VIDEO - UPLOADING VIDEO TO THE INTERNET
Flash has become one of the world standards for video display on computer. It was purchased by Adobe and can be created using Adobe Flash Encoder. The same encoder is available in Premiere Pro - the video editing package used by Radley Video.
Since the introduction of the ipod, iphone etc we have been looking at alternatives to flash, since Apple have refused to allow flash on their systems, preferring the adoption of HTML5. Hence we are converting our flash videos to a similar but more compatible format '.mp4'. This is a version of the MPEG4 codec and the variant adopted is H.264. This has become the world standard both for high definition (e.g. blu-ray) and low bitrate delivery for the internet.
Making videos compatible with iphone etc., is a little more complicated than our flash-based system which employed 'flowplayer'. But 'jw-player' deals with the issues, and like flowplayer is free if you don't mind their logo appearing. Hence all our compatible videos are now displayed with jw-player.
Creating mp4 h.264 video files:
1. Convert video to a "mp4" file using Adobe Premiere Pro:
- Export, and select 'h.264' as the Format
- Select a Preset such as YouTube SD (this provides some basic settings which can be customised).
- In the UK & Europe, the video system should be set to PAL.
- We use a frame size of 640 x 360 and frame rate of 25 fps, Field order "None" i.e. Progressive
- Pixel ratio: Square pixels. Profile "Main", Level 3
- Select CBR or VRB depending on how much motion is in the video e.g. constant or little movement, CBR is fine, but if the video includes fast action, VBR may be better. Two pass is better than one pass, but takes longer to encode.
- Target: for slow internet use, the bitrate should be little more than 1Mbps.
- Sound settings - the defaults should be fine, though for quality sound the sample rate needs to be increased to say 128 kbps.
- e.g. Audio: AAC , Mono (or stereo), 44.1 kHz, High quality. Bitrate 128 kbps
- The Multiplexer needs to be mp4 / standard
- Finally, tick the panel on the right for maximum rendering quality - if you are not in a hurry.
- NOTE: When using 720 x 576 PAL widescreen original, click crop button on Source, and select Crop Scale 16:9. Then re-centre Source. When encoding Hi-Def original there is no need to crop
2. Alternative method of file conversion
- There are a number of free downloadable pieces of software that will convert video files to mp4.
- We have tried "HandBrake" which works very well.
- Refer to the settings above when setting up HandBrake
- Select the "Regular, Normal" preset.
- Note that to play without having to wait for the whole file to download, you must tick the "Web optimised" box
- We also ticked the "iPod 5G support" box.
- HandBrake seems confused about the Aspect Ratio and file size - aim to make the size 640 by 360 without any cropping and change the framerate to 25 fps (Europe) rather than 'Same as source' since the latter seems to get the wrong information.
- Change the Audio to Stereo if preferred, with an appropriate bitrate.
- When selecting "Destination" check that the filetype is .mp4