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Compressor Settings for YouTube

I would like to ask a question that would help me feel more confident that I'm on the correct path with learning iMovie. I have eye surgery video files from a surgical microscope that I want to convert in Apple Compressor, edit in iMovie, and then post on YouTube. The video output from the microscope is mpeg-2, 1280x720, Progressive, Square, 25 fps, Rec 709, no audio. In Compressor I have been converting my files to HD 720p (under Video Sharing Services) for editing in iMovie. 


Is this the best conversion setting option in Compressor for my purposes? I purchased Compressor because I can batch convert many files at a time (each surgery may yield 8 - 10 1.99 GB files). I am a newbie and have no idea if HD 720 is the best file format to convert to.


I would very much appreciate a recommendation on which file format to convert to in Compressor.


Thanks,

Jason

Posted on Jun 29, 2020 9:02 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 30, 2020 9:10 AM

To be honest, I have never seen any difference in quality between Pro Res 422 and Mp4 when playing on a computer screen. However, there are a lot more Independent frames in Pro Res so the quality would be technically better because no frames lost through the compression algorithm. It also has a much higher bitratre than Mp4, so playing more bits per second, and hence the much larger file size and better quality. I suppose if you played Pro Res 422 on a very large screen, or examined the footage frame by frame in side by side comparison with Mp4, you would see some quality difference. Basically Pro Res 422 is a better editing format if you have heavy editing to do. If file size is an issue, like uploading to the internet, then you would be better off with a more compressed format like Mp4. If the footage is going to be played on a computer screen I would see no benefit to using Pro Res 422. In the last analysis it is your call as to what format to use for your purposes.


-- Rich

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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 30, 2020 9:10 AM in response to Jason Goldsmith

To be honest, I have never seen any difference in quality between Pro Res 422 and Mp4 when playing on a computer screen. However, there are a lot more Independent frames in Pro Res so the quality would be technically better because no frames lost through the compression algorithm. It also has a much higher bitratre than Mp4, so playing more bits per second, and hence the much larger file size and better quality. I suppose if you played Pro Res 422 on a very large screen, or examined the footage frame by frame in side by side comparison with Mp4, you would see some quality difference. Basically Pro Res 422 is a better editing format if you have heavy editing to do. If file size is an issue, like uploading to the internet, then you would be better off with a more compressed format like Mp4. If the footage is going to be played on a computer screen I would see no benefit to using Pro Res 422. In the last analysis it is your call as to what format to use for your purposes.


-- Rich

Jun 29, 2020 12:48 PM in response to Jason Goldsmith

Regarding your microscope video, the format is Mpeg-2. The resolution is 1280 x 720 which is low hi-def. So it would be safe to "convert" the file to HD 720p because it is already that. You could bump it up to 1080p, but sometimes upscaling actually yields worse results. However, you do not want the Mpeg-2 format because it will not work in iMovie. Mpeg-2 is a highly compressed delivery format not intended for editing. It is what is used for commercial DVDs that will be viewed but not edited.


Since you will be editing, you would want an editing format depending upon how complicated the editing will be. As for what format to use, that would depend upon your intended purpose. For example, if you would be uploading to a website like You Tube you might want a more compressed format, like Mp4. If you are going to do a lot of finite editing, you would want something like Pro Res 422, that would give you a bit better quality although a 4x larger file size and take up much more space. But uploading to the internet might be awkward and time consuming with such a large file.


I would think that an eye surgery video wouldn't require a lot of color editing and finite effects. Others may opine differently, but I would suggest H.264, Mp4/AAC at 720p. That is regarded as a delivery format rather than an editing format, but I have found it very editable for almost every purpose. Mp4 is probably the most widely compatible format that will play on any device with good quality. It will work fine on You Tube. Working with a duplicate, try a test movie with Mp4 and see if the result satisfies your requrements. You can also try Pro Res 422 and see if you like it better. I'm pretty sure that You Tube accepts Pro Res 422, but you should go on You Tubes website to check what formats that it accepts.


-- Rich











Jun 30, 2020 8:26 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks, Rich, for the thoughtful and very helpful response. Just to clarify, the choice between Mp4 and Pro Res 442 is made when using Compressor. This output from Compressor is the input to iMovie. The output from iMovie is a second choice, albeit a bit simpler (SD, Large, HD 720, HD 1080p).


I compared Compressor conversion to HD 720.mov versus Pro Res 442.mov, and watched the video in Quicktime (prior to editing in iMovie). I could not detect a difference in the appearance of the videos. The difference in video size, however, was dramatic. The original mpg file was 1.99 GB. The HD 720 file produce by Compressor was reduced to 1.49 GB, but the Pro Res 442 file grew to 8.72 GB.


Is there any other reason that I should consider the Pro Res Format? Does it perform better in iMovie?


The other thing I want to pursue is whether the video camera in the operating microscope can produce higher quality video. Maybe I'll detect a difference between the Compressor output formats if the source file is of better quality.


Thanks again for your help,

Jason


Compressor Settings for YouTube

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