What's your favorite codec to use for compressed rendering? at DVinfo.net

Ryan Krga · December 27th, 2003, 03:03 AM

I noticed in my video rendering codec selection there are many different codecs that I know very little about. Just wondering which one you like to use and why?

David Hurdon · December 27th, 2003, 05:51 AM

Most of the legacy codecs found on a PC are there to decode the kind of video you'd find on old CDs like the encyclopedia disks. They were developed for old, slow systems and video cards with negligible on board memory. You can certainly choose one, like Indeo 3.2 or 5.1, or Cinepak, but there's little or no reason to today.

David Hurdon

Devin Doyle · December 27th, 2003, 09:42 AM

We tend to use Quicktime compression for cross-platform compatibility. To be more exact - Sorenson 3. I'm not sure if that implements MPEG 4, but it yields good picture quality with minimal file size. I +fav xvid compression as well - another MPEG 4 codec.

Rob Lohman · December 29th, 2003, 02:31 PM

Most people seem to use either QuickTime with Sorenson 3 or
DiVX/XviD with AVI. Sometimes mpeg or a streaming format is
used as well.

Glenn Chan · December 29th, 2003, 03:02 PM

First off the answer depends on what bitrates you are encoding at (I'm assuming for web).

Windows Media Encoder is *excellent*, although Microsoft is evil. With very little messing around you can get great results and beat divX and sorenson3 (non-pro).

Usually the best route is Windows Media Player + Quicktime. Sorenson3 and mpeg4 audio gives the best results for Quicktime. The Pro version of the sorenson3 with Cleaner gives the best results with sorenson3.

Peter Moore · December 29th, 2003, 05:13 PM

Unfortunately WMV and MOV files aren't accepted by every application (such as 3DS Max in my case). But you can always use DivX, cause that works flawlessly with most anything that'll read AVIs.

I really wish someone would make a high quality near-lossless codec (like DV) for HD or other resolutions and ARs besides normal DV.

Gints Klimanis · December 29th, 2003, 06:58 PM

I've just been experimenting with encoding clips captured from VHS. In motion scenes (knife fight scene), WindowsMedia9 at 512kbps or 256kbps definitely beats out Sorenson3 at the same bitrate. On my knife fight scene, WM9 at 256 kbps also beats Sorenson3 at 512kbps. There is an obvious difference in motion artifact levels and the black/dark color levels between Sorenson and WM9. The Sorensons produces blacks with green hazy blocks.

Also, is WM9 have a wide coverage these days, or will I better off going for WM8 ?

Since some of you are pleased with Sorenson3, what settings are you using? I'm using Vegas4 to render using the QuickTime5 512kbps and 256kbps templates. Thanks for any advice.

Glenn Chan · December 29th, 2003, 08:35 PM

Cleaner with the pro Sorenson3 codec will give you better than normal results. It still looks like WME is better.

All Windows Media Player clients are *supposed* to automatically download codecs that they don't have. However, sometimes Media Player doesn't feel like doing it so it doesn't work all the time. I don't know how widespread it is. WMV8 I believe is still decent.

win95/98 users by the way are going to have a hard time playing back WMV8 and WMV9. Media Player 7 isn't supported on those OSes, although you can get WMV8 to play on win98 (I forget about WMV9). Quicktime works well on win95/98 though.

Gints Klimanis · December 31st, 2003, 03:26 AM

Glenn,

I have Media Player 7 running on an old 400 MHz Pentium III computer (Win98). It has
no trouble playing back WM9 files and somewhere along
the way has downloaded that codec. I'll try WM8 for kicks and report back.

As for Media Player codec download, it can only downloads some. A while back, I had to manually install the DiVX when I was working with that compression format. I know that WMPlayer on my current WinXP machine refuses on MPEG2 files, although I'm pretty sure that it has do with the AC3 audio. All of this occurs on a machine with an nVidia chipset which supports real-time AC3 encode. Go figure.

Glenn Chan · December 31st, 2003, 02:16 PM

My old celeron733 would choke on large movies. WMV movies didn't seem so bad, but I don't think I encountered big ones.

You can't play back MPEG2 unless you buy a software MPEG2 player. It has to do with licensing issues.

Gints Klimanis · January 3rd, 2004, 07:22 PM

Some of the software DVD players (nvdvd) install codecs that allow playback of MPEG2 from Media Player. However, only MPEG2 files with PCM audio or MPEG-1 Layer II work. Those with AC3 audio don't.

December 27th, 2003, 03:03 AM	#1
Ryan Krga Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, Illinois Posts: 116	What's your favorite codec to use for compressed rendering? I noticed in my video rendering codec selection there are many different codecs that I know very little about. Just wondering which one you like to use and why?

December 27th, 2003, 05:51 AM	#2
David Hurdon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 484	Most of the legacy codecs found on a PC are there to decode the kind of video you'd find on old CDs like the encyclopedia disks. They were developed for old, slow systems and video cards with negligible on board memory. You can certainly choose one, like Indeo 3.2 or 5.1, or Cinepak, but there's little or no reason to today. David Hurdon __________________ Site:http://www.faceliftmarketing.ca Blog:http://www.websitevideo.blogspot.com

December 27th, 2003, 09:42 AM	#3
Devin Doyle Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 188	We tend to use Quicktime compression for cross-platform compatibility. To be more exact - Sorenson 3. I'm not sure if that implements MPEG 4, but it yields good picture quality with minimal file size. I +fav xvid compression as well - another MPEG 4 codec. __________________ http://devin.par-t-com.net

December 29th, 2003, 02:31 PM	#4
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Most people seem to use either QuickTime with Sorenson 3 or DiVX/XviD with AVI. Sometimes mpeg or a streaming format is used as well. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

December 29th, 2003, 03:02 PM	#5
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	First off the answer depends on what bitrates you are encoding at (I'm assuming for web). Windows Media Encoder is excellent, although Microsoft is evil. With very little messing around you can get great results and beat divX and sorenson3 (non-pro). Usually the best route is Windows Media Player + Quicktime. Sorenson3 and mpeg4 audio gives the best results for Quicktime. The Pro version of the sorenson3 with Cleaner gives the best results with sorenson3.

December 29th, 2003, 05:13 PM	#6
Peter Moore Trustee Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Arlington VA Posts: 1,034	Unfortunately WMV and MOV files aren't accepted by every application (such as 3DS Max in my case). But you can always use DivX, cause that works flawlessly with most anything that'll read AVIs. I really wish someone would make a high quality near-lossless codec (like DV) for HD or other resolutions and ARs besides normal DV.

December 29th, 2003, 06:58 PM	#7
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	I've just been experimenting with encoding clips captured from VHS. In motion scenes (knife fight scene), WindowsMedia9 at 512kbps or 256kbps definitely beats out Sorenson3 at the same bitrate. On my knife fight scene, WM9 at 256 kbps also beats Sorenson3 at 512kbps. There is an obvious difference in motion artifact levels and the black/dark color levels between Sorenson and WM9. The Sorensons produces blacks with green hazy blocks. Also, is WM9 have a wide coverage these days, or will I better off going for WM8 ? Since some of you are pleased with Sorenson3, what settings are you using? I'm using Vegas4 to render using the QuickTime5 512kbps and 256kbps templates. Thanks for any advice.

December 29th, 2003, 08:35 PM	#8
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	Cleaner with the pro Sorenson3 codec will give you better than normal results. It still looks like WME is better. All Windows Media Player clients are supposed to automatically download codecs that they don't have. However, sometimes Media Player doesn't feel like doing it so it doesn't work all the time. I don't know how widespread it is. WMV8 I believe is still decent. win95/98 users by the way are going to have a hard time playing back WMV8 and WMV9. Media Player 7 isn't supported on those OSes, although you can get WMV8 to play on win98 (I forget about WMV9). Quicktime works well on win95/98 though.

December 31st, 2003, 03:26 AM	#9
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Glenn, I have Media Player 7 running on an old 400 MHz Pentium III computer (Win98). It has no trouble playing back WM9 files and somewhere along the way has downloaded that codec. I'll try WM8 for kicks and report back. As for Media Player codec download, it can only downloads some. A while back, I had to manually install the DiVX when I was working with that compression format. I know that WMPlayer on my current WinXP machine refuses on MPEG2 files, although I'm pretty sure that it has do with the AC3 audio. All of this occurs on a machine with an nVidia chipset which supports real-time AC3 encode. Go figure.

December 31st, 2003, 02:16 PM	#10
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	My old celeron733 would choke on large movies. WMV movies didn't seem so bad, but I don't think I encountered big ones. You can't play back MPEG2 unless you buy a software MPEG2 player. It has to do with licensing issues.

January 3rd, 2004, 07:22 PM	#11
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Some of the software DVD players (nvdvd) install codecs that allow playback of MPEG2 from Media Player. However, only MPEG2 files with PCM audio or MPEG-1 Layer II work. Those with AC3 audio don't.