Cliffs of Dover Video Thread V1.0 [Closed]

[bw_wolverine]

Quick question for the videoheads:

I'm recording with FRAPS into avi files, but I'm editing using iMovie. I've had to convert the recorded avi files into MP4 format, but I'm not sure what the best conversion is to keep the files at the best quality (there's a ton of options). I'm using a program called Xvid4PSP to do the converting.

What's the best format I should use? Anyone have a tip on this front?

Incidentally, the film is coming along okay I have to agree with Les that at this point, you record what you can record and then see what you can make from it. You can plan a shot, but it's very difficult to get it exactly as you want.

[ATAG_Doc]

My final product is MP4 and that is best for me since it's HD and takes a lot less HDD space.

[ATAG_Doc]

Oh I forgot another excellent tool for converting is called handbrake,

[bw_wolverine]

Originally Posted by timej31

Oh I forgot another excellent tool for converting is called handbrake,

I have handbrake, but it won't convert the FRAPS avi files. Or I may be using it wrong.

[Les]

Ideally you don't want to use any kind of MPEG 4 compression (no matter how good it is) until you've edited your movie and want to export the end result in a more manageable file size. Having to convert the FRAPS files to MPEG 4's in order to get them into your editor means they'll end up getting compressed twice by the time you've exported your final movie, resulting in an extra level of image degradation. Whether that's really an issue though is up to you to decide. The end result will look worse, but it could still be acceptable under the circumstances.

Anyway. Did a quick readup on iMovie to see what file formats and codecs it's compatible with. It's designed to work with the following video formats -

DV
DV Widescreen
HDV 1080i (25 and 30 fps)
HDV 720p (25 and 30 fps)
MPEG 4 Simple Profile
iSight

I just tested Handbrake too and it will convert FRAPS AVI files to MPEG 4 files. You might have to adjust the Quality settings though to avoid having the image compressed too much. And whether the converted files would be accepted by iMovie or not I don't know, iMovie might only like a particular kind of MPEG 4 file. Handbrake uses either H.264(x264) or MPEG-4 (FFmpeg) codecs and iMovie might not like either.

There's another free video conversion tool I've used before (but not lately) called Super © that you can get here - http://www.erightsoft.com/Superdc.html (Scroll right down to the bottom of the page for the link, it's not the other video converter that's advertized elsewhere on the same page). This can convert the FRAPS AVI files to the DV files that iMovie (probably) works with, maybe without any compression and degradation of image quality at all, though resulting in larger file sizes too if it does. I don't have it installed at the moment and I can't remember what settings it has, but it gave good results from what I can remember.

Hope that helps.

[Les]

Here's a bit of online 'action' from my first Cliffs Of Dover multiplayer session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY9VDL07ZqQ

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the multiplayer part of the game was working overall. Even with all it's bugs and missing features, I found it good enough for simple 'take-off, try to cross the channel, look for some action, then come back again' type 'missions'. It's pretty much the same thing I and a lot of other people used to do when playing the original series online years ago. Even in its current state, I could easily spend too much time playing the game online.

Anyway, that was my impression. Each to their own I guess.

[bw_wolverine]

Originally Posted by Les

Hope that helps.

What editing software would work directly with the fraps captures? I'd rather skip this conversion process if I could. I'm using iMovie because I had it, not because I chose it over anything else.

Also, doesn't have to be Mac. I could always just do the editing on my gaming rig I suppose. Would probably be faster too since that's a beefy desktop and my Mac is a MacBook Pro.

[ATAG_Doc]

Originally Posted by bw_wolverine

What editing software would work directly with the fraps captures? I'd rather skip this conversion process if I could. I'm using iMovie because I had it, not because I chose it over anything else.

Also, doesn't have to be Mac. I could always just do the editing on my gaming rig I suppose. Would probably be faster too since that's a beefy desktop and my Mac is a MacBook Pro.

Not sure if this is what you want. I can open AVI's from FRAPS or MSI and I do not have to pre-render to any intermediary file using Vegas Pro 10 at all I go straight to MP4 using a very complex method of command line scripting and deinterlacing that produces the best video for upload to viemo and youtube. This method was developed by Nick at bubblevision.com. His toutorial is an education in itself and is recommended reading for power users and commercial production houses.

I've posed these before but here we go again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWMX5...layer_embedded

and Nick's site.
http://www.bubblevision.com/underwat...Tube-Vimeo.htm

[bw_wolverine]

Originally Posted by timej31

Not sure if this is what you want.

Thanks timej31, that's super helpful. Now I just need to find the cash to get Vegas :/


EDIT

One last question. If I were to decide I wanted to go all out on this (damn the cost) would I kick myself for getting Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite instead of going crazy and getting Vegas Pro 10?

[Les]

Originally Posted by bw_wolverine

What editing software would work directly with the fraps captures? I'd rather skip this conversion process if I could. I'm using iMovie because I had it, not because I chose it over anything else.

Also, doesn't have to be Mac. I could always just do the editing on my gaming rig I suppose. Would probably be faster too since that's a beefy desktop and my Mac is a MacBook Pro.

Virtual Dub can be used to do basic editing, but that's not really what it was designed for and it could just end up being more a source of frustration than anything. It's free and is worth checking out, and perhaps using as a video conversion or post processing tool. But if you want to do more than just join one clip straight onto another, you'd probably be better off forking out for one of the Sony Vegas products.

Here's a product comparison page - http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...udiope/compare

I don't have any of them, but from a quick look, you'd want either Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11, or Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite. That's using the logic that if you found out Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 11 was lacking and wanted something better (which would then require doing further research and making comparisons between Vegas and other brands' products), it'd be an easier write-off than getting Vegas Pro 10 and finding you never really use it's more expensive (but not necessarily relevant or useful) features. So, going by that comparison chart, the only difference between Platinum 11 and Platinum 11 Production Suite, is the Platinum 11 Production Suite has a tutorial DVD, a few more effects and soundtracks, and more elaborate sound-editing features, whatever that's worth. Doesn't look like much of price difference in any case.

Not making any recommendations, just putting some info into the mix for you. Except to say, whatever you get, download it and try it before you buy it so you can make sure it does what you want it to do. Pretty sure they all have at least one-off trial periods. You could even trial the more expensive software just to see if it really is worth it for you.