Best codec for editing / storage

Ben1000 wrote on 4/8/2006, 6:03 PM

Howdy...

I'm producing some video in a custom size (480x270, 30fps). Of course, I can't render these out to DV, as the size is wrong. Currently, I have been rendering these to Uncompressed, but of course there, the file size is HUGE!

So, I'm wondering what the best way to compress these would be such that they can be edited further in the future without GOP issues. Basically, I'd like a general purpose compression like DV, which is good for editing and playback, but is resolution-adjustable, unlike the DV codec...

Anyone have a good idea? I'd go with cineform, but I don't think they'll support the size I need.

Thanks for your suggestions...

- Ben

Comments

riredale wrote on 4/8/2006, 6:42 PM

Do a search for HuffYUV, a free codec that can also be lossless and is about 1/4 the size of uncompressed. I think it does its work in blocks of 16, so you would have to be working with 480x272.

EDIT: Could be wrong about the 16-pixel restriction; it might work fine on 480x270.

johnmeyer wrote on 4/8/2006, 6:43 PM

We are just discussing the HuffYUV codec (it's free and lossless) in this thread:

How do I render at 4:2:2?

HuffYUV is easy to search on. You can find lots of discussion about this in other threads in this forum over the years. It will give you almost a 4:1 improvement over uncompressed. Motion JPEG (MJPEG) is another possibility.

riredale wrote on 4/8/2006, 6:46 PM

Shoot. Double-post again.

johnmeyer wrote on 4/8/2006, 6:57 PM

Shoot. Double-post again.

You're too quick for me, as usual. More succinct as well.

Paul_Holmes wrote on 4/8/2006, 8:37 PM

Reading this discussion led me to this page. I downloaded the HuffYUV 2.1.11 and compared the "almost" lossless "Best + YUY2" to the Sony YUV. It was about 1/3 the size and in my two minute comparison between the two on my TV monitor I can't see any difference. I'm sure that a few generations down you might, but it might be a great way to store a final render for archiving.

I haven't tried the lossless HUFFYUV yet but from the chart it appears it would render out about 2/3rds the size of the Sony YUV.

Ben1000 wrote on 4/9/2006, 2:04 PM

Thanks for the advice...

I used Huffy to compress a 5 minute section of my video. Previously, using uncompress, it too up 3.3GB of space. With Huffy, it takes up about 1.3, so I'm very happy with the space savings.

Quality looks great, too. No different to my eyes, and it still plays back just fine on a slower computer.

Will be using it from now on instead of uncompressed...

Thanks again,

Ben