The Last Laugh
3rd Level Green Feather
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Messages
- 4,588
- Points
- 38
Hello everyone,
My format of choice for my clips, both the previews and the commercial ones on Clips4Sale.com, is WMV. I apologize if it's not everyone's favorite format (particularly thinking of Mac users, here), but it works well for me, and I have no plans to switch to another one.
The few comments I've read about the picture quality of my commercial clips have been positive so far. I personally feel it's decent enough, despite the 480x360 screen size (compared to the 640x480 one that several vendors use). But I can't help but wish I could improve it.
More specifically, I'd like to improve the WMV encoding. Either get better quality for the same file size (and bitrate), or decrease the file size without losing quality. I'm very impressed with the level of quality of the clips of some other producers, tickling or other. Some of those clips look significantly better than mine, even though they have a larger screen size, a smaller file size, or both. I've no idea how they do it. I assume they either use better software than I do or know better how to use it.
For my commercial clips I simply use Windows Media Encoder 9 to convert 720x480 AVI to 480x360 WMV. Typically, I set the video bit rate to about 1000 bps (a little less for my older clips), using the Windows Media Video 9 codec. The mode is bit rate VBR. Frame rate is 29.97 fps. I also select the Deinterlace option. Audio is CD quality (64 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo VBR), using the Windows Media Audio 9.2 codec. The resulting clips are somewhere between 7.5 and 8 MB/minute.
I've tried boosting the bit rate so as to get the equivalent of about 10 MB/minute, hoping the picture would look noticeably better, with less obvious compression artefacts. But it doesn't make much of a difference, and I can't ignore the fact that other producers get better results for less than that.
Frankly, when it comes to WMV encoding, I'm only aware of Windows Media Encoder. Is there better software out there? Or maybe there's a better version of WME? I don't mind if I need to pay for such software if it means improving my work. Maybe I should use a different video codec in WME, or maybe change some of the settings?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
My format of choice for my clips, both the previews and the commercial ones on Clips4Sale.com, is WMV. I apologize if it's not everyone's favorite format (particularly thinking of Mac users, here), but it works well for me, and I have no plans to switch to another one.
The few comments I've read about the picture quality of my commercial clips have been positive so far. I personally feel it's decent enough, despite the 480x360 screen size (compared to the 640x480 one that several vendors use). But I can't help but wish I could improve it.
More specifically, I'd like to improve the WMV encoding. Either get better quality for the same file size (and bitrate), or decrease the file size without losing quality. I'm very impressed with the level of quality of the clips of some other producers, tickling or other. Some of those clips look significantly better than mine, even though they have a larger screen size, a smaller file size, or both. I've no idea how they do it. I assume they either use better software than I do or know better how to use it.
For my commercial clips I simply use Windows Media Encoder 9 to convert 720x480 AVI to 480x360 WMV. Typically, I set the video bit rate to about 1000 bps (a little less for my older clips), using the Windows Media Video 9 codec. The mode is bit rate VBR. Frame rate is 29.97 fps. I also select the Deinterlace option. Audio is CD quality (64 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo VBR), using the Windows Media Audio 9.2 codec. The resulting clips are somewhere between 7.5 and 8 MB/minute.
I've tried boosting the bit rate so as to get the equivalent of about 10 MB/minute, hoping the picture would look noticeably better, with less obvious compression artefacts. But it doesn't make much of a difference, and I can't ignore the fact that other producers get better results for less than that.
Frankly, when it comes to WMV encoding, I'm only aware of Windows Media Encoder. Is there better software out there? Or maybe there's a better version of WME? I don't mind if I need to pay for such software if it means improving my work. Maybe I should use a different video codec in WME, or maybe change some of the settings?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
