[Ed Dooley]

And going back to your first post, you say you don’t care how long it takes to download. That opens up a whole rnage of possibilities. As Daniel said, do some testing. But at a high data rate you should be able to easily go full frame rate, with some forced keyframes at a data rate that will give you quality to rival Hollywood movie trailers. Do you want it at HD pixel size, or is SD size-768 x 432- big enough (or even smaller than that- 512×288)?
If it’s SD size you could go 1.5-2Mbps and have it look awesome.
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

Mmmm. I haven’t had the problem you describe, so I’m at a loss. Have you trashed your F4M prefs?
If not, do that for sure. Have you posted the problem over on F4Ms forum?
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

Don’t know what version you have, but there are problems with versions of F4M. This from F4M Forum:
>>Update to Flip4Mac 2.2.1.11. There was a bug in which some hi Q one pass VBR settings would cause encodes to hang. << Have you looked at the F4M forum? https://forum.flip4mac.com/forum/categories.aspx?catid=10&flcache=5436205
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

So. are you saying you can’t export an interlaced WMV video with F4M? If you’re using FCP, why not use Compressor to create the progressive video using F4M and Frame Controls? Dop a search of the FCP forum (maybe this one too) for a recipe. Creating your WMV in Compressor might be the the best way to get good graphics (and progressive, web-friendly video).
Check out F4M’s site. here’s one of their links:
http://www.flip4mac.com/pdfs/WMV_Compressor2_Guide.pdf
Ed

[Boris Jaensch] “I’m editing PAL DV in FCP which is lower field and interlaced. When flip4mac outputs progressive all the graphics look shit because half the fields are missing, unlike mp4, which outputs a crisp intelaced image at low data rates.

Anyone know how to get the same result with flip4mac?”

[Ed Dooley]

I disagree. Of course a cell phone or computer can play full frame rate, but the image quality is not as good as using fractional frame rates when you have limited bandwidth (under 500-700kbs for example). While faster internet has made it easier to have higher bandwidth video, compressing 30 frame video to 15fps doubles the quality of the image when comparing it to a 30fps image. Depending on the subject, the viewer is unlikely to see any difference between 15 and 30 frames, but will definitely see the difference in image quality. If you have the bandwidth by all means do it at full frames per second. If you’re looking to save file size or increase the image quality, lowering the frame rate is a good solution.
As for keyframes, I *sort of* agree and *sort of* disagree. It’s true that encoders set “natural” keyframes at hard cuts and other noticable video differences, but manually setting keyframes not only helps in scrubbing/searching, it also adds keyframes in video that may go on for a while without a distinct cut or major change (a long talking head for example). Setting more keyframes manually doesn’t interfere with the automatic keyframes, but it forces additional ones as new reference points in those non-changing clips. For most video I leave keyframes on automatic, but it has helped the quality of a number of compressions to play with adding more manually.
Ed

[Daniel Low] “There is never a need to use fractional frame rates these days. Lower frame rates destroy motion in your clip and can actually make the job much harder for the codec. Even low powered cell phones can play back full frames rates.

The keyframe setting you apply is only saying tot he encoder that you want to force a keyframe every ‘n’ seconds or frames. All modern codecs insert keyframes automatically when they need to, at scene changes or when the difference in frames passes a certain threshold based on calculations which take other factors of your encoding parameters in to account.

However Ed is correct in saying that the fewer keyframes there are the harder it is to scrub through a clip, accuratley but it’s more noticeable with certain formats, like Flash”

[Ed Dooley]

Why do you want to export an interlaced video? It will be played on a computer monitor (I assume from the size you’ve chosen) which doesn’t play interlaced well. De-interlace the video and it will look much better. Compressor and other compreesion programs all have de-interlacing built in.
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

Is it always 10% or is it at 30 seconds? The free F4M has a 30 second limit until you buy the program.
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

It varies. I often compress 30P to 15FPS, so I set keyframes to 75 a lot. If I leave it at 30FPS I set keyframes to 150. But that’s for my average stuff. If bandwidth, download time, and computer’s horsepower, etc. are no object, then the more the merrier. The fewer keyframes you use, the harder it is for a viewer to scrub to the exact point they want.
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

I used to use the Way Back Machine, but Mr Peabody caught me. 🙂
So now I use smething like this:
https://www.mattias.nu/plugins/
Ed

[Ed Dooley]

Streaming doesn’t take any time to load. Do you mean progressive download?
If you don’t care how long it takes to load then you can make it as big in pixels and data rate as you want. The bigger the file, the longer it takes to download. If you actually have some maximums (frame rate, pixel size, data-rate), let us know and we can suggest something. I use 512×384 or 480×270 at 700kbps and 15fps for 16×9 material all the time for example. But if you really don’t care how long it takes to download why not make it 1280×720 at 5mbps at 30fps? It will look awesome. 🙂
Ed