This thread is intended to lead to a productive discussion. So feel motivated to offer constructive insight, rather than hen-pecking. Thanks!
Those who have been following the many discussions going back a year or so, know that a handful of us have become interested in using Handbrake as an output engine for the web. Finding an acceptable intermediate between Vegas and HB was a roadblock, until Laurence and I discovered that DNxHD in "709 mode" does not throw the colorspace error with x264 that almost every other YUV/YV12 codec we tried does. Note: Sony's mpeg-2 based MXF also works, and Cineform does not.* So, with that in mind, and based on the collective base of knowledge that has grown since, I have made a number of assumptions.
-- That x264 holds up better below 10Mbs than does Mainconcept AVC.
-- That 720p is currently a better upload medium than 1080i, from an upstream postprocessing standpoint, and playability on most consumer systems and connections.
-- That yadif is a more versatile deinterlace method than blend or interpolate, in most situations.
-- That lanczos3 resize is better than bicubic, with or without sharpening, in most situations.
-- That uploaded media must be strictly conformed to 16-235 levels, to prevent clipping at both ends. Includes generated text and media, and FTB levels!
-- That uploaded media should be streaming-ready.
-- That a DNxHD 220Mbs intermediate is probably overkill for 4:2:0 source, and is probably not worth the extra time and file size over 145Mbs.
-- That the time spent encoding the intermediate and again in Handbrake is reasonable, compared to say, 2-pass VBR in Vegas.
So, using material graciously provided by amendegw, stringer, and kimberly for this purpose, and input from laurence, Nick Hope, amendegw, farss, John_Cline, and many others, here is my second draft of sample video to be included in an upcoming tutorial this winter. Note that this footage has been conformed to 709 levels, and minor gamma tweaks have been applied, so it may not look "exactly" like the originals, but I tried to retain the shooters' intentions as closely as possible..
Be sure to view at 720p. The original uploaded mp4 will also be available at Vimeo, and the DNxHD 145 1080i intermediate (2.4GB) will hopefully be on MediaFire in a day or so.
http://vimeo.com/18690771
Youtube version is good, but no way to get around their splotchiness in FTB/FFB transitions. Be sure to view at 720p.
Those who have been following the many discussions going back a year or so, know that a handful of us have become interested in using Handbrake as an output engine for the web. Finding an acceptable intermediate between Vegas and HB was a roadblock, until Laurence and I discovered that DNxHD in "709 mode" does not throw the colorspace error with x264 that almost every other YUV/YV12 codec we tried does. Note: Sony's mpeg-2 based MXF also works, and Cineform does not.* So, with that in mind, and based on the collective base of knowledge that has grown since, I have made a number of assumptions.
-- That x264 holds up better below 10Mbs than does Mainconcept AVC.
-- That 720p is currently a better upload medium than 1080i, from an upstream postprocessing standpoint, and playability on most consumer systems and connections.
-- That yadif is a more versatile deinterlace method than blend or interpolate, in most situations.
-- That lanczos3 resize is better than bicubic, with or without sharpening, in most situations.
-- That uploaded media must be strictly conformed to 16-235 levels, to prevent clipping at both ends. Includes generated text and media, and FTB levels!
-- That uploaded media should be streaming-ready.
-- That a DNxHD 220Mbs intermediate is probably overkill for 4:2:0 source, and is probably not worth the extra time and file size over 145Mbs.
-- That the time spent encoding the intermediate and again in Handbrake is reasonable, compared to say, 2-pass VBR in Vegas.
So, using material graciously provided by amendegw, stringer, and kimberly for this purpose, and input from laurence, Nick Hope, amendegw, farss, John_Cline, and many others, here is my second draft of sample video to be included in an upcoming tutorial this winter. Note that this footage has been conformed to 709 levels, and minor gamma tweaks have been applied, so it may not look "exactly" like the originals, but I tried to retain the shooters' intentions as closely as possible..
Be sure to view at 720p. The original uploaded mp4 will also be available at Vimeo, and the DNxHD 145 1080i intermediate (2.4GB) will hopefully be on MediaFire in a day or so.
http://vimeo.com/18690771
Youtube version is good, but no way to get around their splotchiness in FTB/FFB transitions. Be sure to view at 720p.