[grovberg]

So far I've been happy to use MPEG-4 to keep nice looking video files for relatively small files sizes. The largest data rate I've gotten is less than 150k which is great for keeping my HD from bulging, but now I'm starting to hear more and more about MPEG-4 being used as a high end delivery method (for example, Dish network plans to start using MPEG-4 for all it's channels in a few years).

So is this a different kind of MPEG-4 than the one I use? The VBR files I get are great, but certainly not perfect, and certainly don't look better than MPEG-2 files on a DVD or from a dish. So what am I missing?

-Grover

[bmedina]

Well first, the encoder matters a lot. If you're using Quicktime, you'll get pretty bad results, as it is one of the worst MPEG4 video encoders (though for audio, it's great). Second, broadcasters will use pretty high bitrates.

If you want good looking encodes, you need to use a good encoder at a reasonable bit rate. Something like Quicktime at 1Mbps will not cut it.

[grovberg]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Well first, the encoder matters a lot. If you're using Quicktime, you'll get pretty bad results, as it is one of the worst MPEG4 video encoders (though for audio, it's great). Second, broadcasters will use pretty high bitrates.

If you want good looking encodes, you need to use a good encoder at a reasonable bit rate. Something like Quicktime at 1Mbps will not cut it.

Ah, see that's exactly my point. No matter how high I pump up the bitrate, my files never seem to go above around 150kbps (it sometimes spikes higher than that, but for the most part). Even if I set it to encode at something like 3Mbps. And while those files look great for their relative file size, they are certainly no replacement for a good quality MPEG-2.

Also I'm using Sorenson Squeeze, which as far as I know is fairly well resepected and gave me much better output than Cleaner.

Now to clarify, these are all still VBR files. Would I get the pristine results I'm looking for if I used a constant bitrate? If so, at what point would the added data not do much?
-Grover

[bmedina]

I would start at about 1.5Mbps, dual pass. If you're using a Quicktime based approach, try the 3ivx mpeg4 encoder.

[Uncle Skeleton]

also what's your resolution?

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally posted by grovberg:
they are certainly no replacement for a good quality MPEG-2.

Also you might be over-estimating the quality of MPEG-2 they use in broadcast already. It's certainly not DVD quality.