file conversion help

Webmaster Discussion
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#1

hi there, I’ve run into a problem that I’m hoping someone may have knowledge about.

I’m working with someone setting up a gay website and I’m given raw footage that has to be made into completed video’s. I have to attach intro credits, end credits and watermarks. i do this by transferring the file to final cut express (i use a mac) attach all the bits i need to, then export the completed movie using QuickTime conversion.

this completed movie i then convert to WMV, FLV, MOV and MP-4 using wondershare video converter. but what I’m finding is that after they have converted to the new formats even though the file size is large and the settings i used were the highest, the quality is not the best.

I’ve also tried converting the completed movie straight from final cut to the different formats but the quality is still not the best.

if you have a little time to offer an insight i would be very grateful

#2

Re: file conversion help

Do you have a sample we can see online? If you do then we have something to go on ie the bitrate, framerate and so on. Without any of that it is just kind of shooting in the dark.

Kevin.

#3

Re: file conversion help

thanks kevin, i’ve added a little test file here paulmac.myob.net/downloads

#4

Re: file conversion help

Paul,

Sorry, I should have made myself clear the first time around :wink:

I need a sample of the original and the converted video so I can see this difference in quality your talking about.

From what I can see the quality isn’t all that bad considering your video dimensions are huge 1280x720 at 1527kb/s. I’m assuming the sample you provided is a one of the converted videos? On a side not a lot of monitors aren’t even that wide. Don’t forget a lot of people are still using older computers or laptops.

From what I can see if you want to keep the dimensions you have your going to need to increase the bitrate of your videos from 1527kb/s up to the neighborhood of 4042kb/s.

You can use this calculator to get an idea as for a starting point. I used the H264 settings
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/apps/flv_bitrate_calculator.html

If you look at the quality of videos at itsgonnahurt.com or gaylifenetwork.com you can see that their video quality is extraordinary.

gaylifenetwork.com 480x270 715 kb/s * Full screen view produces respectable quality
itsgonnahurt.com 852x480 1635 kb/s * Full screen view produces amazing quality

So from what I can tell your videos are 1/3 larger than itsgonnahurt’s videos yet your bitrate is less than theirs hence the difference in video quality…

I’m no professional on this subject matter just sharing my limited knowledge…

Hope some of what I’ve said makes sense and helps.

Kevin.

#5

Re: file conversion help

i wouldn’t go that big with a video using under a 3 Mbps bitrate. i use 1.6 Mbps for 720x480, so it really isn’t enough for high quality HD videos. btw, i tried to download your sample, but at first it wouldn’t start downloading at all, so i cancelled and tried again. this time, it wanted to download at 1.7k so i gave up.

#6

Re: file conversion help

thanks for the reply kevin, great information. i will give it a go and let you know how i get on.