Best Video Format

[1magus]

So I used to decrypt DVDs and convert TV episodes and movies for my PSP and I always used MP4 because it was basically the only format that worked well on the PSP. Since I will be getting a Pandora the options are far grander . I was wondering what is the best format for videos? Which one has the least lossy and best quality?

 

[greendots]

Quality has far more to do with bitrate and the desired file size then file format. DVDs are fairly low quality nowadays so you can keep original pixel dimensions. Also don't forget to encode for stereo rather then 5.1 surround sound; that will save some space.

 

[1magus]

Quality has far more to do with bitrate and the desired file size then file format. DVDs are fairly low quality nowadays so you can keep original pixel dimensions. Also don't forget to encode for stereo rather then 5.1 surround sound; that will save some space.

Well bitrate is one of those things that annoys me, I mean from a Bluray I can't see one pixel in fast paced scenes but on DVDs sometimes it gets pixelated. Still I have done conversions where it gets extra pixelated and I'm trying to prevent that.

 

[greendots]

The program and settings for encode are important too... I've watched 2hr, stereo, 720p movies in a 600mb file. The quality is very tolerable for movies that aren't action intense.

 

[fearofshorts]

Use anything with H.264. Preferably in an MKV container, so you can have muxed-in subtitles with the video (and use an open-source container while you're at it).

 

[Aninhumer]

Video formats are more complicated than "mp4" or "avi".
Both of those are just container formats which hold the rest of the data.
If you're not going to use any advanced features, all container formats are essentially equivalent.
The important bits are the video and audio codecs.

The best video encoder is x264. (which is free)

The best audio format is AAC, but AFAIK there aren't any good free encoders.
Ogg Vorbis is almost as good as AAC, and totally free.

But as greendots says, you still need to use the right settings if you want good results.
IIRC x264 has a "constant quality" mode, which should vary the bitrate automatically to keep the quality at a set level.
There are various frontends to x264 you can try. I haven't used them so I can't judge.


Maybe we should put this in the FAQ?

 

[WizardStan]

You could just rip the DVD and play it back directly on the Pandora, no need to re-encode. If it's just a one off movie that you want for a trip, that may work best.

 

[Aninhumer]

You could just rip the DVD and play it back directly on the Pandora, no need to re-encode. If it's just a one off movie that you want for a trip, that may work best.

Or indeed, if you have a USB DVD drive, you could play it straight off the DVD!
(Probably want to plug it in if you do though...)
USB host port ftw

 

[Blue Ion]

Use anything with H.264. Preferably in an MKV container, so you can have muxed-in subtitles with the video (and use an open-source container while you're at it).

Watch out with that format. Right now the pandora is unable to play videos at 800x480 at 25 fps with high profile h264 (and therefore, roughfly the DVD size), as in, total frame skip even on cartoons that are much less complex, at 875 Mhz. It only displayed one or two heavily corrupted frames every couple of seconds.
At least not until the DSP is enabled with a kernel update, from after which, either Gstreamer or VLC should fly through those with no problem.
Then again, I hope there are no level related shenanigans and can play unrestricted h264. I hate when my graphic card refuses to play correctly some 1080p videos because it has one more reference frame, or... just doesn't adhere strictly the DXVA standard. Specially since my P4 at 2.6 Ghz can't even touch such videos (it can at 720p, barely ).

The best audio format is AAC, but AFAIK there aren't any good free encoders.

Free as in speech, the only encoder out there is faac and sucks big time, even worse than lame (no pun intended), but as in beer, the Nero aac encoder beats everything out there. Pretty much like x264 for h264.

For now, just use MPEG4 without exceeding the screen resolution. I had some xvid videos that the pandora had trouble to play at stock cpu, but played fine at 800mhz.

 

[WizardStan]

Indeed. XviD can provide the same level of quality as h264 (it also supports variable bit rate, constant quality encoding), it just needs a higher bit rate so your files will be larger, and it will be easier for the CPU to decode.

 

[SomeGuy99]

Animated Gif. You imagine your own sounds.

 

[Prometheus]

Amusingly, GIF Construction Set Professional would (and may still) allow you to convert video files into animated GIFs.

 

[Blue Ion]

Yeah, GIF so monstrously big that even the beefiest of computers are going to have a heart attack before they can even display the first frame (specially when the viewer in question tries to load a several gigabyte file in memory).

 

[TrashyMG]

Indeed. XviD can provide the same level of quality as h264 (it also supports variable bit rate, constant quality encoding), it just needs a higher bit rate so your files will be larger, and it will be easier for the CPU to decode.

Yeah my beagleboard chokes on H264, yet Xvid is much better if you can handle the larger file sizes, I can stream 720p videos through Ethernet from my file server without any frame loss or anything. I have my screen resolution set the 1280x800 too.

 

[fischju2000]

1.4gb xvid rips have great quality, much clearer and more vivid colors than a 700mb rip. If you are using Handbrake or something to rip them, I'd recommend xvid and set the bitrate as determined by file size, 1.4gb.

 

[Aninhumer]

Oh yeah, I forgot the Pandora can't handle h264 yet.
xvid it is then.

1.4gb xvid rips have great quality, much clearer and more vivid colors than a 700mb rip. If you are using Handbrake or something to rip them, I'd recommend xvid and set the bitrate as determined by file size, 1.4gb.

There's basically no reason to target a set filesize unless you actually intend to put it on a disc. (And even then DVDRs are cheap enough)
You're better off targeting a quality level, that way action packed movies won't suffer, and low action cartoons/anime will be tiny files.
I'm not certain but I think it might also shorten the encode, by not needing a second pass.
I don't know if the xvid encoder supports this though.

 

[Ratfink]

If you want to go the "magical open source magic of magicness" route, use Theora video. It's not patented, unlike MPEG. I imagine that Pandora should work with Ogg Theora just fine, being an open format and all.

 

[1magus]

SO wait the Pandora can play .VOB files?

 

[1magus]

SO wait the Pandora can play .VOB files?

yes, at 500mhz worked fine here

Well that is cool but unless I can find a very small and cheap 1TB external HDD that works on the Pandora than size would be a big problem of each file.

 

[TrashyMG]

SO wait the Pandora can play .VOB files?

It's 2010, not 1997.. My rocking Pentium 166mmx with a 1x DVD-ROM and a Creative Labs DXR2 got me DVD playback that looked slightly better than VHS.