Encoding Raw MPEG?
 

So I have some raw MPEG videos and want to encode them. I've done MPG and I've done WMV. MPG seems to give a better ratio for the video but the file sizes are huge still. When I do WMV I get a black top and bottom for some reason.

What do others do for encoding? Settings? WMV or MPG? File size for a say 10 minutes of video? I have 1.7 gigs roughly.

My CMS will convert whatever I upload to FLV, WMV and MPG and anything else so members have several options to view or download the videos so I'm not so concerned about that part.

I use Episode to encode everything. It's not cheap but it is really good. They also have a PC version now.

I don't do much of this stuff but when I do I use Avidemux. It seems to be a pretty powerful tool. For really simple stuff I use WinFF. Both programs are open source and free. They are available for Windows and Linux with Avidemux having a Mac |cleo| version too. I use Avidemux to cut out 30 second clips for freesites and save them to the format I need. Both are based on ffmpeg.

I guess I should have been more clear, sorry.

I have a program to do this. What I am wondering is am I doing this right?

What do you make from the Raw MPEG? a WMV or MPG?
What is the file size usually? Say for 10 minutes, 2 gigs? more/less?
What size video do you make? 1440x1080? 1280x720? Or larger at 1920x1440?
-1440x1080 is what I did but when I try to make a WMV I get black bars at the top and bottom. MPG there is no black bar, it's perfect (but the file size seems high so I think I need to lower the bitrate)

So what do you make for your members area when offering "Hi-Def"

I barely use mpg anymore. The only thing that I still use it for is for 20 sec sample clips so my settings isn't going to help you.

As far as wmv and black bars go... wmv height and width both need to be divisible by 4 so you may need to either stretch or crop the movie to make it fit.

To clarify a few things, there are video formats, and package file formats. Most video formats
can be put inside of most package file formats. MPEG2 and MPEG4 are the two major video formats.
Flash, MOV, and WMV are major package formats. You may have noticed that Flash files
can include things other than video, such as pictures, links, etc. That's the main purpose of
the package formats - to put both a preview picture and a video together in the same file,
for example. The other actual purpose of packaging is, sad to say, to cause incompatibility.
Microsoft wants you to use WMV so that it won't play on an iPhone.

MPEG4 is the is the default video format used by Quicktime, Flash, and several other packagers.
MPEG4 is a lot better than MPEG2, so that's the format you'll use for the
actual video.

Knowing that, you can then decide what kind of package to put it in, if any. Each package type
has it's strengths and weaknesses, and you're familiar with some of the differences between
playing Flash video versus wmv or mov. However, all package formats share the same problem -
compatibility. An iPhone won't play Flash, for example, as I recall. It'll play videos packaged
in MOV (Quicktime) files, but not Flash files. The solution is simple. Because the iPhone can
play MOV files, that means it must be able to play the MPEG4 video inside the file. Similarly,
anything that can play most WMV files can therefore play the MPEG4 packaged within.
So for compatibility, you just provide the plain MPEG4 without any package on it. You might
provide it as a Flash or other package also, but for compatibility just give them the plain
unpackaged MPEG4 too.

WMV is by in large the commonly used format for members area, you'll likely find it 95% of the time, though some are now focusing more on mp4. Personally I wouldn't go as high as 1920x1440, 1280 x 720 is pretty standard across the board, as well as 960 x 540. You'll need to offer a high version and a med, in addition to mp4 for mobile (320 x 240).

1280 x 720 / fps 29.97 / bitrate 2,000 - 4000 depending on your preference, the higher the bitrate the large the file size, try not to exceed 500MB with your final edit, and with those settings for a 10min video you certainly shouldn't.

MPG is fine to use for members area, a good thought is to offer WMV in 1280 and MPEG in 720, I wouldn't suggest going lower than 640 x 360. You'd be wise to use custom settings for these dimensions, otherwise you'll want your ratio to be 16:9. Play with the bit rate as you see fit, and be mindful of what the info is on your original file before you get started, very important.

If you're getting black space horizontally, that is called letterbox, you may be overlooking a setting somewhere in your encoder, un-check letterbox as you want to employ the custom settings. It impress' me as this is what is occurring in your case...

Using a good encoder is essential as it is your final frontier, WMV & MPEG are the ways to go, MOV is blah, I wouldn't advise AVI, DivX, MSK, etc. but of course mp4 is becoming a bit of a standard as well. That is of course if you're also considering using a flash version as well, which you should, in which case I would recommend either F4V or mp4.

So basically your expectation should be that your 2gb raw file should encode down to WMV 10 min video to anywhere from 200mgs - 400mgs+ with those settings, again with varying bitrates (2000 - 4000) depending on the quality you desire....

Thanks for the input!!! :)