mpeg 4 compression

toothpick · Posted: Apr 17, 2003 6:05 pm Post subject: mpeg 4 compression

Hey all you geeks! Does anybody know of a program that can use mpeg 4 to compress video files for PCs? I've used Final Cut Pro at my school, and fallen in love with mpeg 4, it's far superior to Sorenson or Cinepak. Smaller files with much better picture. I have Premiere 6.5, and unless I'm missing it somewhere, I don't see that it has anything mpeg 4 related in it.

It would be so sweet for posting videos too, due to the fact that mpeg 4 holds a truer picture when blowing it up to full screen than other compression algorithms.

SCBrips · Guest

Hmmm.... I'm a Mac guy but know that there is QuickTime for PCs. Maybe you could export your movie to DV in Premier, open it up in QT, and then export it to MPEG-4? I think you'll need the QT Pro version to do this.

toothpick · Posted: Apr 17, 2003 7:01 pm Post subject:

Good thinkin. I knew somebody would be more on top of it than me. That probably is the best solution. I think I'm gonna go do that right now, thanks man.

BillJ · Posted: Apr 17, 2003 8:41 pm Post subject:

I can create mpeg4 .avi files directly from Adobe Premiere 6.5. I'm not sure if that is standard or whether it was part of the new Windows Media codecs that I installed. I've also downloaded a free MPEG4 encoder from mpegable http://www.mpegable.com/showPage.php?SITE=mpegable&PAGE=mpegableavi Since it's just a codec, I just use it directly from Premiere also.

To create mpeg4 from QT you will need to upgrade. I'm not sure if you will then be able to export directly from Premiere or FCP, or if you'll need to run another program to convert an .avi file.

toothpick · Posted: Apr 17, 2003 8:56 pm Post subject:

Okay, it's worth doing my research before paying any $$ BillJ, so when you go to File - Export Timeline - Movie, then click the Settings button, and under the Video section, does MPEG 4 show up as one of your options? Because mine doesn't have it. If that's not how you do it, tell me how and I'll see if mine has the same option as yours. Otherwise, it must have been that codec you got.

What I was thinking with the Quicktime was that yes, I'd have to upgrade for like $30, then just save the stuff from Premiere in raw, uncompressed format, then bring it into QT and compress it with mpeg4 through that.

But let me know about that Premiere stuff, I'm very curious, cause that would be the best option.

toothpick · Posted: Apr 20, 2003 6:42 pm Post subject:

Dang, I went to that link Bill, installed mpegable avi, rebooted and all that, and I still don't see mpeg4 as a compressor option when I export the timeline as a movie in Premiere 6.5.

I also installed the Windows Media 9 codecs pack.

Am I looking at the right place? How do you create mpeg4 avi files with Premiere?

BillJ · Posted: Apr 20, 2003 10:42 pm Post subject:

Here's how I do it:

File, Export Timeline, Movie

Under Settings, select Microsoft AVI for the file type then click Next
For Compressor I have a couple of MPEG4 options:
DICAS MPEG-4 Video Codec V2.0 (new since I installed the mpegable software)
Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec v1.0
Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec v2.0

Let me know if that works.

toothpick · Posted: Apr 20, 2003 11:00 pm Post subject:

Yes! That worked. I had mine set to Quicktime instead of Microsoft AVI. I only get the DICAS MPEG-4 Video Codec V2.0, but that works for me. Thanks a bunch for helping me out with that.

I just got a new digital camcorder this weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to film soon and make some decent vids. I can't wait Very Happy

Mister C · Posted: Apr 21, 2003 9:30 pm Post subject:

Man, this sound complicated. I have Premier cuz my dad edits videos and pics and stuff so it makes me wonder, what is mpeg 4? Or for that matter, 1,2, and 3 as well?

SCBrips · Guest

They're compression schemes. Typically: 1 for VCDs and the layer 3 kind you've probably downloaded before, 2 for SVCDs/DVDs, 3 doesn't exist and was melded into 2, 4 is for web vids (DivX in AVI container - popular for cam/ripped movies).

Mister C · Posted: Apr 21, 2003 9:58 pm Post subject:

Ahh, makes sense, I'll do a little more research on that. Thanks.

toothpick · Posted: Apr 21, 2003 11:34 pm Post subject:

Now that we've got the mpeg4 thing nailed, I've got another question for you Premiere users, and I don't think it's quite worthy of a whole new post, so I'll keep it in here.

I was playing around with Premiere tonight, and I couldn't figure out how to manipulate an audio clip I put in the timeline. I wanted to just fade the volume out at the end. I've used Final Cut Pro, and it has a real nice interface with keyframes that let you do all kinds of stuff to even the audio tracks. Does Premiere have any of this?

BillJ · Posted: Apr 22, 2003 12:57 pm Post subject:

Yes, you use rubber bands to fade the audio in/out. You need to click on the triangle to expand the box and then use click on the red line and drag it up or down. Click in the middle of the line to add a box, which is basically a keyframe. You may only be able to manipulate certain audio tracks.

This works the same way you fade video tracks in video 2, video 3, etc.

toothpick · Posted: Apr 22, 2003 4:09 pm Post subject:

Cool, thanks, I'll try that out. I'm downloading a different 6.5 install file, cause mine kept crashing when I tried to export the timeline. When trying to re-install, I noticed a couple of errors, so I probably got a bogus file.

Also, I found out how to get the mpeg4 compression for Quicktime. There's the quicktime updater in the same folder that the exe file is in. I ran that today and it updated the codecs, which included mpeg4. Now when I choose to export as .mov (Quicktime) mpeg4 is one of my compression options.

BillJ · Posted: Apr 22, 2003 9:36 pm Post subject:

I just upgraded to Quicktime Pro and I tried out the mpeg4 compression - works really well. For some reason tonite my PC refuses to export to Quicktime, even though the same video worked just fine last night. Weird. So now I export it to .avi and import that into Quicktime and then export it to .mov with the settings I want. More steps but the quality is really high.

I just checked Premiere and I can export Quicktime from Premiere with MPEG4 compression too. I wonder if it will actually export the whole clip instead of just 10 seconds. Premiere can be really frustrating!

On the other hand, I finally found out why I couldn't export Windows Media format from Premiere - I had Windows XP SP1 installed before Premiere so the codecs can't be found. A fix is posted on the Adobe site. So for the first time since I installed Premiere I can actually export to Windows Media, MPEG, Quicktime, and Real Media from within Premiere.