Kolargol

What is a typical file size you get when encoding MP4 H.264 video clips?

I got these:

9 min clip:
153 MB 1280x720 MP4
335 MB 1920x1080 MP4


5:30 min clip:
200 MB 1920x1080 MP4

Aren't the files too big?

mikesouth

there is no typical file size file size depends on bit rate and profile

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It's No wonder I took up drugs and alcohol, it's the only way I could dumb myself down enough to cope with the morons in this biz.

MaDalton

what he said...

it's like asking "how much is a car?"

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DWB

But if you some some sort of reference point, I just encoded an 11:38 min video (1280x720) and the size is 157 MB. Used an avg bit rate of 1800kbps along with some other tweaks. It looks great and is small enough to stream with no problems.

digitaldivas

I don't fuck my surfers over. They can stream my movies on their TV if they want.
Number two, you are not HD if your datarate is under 7k/sec or 13k/sec for 1080p
My 9 minute clips are 400-900mb a pop. If you want to pimp HD, I would suggest
doing it right. Surfers bitch about this on surfer boards, WILL NOT recur and you
lost that surfer for life. Amazing to me, the fucking idiots in this biz that don't get it.

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Kolargol

I use about 5000kb/s, 25fps - not sure what other info is important...

MaDalton

you can easily go down to 3000 kb/s for the smaller size - but dont change the frame rate (it should be the same as it was recorded at - not sure if you shot it with 25fps)

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Kolargol

since I don't promise HD on my tour or anywhere else (not yet) they know exactly what to expect. Still I want to do streaming and I want to do it right.
I am not sure about 900mb videos though - seems like a huge file.

signupdamnit

This. Also you should probably use crf and a max bitrate and buffer size. crf=18 is about where no human can usually tell the difference. crf=21 is usally a good balance and most cannot see a difference. Crf=23 is usually around as high as you want to go without degrading quality too much. I believe every four steps down on the crf factor doubles the bitrate.

Set the max bit rate to be no more than 80% of the target bandwidth the customers you are targeting will have. For the buffer usually 1.5-2.0 times the max bitrate is a good bet.

http://ffmpeg.org/trac/ffmpeg/wiki/x264EncodingGuide

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signupdamnit

Probably this would work for ffmpeg then:

crf=21
maxbitrate=800kbps (use 600-700 kbps if you need to accommodate very crappy DSL)
vfvbuffersize=1600kbps (use 1200 - 1400kbps to accomodate crappy DSL)

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Kolargol

I don't know how to use ffmpeg, I just export MP4s from Adobe Premiere. I have used Handbrake before but it's much easier to encode on the same software I do editing in.

digitaldivas

Hey man, had to see your sig to see your site. This wasn't directed towards you. But I love your content and remastering your video will do fucking wonders for you!!! True fact. Actually, let me know when you do and I will post you a shout out on the footpervert blog.

If your streaming in a members area OR on a tour, try 700-900 pixels wide, keep your fps rate the same as it was recorded. Drop the data rate to 3000-4000k/sec, keyframing every 150 frames, audio should be less than 128. You can do the same to .ogg files so the firefox people can view it too.

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Zyzz

You should try http://handbrake.fr/, checkout the already included profiles and tweek up on that ...

Kolargol

Thank you for the advice! Do you recommend to have a embed window 700-900 pixels wide? or the video clip for the download to have eg. 1280x720 resolution?

DWB

Amen. But you can go even further than that. 1800 kb/s - 2000 kb/s can look great with the right settings. Check out the link I'm posting below. Will blow your mind at some of the lower bit rates he can get and still have awesome quality.

Of everything I've tried over the years, Handbreak is hands down the best for making .mp4 videos. It's slow, but the results are fantastic.

This guy is an encoding GOD: http://sonnati.wordpress.com

Anyone who wants to learn how to encode, spend some time on his blog.

For streaming? No way I could stream something that big. That's download only for me.

Kolargol

so how big are your MP4s eg. 10 min long video? the ones for streaming I mean.

fitzmulti

I just checked one at random from editing today.
6076 kbps / 1920x1080 / 474 MB / 10:55 time

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DWB

Full length scenes, 10 - 35 minutes. But for streaming the biggest size is 1280x720. You can't stream huge videos and have everyone be able to stream them. You can also use alternate bit rate videos and load up a few options and the player can detect their bit rate and pull the appropriate video. That way everyone is covered no matter their speed. I believe both JW player and Flow player offer this.

DWB

If you want them, email me (in sig) and I'll send you my Handbrake settings for what we use to stream. It will be a good starting point and you can adjust from there based on what you need.

There are other factors as well, like how lit your video is, quality of the raw footage, and the amount of movement. Lots of little variables that can make you have to change the bit rate to get better quality.

Kolargol

Thanks Fitzmulti!

DWB, what I asked was how big are the files sizes for 10 min long video with your setting.

Do you have separate files for streaming and downloading? If you had to choose one type of file - what resolution (and other settings) would you use for streaming? and for downloading?

DWB

The only thing I have in front of me currently is the 11:38 min video (1280x720) that is 157 MB. So you can figure the 10 minute size from that.

I would suggest a middle ground 1280x720 stream and anything larger than that for download, unless you're doing the player bit rate changer I spoke of above. For the stream, start in the neighborhood of 2000 kbps and adjust up and down until you find a sweet spot that works for your content. 1800 kbps works well for our streaming videos. If you are offering a larger downloadable HD video, then that will obviously be of much higher quality like digitaldivas was speaking about.

You're not going to get THE ANSWER here. You can only get a rough idea and then you need to see what works for your source footage and your software. Render out 30 second or 1 min clips at lots of different settings and see what looks the best. Just be sure to name the files so you know what the settings were. There is a LOT of trial and error that goes into finding the sweet spot encode for your content.

Ate123

Hi
maybe try to use conventer like AVS Video Conventer or FreeMake ...
you tried ???

Kolargol

That's the info I needed, thanks a lot!

borked

good luck if you're trying to stream that to your clients... the bitrate is essential in streaming and 5000kbs means the end user must have a bandwidth of absolute minimum of 5mbs to view it without stalling. In real terms, because their bandwidth seend by their ISP is never eqaul to the bandwidth seen at your server, I'd say for a 5mbs bitrate video, they'd need at least 7mbs to view it without stalling.

Best to encode at 1/3/6mbs (more disk space for you) and use some sort of bandwidth calculator (automatically done for wowza streaming) to determine on the fly (meaning if their bw increases, switch to higher quality etc) which video to stream.

I'd *never* offer 5+mbs bitrate as an only option - you kill too many clients.

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borked

right - dwb has this working flawlessly and it caters for low bw (mobile) people too. However, it isn't jw/flow player handling this, but the streamer, which i believe in this case is wowza. The player simply says to the streamer - here are the streams I want (eg 1000kbs, 3000kbs, 6000kbs), and the streamer determines in real time which can be delivered.

Transparent to the end user but this bitrate switching mid-stream is frikken excellent and well worth the extra MB in disk space to multi-encode in different bitrates.

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borked

and to add a last snippet, I much prefer HandbrakCLI over ffmpeg for x264 encoding. I've not yet found an ffmpeg preset (or any setting) that can match HB in terms of quality and speed.

My favourite for medium encoding is:

share yours....

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Kolargol

I am going to use lighttpd so I suppose I will just use one bitrate

NemesisEnforcer

This is good reading but it's driving my antivirus crazy.

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