Contest Delivery Requirements

Jarred Land

Jarred Land

President/Founder
Staff member
Well its good to see everyone coming along.. just as a heads up for all you done already and are trying to figure out how to get your project in, its gonna be really easy this time...

All films must be encoded to mpeg2 format, with a 8M average bitrate. These will be uploaded to the server, no sending in DVD's etc.

We will batch encode all films for the online viewing from the mpeg2 files.
 
Awesome. When will you give details on uploading, etc.? Also, what if the audio is seperate from the mpeg2?
 
audio is to be embedded in the mpeg3 stream.

upload instructions will come after the deadline.
 
Jarred Land said:
We will batch encode all films for the online viewing from the mpeg2 files.
Click to expand...

Encoded to which? I've found that I have to do things differently depending on the target; quicktime, wmv, actual DVD for TV viewing.
 
I'm confused...we're to turn in the files for judging after the deadline?

If so, when does everybody need to turn their projects in?


Also...when I use Apple's Compressor to make my mpeg2 it usually does not include audio. That is in a seperate file...is there a way to make the mpeg2 contain audio? Can anyone help me who uses FCP.

Thanks

Kip
 
Can you give exact frame size requirements - can we send in letterboxed and/or full frame 16:9?
 
Even if your compressor program makes and elementary stream (a file for video and a file for audio) it's easy to turn that into a program stream (one file that contains both) with a muxing program. Just google for one. There are a lot of free ones. Your compressor program probably has muxing capabilities already.

But I must echo GenJerDan's comment. Encoing is like alchemy. What settings work for one film won't work for the next. A batch encode for viewing seems like an awfully broad process. Plus, going from film to MPEG-2 to streaming is an extra generation loss which has me concerned about quality. Whatever you guys say goes, but I thought I'd voice these concerns.

Chris
 
GenJerDan said:
Um...shouldn't they come before?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm confused, we need to have the films done before feb 1, but when are we uploading them to you? Do we perhaps have another day or two??? :D
 
Size

Size

I figured out how to make an mpeg2 file that contains the audio.

My next problem is size.

My movie is a little over 5 min and my file ends up being 139mb I read that 60mb was the max. Is that true? How do I cut down my size to meet the requirements?

Any suggestions?

Kip
 
I believe that 60 MB limit was for streaming files. I don't imagine that the same limit will apply to "source" MPEG-2 files that Jarred will convert to something streaming friendly.

Just assuming here ... and we know what that does. :)
 
I'll try it ..having issues even with shrinking to a WMV file using an AVI file ..My video has jitter problems and am using the same settings as the Zombie short .
Q7 only makes a MOV in 4.3 ( unsqueezed) new to Q7.

I'll try a test tomorrow and see what happens .
Ian
 
assuming ~200mb movies, here's some rough math

good cable modem (~50kb/s): 60 minutes
crappy dsl / capped cable (~15kb/s): 200 minutes
good dsl (~20kb/s): 160 minutes

That's not too horrible, especially since we spent so much time making the movies. An hour or three of uploading isn't a big deal to me. Some people might need to find a fast internet friend if they're especially capped, though.
 
GenJerDan said:
Or an ISP that doesn't have a built-in "you've been connected long enough, time for a a reset" feature.
Click to expand...

ouch. Indeed, that sucks. People might want to look into local wireless connections at coffee houses, etc. Never used them, but might be worth the time.

Good luck.
 
And I think we will ceratinly need more requirement info than just 8Mb.

I've never done any encoding to mpeg2 other than just using the presets in Vegas. I don't know what half the options mean. (Right off the bat, 8M is not an preset in the average. It's there for max, though. But if I put it in the "average" box, what do I put in the "max"?)

And are DVD-target presets even appropriate for web-delivery?

I'd really hate to spend 3 or 4 or 5 hours uploading, only to get an email a day later saying the film doesn't work.
 
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