Encoding/Rendering options. What do they mean?

[teaorcoffee]

Is there an article/book that explains the various options you have for rendering video?

There's a confusing choice of format (WMV, AVI, MOV, MPG etc) then there are subformats, bitrates, and so on.

Then you go to audio and find you are faced with a similar jungle.

I need help in selecting/creating the right one. I created a standard definition .MOV yesterday. Just a straightforward 4:30 movie with a couple 12 sec overlays and the resultant file was 10GB!! (The original movie was about 40MB)

TIA

Brian
PS I use Vegas Movie Studio 10 if that's relevant

[Midnight Blue]

Have you read the Help files in Sony Vegas. They have a good description of each customisable field or button.

[ThaFunkster]

Well basically it depends on what resolution you want.

If you want a High Definition Movie, 720p or 1080p, its going to be a very big file. If you only want a standard definition movie then the file will be much smaller.

I usually dont choose the file format at the start as Vegas prompts you to do, but leave it till rendering. When you choose "make movie" button, then choose .WMV format, this lays out the options in a clearer way to the other formats. You can see 3Mb/s video corresponds to a resultion of 640x480 or standard definition. You dont want 5.1 surround sound, just stereo, unless you recorded in 5.1 which I doubt you did.

So basically the option I have given you is a good one and you will end up with a fairly small file.

WMV isnt the best picture quality, so if you want something a little clearer, try some of the other options.

[teaorcoffee]

@MidnightBlue Yes I have checked the help function thanks, but the information is rather scant.

For example there are over 20 types of video format and all the helpfile says is "Choose a setting from the drop-down list to specify the video format of your file before encoding." Frankly that's obvious and not particularly helpful.

What I am looking for is something that goes through each video file format and gives brief overview of each so I can make an informed choice as to which one is best for the project I am working on.

Naturally I would like the same guidance for the other options and indeed the presets themselves.



@TheFunkster
Thanks for your comment. That helps me get started but I am still looking for a text that goes into a little more depth so that when I get a render that is not up to requirments in whatever way, I know what to do first when tweaking.


Brian

[ThaFunkster]

Well I described the options for WMV format already. All the options for the other formats are more or less equivilant.

It tells you anyway, if you go to "make movie" then a box comes up.

I currently have Windows Media Video Selected, and I have selected 6MBS HD 720-30p video.

Thats pretty much self explanatory, the higher the MBS value, the bigger the overall video will be. 720 refers to the number of pixels in the height of the video, HD is High Definition.

In the description box it tells you all about your selection anyway: For example, the above choice says in the description

"Audio: 192 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, WMA9.
Video: 29.97 fps, 1280x720, WMV V9 CBR Compression, Smoothness 90.
Use this setting for high-quality HD video playback from a local hard drive."

Its saying its a high audio quality, stereo.

29.97 frames per second, the resolution of the video etc.

All you need to pay attention to is the audio quality, the resolution and the framerate.

24 frames per second is fine. Anything above is fine too.

So if you go through each of the selections look at the description and it will tell you about that choice.