From: "Yvan Gagnon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Optimizing video quality with unique RealProducer settings I was wondering if anyone here might be willing to share their recommendations on what the ideal settings are for the encoding of different bitrate realvideos. I've done quite a bit of research and experimenting, and I'm somewhat curious about certain things. Typically, I encode my realvideo files for 4 different bitrates: 28k, 56k, dual isdn, & DSL/Cable Modem. While analyzing the statistics of the some of the videos created by encoding.com (who I've found get some pretty outstanding results) I noticed that they generally use the following settings: 28k - video : 160x120 - 6 fps | audio 6.5 kbps 56k - video : 176x132 - 6 fps | audio 8.5 kbps Dual ISDN - video : 240x180 - 12 fps | audio 8.5 kbps DSL/Cable Modem - video : 320x240 - 15 fps | audio 16 kbps Question #1 : If a Dual ISDN line can, in theory, handle something like 112 or 128 kbps, .. why use a bitrate of only 80 kbps? I'm noticing that this is also the default setting assigned in RealProducer, and I'm just wondering if this bitrate, -- and if all of these specific bitrates, -- were chosen for a specific reason, .. like to allow for overhead (web surfing, email, etc, ... ) or if there's a performance consideration of some sort. Why not encode at 100kbps?? Or higher even? I mean, . isn't an ISDN line dedicated? Question #2 : Obviously, the above settings can't always apply. For example, I had to encode a clip this afternoon that had lots of fast motion in it, and I couldn't help but notice that it looked like total shit at the lower bitrates (28k and 56k) . In these cases, meaning where there is lots of motion in the video to be encoded, what changes can I make to my settngs to optimize clarity and at least get some half-decent looking results ?? The only thing that I've noticed makes a difference is when I change the "Video Quality" setting to "Sharpest Image Video", .. though the change is barely even noticeable. Question #3 : What are the actual differences between "Normal Motion Video", "Sharpest Image Video" and "Smoothest Motion Video" and when is it best to use each ?? Question #4 : I don't know if I'm just having some kind of technical problem or if there's a bug in the new realplayer, .. but when I encode a video at 15 fps, and then monitor the statistics while playing the resulting realvideo file locally using realplayer, for some reason, the frame rate that it plays back with is nowhere near what I encoded it at. For example, If I've endcoded a realvideo file at 15fps, .. why is realplayer telling me that it's playing back at only 6-7 fps --- locally ?? This is a PIII 500 w/ 256 mb ram we're talking about here. Might this have anything to do with the fact that the AVIs I'm encoding were originally captured at 15fps? Or should this not make any difference? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks guys, -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ******************************************************* The RealForum is an email discussion group focused on using RealNetworks products. The RealForum is a place to post messages about the best methods for creating content using RealNetworks technologies and the planning and implementation of streaming-media web sites. Archives of RealForum can be found at http://realforum.real.com If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, you can send mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with the following command in the body of your email message: unsubscribe realforum or from another account, besides the address you subscribed with: unsubscribe realforum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
