Best QT Settings for Short Film Submission?

Soniclight wrote on 1/13/2008, 8:35 PM
I just recently signed up at Kevin Spacey's TriggerStreet film community site and they only accept Quicktime or Real uploads. I've been used to using .wmv > .swf due to warmer colors and that I'm not doing anything for film screen or TV broadcast.

I brought up the issue at the TS site and the founder replied and they are considering adding .wmv perhaps. But bottom line, I have to learn to work in QT.

So far, the few attempts I've had with QT have shown far poorer results in output -- since my work includes subtle light effects and original music, it needs to be as faithful to the original as possible.

I'd appreciate some specific VP8 setting for a a project that is currently 640x480. And...

Is it really necessary to get QT7 Pro or not since I have VP8?

I'm not doing HD stuff yet, and if not necessary due to that, no point getting 7 when one has to pay Apple for
Thanks.

~ Philip

If interested in the mentioned site, here's the link:

Comments

Soniclight wrote on 1/14/2008, 1:44 PM
Anybody here? :) Thanks.
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/14/2008, 2:21 PM
This is only mildly helpful, but I did some QT stuff from quicktime pro a fair while ago, into H264 - it took ages to render but was absolutely stunning.
I'll have a play tomoz if I get the chance for some stuff from Vegas from HD footage
Coursedesign wrote on 1/14/2008, 2:27 PM
QT is just a wrapper. The equivalent of an envelope for a letter.

A QT wrapper can contain video encoded using any of hundreds of different codecs.

In the past, Sorenson's Spark was popular, but this is now totally obsolete.

Vegas hasn't paid a lot of attention to providing updated QT settings ever.

I don't have time to look at the TriggerStreet specs right now to help you, maybe later.

TriggerStreet sure hid their specs, convoluted too. The latin word for their FAQ is "feces."

QT Pro in only $30 and I have found it useful for many things.


rs170a wrote on 1/14/2008, 2:57 PM
I'd appreciate some specific VP8 setting for a a project that is currently 640x480.

Vegas has a 640 x 480 iPod setting under the "MainConcept AVC/AAC (*.mp4) Save As type.
Would this be acceptable to them?

Mike
Kennymusicman wrote on 1/14/2008, 3:17 PM
A quick test from quicktime using H264, source footage HD1080i, into SD (pal)
Looks good, filesize (orig) about 10Mb, into 0.5mb.(1/2mb)

Can't seem to access such codec from quicktime option in Vegas 8
Soniclight wrote on 1/14/2008, 6:43 PM
I agree, TS's FAQ is a bit odd:

--- The only thing I know as far as format, is that they have a 100Mb file size limit. They refer you to Apple's H264 page for encoding in QT, but that doesn't help me. I don't have that codec or QT Pro.

--- Still haven't gotten any really usable info posting at their forum either -- I specifically asked if there was anyone there using VP8.

I have to make a correction:
My project size is actually 720x540, not 640x480.

No biggie, but it may or may not make a difference.

I'm also delaying uploading plans:

--- Kevin Spacey is a really cool, intelligent, help-thy-fellow-filmmakers guy, but what I've seen so far is that most of the films that members have uploaded there just don't doesn't inspire me much.

Apart from some of the documentary stuff, it's the usual romantic drama, horror themes or rather strange to crass comedy.

To each his/her own. I'll have to dig a bit deeper there when I have time; there must be some decent work.

That said, I still would like to master a good QT render. You guys really helped me with nailing the WMV format last year which was great.
craftech wrote on 1/14/2008, 6:53 PM
The QT render settings is probably the one area where all of us on the forum could use some good recommendations. I have seen questions like you posted for years on these forums and there just isn't enough adoption of QT via Vegas by forum members to have answers for people. I bought Sorenson Squeeze.

John
Soniclight wrote on 1/14/2008, 7:26 PM
Bummer :{

As to Sorensen Squeeze---yikes, way out of my fiduciary league. I just looked at their program comparison chart. Even the cheapest costs more than I paid for Vegas!

I'll have to come up with something else, i.e. render to uncompressed or non-lossy compressed format will work with QT Pro or whatever else this pauper can find.
Coursedesign wrote on 1/14/2008, 9:38 PM
Sorenson Squeeze is a bad program that I regret buying a long time ago.

It can produce OK output, but it's not worth the price they charge, it's just too flakey.

640x480 is the square pixel equivalent of NTSC .9091 PAR 720x480 video.

Square pixels are for computer screens (and iPods), NTSC is for video screens.

If you can't swing $30 for QT Pro, I can do the encoding for you. Just send me an AVI via yousendit.com, and I'll return a clean file for TriggerStreet.

I won't be able to do it until next Monday though, I'm cockeyed from working around the clock this week.
Soniclight wrote on 1/15/2008, 12:19 AM
Coursedesign,

It's late, I'm pooped, by brain is going for shutdown, so keeping it brief here.

A) Thanks very much for the offer. Absolutely no rush on this.

B) I'd have to learn to use the site you mentioned (I think I've only picked up something there a while back). Probably not brain surgery difficult.

C) You'd have to tell me what render format to use. The uncompressed .avi is 6 gig, the HUV is 2.5 gig. Neither those are sane uploads on my basic DSL :)

You may have seen this clip before here (it's also linked at another recent posting).
You can view its 400x300 SWF at my site so you can get an idea of what it is.

Off to ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz I go.

MarkWWWW wrote on 1/15/2008, 6:43 AM
If you want to try an experiment, you could use the free SUPER (a graphical front end for the free FFMPEG) to convert/re-wrap your existing video to a quicktime .mov.

As far as I can see from the limited information provided on the website they should be able to accept an H.264 encoded .mov so that is the format I would try first. You may have to experiment a bit to find a combination of picture size, bitrate, etc, to get a result that has a good enough quality but keeps within their constraints for filesize, etc. You can check that it plays OK in QuickTime Player before you upload it.

Mark
Soniclight wrote on 1/16/2008, 12:33 AM
Thanks, I'll check it out.