Audiobook Importing: Quality vs Size

Hello. I have many audiobook CDs that I'd like to backup and have easy access to (i.e. digital library). For this purpose, I'm considering buying a 160 GB iPod. In the meantime, I'd like to import these CDs to my computer.
My question is as follows: Assuming that I want to have the recordings in the highest possible fidelity without going over 160 GB, how do I determine which format, bitrate, and sample size I would use when importing them?
Message was edited by: ferenike

Thank you all! That gives me a clearer picture. I was considering getting the 80 GB version instead, after realizing that I had only about 500 hours of spoken audio. Then I remembered that I had some DVDs that I could put on the iPod as well. I guess that's a whole different problem to tackle. I'll have a read through that guide that was linked.
I've listened to voice in digital audio in different bitrates long ago, but I figure that since I'll have so much space I'll use a high bitrate to make sure I don't mistake any word. I guess the best way to do this is to put my videos into iTunes first and see how much space I have left. After that, I'll guess I'll use 128-bit if I have less than 60 GB left.

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Import quality issue with AVC/H.264 and workaround

When I import from my Sanyo Xacti HD700 using "Import from Camera..." the import quality has significant blocking / compression artifacts. However, if I copy the same file off the SD card from the camera and play it back in QTplayer it does not have this same blocking / compression artifacts.
The file is a .MP4 container using H.264 codec for video and AAC for audio. The resolution is 1280x720p and framerate 30fps.
After spending a significant portion of time messing around with iMovie 08 trying to get it to import without the quality loss I have discovered that "Import from Camera..." and "Import Movies..." have different behavior (in terms of video quality) on the SAME FILE.
*To reproduce*:
1) Record a video with Sanyo Xacti HD700 camera. (One with a nice color gradient is good because it will make the compression artifacts more obvious).
2) Import the video from the camera using "Import from Camera..." (Name the event "Import from Camera" so you can remember which is which)
3) Copy the .MP4 file from the mounted drive onto your local harddrive. (Not sure if this step is actually necessary, but haven't tried without)
4) Import the video from the .MP4 on your desktop using "Import Movies..." (Name the event "Import Movies") Notice that this completes much quicker than step 2.
5) Find the two imported movies in your "iMovie Events" folder. You will notice that both movies are different sizes when you would expect them to be identical. (In my case the movie from "Import from Camera" was 47.4MB while the movie from "import movies" was 33.1MB, and the file on the SD card was 33.1 MB)
6) At this point you will also notice that the movie imported from camera will have a custom name like clip-2007-12-26 14;41;44.mov while the movie from "import movies" will have the same filename as it did on the camera i.e SANY0025.MP4.
7) Now open both files in QTplayer and arrange them side by side showing the same frame. You will see that the quality is much worse in the file from "Import from Camera".
Hypothesis:
My guess is that when you select "Import from Camera" it does some transcoding on these files that it doesn't do when you select "Import Movies". (Maybe Import from Camera always transcodes, whereas Import Movies checks to see if it needs to transcode or not?) I believe this because it takes significantly longer using the "Import from Camera" during which time it would appear to be performing some type of transformation on the movie. Also, because the file name in the folder is different.
I believe that either this transcoding is flawed or of poor quality which leads to the poor quality video when importing.
*Work around*:
Use "Import Movies..." instead of "Import from Camera..."
Note that I have not yet taken this through the export process to know how this will impact the final output.
Finally, for the skeptics, here is a screengrab of the two movies side by side in QTplayer on the same frame. The one on the left was imported with "Import from Camera" and the one on the right with "Import Movies". Look at the right side of the yellow playset and also at the hair. In motion it looks quite bad.
Thoughts?

Really? You don't see the difference?
Ok, well here is it blown up to 2X to make it more obvious:
and here it is blown up to 2X and with the contrast increased to make it even more apparent:
I perhaps didn't pick the best frame as an example, but it is very obvious in motion. If necessary I suppose I could post a small movie clip to show.
Message was edited by: Richard_

New audiobook imports lock up iPod mini

After listenting to newly-imported audiobooks (CD's from library) then turning off my iPod mini, it locks up, won't restart without a reset operation, battery drains while locked up. Audiobooks imported prior to download of the newest version of iTunes (7.5) do not cause this problem. The computer is an iMac using OS X 10.3.9. Import settings are for AAC encoder, stereo, 64kbps. Files, both old and new are shown as .m4a. No problems with music files.

For Mac computer
1. Open the disk utility, hope your iPod appears there (left hand side), highlight it
2. Go to Tab “Partition”, click either “Delete” or “Partition”, if fails, skip this step and go to 3
3. Go to Tab “Erase” , choose Volume Format as “MAC OS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase, again if fails, skip it and go to 4
4. Same as step 3, but open the “Security Options....” and choose “Zero Out Data” before click Erase. It will take 1 to 2 hours to complete.
5. Eject your iPod and do a Reset
6. Open the iTunes 7 and click “Restore”
You may need to put your iPod into disk mode before connection
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651

Import Settings - photos are always imported at reduced size

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help

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My desktop computer used to behave exactly as my laptop....on the FIT veiw setting the entire image would fill the screen and i could edit my image. Someway, somehow...I have changed my settings and the images appears minimized as the top image on my desk top and for the life of me, I can't figure what i did or how to change. Stumped.

FCE import quality vs. iMovie

Is FCE capable of capturing/importing video at an improved quality level than iMovie 6?
I understand the superior editing & functionality aspects of FCE, but am trying to see if using FCE also gives you the ability to produce a higher quality video. FYI, I will be working with a bunch of MiniDV tapes.

I went to FCE because I was disappointed with the DVD final results of iMovie 06 at its best setting (at least what I think is the best). Thinking Imovie was just a poor factory add-on program I got FCE and on my initial tests with the same footage imported then exported through their respective programs, I saw great differences in the picture. Viewed back on a good Panasonic Gaoo 37 inch TV.
Smoke or fog, trees, anything with a lot of detail seemed less vibrant with iMovie.
I am open to opposition on these findings as perhaps something wasn't set right, but to date I have not been able to encode a DVD from Imovie as well as that from FCE
I suppose this is off topic since the question was of import quality, not export.
Cheers

When i import from my vidio camera into imovie the clips look tall and thin.tied different imports like full size or large but seem to make no difference everything seems to run ok including sound whats going on? the m

when i import from my video camera into imovie the clips look tall and thin. tried different imports like full size or large have imported both sd and hd but seem to make no difference everything seems to run ok including sound. whats going on?

Hi Brad,
when you use Streamclip to convert media, use the same name for the exported file (only with different extension). Then make a shell script calling
touch -r origFileName.mp2 newFileName.mov
This will copy the exact time and date from origFileName.mp2 to newFileName.mov
The script may look like this (save the file, give an exec permission to it and call it in the right directory):
#!/bin/bash
for i in `ls *.mp2`; do
NEWNAME=$(ls "$i" | sed -e 's/mp2/mov/')
touch -r $i $NEWNAME
done
You may need to adapt the extension names used (in the example above .mp2 is input file to get the date/time stamp from and .mov is the output file to stamp.
Have fun and cheers

Best Import format for quality and size to use on iPod and to burn

I want to import from CD's to primarly download to iPod but also to occassionly burn a CD. I would like to be able to set import format 1 time for best results for both. If this is not possible then what would be best format for iPod (smallest/best quality) and best format for burn's (size doesn't matter, ha!ha!) but quality does.

It all depends on your personal preferences and your ears (the quality of your hearing).
Recalling some recent topics in this forum, I remember one person, who insisted to rip all his tracks into a full (lossless) format and another person who was happy with converting all his tracks in 48 kbps.
As for myself, I rip all my CDs in Apple Lossless, which result in full audio quality files having about half the file sizes of AIFF and WAV (which both are uncompressed).
Then I apply the proper tags, artwork and (sometimes) lyrics and convert them to AAC 128 kbps files for 'daily' use on the iPod, iTunes and burning on Audio CD for the car CD-player. I then store the Apple Lossless files on an external disk for archival purposes.
In your case, if size doesn't matter, I would rip them in AIFF or Apple Lossless.
AIFF has the advantage to be a universal format, which can be read by every application that works with audio files.
File size comparison (average MB/minute):
AIFF and WAV: 10 MB
Apple Lossless: 5 MB
AAC 128 kbps: 1 MB
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

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Thanks - T.J.

No there is not. The Large size used in iMovie is not a video standard and is not supported in FCP projects.

Batch Replace Smart Object With Different Image Quality and Sizes

Hi there,
I need help. I have this template that is in 1000x1000pixel and 300 dpi. I'm trying to replace the smart object inside with various JPEG that I have. These JPEG comes in large image sizes but lower than 300dpi. The issues is, when I run the script that I have, some of the pictures become really pixelated. Beforehand, I resized them to fit into the empty place in sizes that I find fit the best (8 cm x 6 cm). Some of them work okey, but then some of them just pretty bad. I'm wondering if you can help me fix the script that I have so I didn't have to resized the images before running the script, and for all of them to automatically fit into my template without altering the quality of the image that I put in.
below is the script that I am using and the screenshot of my template:
#target photoshop
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var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
var theName= myDocument.name.match(/(.*)\.[^\.]+$/)[1];
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psdOpts.embedColorProfile = true;
psdOpts.alphaChannels = true;
psdOpts.layers = true;
psdOpts.spotColors = true;
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if (theLayer.kind != "LayerKind.SMARTOBJECT") {alert ("selected layer is not a smart object")}
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if ($.os.search(/windows/i) != -1) {var theFiles = File.openDialog ("please select files", "*.psd;*.jpg;*.jpeg;*.tif", true)}
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theLayer = replaceContents (theFiles[m], theLayer);
var theNewName = theFiles[m].name.match(/(.*)\.[^\.]+$/)[1];
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app.activeDocument.activeLayer = app.activeDocument.layers[app.activeDocument.layers.length - 1];
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var desc7 = new ActionDescriptor();
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var ref2 = new ActionReference();
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function replaceContents (newFile, theSO) {
app.activeDocument.activeLayer = theSO;
// =======================================================
var idplacedLayerReplaceContents = stringIDToTypeID( "placedLayerReplaceContents" );
var desc3 = new ActionDescriptor();
var idnull = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
desc3.putPath( idnull, new File( newFile ) );
var idPgNm = charIDToTypeID( "PgNm" );
desc3.putInteger( idPgNm, 1 );
executeAction( idplacedLayerReplaceContents, desc3, DialogModes.NO );
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Thank you for your answer.
I was resizing it before from bigger image size to a smaller one (121 cm to 8 cm) which fit my template size. But the dpi remains in 72 which makes the picture pixelized.
I am wondering if I can find a script that will keep the size of the first image that I put on the template for other images that I place, regardless the size they are imported to. Basically, how to make them all fit into the template regardless the size.
Thank you for the info about the scripting forum. I will write there too.
Sorry, I'm so new to this

How do you get maximum jpg quality/smallest size for photographers

I would love to get any input from another photographer (or
anyone else). About specific tips for maximum jpg quality in my 20
page pdf portfolio. What file pixel dimensions do you use? What
quality levels in photoshop "save fer web" before importing into
illusrator for type and coversion to pdf. Or do you do it all in
photoshop. Color spaces? Noise reduction? file format before import
into illustrator.
All these and anything else you care to pass on. Failing
that, any recommendations on where to find a tutorial that
addresses same?
Perhaps this would be a great topic for and article at
acrobat.com.

David is right, this is really a topic for the other forums.
However, I can offer some basic advice from my experience as a
photographer, blogger and person who uses Acrobat.com and other
sites to post photos.
The first important point is that the monitor resolution is
typically 72 dpi. If you are saving to show as a JPG in a web page,
for example (not embedded in a PDF), setting the dpi larger than
this is problematic - the image will just appear larger. If you are
embedding in a PDF for printing, the image should match the dpi of
the document - usually 300 dpi, although it varies, else the
program (Acrobat, for example) will have to scale the photo in a
way you can't necessarily control.
When I am exporting files from Photoshop (or, more
frequently, Lightroom), I usually set the resolution to 72 dpi and
then use 100x the size of the print. For example, a photo with an
aspect ratio of 4x5 will be 400x500 pixels. I've found that this
creates an image (some panoramics excepted) that tends to 'fit' in
most monitors and is large enough to contain good detail.
Color space: Adobe1998. I believe that PDF will attempt to
either render the image in its current color space, or translate
it, but Adobe1998 is pretty ubiquitous and has worked for me
(unless you need CMYK or something else specific).
The larger issue is that the JPG compression is dependent on
the nature of the photograph. Some photos are fine at 60%, some
halo miserably. So you'd have to do it manually for each to be
absolutely sure. However, most of the time I export at 60%
compression, 72dpi and I'm OK. But I am usually not producing a
saleable print or a portfolio piece that has to look perfect. I
just want it to look as good as possible on a computer screen while
still being able to automate. TIFF avoids all that, but there's no
compression and the image is huge, as you know.
Since you are producing a PDF, you could try a side-by-side
test. Do it once with TIFFs at 300 dpi and once with 80% JPGs. This
test will exercise whether the rescaled PDF (with 300dpi) renders
as well as a 72dpi PDF with JPGs on your screen.
The final advice I'd give is to examine how small a file you
really want. With Acrobat.com's Share application, giving people
access to a large PDF is no longer a problem - you don't have to
email it, which is where it typically gets blocked due to file
size. To be sure, 20 TIFFs taken with a decent camera (8MP+) is
going to create an unduly large file, but the same images as 80%
JPGs will probably get you what you need. If won't be a small PDF,
but it won't be 50MB either.
As you are also probably aware, many of the social networking
sites that have photo applications automatically rescale photos or
do other side-processing to ease the load. Clearly, that doesn't
work for a professional photographer.
Hope this helps, I'll subscribe to the topic if follow up is
needed. But as has been mentioned, the forums for the other
products are probably the place where you'll get more detailed
advice than I can provide.

Import Quality Question

Ok I don't know much about this but,
How much audio quality do you lose when you import from a CD? Also, if the answer is lots, then does iTunes use that lossless audio encoder called apple lossless and if not where can I get and what do I need to use it? kinda 3 questions in one there...

Choose iTunes > Preferences> General pane and click Import Settings.
Choose an encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
You can listen to songs encoded in AAC or Apple Lossless formats in iTunes and on iPod models that come with a dock connector. If you plan to listen to your music using a different program or MP3 player, choose MP3 Encoder.
If you want to burn high-quality audio CDs with the songs you’re importing, without losing quality, choose Apple Lossless or AIFF. (Keep in mind that songs imported using this format use much more disc space.)
If you’ll be playing your songs on a computer that does not have MP3 software, choose WAV.
Choose a bit rate from the Setting pop-up menu (not available with Apple Lossless Encoder). In most cases, the default selection works well.
Higher Quality: Choose if you chose MP3 Encoder and plan to create your own audio CDs or listen to your music with high-quality stereo speakers.
High Quality: Choose if you play music in a noisy environment. This setting creates files that are about 1 MB in size per minute of music.
Good Quality: Use to fit more songs on a portable MP3 player with limited storage capacity.
Custom: Choose for greater control over the file size and sound quality.
To choose AIFF and WAV import settings:
Choose iTunes > Preferences>General pane and click Import Settings.
Choose AIFF Encoder or WAV Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
Choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu.
In the dialog that appears, choose settings:
Sample Rate: The number of times per second the music waveforms are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality and the larger the file size. Don't choose a sample rate higher than the rate used to store the music originally or you'll waste space. CD quality, for example, is 44.100 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when you're encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.
Sample Size: The number of bits used to store each sample taken as the music is encoded. The higher the sample size, the better the quality and the larger the file size.
Channels: If you don't have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural (mono files are about half the size of stereo files), choose Mono. If you'll be listening through headphones or a stereo system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts monaural tracks into mono files and stereo tracks into stereo files.

Exporting to Quicktime - quality vs. size

Ok here is my dilemna. I want the best possible quality at about 1-1.5gb per hour worth of video. I also need to be able to re-import this video file into imovie for changes in the future.
What is my best option?

I use those Digital 8 tapes that are a little more expensive than mini dv, but I get what you are saying. Keep the tapes, and preserve.
My whole reason for doing this is that I have all these tapes that are a pain in the butt to load up and view, so if I exported them into a video file I could categorize them. I use my mac mini as a home theater component and it would be nice to see my home movies in front row where the quality would be close to perfect but the size would be reasonable.
In summary - I will keep the tapes for backup purposes, but I want to also export them into a format/setting that would be comparable to just hooking my camcorder in to the TV (from a quality standpoint). Divx? H.264? What settings?
Thanks!
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Thanks-

When you import iPhoto makes a bit for bit copy of the photo and you lose nothing - to access the original select the photo in iPhoto and export (file menu ==> export) with kind = original
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Poor import quality when capturing DV.

Hi Guys
FCP X is now my third Mac software attempt to get good import capture but still failing.
When i import footage from my Sony HVR Z1E via Firewire the captured footage is seriously low in quality yet massive in file size as should be. When i go into my FCP X Events folder to check the Original Media folder the captured footage is seriously poor. It lacks the 50i and seems to have dropped frames to make it 25fps so its extremely jittery where as original footage is smooth with usual video look. Also the captured footage is low in colour and punch and has terrible sharpness. I used to have same problems with FCP Express also.
However when i owned a cheap PC laptop and captured footage using cheap Pinnacle software the captured footage was as per DV. Extremely sharp and very rich in colour and quality.
Can alyone explain this problem i am at odds end now.
This is my second Mac Book Pro using Mac OS X 10.6.8.
P.S Its PAL i record in as living in UK
Thanks
Tahir

DV can only be viewed properly on a video monitor. Unfortunately FCP doesn't support that. There is no loss in quality when importing DV media.
If you want to see the interlacing in the FCP viewer you have to switch it on with the view switch in the upper right corner.

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Is there a way to make a 30x42 size (40 GB) Illustrator file as a PDF but make the file smaller in size (able to email to clients) with out compromising the quality of the file or the size of the file?

If you are working in RGB you can embed a colour profile. Embed ICC Profiles is one of the Acrobat save options. It will increase files size dramatically.
When you save your pdf you can choose the compression method for placed images. Default is ZIP which is really no compression at all for pixel images. Instead you should opt for JPG compression (of varying degree according to how sensitive the images are to compression).
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Audiobook Importing: Quality vs Size

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