animation’ codec and ‘png sequence’ codec is a lossless codec. No compression is taking place and the files tend to be big. A QT h264 file on the other hand is very compressed and creates smaller files which tend to work well for computer playback and streaming.

I agree that Quicktime Pro 7 is the best $35 you’ll spend. If you need to make a .wmv for PC, you can buy Flip4Mac that works seamlessly with Quicktime Pro 7. Flip4Mac is more expensive but is necessary (and thank god it exists) if you need to make PC compatible files.

I tend to favor Quicktime Pro 7 over Adobe Media Converter for transcoding. I find I get better results for unknown reasons to me.

Best regards,

Kevin Camin

[Christopher Rotter]

What is it that you’re really trying to accomplish? What’s your workflow like? Why do you want to delete codecs from your system?

I want to TransCode/convert video to one of the CoDecs I listed in the first part of my message. I also want to know which of those CoDecs in the top part of my original message that I can eliminate from that list because of their life and reliability etc ?

In the second part of my message I listed all the Audio & Video CoDecs installed on my computer. Which of them can I delete ? I want to keep Audio and Video CoDecs that are beneficial, not collecting dust on my computer, up to this point I never use. Unless some of the CoDecs installed are tied in with other things on the system ?

[Christopher Rotter]

If I don’t want to purchase QT Pro, I want to go another free / open source route is there any other options that can fulfill what everyone in this thread is saying QT Pro can do specifically, to what my goal is ?

@ Kevin – Thank you for that info 🙂

[Walter Soyka]

[Christopher Rotter] “I want to TransCode/convert video to one of the CoDecs I listed in the first part of my message.”

I know what you asked — but I want to know why you’re asking it, so we can try to give you a better answer in the context of the work you’re actually trying to do. We may be able to offer suggestions on the workflow as a whole.

In other words, don’t ask a plumber the best way to collect the water that’s leaking from your sink — ask him the best way to fix the leak!

Of course, it could be that transcoding is the best option, but in that case, knowing more about your workflow would help us help you with codec selection.

[Christopher Rotter] ” I also want to know which of those CoDecs in the top part of my original message that I can eliminate from that list because of their life and reliability etc ?”

No need for the mixed case — everyone just calls them codecs.

The codecs you use depend on what camera you acquire with, the editorial software you use, and what formats you’re expected to deliver to. This question is next to impossible to answer in the general case, because any one of them may be suitable in some cases but not in others.

[Christopher Rotter] “In the second part of my message I listed all the Audio & Video CoDecs installed on my computer. Which of them can I delete ? I want to keep Audio and Video CoDecs that are beneficial, not collecting dust on my computer, up to this point I never use. Unless some of the CoDecs installed are tied in with other things on the system ?”

I agree with Dave — don’t delete a single one. Any disk savings would be negligible, so there’s little benefit from removing the standard install codecs when compared with the risk of some application needing a specific codec later.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Christopher Rotter]

I need to take a few clips and convert them, so the software that I’m using can read them. In my original message the first part of the message I posted a list of codecs. Those codecs are the ones that the software can only read. I want to know if there are any alternatives rather then QT Pro I can use to transcode some clips for the software. I also want to write future clips to a codec that my software can read from the first list (lossless).

[Ben G unguren]

Install the FREE version of QuickTime. This will install a bunch of codecs on your machine, but you won’t be able to export anything from qt without paying. THAT is why you then get MPEG Streamclip, which is a free solution for exporting, and it will allow you yo use all those qt codecs you just installed.

I prefer qt pro over MPEG , but when I hop on a friend’s machine and he needs a couple quick exports I go this other route. But you could use this for a full production workflow as well (it allows for batch exporting, etc).

Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

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[Walter Soyka]

[Christopher Rotter] “I need to take a few clips and convert them, so the software that I’m using can read them. In my original message the first part of the message I posted a list of codecs. Those codecs are the ones that the software can only read. I want to know if there are any alternatives rather then QT Pro I can use to transcode some clips for the software. I also want to write future clips to a codec that my software can read from the first list (lossless).”

I have been asking you to detail your workflow a bit so we could give you better information on codec selection, but you’re still keeping us in the dark. You won’t get good answers this way.

What software are you using, what are your system specs, and what is your current workflow like? (And does this have anything to do with After Effects?)

I Googled a couple phrases from your list of codecs, and I’m guessing you’re using Lightworks. Have you reached out to any other Lightworks users about workflow?

Lossless and uncompressed codecs require some serious horsepower to play back in real time. Unless you have a fast computer and a very large and fast RAID, you have to consider compressed HD, like MPEG-2 I-frame HD or DNxHD.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events