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Vegas 4 and small mpeg1.... I'm lost.

Discussion in 'Video - Software discussion' started by MikeInNM, Sep 24, 2003.

  1. MikeInNM

    MikeInNM Member

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    I have lots of computer experience, photography experience but little video experience or knowledge.

    I have been fortunate in making DVD's with good quality with Vegas 3 and 4 but now encounter a weird problem.

    I sell classic cars and while doing digital photos I started using my Sony camera to take a short mpeg1 clip to let someone hear and see the car run.

    Size is very small, quality is horrible but it is perfect for what I need.

    When I try to edit the goofs from these clips and render with Vegas as MPEG1 my file size is huge compared to the original dinky clip my camera put out.

    I set the same size, audio and everything I can find with my limited knowledge and even with 1/2 of a clip cut out the resulting file is bigger than my original.

    Can anyone make a guideline suggestion for settings to get the smallest file size possible for an MPEG1 and put it in very basic terms for a newbie like me.

    My original clip has these properties:

    160 x 112 x 32
    25.fps
    32000 hz mono
     
  2. jnihil

    jnihil Moderator Staff Member

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    what are you doing after choosing 'render as'?

    Rgds,
    jnihil.
     
  3. MikeInNM

    MikeInNM Member

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    I choose Mpeg 1
    Template Shows Default and I choose Custom Button
    Project Tab - Video Quality (Everywhere between Draft to Good)
    Video Tab - Width 160 Height 112 Frame Rate - 25
    Audio Tab - Mono
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    These are the only known parameters I can distinguish from my original mpeg. I have at different times "messed" with other render checkboxes but I seriously don't know what they do. I use the above settings just trying to match the original but no matter what I do my new version is bigger than my original.

    Example: 23 seconds mpeg from my camera file size is 500K. Edited to 9 seconds no matter what settings I choose I can't get the 9 seconds under 700K.
     
  4. jnihil

    jnihil Moderator Staff Member

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    Your settings are all fine, but you need a few more changes if you want to make the filesize smaller. The other defaults values will not give you the filesize you are looking to achieve.

    Open the original file using media player, then goto 'properties'->'mpeg video decoder'. This should show you the video bitrate. Do the same for the audio under 'properties'->'DirectSound device'. Now you have the audio bitrate.

    Punch-in these bitrates into the video/audio tabs in Vegas and you should have something close to the original, or even smaller if you set the bitrates lower than the original!

    Rgds,
    jnihil.
     
  5. MikeInNM

    MikeInNM Member

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    In my Win XP Media Player I can't extract that info. It is blank. But using Vegas, below is all I can extract regarding properties. This is the extent of info provided to me on this MPEG1 file.

    Streams
    Video: 00:00:23.040, 25.000 fps progressive, 160x112x32, MPEG-1
    Audio: 00:00:23.040, 32,000 Hz, Mono, MPEG Layer 2
     
  6. Minion

    Minion Senior member

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    Well the Size if the File is determined By the Length of the File and the Bitrate used to encode that File, so it is Just a Matter of useing the Right Mathamatical equation to predict the Files size..You can use a Bitrate Calculator to do the Math for you and tell you what bitrate you should set for the File size you want...I can tell you that a Bitrate of about 600kbs for Video and 64kbs for Audio will Give you a File of about 5mb per minute of Mpeg Video, so you can use those Figures to determine what bitrate you should use to get the File size you want...I just hope you realize that Re-encodeing your Mpeg1 clip will Greatly reduce the allready low Quality of the Image, especially at such a Low Bitrate...good Luck
     
  7. MikeInNM

    MikeInNM Member

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    Thanks to both of you. This is my digital photo camera not my movie camera I am using in this case so a quality degeneration would be hard. It's already maximum horrible.

    But in this case quality is not important. This is being used to provide 10 seconds of a car running for the viewer to hear it. Removes a small amount of fear in buying a car at auction. It is backed by a large gallery of high quality photos.

    I just couldn't determine why I could cut half the movie out and get a larger file size... no matter what I did.
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2003
  8. jnihil

    jnihil Moderator Staff Member

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    I think the bottom line is to make the filesize small AND make sure that the quality doesn't get even worse than MaxHorrible. So, you can probably just experiment with the bitrates until you come to an acceptable one.

    Good luck.
    jnihil.
     

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