compression help

[Scot Free]

Jim, I see you have a 10 meg quicktime video that looks really great.
I just finished editing a new video in imovie and have been playing with the different export options but have not had much luck in a desired size to quality ratio.
Question: are you using an after market codec?

[Steven Ragatz]

You can check the compression settings by opening the video in the quickTime player and selecting movie info: Jim's clip shows the following:

QDesign Music 2, Mono, 22.05 kHz, 16 bits
Sorenson Video 3, 320 x 240 Millions +
FPS: 12.5
Data Rate: 26.0 K bytes/sec.

Steve

[Jim]

[quote]Originally posted by Steven Ragatz:
<strong>You can check the compression settings by opening the video in the quickTime player and selecting movie info: Jim's clip shows the following:

QDesign Music 2, Mono, 22.05 kHz, 16 bits
Sorenson Video 3, 320 x 240 Millions +
FPS: 12.5
Data Rate: 26.0 K bytes/sec.

Steve</strong><hr></blockquote>


Thanks for pointing that out, Steven. I forgot the settings I used!

I compressed all my videos with "Sorenson Squeeze." It was dead simple. Not sure what version of Squeeze is out now, but I think it's well worth the $200 or so to buy a copy and own for future compressions.

Jim

[Scot Free]

tried the settings (thanks steven, sorry jim, I hope you don't feel violated) but alas the sorensen codec that comes with imovie didn't do the same job as jim got with squeeze. looks like i need to get my hands on a copy.

[Jim]

You gotta get the Sorenson 3 codec.

Here's buying advice info from Macworld.com:

"If you need compressed video only in the QuickTime, Flash, and MPEG-4 formats, and if you need an all-in-one suite, you should consider Sorenson Squeeze 3.1 Compression Suite. Despite its occasionally inflexible interface, it offers the easiest way to apply professional-quality compression to movies. People who need video compressed in the Windows Media and RealMedia formats should look into Cleaner. And if QuickTime movies are all you desire, the $299 Sorenson Video 3.1 Pro Codec, coupled with Apple's QuickTime Pro, offers similar quality at a savings of $150."

I think you can get just the codec and do the compression in Quicktime Pro (QP is about $35.00) or straight out of iMovie or Final Cut Pro. The application "Squeeze" is a compression tool in itself. It does not include the codec.

I bought the bundle of Squeeze and the codec at a Macworld trade show directly from the Sorenson booth. I think I paid about $300 total. I got the impression I was buying the codec and they were throwing in Squeeze for free. There must be a more inexpensive way to get the codec (other than stealing.) Even $300 is cheaper than you'd pay to have a video produced by a professional. If you're shooting the footage yourself and editing on your free copy of iMovie, springing for the $300 compression tool is a fine investment, especially if you're going to use it over and over. Then you can charge your friends to compress their videos and make your money back.

Jim

[Stephon]

You can use Cleaner to compress Quicktime video also. I haven't used Squeeze, but I found Cleaner very easy to master.

It's available various places, but I downloaded it from a P-to-P site. (I'm a baaaaad boy)

[Rex Boyd]

Jim,

We all know you have done web designing services for your friends as a money making sideline. Are you interested in doing video compression services for your friends like you hint at in your post?

Rex

[scot]

It's also availble in flash. Import a video into flash, and you can make a flash based video.