Ableton Forum

I teach Ableton at a college where post production film sound is part of the course. I'm trying to figure out what the best settings are for encoding MOV files to give to the students.

I'm converting the files with AVS Video Converter and I have options for a few different video formats: H.264, H.263, MPEG4 and so on.

I tried MPEG4 in my last class and Live actually wouldn't recognise it as a video file, and only imported the sound (the class computers only have 6.0, whereas my 6.0.7 at home has no problem with the file).

MOV files seem to be okay there, but i'm trying to make sure the file will take as little CPU power as possible. There doesn't seem to be a direct correlation between file size and smooth playback, so i'm hoping someone here has suggestions about how to encode MOV files for Live.

I'm not after the best quality picture, and I don't need sound, just something that won't be too jumpy - particularly when scrubbing around the track.

SAE?

As in the SAE audio college? Nope, I don't teach there. I work at one of the government run technical colleges here. Just as part of a design course that happens to include film/theatre and therefore sound.

Edit: Although if there are any SAE department heads watching - feel free to get in touch, my teaching schedule is wide open.

southernsteppa wrote:As in the SAE audio college? Nope, I don't teach there. I work at one of the government run technical colleges here. Just as part of a design course that happens to include film/theatre and therefore sound.

Edit: Although if there are any SAE department heads watching - feel free to get in touch, my teaching schedule is wide open.

Ah, that's ok then. I wouldn't want to think you were working for those bloody scammers!

Im a post Engineer and deal with this daily.
1st off everyone needs to get this concept strait.
No video codec looks better then the other, only better at different bit rates.

H.264 is the best looking for small files at the moment but it is very CPU intensive to encode/playback.

.mpg (mpeg1) is the most compatible.

DV is a great format for work picture. But has fairly large file size.

If your mpeg4 encoded quicktimes wont playback that means your running quicktime 6. install quicktime 7.

So i recommend DV for working to picture. Mpeg4 if you need something smaller. & h.264 to Internet file delivery.

I can write pages about codec & container formats but this should help you out.

Thanks rhythinmind, that helps a little.

What i'm after is something that is relatively easy on the CPU for playback. These files will only be used within Live for cutting sound to, so they're just a reference and quality is not an issue as long as you can see what's going on.

Installing Quicktime 7 sounds like the best option, but the huge amount of bureaucracy within this college means I will be waiting for a couple of weeks for that at least. So, for the timebeing, I think i'm stuck with MOV files.

Is H.263 noticably better on CPU than H.264?

Use quicktimes Mpeg 4 codec. it came out with ver 6.

for film sound post we tend to use either MJPEGA or PhotoJPEGA
the main thing is to use a format that is not long GOP
ie the data is compressed as discrete frames,
NOT compressed as the difference between frames...
(if you use the latter, scrubbing picture backwards is VERY slow)
a 20 minute film reel compresses to about 1GB +/-

^^^^
Tim,
Thanks for that info!

subbasshead is correct. mjpeg is good. The only downside is large file sizes. But for HD work we use mjpega and HDdvcam. Might be a bit overkill for your classes tho. we have had a lot of success with Mpeg4, H,264 if you have a fast cpu, & DV as well.

but as said before quicktime 6 is your biggest limitation.. Thats why many houses use MjpgA & mpeg1. they are very platform independent.

DV is the current workhorse. Not to big. Good quality for standard def. Will play out of the firewire port natively. 90% of our work picture is DV.

Thanks guys - that's a huge help. You're champs!

subbasshead wrote:for film sound post we tend to use either MJPEGA or PhotoJPEGA

That makes a massive difference. Thanks again.

rhythminmind wrote:Im a post Engineer and deal with this daily.
1st off everyone needs to get this concept strait.
No video codec looks better then the other, only better at different bit rates.

H.264 is the best looking for small files at the moment but it is very CPU intensive to encode/playback.

.mpg (mpeg1) is the most compatible.

DV is a great format for work picture. But has fairly large file size.

If your mpeg4 encoded quicktimes wont playback that means your running quicktime 6. install quicktime 7.

So i recommend DV for working to picture. Mpeg4 if you need something smaller. & h.264 to Internet file delivery.

I can write pages about codec & container formats but this should help you out.

This helps!

i'm a a/v producer / performer all my clips are photojpeg / motion jpeg i swear by it. less cpu intensive that any quicktime compression. + + ableton and my own a/v plug in for ableton loves photo jpeg