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The Optimum Universal MP4/3gp Settings - What are they?
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How to produce videos that will play on almost anything?
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Yes I have done a search here (and elsewhere). In fact last year when the Camcoder program was leaked and video production was all the rage I took part in many of the debates.

At the time I was also doing some of my own research. This consisted of downloadin every available MP4 authoring program available and testing them to exhuastion. The idea was for me to produce a report on the best program or combination of programs and the best settings to use. Unfortunately, half way through my experiments, and note taking, my computer crashed and I lost a lot of data. As you can imagine, I got pretty p*ssed off, and haven't bothered to start my test all over again.

So I was wondering whether anyone else had done the tests.

What I find annoying with the whole MP4/3gp video thing is that there are about a "million and one" different variables. It's silly really. I can't see the MP4/3gp thing taking off in a big way unless some committee somewhere says " this is it, this is the standard, anything else is NOT MP4/3gp"; and then for every player and encoder to adopt the standard.

If you look at MPEG3 for example, it doesn't matter which encoder you use, as long as its MP3 you can give the file to anyone and they can play it. If you buy petrol for your car it doesn't much matter whether it's Shell, Texaco, BP. But with mobile video you can have six videos, all with the same MP4/3gp extension yet you can be sure that no one person can play all six of those videos - you even have the situation whereby some enconders (at least when I last looked) can encode in a certain fashion but can't play the file.

So to get to the point (at long last I hear some of you shout ), does anyone know or can recommend a series of settings that give reasonable perfomance and will play on almost any device/player that claims to be able to play mobile video (MP4/3gp).

Obviously, such settings would have to make compromises but at least the video produced would play and not just on one particular device or video player.
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Hope you can help.

Thanks in advance.


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[ This Message was edited by: plevyadophy on 2004-11-25 16:51 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 16:06:05
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Very long winded for a simple question.

But... just use Mpegable X4 Live and use the standard default settings. You can increase or reduce bitrate too should you want to. Its very simple to use.

click here to download now

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Posted: 2004-11-25 16:30:28
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I have to agree with frontman that Mpegable is a cracking piece of software but that is my personal preference which may not be shared by other encoders

Aiwarikiar uses Sorenson Squeeze 4 so for him this is his personal preference as i know that he has used pvauthor mpegable quicktime divx sorenson squeeze (the list goes on and on) the same as me yet i prefer (well you know that already) so the problem is that encoders have their preference and unfortunatly there are too many programs that you have to tweak every aspect of to get that Sweet Spot which people dont know how to use so they give up

At the end of the day these so called plug and play encoder programs (just put in your dvd and our encoder will give you superb picture and sound on your PXXX in fullscreen and in stereo at the push of one button) are crap so its better to put the time and effort in to find Your Sweet Spot which will probably be different to mine and Aiwarikiars tastes but who cares at least you will be happy with it and thats why you bought the program in the first place (because only an idiot buys a program without testing the trial version and if there is no trial version well why not there must be something wrong with it)


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[ This Message was edited by: welsh uk on 2004-11-25 16:00 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 16:59:37
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@ Frontman & Welsh_UK

I did say I carried out some tests last year. I found Mpegable quite good but had some issues with it.

Of course things move on and it must have been improved.

What I am really trying to achieve in this thread, is NOT a recommendation for one program or another - unless it's absolutely necessary.

Rather what I am looking for, for myself and I guess others would be interested too, is a list of settings that can be applied across the board. (For example, the resultant video from an Mpegable encoding, is it of univeral usage in the way I suggest in my original post? And if so, what are the underlying settings/parameters being applied when you click on the various options in the program?)

So no matter what your choice of program is you can use the settings to good effect (Of course one can then go on to tweak things a little according to the capablities of the program one chooses).


Thanks for your speedy replies though.


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[ This Message was edited by: plevyadophy on 2004-11-25 16:49 ]

[ This Message was edited by: plevyadophy on 2004-11-25 16:54 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 17:47:51
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I think you may have misread my post or i may have not written it correctly

I was not trying to endorse a particular product i was trying to get across that for me i have found the right settings that suits Me so having a universal standard maybe Ok in your judgement but for me and others i probably would not let it near my phone

Videos encoded for the P800 in my eyes are obviously not too good on the P910 but a P910 encoded video will not play on a P800 due to factors that you probably know of

A universal standard is a setting that is acceptable to everyone but when it comes to video quality how can their be a universal standard when each individual has their own idea on what a universal standard should be

Edit A universal standard would be 176X144 about 100 k/b video about mono 16 k/b audio at 12000 htz which should be playable on any mp4 player but who wants to watch and listen to that ????

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[ This Message was edited by: welsh uk on 2004-11-25 17:10 ]

[ This Message was edited by: welsh uk on 2004-11-25 17:20 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 18:10:06
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@Welsh

Thanks again for your prompt replies.

Addressing your points.

Yes I appreciate that we are all individuals but you will note from my earlier posts that I recognise this by suggesting that one might want to tweak things a little.

Your universal settings misses out something very important, namely what sound format to use. For from what I have read some programs are fussy about the sound format (AMR ACC bla bla bla).

And really, the scenario I am looking at is this. I produce a video that I want my auntie Ethel in Austrailia to see on her birthday. It may not be to her liking - quality wise - but at least I can rest assured that once it is sent it is watchable no matter what she uses to view it. (At some point later at my convenience I can find out exactly what auntie Ethel is using to view my video and maybe I can send another one especially tweaked for her). Or I may want to have a laugh with a friend, I don't want to ask probing questions about their software set up as that will forwarn them that a vid is on its way; so I create the vid; send it and s/he watches it. Mission accomplished.

So there must be some universal setting.

I mean when you get a pc there is a pretty much universal setting for the Operating System. After you buy then you may change the desktop icons, disable this and enable that. But pcs are pretty much bog standard workable out of the box.

So what I am here trying to achieve is that kind of common denominator.

Any ideas anyone.


Thanks in advance.


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Posted: 2004-11-25 19:23:57
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dont use the standard settings for a p800

i used the BASIC MONO SMOOTH setting, and it was awful

it was not in the slightest bit smooth.

for p800 at least, the best option i have found so far is SmartMovie

the settings that work mwell for me, to produce decent quality video AND smooth motion are as follows:-

PORTRAIT
UNTICK Reduce Frames
XVID CODEC (AS@L1, Single Pass, TBR:100KBPS, TQ 1.0)
ENABLE AUDIO
FORCE MONO
22050Hz
24Kbps
Volume Boost 150%

yeah, i had to reduce audio quality quite a bit.........but its not SO much that it sounds crappy

and its alot better than the 8kbps sound that you get from 3gp files

at these settigns i can get a movie on ym hpone..........but at the moment, i jsut got some music videos and the buffy musical episode "once more with feeling"

-x-x-x-
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Posted: 2004-11-25 19:46:38
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Sorry mate i sometimes wander within my own posts

I understand what you are saying now i thought you generally meant for mobile phones but that as you have written is not the case

Regarding the formats that you are after

Mp4 And 3gp

The universal setting to tell the differnce from mp4 or 3gp is that an mp4 file contains an AAC audio track and a 3gp file contains an AMR audio track (which is what worked in the leaked camcoder app)

People assume that when you see an mp4 file that you are looking at a video file which is not entirely correct mp4 can be an audio file or a video and audio file combined the same goes for 3gp as the Name is only a container which is specified by the audio codec

So if you encode your video to an mp4 file which has the AAC audio codec it should play in an mp4 player as those factors are a universal standard the same goes for 3gp

I have downloaded hundreds of 3gp and mp4 files and have been able to play them in quicktime without any problems

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[ This Message was edited by: welsh uk on 2004-11-25 21:22 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 22:21:16
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Gosh,

You and I are dancing a merry dance around each other; me misunderstanding you and you misunderstanding me.

Good thing we ain't married to each other. hee hee hee

Actually, I was talking about everything including mobiles that can play, for want of a better phrase, mobile video.

So I wanna be able to create something that plays on someones desktop pc, but is equally at home on a mobile phone.

I guess my idea for an almost universal standard was the right thing to say. Coz you have now jogged my memory and I now remember that the leaked Camcoder app was fantastic at playback but it only liked one type of file.

I guess one has to have an ideaa as to what is most popular i.e. is it "mobile" video with AMR sound or with AAC sound?

Or perhaps what is likely to be most popular are developors settling on the 3gp standard or the MP4 standard?

Then once we have narrowed it down that far. Our next thing will be to get the settings that will play best on the widest variety of devices/video players.

(As an aside, I do remember, correct me if I am wrong, that a particular version of the PV Author encoding program was a bit of a freak in that it could/can produce a video file with both AMR and AAC contained within it. During my testing last year I think I may have produced such a file - but I can't remember as all my test notes and data got lost)


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[ This Message was edited by: plevyadophy on 2004-11-25 21:37 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 22:36:30
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I dont know mate we could get married and have long conversations through out the night with brandy flowing freely and put the world right

It certainly beats having to dumb down my conversation so the wife can understand me LOL

But like i said 176X144 100 kbs video etc etc etc mp4 (AAC)or 3gp (AMR) should not only play on a mobile but also on a pc

Anyway i will give someone else a chance to post in this thread and totally prove all my ramblings wrong

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[ This Message was edited by: welsh uk on 2004-11-25 21:53 ]
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Posted: 2004-11-25 22:53:04
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