How do i render to H.264 format ?

P

plainman007

Well-known member
How can i render out to a H.264 file 1280x720. I tried Mainconcept AVC/AAC and it lists an MP4 render type. Is this it ? Or has it to be done thru the Quicktime Profile.....If not....how else can this be done ?

Thanks a lot.
 
You wont believe it but i just downloaded this a few minutes before i logged in and saw your response. I found it on google. But it doesnt have any bitrate controls etc to control how much of a quality ratio we need..right ? I will try it out anyway. Thanks for chiming in.
 
Some of the parameters under these codecs just dont work. They crash vegas the minute you start them. Also under AVC HD i think it gives you a maximum bitrate of 240,000,000 bps ? Thats what 240 Mbps ? Is that even possible and what system can play that back if its genuine ? I have faced the same problem with Mpeg2 renders. Why do they give a 80 Mbps option in the Mpeg2 render options if it just cant render to 80Mbps. It will freeze Vegas and the program will autoshutdown if i try that bitrate.
 
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Sony AVC does crash often in full 1080p. It's a known bug. But as long as you export in 720p, or use MainConcept instead, at a reasonable bitrate (and not crazy things like 240 mbps mentioned above), then it's fine.
 
Eugenia > But then what baffles me is why give a 240,000,000 bps (within Mainconcept AVC) bitrate at all ? If its going to always crash the system or if its impractical. ALso could you tell me is that actually 24 mbps or 240 mbps ? It seems to be the highest preset bitrate in the dropdown list.

Thanks..
 
It is 240 mbps. And the fact that the UI let's you enter such a number doesn't mean that it has been tested by the engineers, since this is not a bitrate that you use for delivery codecs.
 
plainman007 said:
Eugenia > But then what baffles me is why give a 240,000,000 bps (within Mainconcept AVC) bitrate at all ? If its going to always crash the system or if its impractical. ALso could you tell me is that actually 24 mbps or 240 mbps ? It seems to be the highest preset bitrate in the dropdown list.

Thanks..
Click to expand...

What's the top speed on your car? If you press the accelerator to the floor in the city and try to go that speed, what is going to happen?

Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD do something, or even that it will work in all instances.
 
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Hmmmm. Now let me tell you why im even trying those bitrates. Im not looking to upload video to Youtube. (Yes i read your links to Eugenia's tutorial ). Im rendering for digital signage and other requirements and my videos play on video servers which do HD upto 100Mpbs. Im not trying to render just because it can do that much. But my application needs the highest degree of quality. Probably even higher than blueray. Im talking 200 inch screens etc and i need the HIGHEST quality that can be played back on these devices. So im probably not driving in the City and am on a speed way and if im doing 30mph im the one whos going to get hit. So dont assume im driving in the City :Drogar-Dum(DBG):.
 
Ok fair enough. Can those video servers play anything besides H.264, which is a poor choice in general. Tell us the formats and codecs it understands, and we can be much more helpful in getting you some useful video for your application.
 
Supports Codecs H.264, MPEG1/2/4, DIVX, XVID etc Full HD formats
Supports Containers TS, MKV, RM/RMVB, TP, AVI, M2TS, DAT, MPG, MPEG, MOV.​
Suports bitrate upto 100 Mbps.​
 
plainman007 said:
Supports Codecs H.264, MPEG1/2/4, DIVX, XVID etc Full HD formats
Click to expand...

What does etc. mean? Of those h.264/mpeg4 is the best option. I was hoping for jpeg2000 to be honest. 100 Mbps of that is going to be visually lossless. But the same is probably true for h.264.
 
Hi,

The etc was actually in the spec list so i just cut n pasted. :). Its probably a new container format..who knows.

Yeah this doesnt do j2k. But tell me even if it did how would i render to j2k from within vegas ?

I found a j2k option in the mov template sub options. Is that DCI standard j2k, the same j2k that most servers refer to ? Cause there happen to be some other j2k formats floating around there such as the Lead J2k codec. The Morgan J2k Codec etc. Could you shed some light ?

Thanks...
 
plainman007 said:
Yeah this doesnt do j2k. But tell me even if it did how would i render to j2k from within vegas ?
Click to expand...

You seem to have found it.


plainman007 said:
I found a j2k option in the mov template sub options. Is that DCI standard j2k, the same j2k that most servers refer to ? Cause there happen to be some other j2k formats floating around there such as the Lead J2k codec. The Morgan J2k Codec etc. Could you shed some light ?
Click to expand...

I don't know, but it seems to be pretty bog standard. The Morgan codec offers a TON of options. I am not familiar with Lead J2k codec. GSpot seems the J2K encoded files I've made as nothing special. And I've started to use this to encode my archival materials. It was either that or DNxHD. I wanted something that was an accepted standard, and J2K meets that requirement easily.
 
Ok so your using J2k for archival, as an option to cineform ? How do they compare ?

If you archive projects as j2k, what do u do with them later ? You can import j2k onto the vegas timeline and just edit away ? would you be able to playback. Also how do you playback your j2k files on a computer, have you ever got them to play back on your system ?
 
plainman007 said:
Ok so your using J2k for archival, as an option to cineform ? How do they compare ?
Click to expand...

Both are wavelet. Jpeg2000 is an international standard. And it's free. It is also moving into an excellent ISO standard as adopted by Library of Congress, and many others.

ISO/IEC 15444-1:2004
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000143.shtml

http://webstore.iec.ch/preview/info_isoiec15444-1{ed2.0}en.pdf

plainman007 said:
If you archive projects as j2k, what do u do with them later ? You can import j2k onto the vegas timeline and just edit away ? would you be able to playback. Also how do you playback your j2k files on a computer, have you ever got them to play back on your system ?
Click to expand...

I can simply play them back inside their quicktime container. No muss, no fuss. And they drop right into Vegas so I can export them later to any format I want.

-P
 
Hi Perrone,

Is j2k comparable to uncompressed ? I thnk j2k files are also pretty huge right ?

What do you mean by you play them inside their quicktime container. Its a .mov right ? How do u play it back on your system ? Quicktime ? Mediaplayer ? Is there a standalone free codec that has to be installed ? Because im having trouble playing back j2k files on my system. They stutter. Core2 Duo @3 Ghz, 4 gb ram, 4 Sata drives (hence seperate media drive), Nvidia 8400gt video card.

Also i wanted to ask you how would huffy yuv codec avis (which incidentally are huge in size) compare to j2k in terms of visual quality ?

Thanks again.
 
Ok, let's see if I can explain this.

HuffYUV (and Lagarith) are intended to be lossless. They use compression that can be reversed mathematically so no data is lost with them. Therefore they can offer compression that is 2:1 or 4:1 over uncompressed footage. They only work inside the .AVI container.

The Jpeg2000 codec that ships free with Vegas does NOT have a lossless option. It uses a quality slider. I *HATE* quality sliders but it is what it is. If you push the quality slider to 100% the codec will create a file smaller in size than Huffyuv or lagarith, but similar in visual quality. Note that I did NOT say lossless. However, playing that file back will tax a system, just like trying to play back a Lagarith or Huffyuv file will. It's going to be pretty high bitrate.

As you move the quality slider down, the program will create smaller and smaller files, because it is reducing the bitrate. These files will still look good depending on the source material. What I am building currently is a little chart that equates a slider position to a bitrate with source materials. Currently, I know that a slider position of 15.8 gives me a bitrate of ~13Mbps on SD material. That figure is important to me because it allows me to archiive 1hr of video onto a standard DVD. My current project is to archive off old VHS tapes at my shop to optical. So that was a magic number for me. When I start to archive off all my old miniDV tapes, I'll increase that so that all material fits on a Dual-Layer DVD.

The Jpeg2000 implementation is nice because you do NOT need to install anything to play it back with the standard Quicktime player. The fact that yours is stuttering is an issue of the high bitrate of the Jpeg2000 file you are trying to play. Encode one at 25% on the slider and then play it back. You should see a massive difference.
 
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