seedpress opened this issue on Jul 10, 2001 ยท 18 posts
seedpress posted Tue, 10 July 2001 at 2:11 AM
I have some AVIs created in Bryce that I would like to compress into MPEG 4. Has anyone out there actually done this? I can't find an MPEG 4 encoder. I heard that Microsoft had one (MPEG 4 V2 that would allow use of AVIs); but it's no longer on their website--as far as I can tell. I also heard that their MPEG V3 encoder wouldn't work with AVIs. I know about DivX, but I want to send an MPEG 4 to someone who has Media Player 7, which I understand can play MPEG 4s, but not DivX (an open-source MPeg 4). Anyway, this MPEG 4 stuff is proving to be very confusing. Any help would be appreciated.
kaom posted Tue, 10 July 2001 at 10:50 AM
try AVI2VCD. it might do it. you'll have to search for ti though. kaom
Stuie posted Tue, 10 July 2001 at 11:52 PM
I don't know that you really want it, or even if it's necessary to be MPEG 4. MPEG 2 or 3 would work just fine. There is a plugin for Premiere from Digigami called Megapeg that will allow you to convert Quicktime to MPEG. All you need to do, if you have this tandem, is bring in the AVI, output it to a Quicktime movie, then apply the Megapeg. I find it better to output from Bryce as a BMP sequence, then output that to a Quicktime. Much better quality with the sequenced files. If you want to see an example of how I used Bryce for MPEG, look at the following link; http://www.comgraph.com/3DScenes.html Also, if you want more info on the plugin I mentioned, go to; http://www.digigami.com Hope this helps Stuie
seedpress posted Wed, 11 July 2001 at 1:15 AM
Stuie: I don't have Premier at the moment, but I'll keep your tip on file for the future. Thanks! I checked out your web site; neat underwater stuff. I'm interested in MPEG 4 because my understanding is that it offers much better compresion and better quality playback than the earlier MPEGs (1&2). kaom: I have AVI2VCD (zipped up still), which actually I am planning to use for another project. My understanding, though, is that this is an AVI to MPEG 1 converter. Am I in error?
kaom posted Wed, 11 July 2001 at 1:25 AM
Yes AVI2VCD is an MPEG converter, it will convert your AVI files to MPEG, it will do what you need. kaom
Stuie posted Wed, 11 July 2001 at 8:30 PM
It took me a day to find it, but I think I found a resource for you to read. There's a great article all about MPEG-4 in the May issue of DV magazine. Basically, there isn't any way for now for you to compress a video in MPEG-4. As a matter of fact, at the end of the article the author explains that the importance of MPEG-4 will mainly be in the broadcast standards, not much in the web videos. Here's the link for the article; http://www.dv.com/magazine/2001/0501/waggoner0501.html I hope this will clear things up. Also, even if you do convert your AVI to MPEG-2, the quality won't be as good as if you did it from a Quicktime format. If you need to get something converted, I might be able to help you out on it. E-mail me and let me know what you want to do (a video, an animation???) If it's not a feature length movie, I might be able to help you on this. My e-mail; rstewar3@san.rr.com Cheers!
Sabre_Rai posted Thu, 12 July 2001 at 12:48 PM
I don't see the problem... Just install the Mpeg 4 codec, then run any video program even avi2vcd, Mpg4 will be anoption, along with all codecs installed.
kaom posted Thu, 12 July 2001 at 1:04 PM
Attached Link: http://www.radgametools.com
Since were on the topic of video, I though I'd share a secret little program that is worth it's weight in gold. It's called Bink&Smacker. It's used in the video game industry heavily. It can make a 100 MB AVI file compressed down to a 5 MB Bink file with virtually no loss. It works like magic. I had to try it myself to believe it. The only deal is you have to watch the file with Bink&Smacker itself, which isn't a problem because the program is like 1.5 MB or something. So you could includ it on say a CD-Rom to give to your friends. Check it out at the link I provided, you will be amazed. kaom
seedpress posted Thu, 12 July 2001 at 2:54 PM
kaom Had heard of Bink, but hadn't checked it out yet. Will do, though. Thanks for the link! Sabre_Rai Could you post a link to the MPGEG 4 codec. I found one for DivX, and some Microsoft stuff that I can't figure out. But I can't find a straight MPEG 4 codec. Usually I'm good at finding stuff, too. Thanks! Stuie, Great article on MPEG 4. I rerad it quickly and saved it. Thanks for the conversion offer. Will keep it on file. I can already create my originals in QuickTime, but I had understood (perhaps incorrectly) that other compression schemes created smaller files with better quality, which I guess is what I'm actually looking for now. Also, do YOU know where I can download a MPEG 4 codec?
wolf359 posted Thu, 12 July 2001 at 6:46 PM
Attached Link: http://66.70.166.29/animation/royfinal.mpg
Stuie posted Fri, 13 July 2001 at 1:19 AM
My understanding is that there isn't a codec for MPEG-4. Like the article said, it's main impact will be with the broadcast industry, not the web video. For now, the best you can do is MPEG-2, which is still real good. A quote from the article; "However, the static nature of any specification is also MPEG-4's biggest weakness in the main environment for Web video today: desktop computers running mainstream operating systems. QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media all provide video codecs better than that of MPEG-4. This isn't surprising-they've had a couple of years to digest the drafts, apply the good ideas, and add proprietary enhancements that improve quality but break compatibility. And that's a good thing-you can update software a lot easier than silicon. And because they all provide dynamic download of new codecs, we can expect the quality gap between MPEG-4 implementations and the Big Three to widen over time. It will be useful for desktop playback to be able to view MPEG-4 content, especially for content providers who only want to create content for a single format." I think Sorrensen has a beta MPEG-4, but that's a really expensive wat to go unless you're really serious about your web video. Also, I create videos in Quicktime in order to make them into MPEG's. I rarely use them for web content. Oh, and thanks for the additional info kaom & wolf359!
Sabre_Rai posted Fri, 13 July 2001 at 7:14 PM
seedpress posted Sat, 14 July 2001 at 2:48 PM
Sabre_Rai When you compress MPEG 4's using .ASF, I presume you use Windows Media Encoder? What version? By the way, the MPEG 4 encoder won't register via regsvr32,exe. Keep getting the message: "Dllname was loaded, but the entry point was not found. Dllname may not be exported, or a corrupted version of Dllname may be in memory. Consider using Pview to detect the file and remove it." (I don't have Pview, either.) Just can't seem to find a self-installing MPGEG 4 encoder! Anyway, (maybe because of the failed registy), even though the encoder is now in my Windowssystem directory, my Bryce animation export menu does not show the Microsoft MPEG 4 option, as yours does. Nor will it show up in Virtual Dub. Presumably not accessable by any program yet. Any hints?
Sabre_Rai posted Sat, 14 July 2001 at 3:12 PM
i use Windows Media On-Demand Producer ver 4.0 Are you right clicking on the file to install? I have installed this codec in Win98, Win ME and in Win 2000, I haven't had any troubles. All I did was to run the right click install, and be sure to copy MPG4C32.dll and mpg4ds32.ax to your windowssystem directory, Sorry if that is no help to you.
Sabre_Rai posted Sat, 14 July 2001 at 3:23 PM
By the way the DIVX fast motion codecs are pretty good as .ASF file too. for web content anyway. But the Mpoeg4 codecs are better when banswidth isn't an issue... Microsoft used to have a portion of their web site for Windows Media. On-demand Producer was free 6 months ago. But I don't know now...
seedpress posted Sat, 14 July 2001 at 4:16 PM
When I unzipped the files from MPEG4.zip, there was no .exe to install, just the following SIX files: divxpatch.txt M$mpeg4.inf Mpg4c32.dll Mpg4ds32.ax Msaud32.acm Readme.txt Had already moved the two files you suggested to the windowssystem directory--with no luck. I'll keep trying to figure it out. Is it possible that my zipped version has no install file?
Sabre_Rai posted Sat, 14 July 2001 at 4:47 PM
seedpress posted Sun, 15 July 2001 at 11:58 AM
Sabre_Rai: Okay. I've now got it. Didn't know about right-clicking on the .inf file. That's a new one for me. You learn something new every day! All my other codecs must have come with other software. This was my first "manual" install. Thanks again. By the way--neat screen shot above!