codecs/compressions for FCP vs. Compressor

[Daniel_l]

I’ve read great things about h.264, but also heard it’s primarily for web use

Nope.

It’s the next gen (HD) DVD codec.

Actually, i’ve done tests between h.264, mpeg-4 and sorenson 3 exported out of FCP…they all look the same…

I beg to differ, possible I guess but unlikely when you look closely. They are very different beasts aimed at very different delivery models.

Bottom line is, if you are making a DVD for a client to be played back ‘anywhere’, your only option is to encode to MPEG-2. No standard DVD player supports eith H.264, Sorenson 3 (a web codec) or MPEG-4 (pt-2 – another ideal-for-web codec)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorenson

If you can, get yourself on one of these:
https://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/courses_assets/compression.html

Orat least get’s Ben’s book, afdter reading the Compressor manual/help files.

Hope that helps.

DL

[Renee Bergan]

Thanks….do you know much about this debate about one pass vs. 2 pass with compressor 2?

as for the comparison of h.264 with others…i’ve looked and looked and looked, expecting and wanting a difference…alas nada with my tests…baffles me as i’ve seen others tests and seen the difference. but some of the footage is archival…

[Daniel_l]

What debate are you referring to?

Take a look at these for examples of the difference between H.264 and Sorenson

H.264, choose 480p – https://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/king_kong/hd/

Sorenson – choose Large or fullscreen -https://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/king_kong/

[Renee Bergan]

there’s a lot of complaints on the apple compression site about compressor v. 2….lots of talk of the 2pass vbr not being so hot.

as for H.264…i know, i know, i’ve seen examples by other people that show a remarked difference…but on my system and with my work, like i said, the difference is imperceptible.

[Daniel_l]

but on my system and with my work, like i said, the difference is imperceptible.

Obviously this will depend on the source, the content and the encoding settings.

I.E. A shot of a black cat sleeping down a coal mine at midnight will look the same whatever codec you use 😉

[Phil]

i recently did a test comparing CBR, 1 pass VBR & 2 pass VBR at 7.2 mps.

in the end, the 1 pass won because of faster encoding, and image quality is exactly like the 2 pass VBR…..

now this was done only on a 60 sec spot, but i’m guessing it will remain the same, no matter what scale the project.

if i’m not mistaken, the 2 pass took over 15 minutes, while the 1 pass took like 4 minutes….go figure. i for one didn’t want to believe it……

[Ben Waggoner]

Note that the next-gen HD optical disc formats support MPEG-2, H.264, and VC-1. I think VC-1 has some meaningful technical advantages over H.264 in this area.

If you’re making content for DVD today, you need to use MPEG-2. That’s the only supported codec.

[Daniel_l]

I think VC-1 has some meaningful technical advantages over H.264 in this area.

Ben,

I’d be very interested to hear what you think they are.

Thanks

Daniel