DV CHALLENGE - Web Video Tips

[Dylan Couper]

I've been asked by a few participants on how to render video for the web, and what sizes/compression should be used. After confering with some of the judges, I asked fellow wrangler and web video expert Rob Lohman to write up a quick "how to" for those who need to know, and here it is:

Thanks Rob!

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The most compatible and easy to use format is QuickTime. You can get this from www.apple.com/quicktime. Make sure you install the authoring components on the PC version as well (use custom during setup). Since only Sony Vegas (6, on PC) was available for testing the following settings and screenshots where made/tested with that.

1. when done editing in Vegas go to File -> Render As. Select QuickTime 6 (*.mov) from the "Save as type" pulldown, de-select "save project markers in media file" and click on custom (the default template is fine)

Screenshot: www.visuar.com/DVi/export1.jpg

2. go to the video tab, select "(Custom frame size)" for "Frame size" and then enter 320 and 240 for the "Width" and "Height" (both for PAL & NTSC).

- For framerate select 14.985 ("Half NTSC") for NTSC and 15.0 for PAL

- Field order should be set to "None (progressive scan)"

- Pixel aspect ratio shoul dbe set to 1.000

- Video format: choose "Sorenson Video 3"

- Compressed depth: 24 bpp color

- Quality (slider): set to 30.0%

- Data rate: Basic, Target rate, KBps (Kbytes/second): 50

- Set "keyframe every (frames):" to "natural only" (the box will grey out and list "(auto)")

Screenshot: www.visuar.com/DVi/export2.jpg

3. go to the audio tab and select "IMA 4:1" for the Audio format. Sample rate should be "22.050" with bit depth set to 16 and channels to Stereo.

Screenshot: www.visuar.com/DVi/export3.jpg

4. OK the dialog. Choose a filename for your movie and hit save.

These are settings we have used and developed for the Lady X series and have proven to work quite well and be compatible with most systems.

To give you an idea of compression ratios with these settings:

My test with a 21 second movie gave me a 1.48 MB file, some other (estimated) lengths:

60 secs / 1 min: 4.23 MB
300 secs / 5 min: 21.14 MB
900 secs / 15 min: 63.23 MB

After you are done upload the movie to a / your site and send the link to thedvchallenge@hotmail.com

If you are using different editing software find the export function there. Most of these settings should translate without too much trouble to other systems.

Good luck!

[Benjamin Durin]

Rob and Dylan, thanks for the tips.

I shot mine in 16/9 and it won't fit in 320*240 (except if if letterbox it but then it will be very small).
I was thinking of using 480*270, wouldn't it be too big (but my entry will be very short) ?
Or do you have any other suggestion for the size ?

[Michael Gibbons]

I am also in 16x9...

[Rob Lohman]

In the end the resolution is just a guideline. Basically what you do is decide on
a horizontal resolution and then divide that by 16 / 9 to get your vertical
resolution, so for example:

320 / ( 16 / 9 ) = 180, so that would be 320 x 180 (which is the actualy
resolution we used for the Lady X project).

This should work fine for a true 16:9 project. If your footage is letterboxed
(like mine), you will probably need to crop the project to 16:9 format first
(or load it into a 16:9 project), otherwise it will distort your picture and
include the letterboxing in that 320 x 180 image.

In the end resolution does not really matter except for filesize. So if you don't
care that files get larger (ie, takes longer to download for people and your site
is using more bandwidth which may result in more costs for you if your hosting
provider charges for used bandwidth!) you can pick any resolution you want.

Personally I think 320 x 240 or 320 x 180 is a good resolution versus file size
tradeoff. I always watch these QuickTime movies at 200% (to get 640 x 480
or 640 x 360) and get a good experience from them.

In the end this short writeup was just a kick off to get everyone started.

As always it may be wise to do some testing in your own environment (say
with a 30 second movie) and see what works for you, your application and
your workflow.

Good luck!

p.s. if you do increase the resolution you may want/need to increase the
30% and 50 KB as well to allow for the extra data (this will result in larger files!)

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Rob Lohman

In the end resolution does not really matter except for filesize. So if you don't
care that files get larger (ie, takes longer to download for people and your site
is using more bandwidth which may result in more costs for you if your hosting
provider charges for used bandwidth!) you can pick any resolution you want.

Bingo. Preserving bandwidth would be my priority. As with Rob, 320x240 is more than enough for my tastes.

[Meryem Ersoz]

http://www.ourmedia.org ROCKS!

i never put streaming media online before, but it was very easy!

it's always so cool to figure out new delivery systems!

anyone looking for an eleventh hour place to post their video for dv challenge #2, check it out.

tip: if your video doesn't seem to immediately load, just keep trying--my 3rd time was a charm...

i am so psyched. now i can link it to my own cheapie website and have a complete delivery system.

i love re-inventing the wheel! i feel like a kid!

[Robert Martens]

Any suggestions regarding Quicktime 7? I see that it's finally been released for Windows, with support for this new "H.264" codec.

I understand that not everyone is willing or able to upgrade, so I have to ask, if I install Quicktime 7 and use it to compress my movie, will using an older codec (Sorenson Video 3, for example) allow playback on older versions of the software?

The whole codec-versus-file format thing has always confused me, and I have trouble figuring out just what I need to do to make a widely-viewable file; any tips on this new development would be much appreciated.

[Dylan Couper]

Robert, we had some issues with QT7 last time for us PC users, it might be better just to stick with using QT6 for simplicity sake.

[Pete Bauer]

The Public Previews of QT7 were widely reported to be a problem with After Effects. A release version for Windows is now out, though:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50734

The initial indications on Adobe's forums are that it is agreeing ok with AE6.5. I downloaded the QT7 player but haven't installed it yet...will probably grit my teeth and try it over the next few days. Will post on the above linked thread how it goes.

[Bradley L Marlow]

7.0.1

I have a Mac and FCPHD and QT 7.0.1. The website I used to upload my DVC#3 movie has limits.

To the point: I was only able to upload one file, so made the choice to save using QT conversion, 480x360, 300 key frame, IMA 4:1 sound compression at 32kH, medium/high quality resulting in a 46MB .mov that is 03:58 min (including credits)

I REALLY hope this is OK for the challenge. Read that many will save numerous versions, PC, Mac, different sizes and qualities.

If we can't do this, but are able to post one quality QT .mov for the Challenge...is this OK?

Thank you!

[Tyler Baptist]

Originally Posted by Meryem Ersoz

http://www.ourmedia.org ROCKS!

i never put streaming media online before, but it was very easy!

How long do they host your video for? Is there a time limit with using that site?

[Meryem Ersoz]

no, no time limit and free. you should go to the webiste if you need more info.

[Jason Varner]

I tested a few different compression recipes but this is what I found worked best for me. I shot 16:9(anamorphic) and exported from final cut at 240x432ish (1.8 aspect rato) at best quality via Sorenson Video 3 with 16bit mono audio. This cooked a 1gb 4 minute movie down to about 145mb. Then I imported it in to compressor and used the quicktime 7 h.264 codec for web download @300Kbps. I adjusted the frame size to match the source, set the quality to 80% and changed it to 29.97 fps, from the default of 15. This brought the final product down to about 8mb and preserved the original frame rate. It looks pretty good considering and even masked some of my feeble attempts at pulling a key with DV. Take Care, Jason.

[Dan Euritt]

jason, the best way to do it is to export directly from fcp into h.264, and eliminate the sorenson video 3 compression step... the object is to never re-compress your footage for any reason, because it ruins the picture quality.

if you want to post quicktime clips, just go ahead and use the new h.264 codec... the picture quality should be *much* better than any other quicktime codec, so it's well worth the extra effort.

the dv challenge audience that you are targeting will most likely go ahead and install the quicktime 7 player, because they are motivated to see your content... afaik, the qt player is out of beta on the pc side of the fence.

if your video clip is under 10mb in size, you can get it hosted here for free: http://www.putfile.com/faq.php

[Sean McHenry]

Sorry but I differ. As an editor, I have to say that QT 7.x is problematic in that editors, like Avid Xpress Pro, it ties in pretty deeply with QT. It isn't, as far as I know, blessed by Avid yet. If you use cutting edge or nonstandard codecs, yes, your video might be beautiful but there is a good chance only you and a handful of folks will be able to watch it.

As of right now, I edit on 2 different PCs and cannot install QT 7.x on either for fear of it messing up my Avid installation. I strongly caution any editors to refrain from adding or changing theri setups unless they can prove it won't affect their editing capabilities.

Last I heard, QT 7.x has problems exporting various file types from the Avid interface that weren't present in earlier versions.

I have to polietly say I cannot watch anythin gin h264 on my fast machines at this time and I suspect many editors won't be able to either.

Sean