Encode video file

[aspdend]

Can someone give me some advice? I am generating some video files for a client from my lighting design software. i normally use the Cinepak codec for windoze based machines, but I know he is a Mac user - is there a better codec that is more suitable or more frequently used for Mac's? Or any general advice on this would be good.

Thanks

[Mr. Grapes]

h.264 is apple's codec of choice
handbrake will generate some nice h/x.264 for you

[aspdend]

Just had a look at the output formats and h.264 isn't amongst the options...will try outputting uncompressed then converting to h.264 using handbrake

[Mr. Grapes]

i can't remember off the top of my head what input formats handbrake supports, so uncompressed may not work. however, handbrake is just one video compressor tool. you can probably get your editing tool to make h.264's if you install the codec. (x.264 is the open source version) but will require a bit of googling (<package name> + <h/x.264>) if you really want to jump in the deep end, take a look at doom9.org's forum or videohelp.org

[aspdend]

Ah - I have been trying a few times, but Handbrake will not encode my video - could be because it is uncompressed like you say. will try a different output and give that a try. unfortunately the software won't output h.264 files at all - does any number of windoze based formats...

[aspdend]

Tried Handbrake and could not get it to work - not sure if it is because it is more suited to DVD rips or similar and mine are short 30 seconds avi's...used H.264 Encoder for my video files and that seems to do the trick. Will be passing them to my client tomorrow so will find out then if they work properly...