H.264 Questions

Hello Everyone,
I was wandering if I encode a home movie via fcp via mp4 using h.264, let's say i encode the same file at 1000 kbps using only the "main" profile and then I encode the same exact file at also 1000 kbps using the "baseline" profile only. Will there be a difference in quality? Will the file I encoded with the "main" profile be better of better quality? Thanks.
Nicolas

I have already done that but it is just very difficult to assess... but that is just to the naked eye... I want to find out which is better for archival purposes. If they are the same quality in terms of algorithms and macroblocks then I might as well go with baseline, like this I can just transfer videos to my iphone back and forth, but if main profile has a better quality usage for re-editing or archiving then I'd rather go with main. Thanks.
Nicolas

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Pixel conversion and h.264 questions

I have some home movies on my hard drive that I imported using Roxio. I imported them in DV/DVCPRO because quicktime on windows doesn't handle mpeg2 (the other option on Roxio). My problem is that I want to make copies to give to my brother who has a Mac so he can edit them.
Questions:
1. DVCPRO files are 720x480 rectangular pixels, how can I import them into quicktime so it converts them to square pixels (640x480) without resizing it and losing information?
2. What is the best format to convert them into so he can edit on a Mac and then create a DVD that won't have any loss of resolution from the original files?
3. Can quicktime on a Mac handle the conversion of rectangular to square pixels? I could give him copies of the uncompressed files then.
4. Unrelated to the above questions: Is there a qood tutorial on H.264, that would answer for example, what is the appropriate bit rate for viewing on my machine vs. sending over a DSL, etc.
thanks
dell Windows XP

Send the original source files on a DVD (more than one if it will not fit).
Don't worry about the square versus rectangular pixel issue. Computers use square pixels and most TV's use "lines".
NTSC "video" is sized 720X480. The QuickTime conversion would be 640X480. The data is the same.
You'll introduce other issues if your convert the current .dv file to any other format. Your brother can import (without any conversion) your .dv files directly into iMovie (or other DV editor apps). Bonus. You both save computer time.
It may take a while to burn all of the needed DVD's and postage is about $.84 to mail one. But you'll both be working with the source (sort of) files.
As to tutorials about compression (tips, tricks etc.) there are hundreds of them all over the Web. I even wrote a book "QuickTime Pro: Explained" that may be useful. Click on my profile for more info.
*Note*
I may benefit financially (if someone actually buys my work) from links in my profile.

H.264 Questions and Feedback

Hello Everyone,
I was wandering if I encode a home movie via compressor or even quicktime pro via mp4 using h.264, let's say i encode the same file at 1000 kbps using only the "main" profile and then I encode the same exact file at also 1000 kbps using the "baseline" profile only. Will there be a difference in quality? Will the file I encoded with the "main" profile be better of better quality? Thanks.
Nicolas

you complicate things too much. To encode for multiple devices is inane. Sit back and think, what are the uses for the encoded files. I chose m4v as much as I can. Plays fine on my 23 inch Apple HD display. Plays fine on my ipod Classic. Plays fine on my Panasonic plasma TV through the ipod.
Pertaining to HD then I would convert to the min requirements of Apple TV. 720p
That would be enough work for anyone.
You are not going to get HD out of an ipod. Heck most .m2t files from TV streams are less than 640 x 480. They look good on an ipod. AND try MPEGStreamClip or Handbrake instead of QT Pro. I have QT Pro and never use it.

Flash 9 streams video encoded in H.264 question

We would like to stream the captured video from cameras to a
browser. Our DVR streams the video using RTP/RTSP and also using
HTTP. I realize the RTMP is what is used in Flash. Could you please
provide us inputs us on how we can display the streaming H.264
video coming from our DVR using Flash player.
Can I receive the video stream encoded in H.264 from a Darwin
Streaming Server (Apple/ Open Source & using RTP/RTSP) and play
it in Flash Player 9?

quote:
Originally posted by:
davemachews
We would like to stream the captured video from cameras to a
browser. Our DVR streams the video using RTP/RTSP and also using
HTTP. I realize the RTMP is what is used in Flash. Could you please
provide us inputs us on how we can display the streaming H.264
video coming from our DVR using Flash player.
Can I receive the video stream encoded in H.264 from a Darwin
Streaming Server (Apple/ Open Source & using RTP/RTSP) and play
it in Flash Player 9?
Hi Dave,
I’m unfamiliar with the Darwin Streaming Server, but I
can recommend using Adobe Flash Media Encoder 2.5 and Adobe Flash
Media Server to stream H.264:
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/

Naive H.264 question: Why no VBR option in H.264?

Hi,
Is there no Variable Bitrate feature in the H.264 compressor? It seems that would be a useful feature for to further compression the average size of a file.
If not, what is the reason for this?
Thanks,
Steven

I guess Apple's H.264 claims it does VBR encoding, but when I encode videos with H.264 with various options, the QuickTime info window always reports a constant bitrate as the video plays.
Either I'm not getting VBR out of H.264 or the QuickTime player isn't reporting a "live data rate" but rather something else such as an average given the video size and length.

Basic H.264 Question

Is H.264 an Apple Proprietary format? Or is it a format developed by others that has been incorporated into QT?

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/h264/
Apple only uses it because it meets standards developed by MPEG.
Some reading: http://www.mpegif.org/

Playback Not Working Choppy and Get Spin Wheel With Every Action

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!!!
I have a MacBook Pro Running on Snow Leopard 10.6.5
Processor 2.4Hhz Core 2 Duo
4GB Ram
External Drive 1Tb-Brand New Files on it.
File Type Imported: .mov
When ever I try to playback it gets choppy, and Spin Wheel comes.
Whenever I click on anything im noticing the spin wheel appear.
I have been looking at various forums,,,trying everything.
Does anybody have the trick to get this thing to playback the clip smooth....
I used Final Cut Express on my MacBook, and I never had this problem ever.
Just upgraded to the MacBook Pro, and Final Cut Pro 7,,,and all types of issues.
Please is the answer out there?

jerseyjoey wrote:
H.264
1280X720
24FPS
44.1 Aud Rate
So what do I have to do from here?
I suck when it comes to technical if you can walk me through it.
Thanks
Joey
You'll need to transcode teh H.264 to a more stable and useful editing codec. It's in the manuals and we see several H.264 questions every day around here so it's pretty easy to research.
jerseyjoey wrote:
I used Final Cut Express on my MacBook, and I never had this problem ever.
Just upgraded to the MacBook Pro, and Final Cut Pro 7,,,and all types of issues.
<
I do not you were using H.264 on your your previous rig. Did you get yourself a new origination camera when you got your new Mac?
bogiesan

H.264 and prores proxy question

I've read through a ton of posts about proxy and h.264 workflows but didn't find any that answers my specific question.
My raw video from my camera is mp4 (h.264). I understand that h.264 is not good to edit with, so I have a few options. I use a macbook pro for editing so I have been toying around with prores proxy for editing and it makes a difference on RT playback and rendering while editing, so that's good. When I get ready to output my movie after editing, I relink my project back to the original h.264 source files and that seems to work fine.
I'm wondering if that's not the right workflow though. Should I transcode the h.264 into prores HQ or LT and then ALSO to proxy, edit with proxy and then relink my project back to the HQ or LT files to output? Or is linking back to my source h.264 files and outputing the right way to go?
Since the original files must be in the best possible quality that I'm going to get (since they're my original clips), I assume that relinking to them right before output is the way to go but I really don't know much about codecs to know if I'm missing something.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

Thanks for your response. I'm shooting with a Sanyo FH1, mostly in 1080p, but I've scaled back to 720 since 1080 was overkill for what I'm doing to save some space.
The thing I don't quite understand yet is the issue with pointing my project back to the source files after all the editing is finished with prores proxy and just before output. That way, FCP would only have to uncompress the source files to render for final output only one time (besides the initial transcoding), albeit, probably longer than it would be for prores. I'm sold on proxy because it was so much faster to edit with than h.264 and I didn't have to keep any video files after I was finished except my source files....trying to budget hard drive space. I transcoded one file a while back to prores but the file size was more than I wanted to deal with since I only edit on my macbook pro so I didn't try to edit with it. Like you said, maybe just converting to prores and dealing with the space juggling would be the best way to go, or try prores LT to see how the quality is.
Does converting from h.264 to prores buy me any quality or a better final result, or just a cleaner workflow? Don't misread my questions, I'm not arguing, just trying to understand from you guys that know a lot more about this than I do. Making my living as a developer, it's just ingrained in me to understand this one
Message was edited by: kenmoberg (updated macos version)

H.264 encoder question

For my streaming application I need H.264 video content with sliced frames and H.264 slice size should be configurable. I tried QT Pro and found that it partitions a frame into 2 halves. Is it possible to configure the encoder to produce more slices?

You answered my question in #2. I am not sure I understand how services such as ustream.TV can webcast in H.264/MP4? Since smartphones can send the stream only in FLV/H.263; Do they re-encode the livestreams from H.263 -> H.264 at the server using FlashMediaEncoder?
Another question: lets say if I can somehow encode the video myself (H.264) at client side in realtime; can I publish it to FMS as MP4/H.264?
Thanks!

H.264 Blue Ray audio question

I have seen this question brought up before but not answered fully.
The background:
i need to make a video that is
(Video)
File format: MP4 H.264
Aspect Ratio: 16 x 9 (1920 x 1080)
NTSC HD 60i (interlaced)
Square Pixel
(Audio)
48kHz
24 bit stereo
When exporting i selected H.264 Blue Ray and set the video accordingly (set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 @ 29.97, upper, square pixle) the problem I’m having is setting up the audio to be 24 bit. From my understanding AC3 only supports 16 bit but what about Dolby Digital can i get 24 bit audio if i use it and what setting do i change to get 24 bit audio at 48 kHz?

Do you HAVE sound in your comp? You'd be surprosed by the number of embarassed "no" replies.
Did you use the AE Render Queue? You have to specify that you actually want to inclue an audio track in the th Output Module; it isn't automatic. Most people don't even bother with audio when rendering from AE.
But here's the big thing: don't use AE to render H.264 files in the first place. AE stinks at it. Instead, use Adobe Media Endoder. You Can open an AE project in AME, then make an H.264 of any comp in the project.

I want to put my .m2ts movies (Sony HD recorder) on my Ipad3. It looks they need to be converted to h.264 format. Question is will Quicktime Pro work or are there any better software solutions. Running XP system. Thanks

I want to put my .m2ts movies (Sony HD recorder) on my Ipad3. It looks they need to be converted to h.264 format. Question is will Quicktime Pro work or are there any better software solutions. Running XP system. Thanks

You could try Handbrake, it works quite well.

H.264 Encoding Questions...???

I am now starting to convert different video files to my iTunes for my AppleTV and have some questions...
BTW, I am using VisualHub and using H.264 - high quality setting for encoding on a G5 iMac with 1GB RAM.
1. Approx. how long should it take to encode a 700MB .avi file to .mp4, using H.264?
I am transferring all these TV shows I have that are around 700MB .avi files and they are taking anywhere from 400-600 minutes per file!!! That seems very long to me.
2. Do .VOB files typically take even longer to encode using H.264?
The few .VOB files I have tried are taking 800 or so minutes for a 2-3GB .vob file.
Is there something else I should be doing? Are these times normal?
Any tips or suggestions for encoding?
Thanks in advance.

Don't use VisualHub myself, but do know that h.264 encoding is extremely processor intensive and time consuming. The actual source material probably won't matter too much unless it's high definition or uses a particularly computationally intensive algorithm to decode (and for most decoding is miles faster than encoding).
For example, on my iMac (2.16GHz Intel core 2 duo) converting a 2-3GB '.rec' TV recording from a Topfield PVR (which in essence produces MPEG2 transport streams), via MPEG Streamclip can take 3-4 hours for say a 90-120 minute program, and that's without using 2 pass encoding.
VisualHub is regarded as one of the faster converters, but High Quality setting will take longer than 'Standard' and the 'Go nuts' option will take even longer.
Hopefully (though it may not be what you want to hear) someone with a G5 and VisualHub will reply to confirm the sort of encoding times you're experiencing - I say hopefully as if their times are much faster it points to some other factor than VisualHub.
Elgato make a hardware USB h.264 encoder which is supposed to speed up encoding considerably but it only accelerates specific applicatiosn (eg iMovie) or their own conversion application (so far - the latest MPEG Streamclip release suggests they will add an option to harness it if possible/feasible - it may not be).
There are mixed reports on the Elgato device - biggest gripes being lack of customisable settings and an 800x600 resolution maximum. I've got one on order - for some older stuff recorded off a PVR it'll probably be more than adequate but for newer things software encoding is likely to be better. Time vs quality trade off really.
Best h.264 encoding results for most at the present time will almost certainly be achieved in customisable converter software - there are probably professional high quality h264 hardware converters available but these would be prohibitively costly for most of us.
AC

Quik easy question does Win QT playback h.264?

quik easy question does Win QT playback h.264?

It does.
For Windows version of QuickTime, please use QuickTime for Windows

H.264 Vimeo Export Questions

Hello,
I exported a H.264 according to Vimeo's guidelines ( Compression Tutorials on Vimeo ) for Premiere Pro CC. I'm a bit dissapointed in the quality of the export - contrast is down, midtones are brighter, a noticeable loss of detail and added noise. I'm coming from 10 Bit DPX and understand there is a big difference, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers in regards to exporting via Premiere. This is the first project I've cut with it.
Should I use Media Encoder instead or is that essentially the same? Any pointers much appreciated.
Thanks!

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the response. We were using both quicktime and Vimeo to compare image quality.
The source footage is BMCC RAW and to retain as much image quality I rendered to DPX from Resolve after the grade and brought the image sequences into Premiere.
There is some quality lost between Resolve and Premiere but the difference between Premiere Pro CC 2014 and Vimeo is significant.
I'll do a comparison inside Premiere to double check.

H.264 Interlaced Question

@Tom Wolsky: I didn't want to stray OT on the FCP X thread where the OP is mixing SD and HD interlaced.
Just to say that I have never found a setting in Compressor that will allow me to output interlace H.284 – even from interlaced source material. Not that I'd ever use it myself, but if there are settings that will do just that, please let me know.
Thanks.
Russ

Thanks, Tom. Undoubtedly that works, although don;t have any interlaced H.264 to use as a source file. But an interlaced XDCAM clip flipped to progressive when I chose MPEG 4 as output.
Russ

H.264 Questions

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