Optimum quality video

Iron Forge Productions wrote on 4/3/2009, 12:14 AM
Hey, I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio Pro Platinum 8.0, and I was wondering this:
When making a movie that is an MPEG-1 file, I want to use advanced render to make my videos have a high-as-possible quality, what settings would give it the best quality in audio and video? I know it's probably a long list, but I would really appreciate it if someone could elaborate to me all the best settings.

And just wondering, what are the best file types for quality? I've seen MPEG-2 can be good, and I think you can make an uncompressed AVI (although that seems to be a data hog for obvious reasons) are there any better choices?

Thanks!

Comments

Robert W wrote on 4/3/2009, 1:19 AM
I would not recommend MPEG-1 if you are looking to produce an optimum quality video. It was never really actually that widely employed as a format outside of video CDs and some specific software that required the format.

You will probably find that the presets available for the MPEG-2 codec will suit you well. I think you would need to shift up to Vegas Pro and DVD-Architect, or buy a Mainconcept license to get access to the custom settings button.
Iron Forge Productions wrote on 4/3/2009, 1:02 PM
Yeah, the reason I use MPEG-1 is because these videos are for uploading to the internet (primarily YouTube, Facebook, etc). Most sites don't let you upload over 100MB, so I need more compressed video than the MPEG-2 files offer. Also, MPEG-2 files don't give your videos the "High Quality" Option on YouTube.
So, do you know the settings I could use to get better looking MPEG-1's or a file type that still will get me smaller file sizes with better quality?
Robert W wrote on 4/3/2009, 1:25 PM
I think I see the problem. Because you can not get the MPEG 2 custom options, you can not set the bit rate lower. MPEG 2 should actually provide superior encoding at lower bit rates than MPEG 1., but that is not an option for you at present. You could try WMV, or MP4, although I have had trouble with both of these formats on Youtube. There are threads around this forum with advice for encoding to Youtubem, but as of yet I have not found an ideal solution for my needs.
Iron Forge Productions wrote on 4/3/2009, 7:14 PM
Hey, is there any way I could get a MainConcept license so that I can do customized MPEG 2 options? How would I do that? I also was wondering, I tried dabbling with the MPEG-1 options, since it doesn't let me customize MP4's either and WMV's don't seem to get as good video quality (although if I'm wrong about that please let me know), is there any way I can improve these? I really appreciate your help

SETTINGS
Project

Quality: Best

Video

Width:720
Height:480
Frame Rate: 30.000
Aspect Ratio: 0.8889
I-frames:32
B-frames:0
Video Buffer Verifier: 0 (auto set)
Video Quality: 31
Insert sequence header before every GOP: Yes
Write Sequence End Code: Yes
Constrained Parameters: No
Use Closed GOPs
Constant bit rate: 2,384,000

Audio

Include audio stream: Yes
Audio Mode: Stereo Mode
Psychoacoustic model: 2
Audio Layer: 2
Bit rate: 384
Emphasis: No emphasis
Sample Rate: 48,000
Embedded CRC error protection: Yes
Set copyright bit: Yes
Set original bit: Yes

System

Save as separate elementary streams: No
Sector Size: 4096
Packets per pack: 1
Sectors delay: 0
Video delay: 180
Video buffer size: 23
Audio delay:180
Audio buffer size: 2
System bit rate: 13,106,800
Align sequence headers to packets: No
Frame timestamps: on all frames
musicvid10 wrote on 4/3/2009, 7:54 PM
"Hey, is there any way I could get a MainConcept license so that I can do customized MPEG 2 options? How would I do that?"

Yes, you can purchase the upgrade to Vegas Pro by using the links at the top of this page.
TGS wrote on 4/3/2009, 7:59 PM
You are allowed up to 1 Gigabyte and 10 minutes length for YouTube. It used to be 100MB until about 6 or 8 months ago.

I use Mpg4 with 10,000,000bps

I can't imagine the highest possible MPEG2 settings and you not being able to make your limit of 10 minutes fit within 1 gigabyte. If you have a setting that is at least 7,000,000 or up to 9,000,000 average bps, you should get pretty good quality. You don't even need VBR. For example for TV, you wouldn't want to go above about 8,500,000 because some DVD players have issues with a bit rate higher than that. But for YouTube, you can probably max it out.

Be aware that YouTube will recompress it into Flash and if will look worse.

Mpg4 will come out a little better, plus you can get a higher bit rate than mpg2.

I also suggest you limit your audio volume to no higher than -3, maybe -2dBs, or you will hear the compression of YouTube, pumping.
Iron Forge Productions wrote on 4/3/2009, 8:10 PM
Hey, thanks for the help, I didn't know that about the volume, I'll keep that in mind. My only problem is that my Vegas doesn't let me customize Mpg4 files because I don't have Pro. Is there a good preset that you would recommend for Mpg4. MPEG-1, WMV, and AVI are the only options I have to customize. Would the settings I showed above produce a good quality video, or are there better ways to optimize it? Or would WMV or AVI be better options? I don't have Pro, so I'm just trying to make do with what I have right now.
TGS wrote on 4/3/2009, 11:48 PM
You'll have to tell me what your mpg4 presets are set to, since I don't have Vegas Movie Studio. If you have any presets that have a average bit rate between about 7,000,000 and 10,000,000 these may be pretty good for SDef. If the option for 2 pass encoding is in a choice, take it. If you're talking about hi-def, than I can't guide you.
I've heard that good quality WMVs can be used too, but I know nothing about using them with YouTube
You have to realize that YouTube will also make it so that a watcher will have to choose a 'High Quality button' to make it look better as the regular play button plays the worst quality.
You can always experiment with 1 minute examples from your presets and see how they look. You can erase them from YouTube easily.
A constant bit rate in the 2,300,000 range is not very good quality, although it can look ok in the right circumstances. The other trouble is YouTube will make that bit rate look a lot worse, so experimenting with some of your other settings and formats will let you see by how much. You may be able to use a SDef AVI and it might work pretty good. It just has to be under a gigabyte (and 10 minutes) 13 gigabytes in an hour. Hmmm somewhere around 4 1/2 minutes per GB. But an AVI is a lot better than mpg1 (or mpg2 and 4 except maybe for hi def bit rates)
Iron Forge Productions wrote on 4/7/2009, 9:48 PM
Hey, I can't see all the preset details are since there is no custom option for them, but it does say this:
Audio: 128 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, AAC.
Video: 768 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 320x240 wide
The only problems I have are the audio compression, and that it misses some of the details on my videos since it renders so small. AVI's are awesome, but the problem is that some sites I upload to, such as MySpace and Tangle, only allow 100mb. I can't really use AVI's since they create such massive file sizes. Is there any way to compress them without losing much quality? Otherwise, my other options are MPEG-1 and WMV. What would you suggest as the best choice for my videos?
Iron Forge Productions wrote on 4/7/2009, 10:28 PM
Oh, and since it's better than MPEG-2, what would be optimal settings for AVI, so I could use it for DVD's and stuff? I appreciate this so much, thanks again
PeterWright wrote on 4/7/2009, 11:22 PM
DVDs by definition use MPEG2, so even if you put an avi into DVDArchitect, it will render it to MPEG2 as part of the prepare/burn process.

But, doing it this way with the Studio version is the best way to get the right bitrate, since DVDA Studio will optimise/ fit to disk, and if you have an MPEG2 file which needs re-rendering to fit, this will mean recompressing an already compressed file, so avi will give you better quality.

On the other hand, if you know the original MPEG2 will fit on DVD, than using the DVDA preset in Vegas will avoid recompressing in DVDA.