How did they do this with h.264? (Long video low size)

[Michael Rampe]

Try the x264encoder compnoent for quicktime. This has a good mix of high quality output and user tweakable encoding settings in the options dialogue.

Otherwise, join the big boys (youtube+vimeo) and run the ffmpeg and x264 libraries from the command line using terminal. I run these libraries on a linux box using Ubuntu and get great results. (WARNING: this WILL make your brain hurt;-)

[Zane Barker]

Compressor can extract the meta-data from an encoded movie to use as a preset.

https://www.pixelcorps.tv/macbreak_studio063

Keep in mind the better video going in the better video will come out of any compression. So your end video may still not look as good as the one you watched.

There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Mark Petereit]

Can you share the link?

[Rafael Amador]

There is a fresh update of the x264:

https://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/x264encoder.html

QT and Compressor are OK, but in the end the options they offer are quite limited.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Mark Petereit]

Sorry, I wasn’t clear.

Tony! Can you share the link to that video?

[Jay Evs]

Hi thanks for all the replies.

The thing is, its a video that has been put online with limited viewing, as its for a product that is not due out until fall 2010, so i cant share it publicly. I guess that kinda sucks, but trust me this thing is sharp as hell and low in size. Im going to mess with streamclip and a bunch of settings tomorrow and post anything if im succesful.

[Mark Petereit]

OK, then tell us: what is the nature of the content? Is it full motion video (real people, places, things?), full-motion CGI, or simply someone narrating something that appears to be PowerPoint/Keynote slides?

[Matt Lyon]

Hi Michael,

Do you find you get a better quality output from the command line version of these tools, as opposed to using a GUI that accesses the same libraries? I’m curious because I might like to give this a shot.
Thanks in advance,

Matt Lyon
Editor
Toronto

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Matt,
If you are using the same libraries and setting the same parameters, it shouldn’t be any difference wether GUI or command line. The only difference, I guess, is that in the GUI, the designer may limit the functions or parameters to be accessible. With the command line, no limit.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Michael Rampe]

I have achieved better quality with the command line version at bitrates well below what I have achieved with other GUI solutions.

The command line version is all about granular control of the exact encoding parameters. By this I mean b-frames, encoding methods within x264 (h264), limiting by profile and level as well as tweaking the settings based on your source video type.

Some of the best help files I have found for this are in the documentation that comes with x264encoder.