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View Full Version : Encoding methods for your video podcast



andrewzarian
06-27-2012, 04:12 AM
What are you guys using for video encoding? The GFQ Network is planing on moving to HD video in a couple of weeks and have been testing different types of encoding methods. How do you guys encode your video and what software do you use. I know Sunkast from GFQ will appreciate this :)

Donovan
06-27-2012, 07:56 AM
My broadcast video is recorded in 1280x720 x246 MP4 format (because x264 is more efficient than standard H.264). I then edit the video in Sony Vegas, export it out through DebugMode Frameserver (which serves the frames out into avi), which is then picked up by MeGUI which converts the file into its final format of 864x480 800kbps x264 video and 96kbps AAC audio. It typically cuts the file size in half from using the standard h264 encoding method built into Vegas.

I can't take credit for this setup as my 19 year old son helped me put it together.

sunkast
06-27-2012, 03:47 PM
My broadcast video is recorded in 1280x720 x246 MP4 format (because x264 is more efficient than standard H.264). I then edit the video in Sony Vegas, export it out through DebugMode Frameserver (which serves the frames out into avi), which is then picked up by MeGUI which converts the file into its final format of 864x480 800kbps x264 video and 96kbps AAC audio. It typically cuts the file size in half from using the standard h264 encoding method built into Vegas.

I can't take credit for this setup as my 19 year old son helped me put it together.

That's funny that you mention DMFS, I just started using that a few days ago since neither Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas work with x264 on Windows. But I am using StaxRip rather than MeGUI. Could you elaborate more on your workflow for MeGUI? Are you using AviSynth? MeGUI seems more complicated for simple encoding compared to StaxRip to me.

Donovan
06-27-2012, 05:21 PM
That's funny that you mention DMFS, I just started using that a few days ago since neither Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas work with x264 on Windows. But I am using StaxRip rather than MeGUI. Could you elaborate more on your workflow for MeGUI? Are you using AviSynth? MeGUI seems more complicated for simple encoding compared to StaxRip to me.

Yes, I'm using AviSynth. As soon as I have a moment, I'll try to elaborate on my workflow. Currently working on tonight's Ramble and Review. :)

sidimustafa
07-29-2012, 09:02 AM
Yes, I'm using AviSynth. As soon as I have a moment, I'll try to elaborate on my workflow. Currently working on tonight's Ramble and Review. :)

Hi Donovan, i took a look a the tools you mention, and they look very promising, and you also sound very proud of the way you use them.

Did you find some time yet to put together your workflow, i sure would love to give it a try.
I want to produce high quality video but at a smaller size.

Thanks

Donovan
07-29-2012, 09:11 AM
Hi Donovan, i took a look a the tools you mention, and they look very promising, and you also sound very proud of the way you use them.

Did you find some time yet to put together your workflow, i sure would love to give it a try.
I want to produce high quality video but at a smaller size.

Thanks

My apologies. With my recent job issue, I had completely forgotten about this. I'll make sure to put this on my list to do! :)

sidimustafa
07-29-2012, 09:14 AM
Thanks very much

Donovan
07-29-2012, 02:21 PM
Ok, here's a quick and dirty video that shows what I do. I do apologize if I don't go in depth on how to get the Frameserver working with the newest version of Vegas. My son stayed up one night until around 2am or so figuring out how to make Vegas see it. Also, the signpost.avs that I reference (the file I load into MeGUI) simply contains the following:



AVISource("F:\signpost.avi", audio=true)
ConvertToYV12()



http://youtu.be/sHfZsoieBE8

sidimustafa
07-29-2012, 04:54 PM
Ok, here's a quick and dirty video that shows what I do. I do apologize if I don't go in depth on how to get the Frameserver working with the newest version of Vegas. My son stayed up one night until around 2am or so figuring out how to make Vegas see it. Also, the signpost.avs that I reference (the file I load into MeGUI) simply contains the following:


Thanks,
After reading your post i started googling, and reading up on the FrameServer.
Process seems request a bit more steps, but the quality and ending results are perfect.
I will try it in my workflow to see how much time it takes.

For those that want's to give it a try, i came across very detail instructions on how to do it..

http://www.bubblevision.com/underwater-video/Vegas-YouTube-Vimeo.htm

Have fune

Donovan
07-29-2012, 04:57 PM
Yeah, once it's setup, the process is pretty easy. I guess, if nothing else, that's the point that I wanted to highlight in the video. My oldest son is a Twitch.TV admin and he's really big into video processing, etc. I was using the basic tools built into Sony Vegas and my videos were turning out to be fairly large. Not anymore! :)

sunkast
07-29-2012, 09:55 PM
Thanks for the video. It helps clear up a few things for MeGUI. It can be quite a complicated program to get started using. Though I'm still finding my file sizes to be larger than I'd ideally like, but I'm being very critical.

Donovan
07-30-2012, 03:58 AM
Thanks for the video. It helps clear up a few things for MeGUI. It can be quite a complicated program to get started using. Though I'm still finding my file sizes to be larger than I'd ideally like, but I'm being very critical.

When I first starting trying to figure out what file size I should try to hit, I took a look at some of the TWiT shows, specifically TNT. For a 45 minute show, on average, the file size was around 220 to 250MB for the same resolution that I was using. Considering my show of 1 hour 18 mins was around 270MB, I thought that was pretty good. :)

sidimustafa
07-30-2012, 04:18 PM
When I first starting trying to figure out what file size I should try to hit, I took a look at some of the TWiT shows, specifically TNT. For a 45 minute show, on average, the file size was around 220 to 250MB for the same resolution that I was using. Considering my show of 1 hour 18 mins was around 270MB, I thought that was pretty good. :)

Ok, i have done some testing with DebugMode frame server, sending a 1.2gb 1280x720 file out of Sony Vegas, but the time was so long, i had to stop it, as i see it was not a feasible time frame for putting the show live (correction, i tested on an i5, still need to test on the i7 cpu)

I finally try another way using Avid LE, and Handbrakes, running Rendering in Sony vegas on the i5 with the avid LE codec took around 9hours....with the ending result a 39gb file.
I ran this file in Handbrakes, and the transcoding took under and hour, with a file size of 384mb (PERFECT), the show is about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and i ended up with a 720p file..(just what i wanted)

Problem now can i compensate time versus quality, i will try it on the i7, and see what the results are

sunkast
07-31-2012, 11:08 AM
Ok, i have done some testing with DebugMode frame server, sending a 1.2gb 1280x720 file out of Sony Vegas, but the time was so long, i had to stop it, as i see it was not a feasible time frame for putting the show live (correction, i tested on an i5, still need to test on the i7 cpu)

I finally try another way using Avid LE, and Handbrakes, running Rendering in Sony vegas on the i5 with the avid LE codec took around 9hours....with the ending result a 39gb file.
I ran this file in Handbrakes, and the transcoding took under and hour, with a file size of 384mb (PERFECT), the show is about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and i ended up with a 720p file..(just what i wanted)

Problem now can i compensate time versus quality, i will try it on the i7, and see what the results are

That's odd that you had that happen. I routinely import 8gb WMV files into Vegas, make my edits, then use the frame server to render out to StaxRip. It never takes longer than the show itself. What speed setting are you using? There's like slow, medium, fast, etc. I normally use medium or fast.

Also out of curiosity why are you using the Avid LE codec rather than HuffYUV or Lagarith?

sidimustafa
07-31-2012, 11:53 AM
That's odd that you had that happen. I routinely import 8gb WMV files into Vegas, make my edits, then use the frame server to render out to StaxRip. It never takes longer than the show itself. What speed setting are you using? There's like slow, medium, fast, etc. I normally use medium or fast.

Also out of curiosity why are you using the Avid LE codec rather than HuffYUV or Lagarith?

I'm a newbie to video, and any instructions i find around the net to better improve the quality and rendering time, i try to experiment, i'm still looking for the best time resource manner..(not found as yet)

My original video is taking from a WireCast recorded session, it's not the best to edit directly in Vegas, so therefor if editing is needed, i first needs to render it to an output file, then take the file and edit from thereforward.

I used AVID LE, cause i was testing a new workflow i just found on the net, however, it also took 10hrs on the Intel i7.
so i need to find a better solution...

Can you explain to me, where i can find that SLOW, MEDIUM and fast option in VEGAS? never seen it nor heard of it...

Is the UffYuv and Lagarith coded intergrated in SonyVegas, or do i have to download them else where, would surely like to give them a try..

sunkast
07-31-2012, 02:00 PM
My original video is taking from a WireCast recorded session, it's not the best to edit directly in Vegas, so therefor if editing is needed, i first needs to render it to an output file, then take the file and edit from thereforward.

What do you use to edit with?


Can you explain to me, where i can find that SLOW, MEDIUM and fast option in VEGAS? never seen it nor heard of it...
That's a setting with the x264 encoder that's used with StaxRip/MeGUI, not Vegas. When you configure the encoder settings you can choose what speed preset to use.


Is the UffYuv and Lagarith coded intergrated in SonyVegas, or do i have to download them else where, would surely like to give them a try..
You have to download and install them. Both are free.

You can download both codecs from free-codecs.com here (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/huffyuv.htm) and here (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/lagarith_lossless_video_codec.htm).

If you are running Windows 64 bit, HuffYUV is a little tricky to install. You'll have to use command prompt and run some commands to get it to install. There are step by step instructions on how to do this at the bottom of this wiki article (http://wiki.treet.tv/Sony_Vegas_Pro_and_Windows_Setup#Installing_HuffYU V_in_Windows_7_64bit_systems).

sidimustafa
07-31-2012, 03:01 PM
[QUOTE=sunkast;2070]What do you use to edit with?


That's a setting with the x264 encoder that's used with StaxRip/MeGUI, not Vegas. When you configure the encoder settings you can choose what speed preset to use.

Ok, it's vegas i use to run the first Render, due to the fact that when i take it from WireCast, it's near to imposible to edit, so i have to render it first..

i think i'll do i the opposite way around, i did see that Handbrakes takes 45 minutes to transcode from .mov to .mp4....

I will try taking the original recording put it in Handbrake, and see how that goes..and then see if Vegas can edit it..

sunkast
07-31-2012, 03:10 PM
What version of Vegas are you using? Versions 10 and newer shouldn't have any issue loading Quicktime videos from Wirecast. Older versions of Vegas do have issues with Quicktime.

sidimustafa
07-31-2012, 03:17 PM
What version of Vegas are you using? Versions 10 and newer shouldn't have any issue loading Quicktime videos from Wirecast. Older versions of Vegas do have issues with Quicktime.

i'm using 11, use to use 10...
I have the problem with .mp4 and also .wmv, on the wirecast forum, many other folks had the same problem, while some didn't.
but the problem also has been reported in Adobe Premier....i read somewhere that it had to do with the way NLE editors reads the video, and that Wirecast saves videos in a Constant Rate...etc..not sure..

Donovan
07-31-2012, 03:57 PM
I don't know if this will help, but I mentioned in my workflow video how I had to use MP4Box to correct an issue with the MP4 file that XSplit produces. If anyone is interested in using this, then feel free. Basically all you have to do is unzip the 3 files into a folder and then drag and drop your MP4 file onto the fixme.bat file. It will demux and remux the video and audio into a "fixed" file.

http://shows.anairo.com/convert.zip

I cannot offer any support on the workings of MP4Box. :)

sidimustafa
07-31-2012, 04:20 PM
I don't know if this will help, but I mentioned in my workflow video how I had to use MP4Box to correct an issue with the MP4 file that XSplit produces. If anyone is interested in using this, then feel free. Basically all you have to do is unzip the 3 files into a folder and then drag and drop your MP4 file onto the fixme.bat file. It will demux and remux the video and audio into a "fixed" file.

http://shows.anairo.com/convert.zip

I cannot offer any support on the workings of MP4Box. :)


Hey Donovan, that seems to have done the trick, don't know what else it did, but it also shrink the file by 50%...
original was 1.3gb, ran fixme.bat and it came to 555mb, gonna run it thru Handbrake, and see what that has done now.

Very interesting......

Donovan
07-31-2012, 04:48 PM
Hey Donovan, that seems to have done the trick, don't know what else it did, but it also shrink the file by 50%...
original was 1.3gb, ran fixme.bat and it came to 555mb, gonna run it thru Handbrake, and see what that has done now.

Very interesting......

I guess I should point out that the fixme.bat is a frame rate specific fix. I record everything at 30fps, so if you record higher, that could possibly be reducing your file size. You can edit the batch file and change the frame rate if you need to.

sidimustafa
07-31-2012, 06:46 PM
I guess I should point out that the fixme.bat is a frame rate specific fix. I record everything at 30fps, so if you record higher, that could possibly be reducing your file size. You can edit the batch file and change the frame rate if you need to.

i checked the batch file first before processing, so 30FPS was good, that's what i recorded at,
however, the ending file after running thru hand brake remain the same size.

so, what ever mp4box did, it seems like it probably only removed unnecessary stuff that wirecast saved in the .mp4 file..

sidimustafa
08-01-2012, 05:54 PM
I don't know if this will help, but I mentioned in my workflow video how I had to use MP4Box to correct an issue with the MP4 file that XSplit produces. If anyone is interested in using this, then feel free. Basically all you have to do is unzip the 3 files into a folder and then drag and drop your MP4 file onto the fixme.bat file. It will demux and remux the video and audio into a "fixed" file.

http://shows.anairo.com/convert.zip

I cannot offer any support on the workings of MP4Box. :)

Hello Mr. Donovan, once again thanks for this help, as it solved a big issue i had and some others over at the TeleStream Wirecast Forum.

Many others had the same issue over there, and there was no solution posted, i reposted this link over there so others can also make use of this and save them selves from pulling out every bit of hair..

Thanks

Donovan
08-01-2012, 07:02 PM
Hello Mr. Donovan, once again thanks for this help, as it solved a big issue i had and some others over at the TeleStream Wirecast Forum.

Many others had the same issue over there, and there was no solution posted, i reposted this link over there so others can also make use of this and save them selves from pulling out every bit of hair..

Thanks

Just glad I could offer the help. :)

Take care!