What's the best Codec ?

edited February 2019 in FAQ
ABOUT CODECS, PLEASE READ THIS UP-TO-DATE POST ON OUR HELP CENTER :


Be sure to use the "Optimization" button in Millumin.
So you will be guided for best practices.


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Photo-JPEG
codec is the best (it's the case for most real-time video application). Choose 80-90% quality.
It's the same whenever you run in 32 bits or 64 bits mode (Mountain Lion recommanded).
If you got an alpha channel, please use Animation codec (32 bits) or ProRes-4444 (64 bits).


To encode your files easily, please use this nice and small application : VVBatchExporter

You can also try the Hap codec, but there are a few things to know :
- it's working great in 32-bits mode
- in 64-bits mode, experimental support is available for OSX Yosemite and higher
- HAP isn't recommanded in 64-bits on OSX Mountain Lion or Mavericks (HAP is 32-bits only there)

For info, HAP in 64-bits have been supported very recently, thank to the nice job made by Vidvox. However, at this stage, we don't have enough experience to recommand it, that's why it stays "experimental" for now since some features are missing. When enough experience have been gathered, we will probably recommand it, since its performances are very nice.


Please do not use H264 : it's good for web, not for real time rendering (it uses a lot of ressources).
For performance reasons, movies with a color profile (press CMD+I on your files to know) are not recommanded (check this when exporting with After Effects).


If you got many big files, be sure to use a fast drive (SSD recommanded).



Comments

  • Tested today an animation file with alpha, playing on a hd ready .mov background and work great!

    L.
  • edited June 2012
    Hi,
    in mercedes project i used files in Apple Pro Res 422 (HQ) 3150x1080 px on ocz vertex 3 hard disk, some files were very big (about 5 Gb) but they are played very fluid.
    image
     








  • Manuuuuuu!

    Ormai sei l'uomo delle grandi risoluzioni!

    Ahaha..ed aggiungerei..coi vertex fai girare pure i sassi!
  • Hello Phillipe,

    in which compressor/converter program can I compress/convert video files with Photo-Jpeg codec?

    At my first show I had to render a composition to mov in millumin with three layers with around 30 pictures with opacity transitions the file which came out was very big. After lowerin fps it was much lower but still big. the resolution of the output was 2048x768.
    After putting 3 original rendered composition into the dashboard they werent playing fluently. I then found one converter for windows winavi converted every file which I used, to mov h264. The files came down to very small size and Millumin handled playing multilayers very nicely.

    It would be very helpful to know which programs for converting other users are using.

    Thank you for the answer

    Best regards,
    Gregor


  • Hello Gregor,

    You can use Quicktime 7 to convert your files into Photo-JPEG, or any Final Cut, Premiere, After Effects, ...
    You can also create a composition on Millumin and render it (like you did).

    It produces large files and it's normal. Photo-JPEG is the perfect codec for real-time video application : fast decompression but not big filesize. You just need a fast hard drive (such an external hard drive on Firewire).
    In contrary, H264 is very compressed and use a lot of CPU/GPU to be decompressed. So it's not the best solution to my mind (despite the size is very small).

    Best,
    Philippe
  • Hello Philippe,

    thank you for the explanation. The solution for the fast hard disk would also be a SSD disk.


    Best regards,
    Gregor
  • HellO Philippe

    Is Millumin uses quicktime player to play, record, etc.. vidéo ?
    I ask you because Max/msp/jitter uses it.
    And after a few test i have noticed that media wich has been convert with quicktime player where read faster & better (less stutering) than is they has been convert with finalcut, premiere or after effect. (with the same codec of course, like photojpeg or h264).

    Best regards,
    Benjamin
  • Hello Benjamin,

    Yes, Millumin (as most of video application on Mac) uses the quicktime framework to play media.
    Could you tell me more about the differences ?

    Best,
    Philippe
  • Hello,
    For me, the main difference was : a media encode with premiere in h264 makes max/msp crashes.
    The same media, encode with quicktime works perfectly.

    My opinion is that codec means encode/decode. You need to have the same key to open and close the door.
    Something like if the specification of h264 was the same for every software, but the way to achieve it was different.

    But, it only a feeling, maybe not very cartesian...
  • Hi 
    Is this still the case for best codec ?
    Is there any difference with Yosemite, Capitan, Mac OS High Sierra running M V2 ?
  • Hello @Matiuk,

    You can find our updated recommandations here : http://help.millumin.com/?page=03_faq/codecs#pagePart
    I guess you found this page via an old referencing by Google, but now, all our links point towards our help-center.

    Best. Philippe
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