AVI quality/size settings

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Solved by

Mar 12, 2014 18:24

Hi guys,

Forgive me if my question is to obvious or I sound like an ignorant. In fact I am. I am new to video producing. Till now I've only watched them

I recently bought my first camcorder (JVC GZ-EX310) and now I try to do all the best of it

I searched forum but I couldn't find any tip.

First of all it is important what I want-to/do-not-want-to do at the moment. I do not need to produce HD movies. I need it to record my meetings and then to cut them to pieces, combine (with some modifications, effects) and produce some summary video of it.

First of all I need my final movie to be of a decent quality and size.
Let's say my final movie is 1 hour long and produced version should be of AVI format, 720x405px (16:9 ratio) picture size and no more than 1GB of file size.

What I can see on Produce tab under AVI is only two FIXED options. Both of them end up with file of 3-4GB in size. Far more then I want it to be.

How do I do it using PD12? Is there any way to change/create custom AVI encoding profile?

_______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

GGRussell

Senior Contributor Joined: Jan 08, 2012 11:38 Messages: 709 Offline

Mar 12, 2014 19:24

Why does it have to be AVI? Standard AVI 16:9 uses 720x480 or 720x576 (PAL) with a 'flag' to play it back widescreen. I see no way to customize the AVI output in PD12. Intel i7 4770k, 16GB, GTX1060 3GB, Two 240GB SSD, 4TB HD, Sony HDR-TD20V 3D camcorder, Sony SLT-A65VK for still images, Windows 10 Pro, 64bit
Gary Russell -- TN USA

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Mar 12, 2014 20:07

Quote: Why does it have to be AVI?

Because it is the most popular format for a range of PC players, accepted by most of youtube-like sites as well. With good size/quality ratio.

Quote: Standard AVI 16:9 uses 720x480 or 720x576 (PAL) with a 'flag' to play it back widescreen.

I'm sorry, but 720x480 nor 720x576 both do not produce 16:9 ratio, so how do you play it on widescreen? With black margins on the left and right side or stripped out top and bottom?

Quote: I see no way to customize the AVI output in PD12.

Nor am I

What about creating custom profile?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Mar 12. 2014 20:10

_______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 12, 2014 21:39

Hi Tom -

I'd agree with Gary's question absolutely: Why does it have to be AVI?

Your JVC records in AVCHD/MPEG-4, depending on your recording settings. Producing to either of those would be far better than AVI... and you'd have control over the output size. AVI will almost certainly increase the file size with no improvement in quality (possibly the opposite)! Also, I wouldn't agree that AVI is a good streaming format for YouTube - nor is it so "universal".

The rule of thumb is always to produce in the same format/profile as the original clips to retain quality.

Which recording setting are you using?

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

GGRussell

Senior Contributor Joined: Jan 08, 2012 11:38 Messages: 709 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 00:36

YouTube would transcode the AVI to another format anyway. But if you are uploading to online services, MP4 is a much better format as Tony suggested. Intel i7 4770k, 16GB, GTX1060 3GB, Two 240GB SSD, 4TB HD, Sony HDR-TD20V 3D camcorder, Sony SLT-A65VK for still images, Windows 10 Pro, 64bit
Gary Russell -- TN USA

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 05:59

OK.. what you say sounds right I don't want to argue nor do I have so much experience as you do.

Let's put things from another perspective.
What to do to produce movie with following assumptions:
- doesn't have to be HD
- format should be playable by my friends using Windows PC without any need to install rare codecs
- 1 hour length should result in no more than 1,5GB file
How do I do it? _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 08:07

Hi Tom -

If file size & compatibility are priorities, WMV may be a good option for you. It will be universally playable on any PC & highly compressed so file sizes are small by comparison.

SD 16:9 Video Production (rough guide) - Duration 1 hour

AVC
720X480 @ 8MBps ~ 3GB
720X480 @ 1MBps ~ 720MB
- Edited from 640x480 to 720x480

MPEG-4
640X480 @ 6MBps ~ 2.9GB
640X480 # 1MBps ~ 570MB

AVI
720X480 @ 25MBps ~ 8.1GB

WMV
640X360 @ 1MBps ~ 280MB

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Mar 13. 2014 14:05

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 13:10

Thank you Tony for details. Just to make sure because not all is clear for me.. (there was a warning - I am a beginner

)

Quote: AVC
640X480 @ 8MBps ~ 3GB
640X480 @ 1MBps ~ 720MB

MPEG-4
640X480 @ 6MBps ~ 2.9GB
640X480 # 1MBps ~ 570MB

I understand, that it is the way but for 4:3 not 16:9? or better said 16:9 with black top/bottom strips.

Quote: AVI
720X480 @ 25MBps ~ 8.1GB

File size.. HUGE!!! because of bitrate I suppose..

Quote: WMV
640X360 @ 1MBps ~ 280MB

I cannot see any profile with these settings

Is it possible to create new one? How do I do it?

Is there a way to create custom profiles for AVI? What I can see, it is possible for all formats but AVI and WMV and these are formats I care the most about

_______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 14:03

Whoops Tom - my apologies!

For the AVC profiles I typed 640x480 but it was supposed to be 720x480! It really is 16:9!

The MPEG-4 640x480 profiles are also 16:9 - it looks like it should be 4:3 but displays as 16:9 because of the non-square pixel aspect ratio (I think) Someone smarter 'n me might be able to explain that better.

AVI? Yes - the higher bitrate is a major factor in file size. I know of no way to modify the AVI profiles & have no use for that.

WMV? Sorry - I should have selected one of the standard WMV profiles for the example. Yes - you can modify WMV profiles, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you're just finding your way around PowerDirector.

These two tutorials show how - http://youtu.be/vw2RlzIt9EM and http://youtu.be/IIFemK-akHY

I'll fix my mistake (above).

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 14:19

Tom -

Attached is a collection of WMV profiles I've modified. You're welcome to use them if you wish. That should make up for my previous indiscretion.

After unzipping the file, just copy & paste the profiles - .prx files - (not the containing folder) in
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDirector12\Language\enu\Profiles or the language folder appropriate to your use.

WMV is a very useful format to use for streaming, email & distribution because of the compression/file size. The down-side of that is picture quality.

Cheers - Tony

Filename	Profiles_WMV.zip	Download
Description
Filesize	55 Kbytes
Downloaded:	248 time(s)

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 14:30

Tony,
Your tutorials look quite easy but the first step.. you say "open.." how do I do it? What I can see is not text editor. It is sth what understands PD .prx file format. When I doubleclick on .prx file, my Windows asks me to show the way to open it. What do you mean by open? _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 14:55

Ah yes - the software used in those tutorials (though it's no longer supported by Microsoft) can be downloaded here http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=17792

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 16:42

Thank you Tony! it works

.. at least partially..

I am able to create new profile file and edit it. But it doesn't show up in PD when I select WMV format

I thought it could have been some problem with languages (I use english). I created new file in Language\enu\Profile so I believe is OK?

I did some tests and when I changed one profile description it didn't change in PD.. the same happened when I removed profile files.. they didn't disappear.. strange, isn't it?

What's going on? _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 17:13

Tom -

Wow! You're a fast learner!

If it's not showing up in PD, there's probably an issue with the external naming protocols. i.e. how it's named in the Profiles folder.

If you attach one of your new profiles (the .prx file) here, members will be able to see whether there's an issue with that.

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

teedee

Member Joined: Mar 12, 2014 16:38 Messages: 67 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 18:21

Tony,

I might be beginner with video but I'm not with Windows

I don't know exactly what happened bu finally I got it to work! Probably there was some service still not closed from PD which caused edited profiles to revert to initial state (maybe PD has got some profile cache and writes it back on closing?).
Anyway.. after closing PD I have to wait a while and then I can do all changes.

WMV with 640x360 and 1MB bitrate works pretty well. It produces files of size slightly bigger then my previous AVI with the same settings. I mean I produced AVI out of PD and then I downsized it using external application (Freemake Video Converter). I really do not know why I do stick to AVI. I've never liked WMV

Thank you Tony for your advice

BTW do you think 1MB bitrate is ok according to any "standards". Should I use any other settings or maybe VBR would be better? _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 13, 2014 18:34

Quote: I need it to record my meetings and then to cut them to pieces, combine (with some modifications, effects) and produce some summary video of it.

Tom -

Unless you go to wild, action-packed meetings the 1MBps VBR should suffice. I guess - just see how it looks with the recordings you're doing. If there's any motion blur, boost the bitrate.

You're right - sometimes you need to close PD then re-open before the profiles appear.

I'm glad you're on the way with all you're doing. Good job!

Cheers - Tony
Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!