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Author Topic: What types of video conversion?  (Read 1350 times)

benn600

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What types of video conversion?
« on: November 11, 2007, 11:48:58 pm »

What types of video conversion exist in Media Center?  I have heard briefly in other posts but still cannot quite grasp what they are.

And how can it be used?  Could I have files automatically converted?  A local news station provides good video directly from TV but they strangely take 50MB for just a few minutes of video.  The files should be more like 10MB in size.  That would be amazing if I could setup an auto downloader (MC or Juice podcast receiver) to download these files and then have MC (or any program, really) auto convert them to much smaller files and store them on my web server.  I could then put together a simple web site for me to view them easily.
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hit_ny

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Re: What types of video conversion?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2007, 02:32:26 am »

Send them to youtube and have them converted automatically and avaialble for eveyone to see.

..the limit to filesize is 100MBs.
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benn600

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Re: What types of video conversion?
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2007, 07:38:06 pm »

I need an automated system for doing what I want.

FIRST: I want to know what type of encoding MC has.  Does it have any?  I'm sorry but I haven't seen any type of video encoding abilities anywhere.  It will encode audio great but haven't seen any video stuff.

SECOND: The encoding system is somewhat simple yet complex.  I've got a post on the Handbrake forum.  That is probably the program I'll use.  I want a system that automatically downloads the latest news/weather video from my local news station (already got this far) and then a batch file that will send the latest file to Handbrake to re-encode.  If the filesize is small enough, I'll be able to stream the latest broadcast to my iPhone over the cell network IN SECONDS!  I can't imagine how amazing that will be.  I've almost got it too!
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glynor

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Re: What types of video conversion?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2007, 08:01:34 pm »

A local news station provides good video directly from TV but they strangely take 50MB for just a few minutes of video.  The files should be more like 10MB in size.

Where the heck are you getting the "should be" figure?  Video file sizes can vary widely depending on format, compression, color model, resolution, and a number of other factors.

DVCPRO50 (the standard format most TV News stations use for Standard Def content) uses 50 Mbits/sec, which works out to roughly 510MB per minute of record time.  DVCPRO HD (where many ENG facilities are moving, along with DVCAM and XDCAM) is 100 Mbits/sec, or roughly 1GB per minute.  Even these file sizes are compressed immensely (and not losslessly -- almost all video compression is lossy, certainly including DV compression).

Anything less than that is being compromised in quality in some way (and in most cases in MANY ways).  You can certainly recompress whatever files they're giving you, but be aware that this is effectively the same thing as recompressing a 32kbps MP3 into a 12kbps MP3.  You aren't going to get very good results.  A much better option would be, of course, to use the original source files to create the lower-bitrate version, but you aren't going to have access to those.  I'm sure the TV station compresses them to a file size that they feel provides an appropriate level of quality (and, I'm sure, has a balanced impact on their bandwidth capabilities).

That's not to say you can't recompress the video, but be aware of what you're doing.  I'm only disputing the fact that you said it "should be" a certain size.  Uncompressed Standard Def video runs about 1440 MB/minute, anything less is making some sort of compromise.
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benn600

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Re: What types of video conversion?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2007, 10:09:06 pm »

Because I can compress it way down and the quality is nearly indistinguishable.  Besides, drop the point because I need it much smaller to stream to my iPhone.

I understand your point.
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glynor

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Re: What types of video conversion?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2007, 10:12:34 pm »

Because I can compress it way down and the quality is nearly indistinguishable.  Besides, drop the point because I need it much smaller to stream to my iPhone.

I understand your point.

And I understand yours.
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