VIDEO - CONVERT - Size Matters - Questions...

[goddi]

Greetings,

I am still trying to figure out all of the variable that one must deal with when using video in PTE (bit rate, frame rate, codec, etc.).

Igor recommends “to work with converted video files, because original MP4 video in H.264 is ‘heavy’ for PTE.”

Lin has said “…The conversion by PTE to AVI is done to make it much, much easier on the resources of a system when creating an executable file. Because MP4's are fairly highly compressed, to play them as executable they must first be uncompressed in the system then played. This frequently makes for jerky playback because it's a strain on system resources. …You have the option of creating an AVI rather than an MP4. …I use Microsoft MPEG 4 Video Codec - PTE doesn't ask to convert it.”

My videos start out as MOVs and then I have been converting them (using an outside program) to a smaller MP4 format with a bit rate of about 4 Mbps. My primary concern is getting the size of the video clip as small as possible that will play well, as an EXE or MP4. The problem, as I see it, with the PTE Convert process, is that it creates a much larger AVI file by bumping up the Bit Rate significantly, for example:

1-PTE Converts an MP4- the size goes from 47Mbs (bit rate 3.9 Mbps) to 135 Mbs (bit rate 11.4 Mbps)
2-PTE Converts an MP4- the size goes from 27 Mbs (bit rate 4.0 Mbps) to 60 Mbs (bit rate 12.6 Mbps)
3-PTE Converts an MP4- the size goes from 117 Mbs (bit rate 4.0 Mbps) to 365 Mbs (bit rate 12.6 Mbps)

When Igor says ‘heavy’, is it referring to just the ‘compression’, meaning the ‘codec’ or is it the ‘bit rate’, which increases the size of the video, or is it both?

So how do I select a higher compression (smaller file) and reduce the bit rate (smaller file) and still play well?

I can use a video converter (Videomiser 2) that will let me choose various HD outputs:
HD-AVI (MPG4); HD-MP4 (H.264); HD-MP4 (MPEG4); and HD-MPG (MPEG-2).
Each of the above settings will let me select a  bit rate down to 2 Mbps, except the MPG2, only 4 Mbps.

Another video converter program (Aiseesoft), gives me the following HD choices:

HD MPEG-4 (MPG4); HD H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (H.264); HD AVI (H.264)  Not sure what to select here, but the last one's output is AVI but the lowest bit rate to choose is only 8 Mbps.

The problem with the PTE Convert is that you cannot modify the bit rate you want. That is why I prefer to use an outside program to convert (and trim). It has become very necessary to keep the final file size down because the largest file you can upload to the Slideshowclub was 280 Mbs, and now it is down to about 128 Mbs.

So, after all of this, should I use an outside program to convert my ‘MOVs’ directly to whichever output is an ‘AVI’ and choose the lowest bit rate that looks acceptable?
Gary