What's the optimal output for web?

Question

i have quicktime Pro - i'm trying to extract video footage from a dv file (my cinematographer's reel) and post it on my website. is MPEG4 the best i can do? and if so, how do i optimize that? if the footage was shot in dv - do i set it at 29 frames in the export Options? what about "key frames" - do i set that at 24 (default) or some other number? looking to get a decent movie file that doesn't look like rubic's cube w/ all the pixel squares.
Thanks!
Steve

Answer 1

Thanks Jon,
just a few questions to your reply:
H.264 would provide
better quality at given data rate and scales much
better but requires QT 7 for both you and your
viewers.
Do most people have QT 7 at this point or is it best to post the movie in the most accessible format and sacrifice some rez? My H.264 is greyed out - perhaps because i'm not using HD footage? any idea?
Optimization
depends on many things such as target encode display
dimensions, amount of storage space/bandwith
available, and even the actual content itself. Since
you have not indicated your goals here, it is
difficult to provide concrete guidelines.
i'm not that technically advanced to know the answer to this. i'm basically posting this to iWeb - i have maybe half a gig of storage on my website so i don't have to be that frugal. just want something to be decent quality but probably no more than 20 MB
In the absence of other,
overriding needs, it is generally best to set the
frame rate to "current."
what about "key
frames" - do i set that at 24 (default) or some other
number?Key frame rate is
dependent on the content. Rapid motion, transitions,
and the like require more key frames while slow
motion, non-changing scenes require fewer. Generally
speaking it may be best to use the "Automatic"
setting for "average" videos. This setting applies
the basic "Rule of Five" or a frame rate equal to
five time the frame rate. The advantage here is, if
there is a large inter-frame change in data, QT will
insert extra frames as/if needed. Basically, the more
key frames, the better the quality but larger the
file size or greater the compression between frames.
that makes sense. i don't have any slow motion so i'd like to make it look
as smooth as possible.
Thanks,
STeve
looking to get a
decent movie file that doesn't look like rubic's cube
w/ all the pixel
squares.Pixilation can still
occur with MPEG-4 when target compression is too high
(i.e., the data rate drops too low for the encode
display dimensions and content). This is one of the
ares where H.264 really stands out. It can usually
produce fairly good HD 720p (1280 x 720 progressive
main profile) quality at even iPod "LC" compatible
data rates.
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