Mp4s

post-it · Post by **post-it** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:26 pm

.. VLC has never let me down , then again I HATE usoft's Media Player

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:33 pm

using h.264 [correctly] gives you better image quality and a lower filesize (two very good things to have in this hobby, which explains its popularity among the regulars here) when compared to xvid in .avi (which was the de facto encoding standard before x.264)

a brief example of xvid vs x.264 is my blue trailer, the .mp4 version is roughly half the size of the xvid version, and still looks better imo.

I assume you're using windows. A few of the earlier posts mentioned CCCP (other posts also mentioned that h.264 can make quicktime cry)
CCCP also gives you media player classic, which is what I recommend for viewing .mp4 files (that or vlc)

TheFireMonkey · Post by **TheFireMonkey** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:35 pm

post-it wrote:.. VLC has never let me down , then again I HATE usoft's Media Player

Well, I hope that I can find out why VLC failed to install so I can give it a try - it would be nice to have something that will play MP4s reliably.

TheFireMonkey · Post by **TheFireMonkey** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:10 pm

Kariudo wrote:using h.264 [correctly] gives you better image quality and a lower filesize (two very good things to have in this hobby, which explains its popularity among the regulars here) when compared to xvid in .avi (which was the de facto encoding standard before x.264)

a brief example of xvid vs x.264 is my blue trailer, the .mp4 version is roughly half the size of the xvid version, and still looks better imo.

So is h.264 a newer encoding for MP4s? Perhaps when I was looking at things I was comparing an older implimentation of the MP4 format. I do animation, that is, not AMV but actually drawing the frames and then compiling them into a video format and I use AVIs with DivX compression which I chose because it gave high quality with small files - a while back I tried doing one of my animations in flash format since that is a popular streaming format and I was surprised to find that the file was almost 40% larger and no where near as high a quality. Oh, although xvid seems to have gained greater popularity than DivX - you have to really know how to set everything right or it produces larger files, so xvid vs x.264 may not be the best comparison, I mean, if you like using MP4s better I'm not going to try to change your mind, but if you want to compare to AVIs, I'd suggest DivX over Xvid.

Kariudo wrote:I assume you're using windows. A few of the earlier posts mentioned CCCP (other posts also mentioned that h.264 can make quicktime cry)
CCCP also gives you media player classic, which is what I recommend for viewing .mp4 files (that or vlc)

Yes, I run Windows [I don't actually like it, but I dislike Macs more than I dislike Windows and Linux doesn't have the software I need for what I do] In fact, I run Windows 98SE - I refuse to ever put XP or Vista on my computer, although I may end up having to bend a bit and put 2000 on it, but for now, all my software works on 98SE so I have no reason to switch.

So, about CCCP - when you say media player classic, do you mean Windows Media Player or a different media player [I'm hoping that it isn't a M$ product as I try to avoid them as much as possible, but if that's what it has to be - sigh]

What I normally use to watch videos is BS player, which was able to play the video stream from the MP4 I just downloaded, but it had no sound at all - which kind of interferes with enjoying a music video

I'm still hoping that I might manage to install VLC - I just have to find out why the installation aborted and what I can do to fix it.

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:37 pm

media player classic took the basic look of the wmp6.4 gui, but isn't related to wmp in any other way. IIRC it's an open-source project

as for the xvid thing, this pretty much takes care of everything. One of the sections covers encoding with xvid, which is what I used to make the xvid encode of that amv. (so the divx-5 compatible xvid encode that I did is smaller and looks better than the divx encode would)
another section explains the pros/cons of a variety of codecs

TheFireMonkey · Post by **TheFireMonkey** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:52 pm

Thanks Kariudo, I grabbed CCCP and installed the pack [but not the players - I figured if I had to have the players I cou;ld go back and install them later] and now BS Player is working just fine with the AMV - much better in my mind than getting QuickTime working [I try to avoid using QT or WMP - I use BS Player for everything except listening to mp3s or wavs ... I use Sonique for those]

Also, thanks for the links to explainations - I'll take a look right after I post this. Since I make animations I have an interest in the pros and cons of different formats. I may be pig-headed stubborn in my views on such things but at the same time I keep listening to see if someone has better views, at which point I'll adopt those views and be pig-headed stubborn about them too

it what my grandfather called sisu.

TheFireMonkey · Post by **TheFireMonkey** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:13 pm

Ok, I read those links and I have to say there was some good information there. Thanks, it gives me some stuff to think on.