Apple Trailers Professional Encoding
 

Observe the following:

http://www.emichrysalis.co.uk/quickt...ndwidth=150000

This video which clocks in at 6 minutes at 640 x 272 resolution is only about 20 megs. I have a 5 minute video file exported from an uncompressed 1280 x 545 source that is about 50 megs and is of much poorer quality. I exported at about 640 kbps using apples new h264 codec in quicktime pro, I chose the broadband and lan presets first and slightly modified. I was horrified to see how washed out and brighter the exported version was, the blacks weren't strong and everything seemed a bit desatured in addition to the pixelation. How was this sigur ros video encoded? What tools are used? How can a 6 minute file be about 20 megs at that resolution and quality? What tools and methods were used to pull this off? I'd really appreciate some guidance on this issue, I know very little about compression. I tried opening my copy of compressor today and it wouldn't do anything, I clicked on it and it just doesen't open, how can I fix this? I don't even remember how I installed it... what setting would one use to get video of that quality for the web... I have a 5 minute video I want to export that is to be exported to 640 x 272, how can I get it to be color accurate and not get washed out and bright like h264 seems to do with everything. Please help, please advise, I'll be eternally grateful!

I just realized I replied to your other post Ralph, and once again I’m no technical genius, but I just wanted to mention a few things about your post. First if you are exporting to a 1280 x 545 resolution the file size will of course go up, verse the 640x272 that you refered to. Second, the file size of the movie you referred to is in fact 48 mb not 20mb. If you save the quicktime file to your hard drive, open it, then go “movie” “show movie info” you will see the movie specs. This video also has a bit rate of 1.08 mbits/sec which is much higher than your 640 kbps. If you look at any quicktime HD trailer there all encoded over 1 mbits. I can’t help you with your program not launching, but most likely you can give the company a call or email and they can offer you tech support.

Just like any aspect of DV production, there is an art to web compression, and when you are the all in one video team, that means your expertise has to extend all across the board. My advice is to read as much as you can, books, magazines, internet. Knowledge is the next best thing to experience. Also read and learn as much as you can about the particular programs you use, their lingo, and tricks. And remember it starts with great footage, the debate goes on and on, about film verse video. But the better your raw footage looks for the style you are shooting, the better it will look after encoded.

That’s my 2cents, but don’t worry about being eternally greatful. ;)

jacob

encoding methods aside, I think the cinematography in that clip was just beautiful - I was in awe. Any background info on that video?

same here. amazing video!

-jon

640x272
 

This is most likely authentically streamed from a quicktime server. Not a progressive download or other such.

I'm in awe.......what camera, filters.....the children were beautiful and were perfect for this shoot.....I'm sure anyone who sees this clip will agree- masterful job! My hats off!

horsepower applied well
 

I've been playing around with Compressor's more esoteric settings, particularly those buried inside of the Frame Controls preferences. I've noticed turning on the "predictive" and "highest quality" options can make a really big difference in the quality of the resulting file. BUT...it comes at a HUGE cost in terms of encoding time. For example, I had a 5 minute slide show of stills with Ken Burns effect customized and simple transitions (in other words, a nightmare for the compressor because no two frames are at all the same). Using the "stock" 800kbps QT7 export took about 20 minutes to encode on my G5 Dual 2ghz machine. Cranking up the frame controls to their highest settings increased that to several HOURS.

I suspect that the Apple HD trailers and their commercials they put online are rendered using an array of G5 machines with all the quality parameters cranked up to their max.