H264 Compression Sorenson Squeeze... HELP!

[DWTV]

Hello All

I'm new to the forum but am pleased to have found it. I can tell already that i'll be on here all the time. I will do my best to help out with advice in the future but for now i need HELP!

I use FCP to edit and export my videos as .DV's. I then need to FTP my videos around the globe so as much as the videos are only 3 to 4 minutes long the .DV files are just too heavy. Speed is also an issue for me. I need to get them out there as quick as possible.

I have just bought Squeeze so I can output to the fantastic H264. I need the MPG4 H264 video file to be of a very high resolution so it's suitable for broadcast TV usage but at the same time I need the receivers to be able to re-compress the video for web use, cell phone use, PC use, Mac use etc etc

I would be eternally grateful if someone could guide me through the parameters/ so i can achieve my goal. I promise to give them a ton of compliments and if you're in LA i'l buy you a beer!

All the best

DWTV

PS. LONG LIVE THE INTERNET TV REVOLUTION!!

[Dark Shikari]

What is "Squeeze"? Why not use x264?

[DWTV]

Squeeze is a compression program. It's got the lot!

[Tack]

You'll find most of us here use x264 because it is both free and excellent. So not many of us are familiar with Squeeze, and fewer still could offer much in way of support (I suspect).

[DWTV]

Will the parameters be the same in that program? Here's a grab of what i'm going to use.

Your thoughts would be majorly helpful!

[DWTV]

Sorry, here's the attachment.

[Dark Shikari]

Just use Imageshack/Tinypic/etc so that the attachments don't have to wait for approval.

[foxyshadis]

You should ask the receivers what they can handle, not us. They're the ones that are going to have to deal with it, after all. If they don't know, ask what they use to transcode and let us know, someone here will probably know what the capabilities of the equipment or software they have is. These things range from not being able to handle AVC in any form, to handling it fine except with more than one b-frame, to any combination you can create. If the receiver can handle them, use b-frames, as they can noticeably improve quality at any bitrate.

As for speed, it's likely very few here have used sorenson's encoder, and it's very hard to guesstimate relative speeds of different options based on a competing implementation. However, the quality slider probably makes the biggest speed difference here, lowering it a bit may make a large difference. It's also unnecessary to use a bitrate if you're more concerned about quality, especially since you can't stream VBR without extra constraints. Use a 1-pass quality-based method instead.

[Dark Shikari]

You should ask the recievers what they can handle, not us. They're the ones that are going to have to deal with it, after all. If they don't know, ask what they use to transcode and let us know, someone here will probably know what the capabilities of the equipment or software they have is. These things range from not being able to handle AVC in any form, to handling it fine except with more than one b-frame, to any combination you can create.
Yes, this is probably the most important constraint on the settings you use.

In x264 also note you'll be using a lot more settings that affect quality without affecting equipment/CPU required for playback, such as --subme, --trellis, etc (i.e. decision quality settings).

[HowlerX]

Not to imply that doom9 forum users aren't helpful, (I've learned so much just from reading these boards and can't express my thanks enough,) but...

Doesn't a $600-700 program like Sorenson Squeeze offer support for their software? At the very least, I would imagine they would have an active user forum on their site for users to ask questions and maybe help out.

Also, maybe the people that will be receiving your content will have a better idea of the format or specifications they'll be able to handle. As it stands, you don't really offer enough information or details for people to currently help you out.