GadgetMan
Hi All,
I'm about to take the plunge with video. Boss of my residency has agreed to give it a trial. They have TV screens all round the walls of the place and he's gonna hook me up to 'em... ;-)
Before then though I wanna get in some practice. I've found a few odd AVI's laying around and wanted to know if they'll be ok or whether I should convert them to something else.
They seem to play OK, but just wanted to be sure.
Would also like so help with video plug-ins. What to use, when to use etc.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Roy
I'm about to take the plunge with video. Boss of my residency has agreed to give it a trial. They have TV screens all round the walls of the place and he's gonna hook me up to 'em... ;-)
Before then though I wanna get in some practice. I've found a few odd AVI's laying around and wanted to know if they'll be ok or whether I should convert them to something else.
They seem to play OK, but just wanted to be sure.
Would also like so help with video plug-ins. What to use, when to use etc.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Roy
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 3:40 am
Charlie Wilson
mpeg
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 4:40 am
GadgetMan
Charlie Wilson wrote :
mpeg
Any more info that that Charlie?
2 or 4?
What to convert them to?
Bit/Frame rates?
Cheers,
Roy
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 5:48 am
Andrew87
AVI isn't a format but a container. AVI usually contains MPEG-4 ASP (including XviD, DivX, 3ivX) or MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, X.264). Generally all of these formats are superior to what is usually referred to as MPEG (MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, the latter being used for DVD). However, with better compressibility comes a higher demand of resources. Nearly every dedicated graphics card can accelerate MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC.
Generally Virtual DJ works best with MPEG-2 but if you have a machine capable of it MPEG-4 AVC is a good choice if you need to save space. However, keep in mind that video formats are like mp3s, they're lossy. Also it can be time consuming to convert between formats, it's recommended to keep your original MPEG-2 files (if that's how you have them) and buy extra harddrive space instead of converting.
You shouldn't change the framerate, if you're in an NTSC region it will either be 29.97 or 23.976. If you're in a PAL region it should be 25. Some programs do a really bad framerate conversion, imagine pitching a track at 17% without master tempo - that's like converting a 29.97 video to 25. As for bitrate, many music DVDs use 8000 but anywhere between 1500 and 4000 should look good with MPEG-4 AVC. Convert a file at 1500, 2500 and 4000 using MPEG-4 AVC and see which you find best.
Generally Virtual DJ works best with MPEG-2 but if you have a machine capable of it MPEG-4 AVC is a good choice if you need to save space. However, keep in mind that video formats are like mp3s, they're lossy. Also it can be time consuming to convert between formats, it's recommended to keep your original MPEG-2 files (if that's how you have them) and buy extra harddrive space instead of converting.
You shouldn't change the framerate, if you're in an NTSC region it will either be 29.97 or 23.976. If you're in a PAL region it should be 25. Some programs do a really bad framerate conversion, imagine pitching a track at 17% without master tempo - that's like converting a 29.97 video to 25. As for bitrate, many music DVDs use 8000 but anywhere between 1500 and 4000 should look good with MPEG-4 AVC. Convert a file at 1500, 2500 and 4000 using MPEG-4 AVC and see which you find best.
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 6:11 am
GadgetMan
Thansk Andrew... Will take on board...
It's reaklly what to do with the se few videos I have for testing. Is there a tool I can use to lift the lid on the AVI to see what's inside.
I'll be subscribing to a video service in the very near future so will go with the format they provide and not look to change at all. Did you say MPEG2 was less compressed than MPE4? Therefore 2 is better?
Cheers,
Roy
It's reaklly what to do with the se few videos I have for testing. Is there a tool I can use to lift the lid on the AVI to see what's inside.
I'll be subscribing to a video service in the very near future so will go with the format they provide and not look to change at all. Did you say MPEG2 was less compressed than MPE4? Therefore 2 is better?
Cheers,
Roy
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 6:20 am
Andrew87
You can use MediaInfo to find out about your files: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en
MPEG-4 is superior to MPEG-2 if it's done correctly, i.e. converted from the original master and not from the MPEG-2 source. If you were to shoot a video and convert it, you would get similar quality from the MPEG-4 video at a lower bitrate than the higher bitrate MPEG-2 one. Think of MPEG-4 being AAC and MPEG-2 being MP3. However, it requires more CPU / GPU to decode and things like spinbacks can cause problems. The Promo Only site has the following information:
These are the technical aspects of it. I personally do not mix video but there are many users here that do - I think the general opinion is that MPEG-2 works best in terms of stability so make sure you test your system thoroughly if you go down the MPEG-4 route.
MPEG-4 is superior to MPEG-2 if it's done correctly, i.e. converted from the original master and not from the MPEG-2 source. If you were to shoot a video and convert it, you would get similar quality from the MPEG-4 video at a lower bitrate than the higher bitrate MPEG-2 one. Think of MPEG-4 being AAC and MPEG-2 being MP3. However, it requires more CPU / GPU to decode and things like spinbacks can cause problems. The Promo Only site has the following information:
"Promo Only" wrote :
MPEG-4, the emerging format for digital video, is largely considered the "high definition" standard, and offers superior technological enhancements in both quality and compression over MPEG-2. MPEG-4 also supports robust metadata tagging well beyond MPEG-2. Finally, MPEG-4 is natively "progressive" which means it's ideal for modern Plasma, LCD, and projection displays.
While today the computer hardware requirements to decode MPEG-4 remains higher than MPEG-2, this technology gap will continue to shrink. We firmly believe that MPEG-4 offers the best long-term value for the digital video marketplace and building a library in it today will enable a competitive edge.
While today the computer hardware requirements to decode MPEG-4 remains higher than MPEG-2, this technology gap will continue to shrink. We firmly believe that MPEG-4 offers the best long-term value for the digital video marketplace and building a library in it today will enable a competitive edge.
These are the technical aspects of it. I personally do not mix video but there are many users here that do - I think the general opinion is that MPEG-2 works best in terms of stability so make sure you test your system thoroughly if you go down the MPEG-4 route.
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 6:40 am
GadgetMan
Thanks again Andrew,
Roy
Roy
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 6:54 am
markdeejay75
My advice is dont convert them.
VirtualDJ can play AVI files just as well as mpeg.
I dont stick to one single format in my collection.
if the file comes from DVD, it stays as a VOB..
If it comes down from the internet as AVI or MP4, they stay thay way.
VirtualDJ can play AVI files just as well as mpeg.
I dont stick to one single format in my collection.
if the file comes from DVD, it stays as a VOB..
If it comes down from the internet as AVI or MP4, they stay thay way.
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 12:08 pm
GadgetMan
marksmolinski wrote :
My advice is dont convert them.
VirtualDJ can play AVI files just as well as mpeg.
I dont stick to one single format in my collection.
if the file comes from DVD, it stays as a VOB..
If it comes down from the internet as AVI or MP4, they stay thay way.
VirtualDJ can play AVI files just as well as mpeg.
I dont stick to one single format in my collection.
if the file comes from DVD, it stays as a VOB..
If it comes down from the internet as AVI or MP4, they stay thay way.
Fair point Mark... WIll leave as is and see how I get on.
Cheers,
Roy
Mensajes Mon 09 Nov 09 @ 4:30 pm