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#1 2009-10-18 3:29 pm
- Stan
- Member
- From: Rock Island
- Registered: 2002-04-09
- Posts: 713
software for web video?
I have a DVD I want to put on our website. Its content is about 1 1/4 hour and weighs 4GB. The files are VOB, IFO & BUP. The only tool I have is QuickTime Pro 7.6.4 which doesn't recognize any of the files. My OS is 10.4.11 on a G4 iMac.
Will iMovie be able to shrink the video to a downloadable size and convert it to another format or will I need FinalCut Express or something else? Also, what size and format should the final video be?
I intend to buy a new Mac soon, so I'm a bit reluctant to spend a lot on software. I googled around a bit and found good reviews for Wondershare Mac Video Converter. Its price of $39 is attractive. Will it be able to do what I want it to do?
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#2 2009-10-18 3:38 pm
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#3 2009-10-18 5:31 pm
- Stan
- Member
- From: Rock Island
- Registered: 2002-04-09
- Posts: 713
Re: software for web video?
Arkayn, thanks for the quick reply but Handbrake needs 10.5. I downloaded a free trial on Wondershare Mac Video Converter. I opened it twice, it crashed twice.
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#4 2009-10-18 7:24 pm
Re: software for web video?
http://handbrake.fr/old.php
Requires Mac OS X 10.4 or newer - GUI
http://handbrake.fr/rotation.php?file=H … GUI_UB.dmg
iMac C2D, 2.0 GHz, OS X 10.6.2, 2.5 GB Ram.
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#5 2009-10-18 8:28 pm
- Stan
- Member
- From: Rock Island
- Registered: 2002-04-09
- Posts: 713
Re: software for web video?
Thanks again, Arkayn.
I downloaded the older version of handbrake. I haven't tried it yet because I'm trying out a free download of AVCWare Mac Video Converter. What format do you think I should be using? I'm having AVCWare convert it all to MPEG-4 and I changed the size of the video from 720 x 480 pixels to 640 x 426. Does that seem like the right way to go?
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#6 2009-10-22 2:15 am
Re: software for web video?
Be aware that pixels on DVD are probably not square, if you want the DVD to play in a web browser you may want to resize the video when converting to compensate.
I've never gone from DVD but from MiniDV - I use 640x480 as the dimension I resize to as that keeps the aspect ratio correct (from 720x480 DV source).
I encode as as mp4 using h.264 video and aac audio and it works out quite nicely, but I use command line tools for the conversion (ffmpeg), not hand brake. But check that you are getting proper aspect ratio, I suspect 640x426 will squash pixels, and you want both dimensions to be multiples of 16 (not a strict rule, but it supposedly is better).
Last edited by resedit (2009-10-22 2:16 am)
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
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#7 2009-10-22 5:59 pm
- Stan
- Member
- From: Rock Island
- Registered: 2002-04-09
- Posts: 713
Re: software for web video?
resedit wrote:
pixels on DVD are probably not square
What shape are they? Rectangular? Elliptical?
resedit wrote:
I use 640x480 as the dimension I resize to as that keeps the aspect ratio correct (from 720x480 DV source).
I don't get how that keeps the aspect ratio the same unless the pixels are being stretched or squished. Is that what happens?
resedit wrote:
I use command line tools for the conversion (ffmpeg), not hand brake. But check that you are getting proper aspect ratio, I suspect 640x426 will squash pixels, and you want both dimensions to be multiples of 16 (not a strict rule, but it supposedly is better).
What command line tool do you use and what is a command line tool? What's supposed to be so good about multiples of 16?
By now you've figured out that my ignorance is appalling. Do you know of a good book or website to learn from?
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#9 2009-10-22 10:05 pm
Re: software for web video?
Stan wrote:
resedit wrote:
pixels on DVD are probably not square
What shape are they? Rectangular? Elliptical?
They are rectangular.
resedit wrote:
I use 640x480 as the dimension I resize to as that keeps the aspect ratio correct (from 720x480 DV source).
I don't get how that keeps the aspect ratio the same unless the pixels are being stretched or squished. Is that what happens?
It resamples them on the resize to make a 4:3 aspect ratio with square pixels. This is basically what software players do when they know the intended aspect ratio.
For example, if I get an mp4 file that hasn't been adjusted, I can tell my movie player (totem) that it is suppose to be 4:3 and it will adjust the video on the fly as it plays. I think you can also specify it in metadata in the media itself, but i don't know how.
resedit wrote:
I use command line tools for the conversion (ffmpeg), not hand brake. But check that you are getting proper aspect ratio, I suspect 640x426 will squash pixels, and you want both dimensions to be multiples of 16 (not a strict rule, but it supposedly is better).
What command line tool do you use and what is a command line tool? What's supposed to be so good about multiples of 16?
By now you've figured out that my ignorance is appalling. Do you know of a good book or website to learn from?
The command line tool I use is ffmpeg - but it needs to be compiled properly and linked against the right libraries. I believe the issue with divisible by 16 has to do with the efficiency of compression, but I don't really understand it myself. I was told that it is better to letterbox the source to make it multiples of 16 if the source really isn't - but I don't understand the reasons behind it.
With standard dv source intended for a 4:3 aspect ratio though, 640x480 gives square pixels that meets the 16 division rule so that's what I use.
Last edited by resedit (2009-10-22 10:07 pm)
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
Online
#10 2009-10-25 7:08 pm
Re: software for web video?
It looks like handbrake is a front end to ffmpeg, so it should be able to do most of the same stuff as ffmpeg from the command line.
This is the shell script I use to make my web presentation videos from DV source using ffmpeg (it also uses ffmpeg2theora for creation of ogg theora versions of the file):
http://www.shastaherps.org/shell/encodeVideo.sh
To encode somefile.dv you would run
sh encodeVideo.sh somefile
it will output mp4 and theora and flv at 640x480 and at 384x288 (4:3 aspect ratio)
The reason it takes makes a separate mpeg2 and audio source is for the benefit of ffmpeg2theora which has some bugs going from dv source.
I may try to make equivalent for DVD source at some point, but I haven't yet.
Last edited by resedit (2009-10-25 7:10 pm)
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
Online
