iMovie Compression Settings Questions

[Superfletch 1]

I upload a lot of short clips to a website I help manage. Our file size limit is 5MB. I typically edit these quick vids in iMovie. What I'd like to know is what type of export should I do?

Typically the vids range from 1 min to as many as 5 or 10. Depending on the project. Most of the time it's just a small skydiving scene set to some song (approx. 3 min).

There has to be some sort of method of compressing video to constrain it to a particular size < 5MB. I realize that the 1 min. videos will be much better quality than the 5 min videos and that sometime (in the case of say a 10 min vid) it may be better to just upload a larger size to YouTube and post a link. However I'd always like to be able to compress for direct uploading and review the quality before I make a decission.

What I have been using is iMovie Export as Quicktime movie. I typically use save for Web presets and if it is under 5MB I go with it. If not I export as QuickTime and use expert settings and that is where I'm lost. I don't know what any of that crap means and I don't know how to do the settings to get the best desired results.

For instance...

I typically choose Movie to Quicktime Movie. Would I get better results for say Movie to MPEG-4 or Movie to DivX or Movie to Windows Media?

And assuming that QuickTime is the proper choice what kind of presets should I be trying?

Video: H.264 is the preset but would I get better compression through one of the other choices?

I'd don't mind the video being a bit choppy if I can improve the quality of the frames. What settings can I choose to make the frames less pixelated and more choppy as opposed to smoother video and pixelated video to the point that you can't even tell what you're looking at.

In the sound settings... for these mini clips I don't need full stereo kick ass sound like I might want on a year end video so what type of setting would I need to choose to just hear the music and not necessarily be of any quality. I know I can kick it down to the mono as opposed to stereo but what about format, rates and target bit rates ?

Anyone have any suggestions? Would I have better results just exporting at DV quality and using a stand alone compressiono program, Would it be enough of a difference to even check into or would it be EVEN THAT MUCH MORE confusing???

Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher
D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I
Videographer/Photographer

[PhreeZone 20]

What webhost are you using that limits your size to 5 megs? I'd look at changing hosts to allow for better compatibility with your purpose instead of trying to jam your workflow into their constraints. There are a ton of hosts out there that allow for unlimited file size uploads that cost less then $100 a year.

If I am understanding what you would be happy with it is a clear frame every few frames and skipping video inbetween? Are you more worried about something doing a frame by frame of the video or watching it for playback?

With the audio the lower the bit rate the flatter the sound usually. Smaller bit rate also takes up less space so you need to balence it out but you could go very low for choppy video and no one would care.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Superfletch 1]

Quote

What webhost are you using that limits your size to 5 megs? I'd look at changing hosts to allow for better compatibility with your purpose instead of trying to jam your workflow into their constraints. There are a ton of hosts out there that allow for unlimited file size uploads that cost less then $100 a year.

I'm not exactly sure who the web host is but I wouldn't want to up the limits anyway, we get lots of people posting shit in there and they would totally take advantage of it. Plus 5MB is way more than enough for little 1 min. vids, I would just like a better understanding of how to compress stuff.

For example, I exported a vdeo today using the export for email in quicktime. The video was more than sufficient in quality etc and even with the small window size, however, the video saved at 5.1MB. I have NO idea what quicktime's expert settings for the email export option were as a starting point so I didn't know what to tweak a little to drop the file size to just under 5 MB.

After using expert settings I chose various stuff and the file saved at 1.9MB and was almost unwatchable. I was hoping to get some advice here on stuff to try as BASE starting points and if files were close, what would be the best areas to tweak to get the subtle differences in changes rather that changing everything drastically. For example, if I come up close on a file size like 5.1MB and I need it 5.0 or below... Would it be better for me to say drop the sound quality (and by how much) or should I change the frame rate (and by how much) or bit rate or whatever. It's just that there are so many variables I don't know where to make changes to see results and I'd rather not tweak stuff by a frame rate or two (which I've done in the past), wait for it to export again... just to find out that it didn't save a bit of space...

Maybe I should ask this one question at a time... When working on a mac, primarily in iMovie, primarily with skydiving footage set to music from iTunes. What file format should I export too? .mov, .wmv, .avi, etc. Looking for the smallest file sizes vs. picture quality.

Is there no way to export with a target file size in mind to get the best settings for that size?

Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher
D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I
Videographer/Photographer

[DSE 5]

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What file format should I export too? .mov, .wmv, .avi, etc. Looking for the smallest file sizes vs. picture quality.

There is a toss up depending on bitrate, between Flash and MP4/.264.
I prefer mastering web to iPod-ready mp4 and allowing the various UGC sites to do the conversion for me. That said, Apple doesn't yet have a good exporter to .264 compared to outside tools such as Squeeze, etc.

[quade 4]

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That said, Apple doesn't yet have a good exporter to .264 compared to outside tools such as Squeeze, etc.

DSE --

I dunno. I think Compressor works perfectly fine for H.264. I'm not completely certain what you think might be lacking in that app.

Where it is lacking is the ability to deal with all three major formats (H.264, .FLV and .WMV) simultaneously. For me, that's where Squeeze comes into play.

All of the above said, let's get back to the original question.

Gary --

Yuck. I hate the idea of trying to use ONE setting that would cover material ranging from 1 to 6 minutes in length and optimizing for <5meg files. If, however, I was looking for a drag and drop solution, JUST for H.264 I'd be tempted to create a droplet from Compressor settings. I'll admit this is well beyond just working within iMovie.

If you ONLY want to work within iMovie, you'll have to do custom settings and unfortunately there is no way to target a file size. You'd have to do some math or trial and error.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[PharmerPhil 0]

I've never used iMovie, but I am guessing if that is your tool, Compressor is out of the price range.

How about just using Quicktime Pro? It has an export option using H.264, and you can choose a data rate that will keep whatever length movie you want within 5m. It comes with FCS, but you can buy it alone for only $30.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=D3380Z/A

[DSE 5]

Squeeze does a better job of .264, IMO, and many PC-based apps do a significantly better job. On2 does a much better job than anything Apple or Adobe offers for Flash, but that's where their value ends.
Were I only working in iMovie, I'd recommend the same thing you do; trial and error. Not that hard to figure out bitrate vs length of time. One min of vid to 5MB of space is about 575Kbps bitrate, so I'd run it at 500Kbps to stay safe. And at that bitrate, it should be very sweet.