[Eric Strand]

I wouldn’t go any lower than “slow”; the tradeoff between the amount of time it takes to encode and the quality boost you get is not worth it.

Using a bitrate calculator shows that you can go up to a bitrate of 11,500 kbps and be under 8GB with an 1.5 hour video.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

So your sequence is 1080p24 DVCPROHD?

Export a self-contained quicktime movie. I’m not familiar with the new layout of Compressor 4 but in the old version:

Bring that into Compressor, search for the QuickTime H.264 option and drag that onto your video. Then in the Encoder tab, click Settings next to Video and adjust the quality from Best to High (best will give you a crazy high data rate). Turn KeyFrames to Automatic and compress your video.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

Craig – I typically adjust the Constant Quality slider, where it says RF: 20, to between 18 – 20. From what I’ve read and personally experienced, this is the range that typically gives appropriate bitrate settings. The other important slider is where it says x264 Preset: VeryFast, adjust the slider to the right to Medium or Slow.

You can also change the x264 Tune drop-down to Film if you desire. Jan Ozer, a noted compressionist does not use this option, but many other people do. I haven’t really noticed but difference either way but.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

Yeah man, just stop. You might as well have just asked if Rondo or Kobe knows how to play basketball.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

Hi Craig, yes Vimeo and computers that can play H.264, which is pretty much every computer, can also playback x.264.

The link to the x.264 component in the article is to MyComet3G’s component, which is good and widely used, but he stopped developing it a year or two ago. I prefer Handbrake because it uses the latest implementation of x.264. Also, the Handbrake x.264 preset slider is the same as the tune options the article talks about. Same thing, different interface.

I would go with whatever you feel comfortable with.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

It’s not that Compressor does a bad job, it’s that Apple’s implementation of the H.264 codec is not good. Handbrake uses the x.264 version instead. Drop your video into Handbrake, set the constant quality slide between 18-20, and the x264 preset slider to medium or slow. This should give you a file under 8 GB, unless your entire movie is all crazy fast action sequences, in which case the data rate will be a lot higher, thus bigger file.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

Hold on, before you go making yourself crazy, there’s no better method than trial and error yourself. Export a file out of Studio and upload it YouTube, see how it looks. Just because someone else’s looked bad doesn’t mean yours will.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

Thanks Bryson, I thought I figured it out when we first bought CatDV but then a colleague took the project over and does it a different way. The “Field Definitions Set” in the preferences seems to be one of the most important parts to get.

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

The faster your internet upload speed, the faster your file uploads. What is taking 4 hours to upload at your place might only take an hour at my place. File size is dependent on a few variables, the biggest one being bitrate. Check out Larry Jordan’s video on the basics of video compression:
https://www.larryjordan.biz/compressor-4-1-video-compression-basics-video/

@ericstrand11

[Eric Strand]

Awesome, glad to hear it, and thanks for checking off the solution button.

@ericstrand11