Korean Job Discussion Forums

ohfamous · Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Location: Off the beaten path

I've been trying for the past couple weeks to compress a 6 min. project down to 100MB so I can put it online. Unfortunately, I can't get it lower than 110MB without losing some major quality. I've tried exporting using Xvid, Divx, and Microsoft MPEG4 codecs, but either the quality is bad or the files are way tool large (200MB). I've found that using Adobe Media Encoder to export a .wmv has produced the best results (110MB and Divx quality). I've played around with a lot of the settings, but I can never get the filesize any smaller without losing quality. But I know it's possible.

I'm just wondering how 4GB DVD rips of movies can be compressed down to 700MB with great quality using Gordian Knot and such, while Premiere can't even come close to that kind of compression. And those movies are 2 hours long while my project is only 6 minutes! Does it have anything to do with the fact that my source video is made of MPEGs from my digicam? Anyone help please?

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

go to the videohelp.com forums and you'll get an excellent answer. I know how to do it, but can't explain it well right now.

re:cursive · Joined: 04 Jan 2006

Premier should be able to this.

It's been a while since I've done it myself and I don't have a copy at the moment but if my video editing buddy comes online I'll ask him for you.

ohfamous · Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Location: Off the beaten path

i went to videohelp.com and tried some of the tips, but none of them have been successful. so i decided to use the same method as ripping and encoding DVDs and have been able to get the file size down to 100MB, but with some noticeable loss of quality. i exported as a DVD-mpeg from Premiere Media Encoder and then ran it through Gordian Knot, VirtualDub, and Nandub, encoding in Xvid VBR. it's better than anything Premiere produced at that file size, but i'm still not satisfied with ugly pixelated fades to black. Crying or Very sad

if anyone has more advice, i'd appreciate it!

re:cursive · Joined: 04 Jan 2006

Ok, my memory has been jogged a bit...Within Premier, sorrenson is one of the better codecs for retaining quality while reducing file size. Don't be scared to bump your frame rate up. I've done a few largish video projects using sorrenson and have been able to display the product on a projector and PA system without "too" much loss in visual/sound quality.

I had a look on a vj forum and some peeps recommend a program called Cleaner Ez.

Quote: "I often use Adobe Premiere with Cleaner Ez to compress videos for web. For ex i have a 5min video with sound, compressed with Premi�re and Cleaner Ez has a physical size about 9mb"

If you are looking to compress a 6 minute project and have 100mb to play with you should be able to retain a good level of quality with this option.

A lot of this depends on the qualities of the original video you are trying to compress. Different codecs and processes will work differently for various kinds of video.

re:cursive · Joined: 04 Jan 2006

One other thing...if you don't like pixelated fades to black...Fix it in editing, not the compression process. Take a graphic design approach to the problem. Individual and/or groups of frames can be modified to suit compression. In a lot of ways this is part of the secret to slick web motion graphics. Depends how serious you are?