Sorenson 3 codec

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:08 am

Anyone know why whites always come out gray when exporting in sorenson 3? in 'Animation' they come out white, but files sizes are huge...

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:51 pm

I don't think I ever noticed that.

You are talking about the options with QT correct?

Are you sure it isn't the "gray" default background of AS? If you render that as "animation" it may be that the gray is becoming white.

Just guessing.

Sorenson 3 is kind of "old" these days. I use mpg4, smaller files, better quality.

-vern

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:13 am

for some reason when i set it to mpeg4, the quality isnt as good... but its not the background gray, its like the whole video has its contrast turned down a bit so nothing is white at all... hmmm

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:35 am

Some codecs drastically reduce the colour resolution. That's why the result appears flat and a bit gray.

Sörensen isn't a codec for production, it's best for distributed files. During production, when files go into different programs, by any means use a lossless codec.

JimmyC · Post by **JimmyC** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:49 am

I just used Sorensen 3 for everything, mainly because it was the default!

I tried mpg4, and the files are larger for me Can't see any difference in quality (simple test) Is there a list somewhere of 'lossless codecs'. I know roughly what it means in relation to jpegs, but I am still whisling in the dark when it comes to video and audio formats.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:40 am

Wikipedia.

JimmyC · Post by **JimmyC** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:53 am

I don't really need to know for the moment, but Wikipedia doesn't have any mention of most of the ones available to me in ASP. I just thought there may be a list of lossless codecs somewhere that someone might want to share.

I am not lazy, and I have been on the internet since 1996, and I know how to use Google

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:24 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:27 am

i think 'Animation' setting is lossless - and you can export with alpha (millions of colours+)... makes massive files though... i use this in production pipeline, but i like to export sorenson3 for tests and such... will try mp4 but it doesnt look as good from my experience (except for the contrast)

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:14 pm

I always render from AS using "None" as my compression (QT). It takes the same amount of time to render and then I can use QT Pro or any other NL video editing application to export to any type of compression I want to get the best results for online use or whatever I need.

File sizes are HUGE but hard drive space is really cheap these days and I usually delete the raw uncompressed files used for testing purposes eventually.

What I've found is that exporting from AS to mp4 format gives me "larger" files than using QT export. With QT I can adjust the image quality to get smaller but fairly good quality for web use or for review purposes.

If I am in a real hurry and no one but me will see it and it's just a quick review animation I will use some type of massive compression codec right out of AS just to save time.

-vern

JimmyC · Post by **JimmyC** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:18 pm

@slowtiger - Thanks, that is the list I saw. Like I said ...

I don't really need to know for the moment, but Wikipedia doesn't have any mention of most of the ones available to me in ASP.

The ones I mean are all the options in 'Compression Type' within Compression Settings in ASP. i.e. H261, H263, H264,JPEG 2000, Motion JPEG A etc, etc. They may well not be 'lossless'

It was just a passing thought, and when I am ready I will find out what they are, and if I need them or not. Thank you