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Is VisualHub seriously the best in converting AVI to MP4?
- Thread starter je1ani
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I believe iSquint is actually just a front-end to ffmpegx.
You can also do 2-pass with MPEG4 and the results should not be that bad.
You can also do 2-pass with MPEG4 and the results should not be that bad.
Well, I went ahead on bought VH, partly thanks to how much people are praising it, and partly due to the fact the developer has a great sense of humour!
Anyway, I've realised that my goals (using files that are about 170MB per 24min episodes):
1) To convert AVI to .MP4
2) Preserve as best as I can the quality of the file (not amazing to begin with, but I'd like it not to get any worse)
3) Have the files size be roughly the same/smaller.
4) Have these files compatible with iPods, as well as Front Row and
TV
Right... so far, the first one is easy. Likewise, thanks to the easy presets in VH, the last one is also okay. Trouble comes when making number 2 and 3 play together. I know, I know, its going to be tough, and slow since I'm on a G4 1.33Ghz iBook.
My question is as follows.. has anyone had any luck keeping file sizes the same, as well as quality... NOT using H.264?
Anyway, I've realised that my goals (using files that are about 170MB per 24min episodes):
1) To convert AVI to .MP4
2) Preserve as best as I can the quality of the file (not amazing to begin with, but I'd like it not to get any worse)
3) Have the files size be roughly the same/smaller.
4) Have these files compatible with iPods, as well as Front Row and
TVRight... so far, the first one is easy. Likewise, thanks to the easy presets in VH, the last one is also okay. Trouble comes when making number 2 and 3 play together. I know, I know, its going to be tough, and slow since I'm on a G4 1.33Ghz iBook.
My question is as follows.. has anyone had any luck keeping file sizes the same, as well as quality... NOT using H.264?
I always use Quicktime Pro to convert my avi files and I never lose any quality. I download a lot of avi files and never have a problem opening them in quicktime. Of course you will need a plugin for this......
Just so people know...
http://www.aroona.net/VideoDrive/Home.html
Came across this one.
Don't know anything about how well it works, but if all you want is to import into iTunes (if you want to then put them on your iPod, then you'll need to convert) then this *might* be a much quicker solution.
But as I said, haven't used it, and not planning to. Sticking with VH, since I've paid for it!
http://www.aroona.net/VideoDrive/Home.html
Came across this one.
Don't know anything about how well it works, but if all you want is to import into iTunes (if you want to then put them on your iPod, then you'll need to convert) then this *might* be a much quicker solution.
But as I said, haven't used it, and not planning to. Sticking with VH, since I've paid for it!
I used VH for a while converting avis to mp4s, but had tons of problems. Interestingly, I only noticed the problems after I got more particular about the quality of output I was getting. I was having trouble using the h264 encoding, as it would darken the image and look noticably different the avi played thru quicktime/perian. I posted about this here about a month ago....
Anyway, that issue, combined with general lack of quality, caused me to eventually bite the bullet and hack my ATV for divx/xvid playback. I thought it would be a bigger deal, but it was easy and now I never reencode anything, so I get the best quality possible!
If you are technically proficient at all, I recommend doing the same. Its much better than jumping thru all the reencode hoops. I figured I'd have lots of problems getting the hacking stuff to work, but i think its the phrase "hack your apple tv" that scares some people (it scared me away for a while). Really its just "install sshd. then install perian and ATVFiles".
-pj
Anyway, that issue, combined with general lack of quality, caused me to eventually bite the bullet and hack my ATV for divx/xvid playback. I thought it would be a bigger deal, but it was easy and now I never reencode anything, so I get the best quality possible!
If you are technically proficient at all, I recommend doing the same. Its much better than jumping thru all the reencode hoops. I figured I'd have lots of problems getting the hacking stuff to work, but i think its the phrase "hack your apple tv" that scares some people (it scared me away for a while). Really its just "install sshd. then install perian and ATVFiles".
-pj
Keep in mind, if you go this route, you won't be able to play those files on iPhones/iPods/other people's computers. This may not be an issue for you, but it's what's kept me transcoding.
My eyes are honestly not eagle-like enough to tell the difference once this stuff is up on the TV or my iPhone.
You are always going to get MUCH better results using H.264 rather than plain .mp4 encoding. But I understand your pain having an old iBook (I was until recently encoding stuff on a 1Ghz 12"PB and it is sooooo slow compared to even a mini or MB). So I suggest you either suck it up and spend the hours (days?) encoding at H.264 for the quality, or live with the reduced quality file, or larger file size, for the time being. If you go with the latter, I'd keep the source .avi archived somewhere though, so when you get a faster computer you can re-transcode it with H.264.
yeeeeah, I fall into the David Lynch camp when it comes to watching films on your phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0
-pj