Quicktime 7 pro export h.264 better than iMovie quicktime setting?

Question

Hi, wondering if anybody knows if Quicktime 7 pro will export h.264 files (mp4) with better quality than going thru iMovie 11 and using the Quicktime plugin? The results are ok with iMovie but wondering if Quicktime 7 Pro would export better as a standalone unit? Looking to make super small files from chopped up dvd's that will play on all mobile devices..Been using baseline profile setting in iMovie Quicktime plugin so it plays on iPhone 3g as well..  Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

I am trying to create very small files from a DVD , just simple chopping the DVD up into sections...when I use Handbrake to rip the DVD to a small h.264 (mp4) file the quality is surprisingly good...if I rip a higher quality mp4 to use in iMovie the export to smaller h.264 files don't look nearly as good when trying to get files sizes equivalent to Handbrake...I have tried ripping the highest quality video from DVD to use in iMovie '11 but when trying to export using QuickTime plugin to get h.264 (mp4) files they don't look that good...basically if Handbrake had editing capabilities the chopped up files would look better from there...
You are experiencing a process of diminishing returns by continuously re-compressing the video from less efficient codecs to more efficient/same efficiency codecs at the same or lower data rates which tends to degrade quality with each re-compression. My recommendation would be to purchase the Apple QT MPEG-2 Playback component ($20) and use it with MPEG Streamclip for your work flow. (Note: If you are using Lion, the component installer won't work correctly and you will either have the use the Squared-5 beta utility to install the package or install the codec manually.)
A better work flow would be to load the DVD titles (VOB file data) to MPEG Streamclip and edit the content there in its native MPEG-2/AC3 or MPEG-2/PCM compression format. You can set in/out points the same as using QT 7 Pro and save the segments as separate files using an alpha-numeric filename convention denoting the order in which you later want to merge the segments. Once all segments are saved, just drop all of them simultaneously back to the MPEG Streamclip work window and they will be merged in the proper alpha-numeric order. You can then fix "timecode breaks" and export the final product to your targeted compression format. Since you only re-compress the project once, depending on the codec/settings you use, your final file should approach the quality achieved in HandBrake. I.e., this is the main benefit of editing in the original "native" codec used in the DVD content.