Best video compression and where do I host it to share?

[jasonlava]

Hi Robb & friends, I'm working on some coaster music videos myself and was wondering. What's the best compression method (wmv, mpeg, or divx), which gives the best quality for the size? Robb, I notice you use good ol' mpeg1 as a standard. Any reason why? Windows Media can do 640x480 at it's highest level whereas mpeg is 352x240.

 

Also, where's a good free place I can store it so I can share with you all?

 

Thanks for any help!

[robbalvey]

MPEG-1 still seems to be the 'lowest common demoninator' for everyone to be able to download it and view it with no major issues.

 

The few times I have posted a WMV file, people have had problems playing it.

 

I used the Panasonic MPEG-1 compressor plug in for Adobe Premiere and it seems to work pretty good.

 

The other issue is file size. I'd like to keep a 5 minute video at 30 megs or under. Can WMV do that?

 

What do you reccomend? I'd be open to trying other compressors if you have any suggestions and setting suggestions.

 

--Robb

[jasonlava]

I use Pinnacle Studio 8 (I know I need to upgrade) and it has its own mpeg1 codec. There are presets like VCD, SVCD, DVD, etc. and my current 2.5min video will make a 25megabyte file on VCD settings.

 

With that you can easily burn it to a CD and watch it on your television.

 

Pinnacle has a preset called "Multimedia" with uses a higher bitrate for the file but I don't know if it can be played on regular dvd player. I guess I'll make a VCD compatible mpeg1 file and an equivalent wmv file.

 

With Windows Media if you encode with the latest version of encoder, the person playing it will need to d/l the newest player whereas mpeg1 plays on anything.

 

Here's an interesting site with a rundown of different formats.

 

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/video4_2.htm

 

mpeg1 seems to be a good standard but I think I'm gonna try my hand at xvid since it works well and can be played on some dvd players as well. WMV seems to be too proprietary and non-windows computers have a hard time with those.

 

Now where can I post a 25meg file to share with the world?

[joshg678]

I use vegas 4 and when i render a video i have 1,536 K VBR(variable bit rate) for video, and 98kb VBR for audio, at 400x300

and for a 2:21 min video, its about 31 mb.

 

Could bring it down just a tad, without loosing any quality, but i don't.