Compression and Quality

[DarthTaco]

So, I've tried to enter the AMV contest twice now. The first time I was a n00b who'd only ever used WMM, and was denied because it was the wrong format. Then a few years ago, I got myself Vegas 6.0 and started playing around with it. I made three AMVs and was excited about entering them last year. However, the files were waaaay too big. So I had to compress them. And after that, they looked . . . okay on my computer's screen, but I received an email later that said that the picture/quality would be OHGODNO if it was blown up on the big screen at the con, because of the compression which had screwed up the quality. So, that was another flop.

This year, I would like to actually be able to get an AMV into the bloody contest. I don't care if I win, I just want to see it up there. However, I still get huge files, and I want to know if there's something I can do to compress them into a good format that will be accepted and not have the quality go "SFjdkshfjkdsahfjasguh" on the big screen.

So, I ask all of you who've done this before: What do you guys do to compress YOUR files without screwing it all up? A program, or what?

If anyone can give me a step-by-step for dummies, I would be most grateful. 

[reppy]

I'm not 100% sure what I used.  It's been a couple years, so my memory is foggy.  I used Adobe Premiere.  I exported it using the Huffyuv codec.  Approximately 4gb for a roughly 4 minute video.  I think I used VirtualDub to compress it.  I don't recall the exact codec I used.  DivX?  XviD?  Some h.264 codec?  Then there's the issue of how many passes and bitrate.  I think I may have used one of the pre-defined settings and made some slight modifications to bitrate.

I understand this isn't the most thorough response, but I hope it at least got some gears turning for you and you can start looking into stuff.  I'm sure other people will have their own recommendations (which could very would work better for you); just giving you my personal experience. ^_^

[Pie Row Maniac]

So, I've tried to enter the AMV contest twice now. The first time I was a n00b who'd only ever used WMM, and was denied because it was the wrong format. Then a few years ago, I got myself Vegas 6.0 and started playing around with it. I made three AMVs and was excited about entering them last year. However, the files were waaaay too big. So I had to compress them. And after that, they looked . . . okay on my computer's screen, but I received an email later that said that the picture/quality would be OHGODNO if it was blown up on the big screen at the con, because of the compression which had screwed up the quality. So, that was another flop.

This year, I would like to actually be able to get an AMV into the bloody contest. I don't care if I win, I just want to see it up there. However, I still get huge files, and I want to know if there's something I can do to compress them into a good format that will be accepted and not have the quality go "SFjdkshfjkdsahfjasguh" on the big screen.

So, I ask all of you who've done this before: What do you guys do to compress YOUR files without screwing it all up? A program, or what?

If anyone can give me a step-by-step for dummies, I would be most grateful. 

What do you export your videos as? .AVI?

And what codec do you use to export them?

[DarthTaco]

What do you export your videos as? .AVI?

And what codec do you use to export them?

I use .avi the majority of the time.

As for codec . . . I am rather unfamiliar with that term, I'm afraid. (fail)

[reppy]

You may want to do a little Google / YouTube search for how to export videos in Vegas.  I'm not familiar with how it works, so .. I'm not much help. ^_^;

[murder_of_raven]

Okay, I will pass along the advice I received from Zarxrax (famous among other things as being one of the two people behind the AMV Hell series): export uncompressed, compress it with this program: http://amvhell.com/stuff/zarx264gui/. It won't work for all conventions, the higher the caliber of competition the pickier they are about quality, however nothing beats zarx264gui in terms of ease-of-use. Every single video I have submitted to a convention has been compressed using it and I honestly don't have any complaints.

If you are having trouble using it, this guide does a pretty good job explaining it http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtechbeta/zarx264gui.html

[DarthTaco]

Thanks to all of you for your help and linkage. This has helped me immensely! <3