ok... i have been experimentign ALOT with mpeg-4 recently... (it was a precursor to AWA)
right now i am not very satisfied with it... but i may be wrong...
my tests have been
Exporting the AVI file as a wav file and a soundless AVI
Convert this soundless AVI into a DivX and XviD avi using the two pass method... i have tried different settings...
converting the wave file to an AAC file using psytel's AAC encode (the mpeg-4 version of the encoder)
then using MPEG4IP's mp4creator60.exe for muxing, hinting, and optimizing...
in the end i get a .mp4 file that is cross platform (supossidly) at a fraction of the size... I was aiming for maximum compatiblity... and it was hard
how many other people have had experiance with the MPEG-4 spec...
my observations so far
AAC so rocks my world. I love that audio codec. at 96 kilobits per second I am getting awesome sound at a small size, where at a higher (ultra) VBR setting I could not hear any differance between the wav and the aac.
MPEG-4 video.... i am still in pain
i don't like how much colour information it throws off... at higher bit rates its less noticble... but still... its worse than DV for colour retention.
it is really bad at interlaced footage.... DivX does not handle interlaced footage worth a damn, and XviD is still in development, thought it seams to handle it better
the multi pass encoding is still in development. the latest release of XviD has a very promising two pass curve based function, while DivX's is very stupid simple.
right now when i want to make a file, i have to run multiple utitities, with arcane comand lines. there is no single unified interface for making a high quality mpeg-4 file. there should be a way to add an AVI file and get an MPEG-4 ISO complient file...
cross platform compatiblity... is spotty at best. right now if i make an MP4 file i have to consider alot of things. if i use AAC audio, then the DivX player can't read it. If i use any advanced features of the video beyond core simple profile, then quicktime 6 can't play it. Right now i have to dumb down the mpeg-4 to get it to play in all platforms...
I wish i could use mpeg-2 video and aac audio with the hollywood+/netstream2000 then I would be in heaven. when file size does not matter, MPEG-2 wins hands down, no question. it is only when you get into the smaller file sizes that mpeg-4 shines....
in the end... mpeg-4 is nice... but has a while to go... i am watching this format, and hopefully it will mature quickly... i nee ISO compatible mpeg-4 as becoming the defacto online distrobution format, while mpeg-2 remaining the archive format
