What's the best video format to use.

[T D]

I'm using video in a theater production that was created using
AfterEffects. I currently have it in Mpeg-4 format. It runs very
inconsistently. Sometimes it plays through fine, other times I get
nothing or a white screen.

Is there a prefered format that I should use for Qlab? I chose mpeg-4
because it is so small, but I guess that might mean the computer has
to do more work to uncompress it than a regular file.

System note: I only have a Macbook and I know they recomend a Macbook
Pro. I only have 3 videos that are less than 25Mb each, so I was
hoping this would be good enough for the job.

[Michael Long]

Photo-JPEG always works best for me. If you're still having troubles,
try reducing the quality of the photo-jpeg encoding. I usually start
at 75 quality, and if I'm still having problems I'll drop it lower.
Depending on the video content (i.e. video footage versus an
animation) you may be able to drop it a lot without any noticeable
quality difference. The last show I worked on, I was able to drop the
quality of an animation down to 15 without much noticeable difference,
and the videos played very consistently. It's all about experimenting
and seeing what works best for your set up. Good luck!

Michael Long
Video Projection Designer
Philadelphia

[dan howarth]

i wasn't aware until now that qlab struggled with any formats -- FYI for video i've always had success 

with simple quicktime MOVs and DVs .. 

this brings to mind a question -- is there an official file format list ?? 

chris mentioned an apple bug for the MP3 problem .. is this vaguely somehow related for MP4 ?? 

also -- had fun with QCart demo yesterday, specifically the plug-ins !! looking forward to Qlab v3 with "advanced audio engine" ..... 

On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 11:59 AM, Michael Long <mlon...@gmail.com> wrote:

Photo-JPEG always works best for me. If you're still having troubles,

>>>>> 

and the videos played very consistently. It's all about experimenting

and seeing what works best for your set up. Good luck!

[Christopher Ashworth]

On Dec 7, 2011, at 2:40 PM, dan howarth wrote:

> i wasn't aware until now that qlab struggled with any formats

I'd say it's more like "different formats have different properties, which are good for different uses".

> -- FYI for video i've always had success
> with simple quicktime MOVs and DVs ..

"mov" is a container format that can contain a variety of codecs, so you may have used a variety of formats.

> this brings to mind a question -- is there an official file format list ??

Not official, although over time the opinion of the list seems to have gravitated to PhotoJPG, H.264, or Apple Prores.

See the list archives for extensive discussions and tips.

Best,
C