Getting Started: MPEG-4 and H.264


	Podner Help

Contents:

Getting Started
	Introduction
	The Drag
	Options
	Encoding
•	MPEG-4 and H.264
	Genre and Name
	Pulling The Trigger
Videos
Preferences


	MPEG-4 and H.264: Of Time, Space and Quality

Podner supports two advanced encoders: MPEG-4 and H.264. MPEG-4 is a fast, general-purpose encoder that produces basic to good quality movie files with medium to large file sizes. H.264, on the other hand, can create wonderful picture quality with a much smaller file size, but it will take longer to process. Then there's a third choice: H.264 with Multipass. This option takes H.264 to an even higher level - superior picture quality at the same or smaller file sizes than regular H.264, but with a lot more encoding time.

The choices, then, would seem to be made for you: you can have fast, good quality, but with large file sizes, slower, great quality, in small file sizes, or exceptionally slow with fantastic quality and small file sizes. Looks like a choice between decent, great and terrific, right? Not so fast!

Podner provides a Quality control slider that makes some decisions for you. The Quality control slider has three settings: Good, Better and Best. Good sacrifices picture quality but produces smaller file sizes. Better is a compromise, balanced for equally decent file size and picture quality. Best is no holds barred: maximum file size, maximum picture quality.

Which encoder and quality you should use depends on the answers to these three questions:

1. How much time do I have to encode?

2. How much hard drive (or iPod) space do I want to use for my encoded video?

3. How important is picture quality?

Your answers will not be the same as everyone else's - and you probably won't make the same choices for every one of your movie files. If you want to get the job done as quickly as possible and picture quality is not an issue then use MPEG-4 at Good quality. If you need it fast but want a better picture, bump up the quality to Better. If you need an even better picture and are willing to spend a little more time, start leaning toward H.264 at Good quality, working your way up to H.264 Multipass. While it might seem like it takes forever, H.264 Multipass is truly amazing and well worth it when picture quality is the most important goal.