Video Rendering 101 Anywhere?

[Harry Simpson]

I've shot over 100 4-5 minutes clips - usually live performances - one song one clip.

I use a RODE SVM Mic and mostly 24-105 f4L IS lens. I use NeoScene to convert the MOV files to AVI files and then bring the AVI files into Sony Vegas Studio 9 PE tp edit and add titles credits etc.

Recently shot a 6 minute wedding (outdoors) and produced a rather hefty WMV end product which I then uploaded to SmugMug. The client who has who knows what kinda computer or connection say they can't get the movie to run. I have cable moden and I have to let it download a little before i try to play it myself.

Question: What's the best bang for the buck as far as HD render formats? I've heard
MP2 is HD - is MP4 HD - is there an optimal rendering format for web that can show a medium size picture that will just run on a decent connection?

Also lately my videos played on Vimeo seem to accentuate the jerkiness whereas the same video uploaded to YouTube looks better and the video played on my bos is pretty smooth...and ideas?

I'm learning but seems I have more questtions than answers at this point.

Thanks
Harry

[Perrone Ford]

Videos uploaded to Vimeo are no longer in the native file format. They are all converted to a standard h.264 file at a standard rate. So if it's jerky there, it's not your original file that is at fault. I have no idea what smugmug does.

[Harry Simpson]

Thanks for the quick response......YouTube's conversion is kinder. I there a best output from Vegas Studio 9 PE where the conversion doesn't screw up the video so badly?

Harry

[Steve Wolf]

Read this at Vimeo. I've used the same settings for SmugMug: Compression guidelines on Vimeo

Here's a link to my settings, you may have to play with the target bitrate to keep it under their files size limitation: http://arnica.csustan.edu/mtbike/5dvideo/h.264.jpg

[Nigel Barker]

SmugMug converts to H.264 at a bit rate of around 7.5 Mbps for 1920x1080, 3.2Mbps for 1280x720 & lower bit rates for lower resolutions. I have excellent results with exporting from FCP in ProRes 1920x1080 & then converting to H.264 at 8Mbps before uploading to SmugMug. The SmugMug converted files are identical in quality to the originals & are faster to upload than if you upload files created at a higher bit rate. http://www.barkersvideo.com

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Harry Simpson

Also lately my videos played on Vimeo seem to accentuate the jerkiness whereas the same video uploaded to YouTube looks better and the video played on my bos is pretty smooth...and ideas?

Previouslyt Vimeo used to convert all HD video to 25fps which caused all 5DII 30fps video to be jerky & stuttery. I actually got a refund for my Vimeo Pro account because the video looked so awful. I had read in their forums that they now preserve the original frame rate up to 30fps & it does seem OK now with my wife's videos. However it may be that their conversion from whatever format you upload in is the problem. As the final video format for Vimeo is H.264 it makes sense to convert your footage to that format before upload. We have pretty good results with uploading 5Mbps 1280x720 Alice Barker's videos on Vimeo

[Harry Simpson]

This may be the missing piece. I've been rendering to WMV from the Cineform converted AVI that i edit in Vegas Studio 9 PE. Anyone know what the H.264 equivalent would be? What is the extention on the rendered file?

Thanks so much for helping me!

Harry

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Harry Simpson

This may be the missing piece. I've been rendering to WMV from the Cineform converted AVI that i edit in Vegas Studio 9 PE. Anyone know what the H.264 equivalent would be? What is the extention on the rendered file?

Thanks so much for helping me!

Harry

Extension is usually .MP4