Filed under: iPod Family, Video, Podcasts
TUAW Video Podcast: iPod Edition
So, I spent a good chunk of yesterday putting together our first video podcast for your viewing pleasure, and then a much larger chunk of time compressing and recompressing the video in an attempt to get it down to a tolerable size that would also play on any video-capable iPods out there. The subject matter of the video podcast is, of course, the new 5G iPod. To create the video podcast, I attached my iSight to a tripod, plugged it into my PowerBook and then launched QuickTime Pro and chose File—>New Movie Recording. Then I took the resulting video files and imported them into iMovie, did some basic editing, added a few titles, and then shot the whole thing out into the default h.264 iPod format defined by QuickTime. The result? A ten minute file that weighed in at 50MBs in size. Thus I began my compression quest.I was chatting with Matt Croydon during all this and he pointed me to two useful links on compression: here and here. I managed to get one MP4 file down to 18MBs in size, but when I tried to load it to my iPod it didn't want to play nice (although it still plays fine in iTunes). I then referred back to this Apple document, paying close attention to all that information in small print at the bottom of the page. The result this time: a ten minute file that weighs in at 43MBs. Bah. The file should be embedded in our feed and show up in the iTMS sometime soon. In the meantime, here's a direct link to the file (
If any of you happen to be compression gurus skilled in the dark art of codecs, please share your arcane wisdom with us in the comments.
Update: After some more investigation it doesn't look like the widescreen off mode actually crops (or at least it doesn't just crop) as the video appears a bit thinner and squished when that mode is employed on a widescreen file.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
James Longinotti said 8:33PM on 11-15-2005
There is one quick way to convert video to iPod that I know of, working at Apple has it's benefits*
There is a program called Videora which converts any type of video to Mp4 format. I have coppied 29 full length Movies to iPod.
It is amazing, it actually does more than QuickTime pro.
Signing off.
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Jordan said 8:19PM on 10-23-2005
I've been compressing videos for my website for the past two years, and this is what I can share with:
- Have two videos (like you already do), one for quick download and one for the iPod.
- If you're shooting for a small file size, don't use the h.264 codec. While it does produce great quality video that is insanely scalable, it also results in large file sizes. Use the old h.263 codec.
- Frame rate is key. A full 30 frames a second is overkill for web-based video - most can't tell the difference and in the case of recording video with iSight, a difference in frame rate doesn't really matter. Your best bet is to use 15 frames/sec but you could also squeeze it down to 12 frames/sec.
- The data rate will also mandate a larger file size. You'll be surprised with what you can get away with. Play around with it - I'd start really low (500 kbs or so) and work my way up)
- you probably aren't interested in messing with the audio at all, but if you take it down to about 80 or 96 kbs, that'll also reduce your file size (again, audio is recorded with the iSight so it shouldn't make much difference to take the audio bit rate down).
My understanding is that the iPod can only play video's formatted into a .m4v file. And since Quicktime Pro doesn't offer any settings for that, there's not a whole lot you can do about compressing the video for the iPod.
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Robin said 8:20PM on 10-23-2005
Have you tried these instructions for creating video for iPods? QuickTime Pro 7.0.3 adds a nice "Movie to iPod" preset.
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C.K. Sample, III said 8:21PM on 10-23-2005
Robin, yes, I did. That's why it is linked to above and it's also how I ended up with the initial 50MB file.
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Ryan Green said 8:55PM on 10-23-2005
Or you could just host it at Ourmedia.org and get free hosting, regardless of file size...
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icebin said 9:20PM on 10-23-2005
oh nice.
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enano275 said 9:25PM on 10-23-2005
@ Jordan: According to Apple the iPod also supports .mp4 and .mov (not just .m4v)
@ CK: The videocast was fun, I hope to see more of them. Honestly the only different I noticed between the 18 mb one and the 50 mb one was the title's quality, which isn't really that important (BTW, I think a more modern font would look better, but that's just my opinion).
Very nice job.
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Reid Bode said 11:09PM on 10-23-2005
Downloading from iTunes!
I don't care that much about the file size, but for a video podcast, the quality doesn't have to be insane. Just enough to look good on the iPod and Ok at double the size on a computer.
Unlike, say, TV shows, people really won't be blowing it up fullscreen or watching it on their TV (sorry, but it's the truth).
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Robin said 12:20AM on 10-24-2005
Sorry, CK, I posted a different article, but it mentions the same steps. Too bad about the large filesize.
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jimmie said 12:22AM on 10-24-2005
great vidcast!!! looks awesom!!!
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Rob Knight said 3:03AM on 10-24-2005
Welcome to the wonderful world of Encoding Alchemy!
When I'm optimizing a video file for web delivery, It usually takes about 3-4 tries to get it just right. There isn't one-stop shopping for the process. I usually start with a default setting based on dimension.
For an iPod, I'd start with:
320x240 (obviously)
12-15 frames per second (As noted above)
60-80 KBytes per second data rate
Keyframe interval set to about 3-4X the frame rate (45 or 90)
I encode and then take a look. If it is too big, I start dropping the data rate. I've been able to get decent video at 40KBytes per second. But it depends on how much movement you have in your video.
Getting 9 minutes of video down to 18Mb is doing a great job. As noted above, on a voice-only video, you don't have to have 44.100kHz audio, you could easily do 32.000kHz. The IMA 4:1 audio codec is REAL good for this particular application.
Like I said, its alchemy, but I find myself addicited to finding that balance for each video between decent file size and good looking video.
cheers
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Adrian Miles said 5:13AM on 10-24-2005
hi
tips: See my blog entry on H.264. Make you sure you do two pass encoding and have automatic keyframes turned ON.
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iFelix said 6:05AM on 10-24-2005
So when do we get to see the TUAW bloggers on a TUAW Video PodCast?
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iFelix said 6:06AM on 10-24-2005
...also how about adding some background music and/or music to the titles?
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Ben said 8:36AM on 10-24-2005
Learn to use crossfades!! :) The constant sharp cuts were very off putting, crossfade the video and audio and it will look a whole lot better!
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C.K. Sample, III said 9:08AM on 10-24-2005
Sorry, Ben,
I know how to crossfade fine, but I was rushing to slap this sucker together so didn't bother. Cross-fades and a better camera for the next one; I promise.
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icerabbit said 10:55AM on 10-24-2005
Good content & compression. Very watchable.
One negative. Consider re-recording the sections in which you say "Euh" several times in one sentence. (you said it prob. 40x)
Regarding wash out sections, try to frame the recording so you only cover the tv or iPod screen (cameras generally calculate brightness & contrast setting over the entire frame) so, ditch the tv frame, cabinet etc and it should do better.
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ZeroZen said 11:06AM on 10-24-2005
You said:"right click and save please". I'm a normal Mac user and my mouse only have one button hehehe!
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C.K. Sample, III said 11:04AM on 10-24-2005
Icerabbit, trhe ums are my curse. I rerecorded several times, but I am an "um" er. What are you going to do?
As for the wash out, it had nothing to do with the framing. I tried getting up close etc, with actually more wash out. It seems to be an inherent problem with the iSight's recording capabilities. As I said, next time I will use a better cam.
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icerabbit said 3:24PM on 10-24-2005
I didn't know you re-recorded certain pieces, so I apologize on that part. You're not the only one using stop-gap words/sounds ... I can catch myself on it too.
All I can recommend - based on lessons in presenting & speaking in public - is day in day out making a conscious effort to simply take a brief pause when you're tempted to say "um/euh". With practice it'll get better. I've seen it first hand with some peers.
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