converting to 3GP. Lokking for the BEST settings MAC

[bigway 4]

Have got motorola V3X and I can convert my films for the phone but are really not having any luck with fantastic picture. If someone has found the perfect settings please fill me in.

I am on a mac and am using ffmpegx. Could really do with a hand here.
Thanks.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[quade 3]

3gp? Really? Yeash!

The amount of motion inherent in skydiving is never going to look "pretty" when compressed as much as most phones will require.

What is your application here anyway? Do you want to do debriefs off a phone or what?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bigway 4]

No mate,

Just heading up north this weekend and thought i would throw some footage i have been working on for some time on to my phone to show someone. Sounds stupid huh? Thing is my burner aint working and my camera is up north so it was the ipod or the phone. With the phone being new and all though i would go with the phone.

I am using 'ffmpegx'. What i have put on at the moment looks alright but now i just want to see if it can get better but can not understand all this setting stuff yet.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[quade 3]

Oh holy gimoly! Go for the video iPod!

The default export settings from Quicktime Pro are -excellent- and you can hook the video iPod up to a regular TV using "regular" analog video cables like the ones used on most Sony video cameras. You can also buy the cables at any Radio Shack but be aware that the video doesn't come out the yellow cable like you're used to; it comes out the red cable.

The video is AMAZINGLY good when displayed on a regular TV too.

Also, a 30GB video iPod holds a TON of compressed video. On mine right now is about 10 hours of video (movies) and it's nowhere close to being filled up.

Your phone, on the other hand, is probably going to run out of memory pretty darn fast. How much memory do you have in it and how much video to you plan on putting in it?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bigway 4]

Do you mean like video leads with a headphone jack?

I know in the states you can get the lead that connects to the bottom but i have not found this in the uk very cheap yet.

So you say a video lead, i can imagine the connections on the lead you are talking about unless it is a lead made by ipod. Any chance of a link?

Cheers.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[bigway 4]

I have 1gb of memory but have three memory cards, AKA, had two faulty phones

I got the 30gb ipod 5g.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[quade 3]

Plugs right into the headphone jack.

Looks like this.

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/11/18/video-ipod.html

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bigway 4]

sweet, will pick one up in the morning.

Is there a better quality than mp4 that can be used n the ipod?

Thanks for the info.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[quade 3]

The video iPod can play back a variety of files, but .mp4 is going to probably be your best bet. It's based (ok really IS) H.264 which is the best codec out there currently.

The default Quicktime settings are very good but could be tweeked a bit if you have access to Compressor, part of the Final Cut Studio package, but that's maybe going a bit overboard unless you really want to do something for professional release.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bigway 4]

Paul, if you ever get a chance could you have a look at this software and tell me what the best settings would be to convert to mp4.

I know it is asking alot but i think you may like this if you have not seen it as well. It is very fast but i just can't get my head around alot of it.

It is free as well. http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[quade 3]

I'm familiar with the program.

When you say "best" I need to know a couple of things;

1) What are the pixel dimensions you want? 320x240 or what?
2) Are you constrained by bandwidth or file size?
3) Are you constrained by frame rate? 29.97 or 15 or 12?

Pixel dimensions are the easy one. How large is the screen of your display device?

Bandwidth is important if you're streaming it on the internet. A typical connection supports 500Kbps. 800Kbps is really pushing it.

File size is important if you want to put in on a storage medium. A typical CD holds 650MB. A typical DVD holds 4GB. A typical 3gp phone holds about 3MB but might have trouble dealing with files larger than 1MB.

Frame rate is important if you care about fidelity of motion. 29.97fps is the NTSC standard in the US. 25fps is typical PAL. 24 is typical film. 15fps is acceptable for a whole LOT of things. 12fps is pretty noticable.

Finally, are we talking about the phone or iPod video or something else? Every medium seems to have slightly different tweaks.

If you don't care about audio I think you can choose not to encode that and save a bit of space with that software.

As I recall, the mp4 preset in it was pretty darn good. I'm downloading the newest version and I'll take a look at the current state of affairs tonight and get back to you.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 3]

Wow! they've really come along with that program! I'm impressed. 6 months ago it was very basic DVD ripping and now it's pretty darn full featured.

Anyway, their presets look VERY good. I wouldn't hesitate at all in just using the iPod h.264 setting as it is for 16:9 content and only changing it to 4:3 if that was required. Everything else about it looks great.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bigway 4]

Not bad for free is it!.
Cheers for everything once again Paul.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.