Best compression method for a web site?

Ferret Lady

Ferret Lady

Well-known member
ok. god. i hate compression. i really do. one day i'll know the perfect formula and save myself hours of heartache.. but for now, the war continues.. anyways...

whats the best way to compress a quicktime movie for use on your website? at first i put up full quality quicktime movies on my website and quickly realized they take FOREVER to load. so i started using quicktime conversion in FCE or the export option in quicktime pro to compress my movies.. but i cant figure out the best settings to get it low file size, high quality.

i always seem to end up with the lines through it when i compress my movie. just with the high motion stuff. if somebody waves their hands around in the air, there's lines on that part of the clip for sure...

i've used VisualHub as well but same thing happens, even when clicking the Deinterlace option.

I don't understand how so many website i look at with show reels have what appears to high definition, high quality footage, which loads immediately, no wait time. WHAT ARE THEY DOING!??????

please help. i even experimented with flash video but that's a whole other problem.. sigh.
 
First - De-interlace your clips. Motion on an interlaced video causes forked like artifacts on anything that does not display interlacing properly (like a CRT).

Next experiment with settings - lower your file size by increasing key-frame distance, reducing frame size, frame rate and/or frame resolution.

I find the following settings for quicktime from a 16x9 HD 720 24p source look great: 640x360 24fps @ 900kbps, best quality 2-pass VBR, 80kmono audio (key frame every 6 seconds or so). Compresses to about 8MB per minute.

There is no way around experimentation. The more motion, the more difficult the compression software will have. Also, if your source is not clean you compression will be even worse. And finally, do not compress from a compressed source.

Hope the helps you,
J
 
If you shoot for the web, shoot in progressive. 30p looks great. 24p has less frames and will create a smaller file/faster download in the end. That should take care of the "lines".

Next, for compression, use H.264 or Flash Video. Here's an H.264 compression tutorial by the folks at Apple. Flash video is slightly more universally compatible, working in almost any browser on almost any OS. There are many opinions regarding the best Flash workflow/player/embedding, etc and just as many tutorials. Google is your friend.

Read through Vimeo, if you plan to use their HD service. They have a basic tutorial on file size, compression, etc.
 
thanks so much for your advice guys. i think it might have really helped but i'm not sure...AwakenedFilms, i used the setting you suggested and was really quite happy with the results.

i've posted two videos on my website and was wondering if you could check them out and see if there's any problems, and let me know what you think about the quality? I've noticed that sometimes the videos don't load on the page and it's just an empty space where a quicktime movie should be... but then after reloading the page they were there...

http://getfamousproductions.com/Get_Famous_Productions/Music_Videos.html

does it work for u?
 
Looks good Allison. I have fiber-optic so the files loaded very quick and played easily.

Here are a couple of thoughts: Because you are showcasing musicians, you may want to change your audio setting to stereo - 96k. Sound is especially important to musicians and if you are looking for more work in that field, your clients may assume that your reel's sound quality is all that they will get.

On your final output before compression, boost saturation and luminance. Compression usually darkens the image, and you are shooting in dark clubs anyway. I usually boost it more than I think is necessary and then the compression softens it out (especially to .wmv).

Last thought - burn your logo or better yet, your website on the corner of the video. You never know who is going to take your video or where people will find access to it. It is always a good idea to brand it - someone else cannot re-brand it and it is free advertising for your company and website.


Jason
 
thanks jason, i'll try re-compressing them later with the stereo audio and your other tips.. my logo is still being created but in the future i will put it on there too...hopefully others can play the videos easily too...

thanks again for all your help!
 
AwakenedFilms said:
On your final output before compression, boost saturation and luminance. Compression usually darkens the image, and you are shooting in dark clubs anyway. I usually boost it more than I think is necessary and then the compression softens it out (especially to .wmv).
Click to expand...

this is gonna be a noob question, but how do i boost luminance? i am using final cut express. i see i can boost saturation using color corrector, except for the b&w shots obviously.. but luminance, i dunno.. the brightness filter leaves much to be desired.. what's the best filter for brightning the image in FCE?
 
Luminance is fancy term for the brightness value. There are many ways to do it and you will need to experiment to find out what you like best.

I'm not so familiar with FCE, but should be similar to FCP. Here's what I do:

Drop the Color Corrector Three Way filter on it. The key is small adjustments...There are four sliders - left is black levels (leave it alone except if you want to crush the shadows for a stylized high contrast look, in which case slide it left). Middle is the mid tones (good for adjusting luminance, slide it to the right for a brighter image). The far right one is highlights (can be used to adjust luminance, good for increasing contrast or bad for blowing out highights...becareful with this if your output is broadcast, as you can make levels "illegal"). The bottom slider is for saturation.

It is best to watch a waveform monitor if you are making critical adjustments in order to make sure you don't crush or blow out anything important.

Also remember that when you increase apparent brightness, the apparent saturation level decreases. You will need to boost saturation just to keep the image looking normal.
 
AwakenedFilms said:
Luminance is fancy term for the brightness value. There are many ways to do it and you will need to experiment to find out what you like best.

I'm not so familiar with FCE, but should be similar to FCP. Here's what I do:

Drop the Color Corrector Three Way filter on it. The key is small adjustments...There are four sliders - left is black levels (leave it alone except if you want to crush the shadows for a stylized high contrast look, in which case slide it left). Middle is the mid tones (good for adjusting luminance, slide it to the right for a brighter image). The far right one is highlights (can be used to adjust luminance, good for increasing contrast or bad for blowing out highights...becareful with this if your output is broadcast, as you can make levels "illegal"). The bottom slider is for saturation.

It is best to watch a waveform monitor if you are making critical adjustments in order to make sure you don't crush or blow out anything important.

Also remember that when you increase apparent brightness, the apparent saturation level decreases. You will need to boost saturation just to keep the image looking normal.
Click to expand...

oh how unfortunate that one of the main differences i've found between FCE and FCP is that FCE doesnt have color corrector 3 way. it has color corrector. quite lacking. i can change the color balance, hue, or adjust the whites/mids/black/saturation on sliders.

still, i appreciate your tips. i'm messing around with it now.. i'll see what i can do...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top