Off to a rocky start... Codex compatibility

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/8/2017, 9:12 AM

I have accomplished much with Movie Studio 13 and moved forward to 14 with a great amount of optimism... There are a lot of changes in 14 and the documentation is sparse... also the defaults are different. I think I'm getting used to the placement of tools. I contacted support and the response was fast, however I initially had a lot of questions and its taking quite awhile to get up to speed. I guess some videos will appear on Youtube to help out, but most are related to Sony's Movie Studio 13.

A problem continues with creating mp4 clips that play on different platforms. The Sony avc/mvc memory stick sd ntsc widescreen 6256 creates a great sized file, however the movies will not play on LG or Samsung Smart Phones and some internet browsers. The Internet 1920x1280 30p profile creates a huge file. A file created with the former is say 50 mb, whereas the latter's is 150 mb. The 4:3 profiles are few and the image size small with large borders. This requires that the image be cropped in. I used Applian's Converter and that solves the problem, albeit an additional step.

I must comment that the sales department does not answer their phones, the registration wizard does not recognize serial numbers, I hope that Magix will get up to speed which will help me get up to speed. I'm giving this a go, however I must say that when I did get through on the phone, I asked for a refund, info was taken and the request seems to have fallen into a black hole. Upon further study... the warranty from Sony Creative and Magix both state that downloaded products are not refundable as there is a trial. I did not take advantage of that basically because I imagined that there would be hassles and I had no idea what would become of version 13 and its components with the installation of a trial. I also trusted it would be a seamless transition and the price was right. So I just went ahead on the special offer. I will give Magix the benefit of the doubt, but as of now, contact with Magix is basically non-existent and email support is very cumbersome.

Any thoughts on how to produce a mp4 (h.264) file that plays on a variety of platforms (widescreen and 4:3 formats)? It would be nice if Magix or someone would produce a video detailing the changes.

Comments

browj2 wrote on 3/8/2017, 9:50 AM

Hi,

There is a separate forum for Vegas users. You should post your query there.

johnebaker wrote on 3/8/2017, 10:07 AM

Are you expecting these movies to be viewed from the Internet, if so where if not Youtube?

In the case of Youtube see the uploading help here .

For uploading HD mp4's using these settings, Youtube will take care of the rest converting the video to mobile friendly formats as well as reduced resolution versions for those with slow Internet connections.

. . . . how to produce a mp4 (h.264) file that plays on a variety of platforms (widescreen and 4:3 formats) . . . .

You cannot have one movie that will display correctly in both aspect ratios, either way one of the videos is going to letterboxed (black bars top and bottom) or pillar boxed (blackbars left and right) on the display device.

I would recommend you stick to the 16:9 AR - most mobile devices are capable of playing back this AR correctly and 4:3 monitors are rare.

HTH

John EB

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/8/2017, 10:24 AM

John, it seems i'm on the wrong forum... not that magix has made that link available. I post the movies on my website using an ftp client. I choose to do this instead of Youtube. Many of the clips I post were in the 4:3 format... I'll try rendering the 4:3s with the 16:9 AR and see what happens. Thx for your response!

johnebaker wrote on 3/8/2017, 10:36 AM

. . . John, it seems i'm on the wrong forum . . .

Yes you are, however, the issue you are wanting to resolve (IMHO) is actually more of an Internet issue and should be in the Internet & Technology forum here as the answer(s) are relevant to any video editing program.

. . . .I post the movies on my website using an ftp client. . . .

Is your website using a CMS system eg Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress etc, or was it built using a program such as Xara Web Designer, Dreamweaver etc ?

John EB

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/8/2017, 10:42 AM

nope, I'm using front page or dreamweaver in a basic way. A link to an mp4 file. Funny, if I convert the final piece with Applian's converter, it works with all devices. I also have no problem with Corel's product. I'll try rendering a 4:3 in a widescreen format and use a mainconcept profile. thanks for your response, john

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/8/2017, 11:05 AM

John EB I saved a 4:3 with the internet 1280 x 720 30p profile. I can live with the side borders! It created a huge file, however. Do you think I can modify the template for that profile to create a movie that has a smaller file size. Any thoughts?

johnebaker wrote on 3/8/2017, 11:42 AM

These are the 720p settings I use in Movie Edit Pro for my website videos - these settings were the result of analysis a large number of video streams from many Internet sources.

MP4 streamable - see note 1 below

Video: h.264
Resolution: 1280*720
Framerate: 25 ( I am in PAL land)
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Bitrate mode: Variable
Average bitrate: 8000 kbits/sec
Maximum bitrate: 16000 kbits/sec
Maximum GOP length: 100
GOP structure: IBBP
Profile: High
Level: 5.0
Coding quality: Balanced

Audio:

Samplerate: 48000Hz
Channels: Stereo
Bitrate: 160 kbits/sec.

Note :

if you cannot export in a streamable mp4 format, export as mp4 with the above and then use MP4 Faststart to change the file to streamable.
playing back these files on your PC may result in about 4 secs lag before the video is seen, playback from the Internet in a browser has minimal lag - I experience 1/2 to 1 second from clicking play.

For more information here is a MediaInfo analysis of a mp4 video I use on my website

Video
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L5
Format settings, CABAC          : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames     : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP             : M=3, N=100
Duration                                 : 1 min 8 s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 8 012 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                      : 16.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                  : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                   : 16:9
Frame rate mode                       : Constant
Frame rate                               : 25.000 FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                    : 0.348
Stream size                              : 65.0 MiB (98%)

Audio
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Duration                                 : 1 min 7 s
Bit rate mode                           : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 163 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                    : Front: L R
Sampling rate                          : 48.0 kHz
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Stream size                             : 1.32 MiB (2%)

ADDED:

The above settings playback at fullscreen 1920 * 1080 at a very acceptable quality.

HTH

John EB

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/12/2017, 12:55 PM

John, two questions...

1. How large should a file be for internet use, say a short clip, two minutes long. I used your suggested setting and ended up with 235 mb. Quite large... This with 8,000,000 bitrate. This is 3x as large as I'm used to. but maybe expected.

2. For 4:3 videos, should I produce them with the same widescreen profile and have side borders.

I'm playing with the main concepts profiles.. Trying for a profile for multiplatform viewing. I put them on my server with a link to them.

johnebaker wrote on 3/12/2017, 4:14 PM

. . . .two minutes long . . . ended up with 235 mb . . .

For a 2 min file exported to 1280*720 I get the following files sizes:

2,500,000 bps 32 MB
8,000,000 bps 102MB
16,000,000 bps 205MB

As you can see the file size is directly proportional to the bitrate for a given project

There are 2 questions that you need to consider:

What quality level is acceptable?
If you restrict the video size, when played from the website, to a window the same size as the video or less then you can lower the bitrate further, however if you want the viewer to be able to see it at full screen on a 1920*1080 monitor and maintain a good quality then you need the higher bitrate.

At 2,500,000 bps a 2 min video is approx 32 MB in size, however the video (IMHO) looks reasonable when played at original size ie 1280*720, however played full screen quality will be seen to be lower with occasional 'shimmers' at the edges of moving objects and less sharpness.
What is the download speed of your viewers Internet connection?

This one you have no control over - in some areas the Internet connection is at low speed < 2 Mbps whereas others are at 100Mbps or higher.

Here you have 2 options:

Determine what bitrate you should export at by defining the geographic location of your audience and aim at a bitrate that will suitable for the average Internet speed of that region.

Provide 2 versions of the same video - one high quality for faster Internet connection and one lower quality or smaller resolution for slow connections.

As you can see you have 2 opposing requirements from which you have to find the best compromise.

I chose my settings based on an audience with a minimum average Internet connection of around 15 Mb/s and set the bitrate to approx half this to ensure smooth playback without the browser running ahead of the download.

HTH

John EB

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/12/2017, 4:48 PM

Thank you, John. Now as to the last question. some of the early editors stretched 4:3 when using a wide screen profile. I did notice the Movie Studio Platinum just puts side borders on the clip and the viewing area is 4:3. The Galaxy S-7 treats a 4:3 the same way even if it was produced in 4:3 ratio. So if I can get the desired results, size and clarity with the internet profile you suggested, say at 4,000,000 will there be a problem using or displaying a clip that was produced in the past as 4:3? thank you for you time and excellent information.

Paul

tsoilihoi wrote on 3/12/2017, 5:07 PM

John, I changed the profile to 4000000 bits and got very good results. It played on all my devices. The clip was originally 4:3 and the result was a wide screen video with side borders. Very good. So I'll use this and the original template you suggested. Thx.