I will try to be more specific with my question. I am using Adobe Premiere to encode video captured from a digital video camera. I have created mpegs that are approximately 15 minutes in length and 650mb. Enough to fit on a standard CD with a pretty fair resolution. They were encoded using a Ligos encoder. I had no problems with playback until recently. Even the system which created the Mpegs will now not play them back. This comes after an OS reinstall. I am gearing to users with Windows Mediaplayer as this seems to be a more widely used application and is also included ON HANDHELD DEVICES (PDAs) which is important. I am considering QT as the necessary playback application but this still does not solve the problem for handhelds.
Is there technology available to create CDs that playback with the quality of DVDs? And can this technology be used in any computer with the necessary playback application such as Windows Media Player? What are the creators of DVD media using to encode their projects?
Original Question
I am creating a CD Rom for playback on computers with either Windows Media Player or Quicktime. So far I have concentrated on WMP. The resulting mpegs played fine on my computer and sometimes on others but the results vary too widely, and now it won't even play on WMP on the computer on which it was created because of codec issues.
Is there a codec which plays universally on different media players or is there a way to embed the necessary codec so that it can be found by the media player?
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Mpeg-1 is vcd compliant, and Mpeg-4 is not free to use to encode or include on your cd commercially (I know this because I e-mailed Microsoft about it and they refered me to some BS which basically says all these companies have helped to develop mpeg-4 and they dont know how to liscense it yet, but it`s definatly NOT free to use [and yet the codec is free for download on MS web site].
I have this same problem; I need to make vid cds for the public, which means I need good picture and file size. I tried Mpeg-1 and it makes a huge file at about 650mb for only 65 minutes of video, and the picture is fair to crappy. I have elected to wait until I can get a lisence for the Mpeg-4 codec (which encodes wonderfully).
ANyways..
You must have a menu on your video cds, if not put one on that auto-starts and add a link to the codec installation file on the discs menu. Don`t force an install off of every disc. Let the user launch the appropriate codec off the cd. The media player should download the right codec if it does`nt have it already.
Enuff babble..
-homewabbit
Odd that MS has anything to say about MPEG-4. The licensing has been worked out, the ISO MPEG-4 encoder is included with QuickTime Pro which only costs $25. The ISO MPEG-4 decoder is part of the QuickTime Player which most people have. The codec MS includes on their website is MSMPEG-4 which isnt ISO MPEG-4. It's their own development off an early beta of the MPEG-4 standard, well before the parties involved decided to ditch AVI for MOV as the framework.
The license problem is closed and it adresses the devilary and playback of movies and less the royalties for the encoder/decoder. http://pcw.idg.com.au/idg2
(I'm sure weed has some comments about that :)
Back to the question, xvid has an open source codec which you can use for your application, just make sure you read their license agreement and comply to it.
www.xvid.org
If you must keep the files standard, you can use Quicktime or mpegable or divx codecs and make a .mp4 files that sould be standard, these options might cost you money.
For free mp4 with toutorials and no garantee check http://download.everwicked
when using .mp4 files, you'll have to make sure you comply with MPEGLA licensing.
I would use xvid solution
weed, sell your shares at apple, go open source :)
Be VERY careful when using DivX or any of its 101 variations. The codecs are often non-standard, platform dependant, etc. Stick to the standards. ISO MPEG-4. Dont sweat the MPEG-4 licensing agreement. With QTPro you can encode as much as you like and distribute what you want.
shlezman: Why do that when i can have both? apple.com/opensource
You are correct weed, QTPro ships with the ISO Mpeg-4 codec. www.apple.com/quicktime This is great news!
Godimugly: I suggest you use the ISO mpeg-4 codec to encode also. I have encoded with it and it allows picture quality, small file size, and it is now going to be a standard.. Because it ROCKS. It`s like encoding with divx, but when x-man buys the player we are liscened to encode with it and distribute content on cd/internet. When you use Adobe Premiere to encode just select the ISO mpeg-4 codec, assuming that quicktime pro installs the codec on your system and does`nt 'hide' it from anything but QTPro :)
-homewabbit
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by: weedPosted on 2002-11-14 at 16:17:00ID: 7450919
Good luck. The best way is to do it as an MPEG-1. If youre feeling "cutting edge" you use the ISO standard MPEG-4. NOT divx, or any of the other MPEG-4 spinoffs. MSMPEG-4 is not standard either. Anything else and you're going to have codec issues. You also want to stay away from the WMP wrapper format. QT is at least a reliable standard, and you can always keep it as an MPEG.