h.264 with more than 2 channels

[Daniel Low]

Actually, H.264 refers to the video element of the MPEG-4/AVC standard.

AAC is the the audio side of things and yes, it supports multichannel audio. (Think BluRay movie titles)

https://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/aac/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007

[Naiche Lujan]

Right, of course, AAC, what was I thinking.

I use Sorenson Squeeze and in the audio options, I get stereo, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1.

If I want 4-channel audio, would I just use anything other than stereo?

Thanks

Naiche

Mac Pro
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-Core
16GB RAM
ATI Radeon 256MB
320GB 7200rpm
3TB 7200rpm Internal Software RAID0
Blackmagic Studio Card (working good so far)

[Daniel Low]

[Naiche Lujan] “If I want 4-channel audio, would I just use anything other than stereo? “

What sort of 4 channel?

Do you want the viewer to be able to select from one of two stereo tracks (different languages for example) or…?

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007

[Naiche Lujan]

For example, Dialogue on one track, Effects on another, and Music on another. This would be for re-editing on the other end.

I want the editor on the other end to be able to selectively use the tracks individually as they see fit.

Naiche

Mac Pro
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-Core
16GB RAM
ATI Radeon 256MB
320GB 7200rpm
3TB 7200rpm Internal Software RAID0
Blackmagic Studio Card (working good so far)

[Naiche Lujan]

Sorry, I think I confused you when I said it was for file delivery. It’s for editing, not for end-user.

For example, Dialogue on one track, Effects on another, and Music on another. I want the editor on the other end to be able to selectively/individually modify the tracks.

We’ve been sending in ProRes, but the time required to send via net is becoming difficult as deadlines get tighter. I’ve found that you can send as h.264 and then reconvert to ProRes without losing much visual fidelity. That might be a contentious issue for some, but I’ve found that it works for me. However, I don’t want to have to send separate audio files, if I don’t need to.

Naiche

Mac Pro
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-Core
16GB RAM
ATI Radeon 256MB
320GB 7200rpm
3TB 7200rpm Internal Software RAID0
Blackmagic Studio Card (working good so far)

[Daniel Low]

H.264 is a delivery codec not an intermediate codec. Do not use it for media that needs to be re-edited.

If you think the only way is with H.264, then you’ll have to send the audio separately.

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007

[Naiche Lujan]

OK, that was the answer I guess I was looking for, not hoping for though.

Is there an intermediate codec that is a comparable size/quality to h.264? I’ve edited with a h.264 (for web) and it works fine. Of course I convert it to ProRes before bringing it into FCP.

Do you know if Panasonic’s AVC-Intra will address the audio issue? I suppose that it is again more a video specification than audio, but since they are gearing it toward the editor, hopefully they will consider a good way to deal with audio as well.

Naiche

Mac Pro
Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-Core
16GB RAM
ATI Radeon 256MB
320GB 7200rpm
3TB 7200rpm Internal Software RAID0
Blackmagic Studio Card (working good so far)

[Daniel Low]

[Naiche Lujan] “s there an intermediate codec that is a comparable size/quality to h.264”

No, simply because H.264 is generally a delivery codec and as such is heavily compressed using all the tricks of compression to achieve high quality picture at a minimal data rate.

__________________________________________________________________
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Steve Ballmer To USA Today: 30 April 2007