Excel Sheet Download 7250 | Video Software

Partial file snippet.

Sheet 1: Main

Main purpose

Editor
Editor
Editor +Player
Player
Player
Player
Player
Transcoder
Transcoder
Create DVD

Name

Win Movie Maker 2.1
Autodesk Cleaner XL
QuickTime 7 Pro
QuickTime 7
Win Media Player 9
Real Player 10.5 Plus
VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
TMPGEnc 2.524
Media Coder

I have "MyDVD LE v5.0" which was bundled with my Dell 4600 (~year 2002).
MyDVD LE 5.0

Home page (Web)

Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Version 8

Player

1x
Yes
Possible
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Near

Good

2x
Yes
Possible
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Unsure
No
Near

Hopefull

Full screen
Unsure
Unsure
Yes
Near
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Near

Unsure

Transcoder

Possible
Yes
Possible
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No

Little hope

Editor (to create the video files)

Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Basic
No
No

Bad

DVD creation

You need to have Windows MCE (Media Center Edition) 2005 and MyDVD which receives the single file to be burned to DVD.

Possible
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes

Price ( $US )

0
600
30
0
0
0
0
30 day free
0

for version 8.

In
MP3 (for audio track)

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Likely
N/A

Canon S80 camera records video of this type.

AVI

Yes
Unsure
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Fails on all AVI generated by Windows Movie Maker.

No
Yes
Likely
Yes-Tested

test file was generated by QuickTime Pro, using their MPEG-4 "plain ISO" codec.

ISO MPEG-4 (before H.264)

No
Likely
Yes
Yes

No with standard install of Media Player, but a special codec may allow this.

Maybe
Yes
Yes

Fails on all AVI generated by Windows Movie Maker.

No
Likely
Yes-Tested

ISO MPEG-4 (H.264)

No
Yes
Yes
Yes

No with standard install of Media Player, but a special codec may allow this.

Maybe
Audio only
Yes

Fails on all AVI generated by Windows Movie Maker.

No
Likely
Yes-Tested

MPEG-4 (by Win MM)

Yes
Unlikely
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes

Fails on all AVI generated by Windows Movie Maker.

No
Maybe
Yes-Tested

MPEG-2

Yes
Yes
Yes +20$. Not editable.
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Only for demuxing
Likely
Yes-Tested

MPEG-1

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Likely
Yes-Tested

WMV

Yes
Likely
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes

Fails on all AVI generated by Windows Movie Maker.

No
Likely
Yes-Tested

MOV

No
Likely
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No sound

Fails on all AVI generated by Windows Movie Maker.

No
Likely
Yes-Tested

ASF

Yes
Not listed
No
No
Yes
Yes
No sound
Yes
Likely
Yes-Tested

Name

Win Movie Maker 2.1
Autodesk Cleaner XL
QuickTime 7 Pro
QuickTime 7
Win Media Player 9
Real Player 10.5 Plus
VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
TMPGEnc 2.524
Media Coder
MyDVD LE 5.0

Out
ISO MPEG-4 (before H.264)
640x480
No
Likely
Yes
No
No
No
Yes,original size. Good quality for MPEG-2 input. Problems when input is WMV.
No
Likely
No

720x480
No
Likely
Yes
No
No
No
No
Likely
No

Higher ?
No
Likely
1920x1080
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

ISO MPEG-4, H.264
640x480
No
Likely
Yes
No
No
No
Yes,original size. Good quality for MPEG-2 input. Problems when input is WMV.
No
Maybe
No

720x480
No
Likely
Yes
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

Higher ?
No
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

MPEG-4 (*.WMV created by Win Movie maker)
640x480
Yes
Unlikely
No
No
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

720x480
Likely
Unlikely
No
No
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

Higher ?
Likely
Unlikely
No
No
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

MPEG-2
640x480
No
Likely
No
No
No
No
Crappy result, original size kept. Video speed increased for MPEG-1 as input.
Only for demuxing
Likely
No

720x480
No
Likely
No
No
No
No
Likely
No

Higher ?
No
Likely
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

WMV (no relation to MPEG-1 -2 or -4)
640x480
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
No
No WMV extension, but corresponding codec posible.
No
Unlikely
No

720x480
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

Higher ?
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

MPEG-1
640x480
No
Likely
No
No
No
No
Yes,original size. Quality can be adjusted with bitrate.
Yes
Likely
No

720x480
No
Likely
No
No
No
No
Yes
Likely
No

Higher ?
No
Likely
No
No
No
No
Yes
Maybe
No

AVI
640x480
Maybe
Not listed
Likely
No
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

720x480
Yes
Not listed
Likely
No
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

Higher ?
Maybe
Not listed
Likely
No
No
No
No
No
Maybe
No

MOV
640x480
No
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
Has MOV extension, but not corresponding path to create file.
No
Unlikely
No

720x480
No
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

Higher ?
No
Likely
Likely
No
No
No
No
Unlikely
No

Sheet 2: MPEG-4

MPEG-4

History:

Chris Grantham, 2006/4/19: A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away when MPEG-4 was in early development by the Moving Picture Experts Group (A division of the International Organization of Standardization) and it used the .avi container format. Microsoft decided they would jump the gun and release a version of it before it was actually finished. They called it MSMPEG-4 v.1 and MSMPEG-4 v.2. It still used the .avi format and was not what you'd call a finished codec. The open source community got hold of it as well, and began creating codecs that produced higher quality video, but still used .avi and were loaded with bugs. As with most open source projects it quickly fractured and became DivX, 3ivX, XviD, DivX;) etc etc etc. In the mean time the MPEG consortium which now included Apple among others decided to switch the container format from AVI to MOV for a variety of development reasons. They also improved and finalized the MPEG-4 spec which bears little resemblance to the codecs that MSMPEG-4or the *ivX variants were based on. The end result is that while the MPEG-4 spec was being finished, many users, especially in video piracy circles, became attached to the *ivX codecs for their superior quality at high bitrates to the alternatives at the time. When the ISO MPEG-4 spec was finalized they saw no reason to switch because the infrastructure for *ivX was already there, they were loyal to the Open Source movement and the users who were downloading the pirated videos were familiar with *ivX. Hence the popularity of *ivX encoded content on Bittorrent trackers.

Implementation / codecs:

There are many implementations, with the most recent being: Part 10 aka H.264

Chris Grantham, 2006/4/19: Be careful of non-ISO standard MPEG-4 formats if that's a direction you want to go. DivX, XviD, and the dozens of other variants that claim MPEG-4 compliance generally aren't ISO MPEG-4 compliant. If the file produced doesn't have a .MOV or .mp4 extension, it's not ISO MPEG-4. As far as I know the only tools that currently produce ISO MPEG-4 output use the QuickTime engine, OR 3ivX which itself doesn't produce a compliant file but the result can be "passed through" quicktime to produce a slightly higher quality ISO compliant MPEG-4.

ISO MPEG-4, "Plain" (older than H.264) codec

Players

Real Player 10.5

QuickTime 7 (Not even "Pro", just the free player)

VLC media player

Windows Media Player: Chris Grantham, 2006/4/21: Windows Media Player *might* play ISO MPEG-4 is the user has an *ivX codec installed that handles ISO MPEG-4. It doesn't play them "out of the box". Microsoft has a nasty habit of not adopting standards..ugh.

ISO MPEG-4, Part 10. Also known as H.264

Wikipedia: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC

Players

QuickTime 7 (Not even "Pro", just the free player)

VLC media player

WMV (Created with Windows Movie maker) ISO MPEG-4 Video V1

Windows Media Player Version 9

DivX, XviD and variants:

Chris Grantham, 2006/4/19: Most *ivX decoders, while they won't actually create ISO MPEG-4 compliant video, WILL decode it and so an MPEG-4 created with Quicktime will often play using one of the many *ivX codecs, which you can use if you don't want to download QuickTime/iTunes.
The problem with DivX, XviD or the dozens of other variants, is that there are literally DOZENS of variants, hundreds of bugs, and more incompatibility issues than MS Word. The nightmare for end users is finding the ONE variant that happens to decode the particular *ivX file they're trying to view. The video quality differences between QuickTime MPEG-4 and DivX at the bitrates you'll be using for web distribution are negligible. There is a slight difference at higher bitrates but in that case you use 3ivX to create an uncompliant MPEG-4, then QuickTime Pro to adjust the container format for ISO MPEG-4 compliance. If you REALLY want the best quality at all bitrates, you use MPEG-4 part 10 (H.264).

Selecting a format (encoder / codec)

ISO MPEG-4 H.264 (created by QuickTime Pro)

Chris Grantham, 2006/4/27: Of course, you always have the option of just dumping everything to H.264 right now and forcing everyone to use QT, VLC, or download a x264 codec for WMP. Could be a slight hassle to your viewers but the files will be smaller and higher quality.

Image quality: Thanks to Chris Grantham who encoded with QuickTime Pro an AVI file generated by a canon S80, into "Plain ISO" and H.264, it was obvious that the H.264 was better quality when comparing the playback.

Shelf life. Chris Grantham, 2006/4/28: Farther than I can foresee. H.264 is one of the two standards in use for HD-DVD discs and is already used by the movie studios. Current HD-DVD players are required to play it as part of supporting the standard. It should be ubiquitous for a good long time, similar to MPEG-1, 2 and MPEG-2 Layer 3 (MP3). There's no standard in the works beyond H.264 (at least that's been made public) so all their eggs are more or less in one basket.

ISO MPEG-4 "Plain" codec (created by QuickTime Pro)

Chris Grantham, 2006/4/27: Here's what I'd do. Output everything to ISO MPEG-4 for now using the mp4 file container [and QuickTime Pro]. You may not be getting the absolute maximum quality/filesize with QT MPEG-4 but it's a tradeoff for ease of encoding and availability of players. If you're worried about the quality, increase the bitrate. That'll increase the file size a bit but you can't have everything.
Archive all your raw footage as Apple Lossless so you don't lose the option of re-encoding it to H.264 later without a quality hit. That'll save you a lot of space over raw footage too. When full H.264 adoption finally happens, you can re-encode all your media to H.264, or whatever comes after H.264.
In the mean time keep your eyes open for *ivX variants that will output ISO MPEG-4 content in a non-standard container format. You can run that through QT to get it fully ISO compliant.

WMV (Created with Windows Movie maker) ISO MPEG-4 Video V1

This seems like a mutant format. I don't want Microsoft's derivation of a standard. If it doesn't have the MP4 extension, it just doesn't seem right.

Converting an MPEG-2 file to MPEG-4 H.264

See "MPEG-2 to 4" page for a comparison of the following transcoding methods.

Demux with TMPGEnc and use QuickTime Pro with MPEG-2 import.

Limitations:

QuickTime, MPEG-2 playback.

From the above web page:
(1) Note that the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component will not demux audio and video, nor will it enable audio transcoding.
(2) Only VOB files containing MPEG audio layers I and II are supported.

Concerns:

Jerome Daoust, 2006/5/2: Most of my MPEG-2 productions contain part of an MP3 (MPEG-2 Layer 3) song for the audio, and the audio+video tracks may (not sure) be muxed (combined into a single track). I am concerned that my mp3 songs (MPEG-2 Layer 3) audio tracks will not be imported, or that the audio+video are muxed, so audio would be lost during export.

Chris Grantham, 2006/5/3: Your concerns are valid. QT wont demux the A/V stream when it exports to H.264 so you end up losing the audio track. There are demuxers out there though. Most of them are small, simple, shareware or freeware apps. I've used BBDemux in the past but a search of versiontracker.com for "demux" will turn up plenty of gizmos that do the same thing.
A demuxer will output 2 files. An audio track and a video track. Your MPEG-2 muxed file output an MPEG-1 audio track which you can transcode to whatever you like. Same for the video track. I'd probably recombine them with QT Pro before transcoding so you can do it in one step.

Chris Grantham, 2006/5/3: A muxed MPEG-2 will be output into MPEG-2 video and audio streams. An MPEG-1 will be demuxed into an MPEG-1 video and audio stream. If you want to play with demuxed MPEG-2 streams you still need the MPEG-2 decoders. You won't be able to do much editing to the MPEG-2 streams anyway until you export them to a raw format. MPEG files don't play nice with editors because of the way each frame is constructed. Each frame is an update of the previous frame. So if you edit it, weirdness happens.

Demux (de-mulitplex).

Use TMPGEnc (see Procedure in TMPGEnc page of this document) or any other a demuxer to split the original MPEG-2 file into two (audio, video). There is no loss of video or audio quality during this process, as the demuxing (de-multiplexing) process is just separating the two streams (video and audio tracks) and does not transcode anything.

Audio file/track:

For your information: When using TMPGEng (above step), the resulting audio file (*.mp2) is actually an MPEG-1 file.

Mac users… Chris Grantham, 2006/5/6: QT had problems opening it with an "mp2" extension, but as soon as I changed it back to "mpg" it was all good.

To allow recombining audio + video in QuickTime, you need to convert this file to WAV format. Use VLC Media Player's (you need version 0.8.5 as 0.8.4 will not work) Wizard to transcode it into an uncompressed WAV…

File: Wizard…

Transcode/Save to file

Existing playlist item. Select the audio track.

Transcode audio: codec="Uncompressed, integer", Bitrate=192 (kb/s)

Verify "WAV" is selected

Establish a file name, click "Finish"

Video file/track:

Do nothing. It was originally thought that the video-only MPEG-2 file needed to be converted to an uncompressed file that QuickTime pro can edit, but there is no need to trim this file, so it can be used as-is by QT pro.

Note. Converting this file to uncompressed MOV format using QuickTime Pro to export to uncompressed MOV, has proven to result in a significant loss of contrast and sharpness, despite the concept that there should not be an video quality loss during such this conversion.

H.264 encoding.

Open the video-only (or the original muxed video+audio) MPEG-2 video file with QuickTime pro.

Remove the audio track (sometimes there is still one): Window: Show Movie Properties: Select the "Sound Track", click the "Delete" button.

Open the WAV audio file also with QT Pro. It will be in another Player window.

To avoid the addition of white extra video frames after joining the audio file to the video, trim the equivalent of a few video frames from the end of the audio.

Select all the audio (Ctrl+A), then copy (Ctrl+C).

In the Video window of QT, place the Play cursor at the beginning and do an "Edit: Add to Movie" operation to add the audio track.

Verify there are no white extra frames at the end of the movie.

Export to MPEG-4 H.264. See "QT Pro" page for guidance.

VLC Player transcoding to H.264 at max quality (3072 kbps video, 196 kbps audio) + QT encoding to H.264

Process

Creating input for QuickTime (next pass):
Use VLC Media Player, saving to H.264 MPEG-4 at maximum video bitrate (3072 kbps) and use a high audio bitrate (196 kbps).
Experimental H.264 encoding: The resulting file should be according to the H.264 standard, but encoding quality may not be as good as possible, and multi-pass encoding may not be supported.

Import with QT and export as H.264.

VLC Player direct transcoding to H.264

Process

Use VLC Media Player, which converts video+audio (even muxed) to H.264 MPEG-4 in a single operation.
Experimental H.264 encoding: The resulting file should be according to the H.264 standard, but encoding quality may not be as good as possible, and multi-pass encoding may not be supported.

Converting an MPEG-1 file to MPEG-4 H.264

Limitations:

QT Pro will play MPEG-1 files without the need to purchase MPEG-2 playback option, but most often there will be a single muxed track containing both video and audio, and QT Pro will loose the audio when exporting to MPEG-4 H.264.

Solution:

Follow the same procedure as above, for MPEG-2 file conversion to MPEG-4.

Converting a WMV file to MPEG-4 H.264

Solution:

Establish the frame rate (fps) using Windows Media Player: View: Statistics: Advanced.

Establish the original resolution using VLC Media Player: View: Stream and Media Info…: Advanced information.

Use Windows Movie Maker to import the movie, and drag it down to a track. Save it as a DV-AVI movie (forces 720x480 resolution)

Open the AVI file with QuickTime Pro. Save as MPEG-4 with desired resolution and frame rate. See "QT Pro" page in this document for settings.

Sheet 3: MPEG-2 to 4

Best transcoding method for converting an MPEG-2 file to MPEG-4 H.264

Demux with TMPGEnc and use QuickTime Pro with MPEG-2 import.
Demux with TMPGEnc and use QuickTime Pro with MPEG-2 import.
VLC Player transcoding to H.264 at max quality (3072 kbps video, 196 kbps audio) + QT encoding to H.264
VLC Player direct transcoding to H.264

Bitrates, Video + Audio (kbps)
768 + 64
768 + 64
768 + 64
768 + 64

QuickTime Encoding option
Multi-pass
Single-pass
Multi-pass
Not applicable

Color contrast is kept
100% of original
100% of original
100% of original
100% of original

Sharpness/Details is kept (still images)
75%. The multi-pass encoding option of QT is the culprit.
85%
75%. The multi-pass encoding option of QT is the culprit.
85%

Pixelization at moving object edges
90%. Multi-pass encoding option of QT helps here.
70%. Thin moving objects (like PG lines) have significant pixelization.
90%. Multi-pass encoding option of QT helps here.
85%

Smooth sky background when lots of movement in foreground.
Same as original
Same as original
Same as original
Macro pixelization, even with higher (768 VS 600 kbps)

Audio at 64 kbps encoding
Same as original
Same as original
Same as original
Same as original

Final encoding with QT Pro H.264
Yes
Yes
Yes
No, it uses x264 encoder (public free encoder), but it may still be adhering to H.264 standard.

File size compared to original
19.3%
19.7%
19.2%
22.70%

Can avoid the purchase of QT MPEG-2 import feature.
No, but it is only 20$.
<-- Same
Yes
Yes

Simpicity of the steps to transcode.
De-multiplexing (fast), audio conversion to WAV (fast), merging of audio and video for final encoding (1x slow). Best to follow a procedure.
<-- Same, but faster encoding.
OK. Double-pass encoding (2x slow), even with MPEG-2 file having muxed audio+video.
Easy. Single-pass encoding, even with MPEG-2 file having muxed audio+video.

Overall
1st
3rd

Same video quality as #1 choice.
But double encoding time offsets the simpler process.

2nd
4th

Excellent

Good

Acceptable
Info only

Poor

Unaceptable

The words contained in this file might help you see if this file matches what you are looking for:

...Sheet main purpose editor player transcoder create dvd name win movie maker autodesk cleaner xl quicktime pro media real plus vlc a tmpgenc coder i have quot mydvd le v which was bundled with my dell year home page web link version x yes possible no near good unsure hopefull full screen little hope to the video files basic bad creation you need windows mce center edition and receives single file be burned price us day free for in mp audio track likely na canon s camera records of this type avi fails on all generated by yestested test using their mpeg plain iso codec before h standard install but special may allow maybe only mm unlikely not editable demuxing wmv mov sound asf listed out original size quality input problems when is higher created crappy result kept speed increased as relation or extension corresponding posible can adjusted bitrate has path history chris grantham long time ago galaxy far away early development moving picture experts group division international organizati...

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MPEG-4

History:
			Chris Grantham, 2006/4/19: A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away when MPEG-4 was in early development by the Moving Picture Experts Group (A division of the International Organization of Standardization) and it used the .avi container format. Microsoft decided they would jump the gun and release a version of it before it was actually finished. They called it MSMPEG-4 v.1 and MSMPEG-4 v.2. It still used the .avi format and was not what you'd call a finished codec. The open source community got hold of it as well, and began creating codecs that produced higher quality video, but still used .avi and were loaded with bugs. As with most open source projects it quickly fractured and became DivX, 3ivX, XviD, DivX;) etc etc etc. In the mean time the MPEG consortium which now included Apple among others decided to switch the container format from AVI to MOV for a variety of development reasons. They also improved and finalized the MPEG-4 spec which bears little resemblance to the codecs that MSMPEG-4or the ivX variants were based on. The end result is that while the MPEG-4 spec was being finished, many users, especially in video piracy circles, became attached to the ivX codecs for their superior quality at high bitrates to the alternatives at the time. When the ISO MPEG-4 spec was finalized they saw no reason to switch because the infrastructure for ivX was already there, they were loyal to the Open Source movement and the users who were downloading the pirated videos were familiar with ivX. Hence the popularity of *ivX encoded content on Bittorrent trackers.
Implementation / codecs:
			There are many implementations, with the most recent being: Part 10 aka H.264
			Chris Grantham, 2006/4/19: Be careful of non-ISO standard MPEG-4 formats if that's a direction you want to go. DivX, XviD, and the dozens of other variants that claim MPEG-4 compliance generally aren't ISO MPEG-4 compliant. If the file produced doesn't have a .MOV or .mp4 extension, it's not ISO MPEG-4. As far as I know the only tools that currently produce ISO MPEG-4 output use the QuickTime engine, OR 3ivX which itself doesn't produce a compliant file but the result can be "passed through" quicktime to produce a slightly higher quality ISO compliant MPEG-4.
	ISO MPEG-4, "Plain" (older than H.264) codec
		Players
			Real Player 10.5
			QuickTime 7 (Not even "Pro", just the free player)
			VLC media player
			Windows Media Player: Chris Grantham, 2006/4/21: Windows Media Player might play ISO MPEG-4 is the user has an *ivX codec installed that handles ISO MPEG-4. It doesn't play them "out of the box". Microsoft has a nasty habit of not adopting standards..ugh.
	ISO MPEG-4, Part 10. Also known as H.264
			Wikipedia: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
		Players
			QuickTime 7 (Not even "Pro", just the free player)
			VLC media player
	WMV (Created with Windows Movie maker) ISO MPEG-4 Video V1
			Windows Media Player Version 9
	DivX, XviD and variants:
			Chris Grantham, 2006/4/19: Most ivX decoders, while they won't actually create ISO MPEG-4 compliant video, WILL decode it and so an MPEG-4 created with Quicktime will often play using one of the many ivX codecs, which you can use if you don't want to download QuickTime/iTunes. The problem with DivX, XviD or the dozens of other variants, is that there are literally DOZENS of variants, hundreds of bugs, and more incompatibility issues than MS Word. The nightmare for end users is finding the ONE variant that happens to decode the particular *ivX file they're trying to view. The video quality differences between QuickTime MPEG-4 and DivX at the bitrates you'll be using for web distribution are negligible. There is a slight difference at higher bitrates but in that case you use 3ivX to create an uncompliant MPEG-4, then QuickTime Pro to adjust the container format for ISO MPEG-4 compliance. If you REALLY want the best quality at all bitrates, you use MPEG-4 part 10 (H.264).
Selecting a format (encoder / codec)
	ISO MPEG-4 H.264 (created by QuickTime Pro)
			Chris Grantham, 2006/4/27: Of course, you always have the option of just dumping everything to H.264 right now and forcing everyone to use QT, VLC, or download a x264 codec for WMP. Could be a slight hassle to your viewers but the files will be smaller and higher quality.
			Image quality: Thanks to Chris Grantham who encoded with QuickTime Pro an AVI file generated by a canon S80, into "Plain ISO" and H.264, it was obvious that the H.264 was better quality when comparing the playback.
			Shelf life. Chris Grantham, 2006/4/28: Farther than I can foresee. H.264 is one of the two standards in use for HD-DVD discs and is already used by the movie studios. Current HD-DVD players are required to play it as part of supporting the standard. It should be ubiquitous for a good long time, similar to MPEG-1, 2 and MPEG-2 Layer 3 (MP3). There's no standard in the works beyond H.264 (at least that's been made public) so all their eggs are more or less in one basket.
	ISO MPEG-4 "Plain" codec (created by QuickTime Pro)
			Chris Grantham, 2006/4/27: Here's what I'd do. Output everything to ISO MPEG-4 for now using the mp4 file container [and QuickTime Pro]. You may not be getting the absolute maximum quality/filesize with QT MPEG-4 but it's a tradeoff for ease of encoding and availability of players. If you're worried about the quality, increase the bitrate. That'll increase the file size a bit but you can't have everything. Archive all your raw footage as Apple Lossless so you don't lose the option of re-encoding it to H.264 later without a quality hit. That'll save you a lot of space over raw footage too. When full H.264 adoption finally happens, you can re-encode all your media to H.264, or whatever comes after H.264. In the mean time keep your eyes open for *ivX variants that will output ISO MPEG-4 content in a non-standard container format. You can run that through QT to get it fully ISO compliant.
	WMV (Created with Windows Movie maker) ISO MPEG-4 Video V1
			This seems like a mutant format. I don't want Microsoft's derivation of a standard. If it doesn't have the MP4 extension, it just doesn't seem right.
Converting an MPEG-2 file to MPEG-4 H.264
	See "MPEG-2 to 4" page for a comparison of the following transcoding methods.
	Demux with TMPGEnc and use QuickTime Pro with MPEG-2 import.
		Limitations:
			QuickTime, MPEG-2 playback.
			From the above web page: (1) Note that the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component will not demux audio and video, nor will it enable audio transcoding. (2) Only VOB files containing MPEG audio layers I and II are supported.
		Concerns:
			Jerome Daoust, 2006/5/2: Most of my MPEG-2 productions contain part of an MP3 (MPEG-2 Layer 3) song for the audio, and the audio+video tracks may (not sure) be muxed (combined into a single track). I am concerned that my mp3 songs (MPEG-2 Layer 3) audio tracks will not be imported, or that the audio+video are muxed, so audio would be lost during export.
			Chris Grantham, 2006/5/3: Your concerns are valid. QT wont demux the A/V stream when it exports to H.264 so you end up losing the audio track. There are demuxers out there though. Most of them are small, simple, shareware or freeware apps. I've used BBDemux in the past but a search of versiontracker.com for "demux" will turn up plenty of gizmos that do the same thing. A demuxer will output 2 files. An audio track and a video track. Your MPEG-2 muxed file output an MPEG-1 audio track which you can transcode to whatever you like. Same for the video track. I'd probably recombine them with QT Pro before transcoding so you can do it in one step.
			Chris Grantham, 2006/5/3: A muxed MPEG-2 will be output into MPEG-2 video and audio streams. An MPEG-1 will be demuxed into an MPEG-1 video and audio stream. If you want to play with demuxed MPEG-2 streams you still need the MPEG-2 decoders. You won't be able to do much editing to the MPEG-2 streams anyway until you export them to a raw format. MPEG files don't play nice with editors because of the way each frame is constructed. Each frame is an update of the previous frame. So if you edit it, weirdness happens.
		Demux (de-mulitplex).
			Use TMPGEnc (see Procedure in TMPGEnc page of this document) or any other a demuxer to split the original MPEG-2 file into two (audio, video). There is no loss of video or audio quality during this process, as the demuxing (de-multiplexing) process is just separating the two streams (video and audio tracks) and does not transcode anything.
		Audio file/track:
			For your information: When using TMPGEng (above step), the resulting audio file (*.mp2) is actually an MPEG-1 file.
			Mac users… Chris Grantham, 2006/5/6: QT had problems opening it with an "mp2" extension, but as soon as I changed it back to "mpg" it was all good.
			To allow recombining audio + video in QuickTime, you need to convert this file to WAV format. Use VLC Media Player's (you need version 0.8.5 as 0.8.4 will not work) Wizard to transcode it into an uncompressed WAV…
			File: Wizard…
			Transcode/Save to file
			Existing playlist item. Select the audio track.
			Transcode audio: codec="Uncompressed, integer", Bitrate=192 (kb/s)
			Verify "WAV" is selected
			Establish a file name, click "Finish"
		Video file/track:
			Do nothing. It was originally thought that the video-only MPEG-2 file needed to be converted to an uncompressed file that QuickTime pro can edit, but there is no need to trim this file, so it can be used as-is by QT pro.
			Note. Converting this file to uncompressed MOV format using QuickTime Pro to export to uncompressed MOV, has proven to result in a significant loss of contrast and sharpness, despite the concept that there should not be an video quality loss during such this conversion.
		H.264 encoding.
			Open the video-only (or the original muxed video+audio) MPEG-2 video file with QuickTime pro.
			Remove the audio track (sometimes there is still one): Window: Show Movie Properties: Select the "Sound Track", click the "Delete" button.
			Open the WAV audio file also with QT Pro. It will be in another Player window.
			To avoid the addition of white extra video frames after joining the audio file to the video, trim the equivalent of a few video frames from the end of the audio.
			Select all the audio (Ctrl+A), then copy (Ctrl+C).
			In the Video window of QT, place the Play cursor at the beginning and do an "Edit: Add to Movie" operation to add the audio track.
			Verify there are no white extra frames at the end of the movie.
			Export to MPEG-4 H.264. See "QT Pro" page for guidance.
	VLC Player transcoding to H.264 at max quality (3072 kbps video, 196 kbps audio) + QT encoding to H.264
		Process
			Creating input for QuickTime (next pass): Use VLC Media Player, saving to H.264 MPEG-4 at maximum video bitrate (3072 kbps) and use a high audio bitrate (196 kbps). Experimental H.264 encoding: The resulting file should be according to the H.264 standard, but encoding quality may not be as good as possible, and multi-pass encoding may not be supported.
			Import with QT and export as H.264.
	VLC Player direct transcoding to H.264
		Process
			Use VLC Media Player, which converts video+audio (even muxed) to H.264 MPEG-4 in a single operation. Experimental H.264 encoding: The resulting file should be according to the H.264 standard, but encoding quality may not be as good as possible, and multi-pass encoding may not be supported.
Converting an MPEG-1 file to MPEG-4 H.264
	Limitations:
			QT Pro will play MPEG-1 files without the need to purchase MPEG-2 playback option, but most often there will be a single muxed track containing both video and audio, and QT Pro will loose the audio when exporting to MPEG-4 H.264.
	Solution:
			Follow the same procedure as above, for MPEG-2 file conversion to MPEG-4.
Converting a WMV file to MPEG-4 H.264
	Solution:
			Establish the frame rate (fps) using Windows Media Player: View: Statistics: Advanced.
			Establish the original resolution using VLC Media Player: View: Stream and Media Info…: Advanced information.
			Use Windows Movie Maker to import the movie, and drag it down to a track. Save it as a DV-AVI movie (forces 720x480 resolution)
			Open the AVI file with QuickTime Pro. Save as MPEG-4 with desired resolution and frame rate. See "QT Pro" page in this document for settings.

Best transcoding method for converting an MPEG-2 file to MPEG-4 H.264

	Demux with TMPGEnc and use QuickTime Pro with MPEG-2 import.	Demux with TMPGEnc and use QuickTime Pro with MPEG-2 import.	VLC Player transcoding to H.264 at max quality (3072 kbps video, 196 kbps audio) + QT encoding to H.264	VLC Player direct transcoding to H.264
Bitrates, Video + Audio (kbps)	768 + 64	768 + 64	768 + 64	768 + 64
QuickTime Encoding option	Multi-pass	Single-pass	Multi-pass	Not applicable
Color contrast is kept	100% of original	100% of original	100% of original	100% of original
Sharpness/Details is kept (still images)	75%. The multi-pass encoding option of QT is the culprit.	85%	75%. The multi-pass encoding option of QT is the culprit.	85%
Pixelization at moving object edges	90%. Multi-pass encoding option of QT helps here.	70%. Thin moving objects (like PG lines) have significant pixelization.	90%. Multi-pass encoding option of QT helps here.	85%
Smooth sky background when lots of movement in foreground.	Same as original	Same as original	Same as original	Macro pixelization, even with higher (768 VS 600 kbps)
Audio at 64 kbps encoding	Same as original	Same as original	Same as original	Same as original
Final encoding with QT Pro H.264	Yes	Yes	Yes	No, it uses x264 encoder (public free encoder), but it may still be adhering to H.264 standard.
File size compared to original	19.3%	19.7%	19.2%	22.70%
Can avoid the purchase of QT MPEG-2 import feature.	No, but it is only 20$.	<-- Same	Yes	Yes
Simpicity of the steps to transcode.	De-multiplexing (fast), audio conversion to WAV (fast), merging of audio and video for final encoding (1x slow). Best to follow a procedure.	<-- Same, but faster encoding.	OK. Double-pass encoding (2x slow), even with MPEG-2 file having muxed audio+video.	Easy. Single-pass encoding, even with MPEG-2 file having muxed audio+video.
Overall	1st	3rd	Same video quality as #1 choice. But double encoding time offsets the simpler process. 2nd	4th
					Excellent
					Good
					Acceptable	Info only
					Poor
					Unaceptable

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