10 Expert Tips for Encoding Web Video

By VideoPro | Published: March 17, 2008

Keep these tips handy for the next time you encode video.

  1. Deinterlace your source video
  2. Choose a frame size where the width and height are evenly divisible by 16
  3. Maintain the aspect ratio of your source video
  4. Crop any empty space (like letter boxing) and crop/scale to remove edge jaggies around your video
  5. Select bitrates that are appropriate for your target audience
  6. Export your source video from your editing software at the highest quality possible prior to encoding
  7. If your encoding tool offers 2-pass encoding, use it!
  8. Use VBR (Variable Bit Rate) for Progressive Download and CBR (Constant Bit Rate) for RTSP Delivery
  9. The square pixel equivalent to 720×480 is 640×480, HD 1920×1080 is already in square pixels
  10. Export a short segment of your source video and do multiple test encodes to save time until you find the perfect settings
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Calculating Bitrates For Web Video

By VideoPro | Published: February 24, 2008

To accompany his latest book on Flash Video, Robert Reinhardt has developed a awesome bitrate calcuator you can use to figure out target bitrates for your web video.

http://www.flashsupport.com/books/fvst/files/tools/flv_bitrate.html

Also, if you haven’t read his latest book, be sure to check it out. 5 Stars at Amazon! Here is a brief description:

From pre-production to post, author Rob Reinhardt shares the techniques that make Adobe Flash a powerful tool for sharing video over the Web. With sections on capturing and encoding video, creating and using cue points, working with transparency, and deploying and delivering optimal quality, he covers the information that users need to get started, and then goes in-depth to bring his readers to expert status quickly.

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MPEG Streamclip v1.1 – Free H.264 Encoding Software for Windows & Mac

By VideoPro | Published: February 5, 2008

Squared 5 has released one of the few free solutions for encoding H.264 QuickTime MOV files that includes a graphical user interface. Since it uses the QuickTime 7 Player’s rendering engine, you must have the free player installed. A side benefit to this is that it will allow you export to the same codecs as the $30 QuickTime Pro, as well as AVI, DV and MPEG4.

With MPEG Streamclip you get what you pay for… The interface leaves much to be desired and a degree in video engineering is required to navigate the advanced output options presented.
If you are on a really tight budget and don’t mind learning some new tricks, MPEG Streamclip will work in a pinch for transcoding to and from a variety of formats.

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Frame Size Secrets: Your Video Dimensions Should Be Evenly Divisible By 16

By VideoPro | Published: January 24, 2008

Whether you are encoding to QuickTime or Flash Video, it is a best practice to ensure that the width and height of your video is evenly divisible by 16. Although some modern codecs do not require this, it is best to keep it in mind for all your projects to guarantee the best results.

In many codecs if a side is not divisible by 16 evenly, it will then have to keep splitting the macro blocks into smaller and smaller chunks until it finds a common denominator. This can result in lots of tiny little blocks in your video, and horrible encodes, especially for high action and/or animation sequences.

Robert Reinhardt has posted a table listing the optimal frame dimensions for flash video for both 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios. This information is a great resource for every compressionist.

http://www.flashsupport.com/books/fvst/files/tools/video_sizes.html

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