Good Compression from miniDV to DVD/Archive?

ok guys, im doing a website where we blow up an appliance weekly with a potato gun and a 4lb peice of metal. Truly halarious. The clips are only a few seconds a peice. 45sec-min long. I edit the multi angles in FCP, fix up interlacing with magic bullet, and finally compress with AEFX to mp4. 1.5mb generally, not bad at all.

However, i decided once we hit like 100 appliance deaths, release a DVD. Id like to keep the files on my computer, at 720x480, with no loss. HOwever, a friggen 45 sec clip, will be like 180MB as a DV stream.

Now in windows, 45sec would be about 20mb-40mb (iirc) at miniDV.

So what codec/compression rate can i use? audio isnt much of an issue, mono, 3200khz. The video is most important, as theres alot of high speed flying objects.

Thanks ina dvance.

I know DivX has some pretty powerful compression that can still keep the footage pretty clean. I don't know as far as compression rates... It's just really a matter of what you are willing to accept.

I do alot of broadcast work have found Mpeg-4 can cut things down plenty and still look decent when I take it back to digibeta. H.264 (The new codec that comes with Tiger) is supposed to really blow all other codecs out of the water... I haven't actually tried it yet.

By the way... What is your website? That sounds like something I HAVE to see.

is it any different than the one that comes with FCP?

Im aware of divx, however i just get problems when working with it on mac. If youve ever used PC, check out VP6. Totally pwns divx.

I don't know any answers for your questions, I just wanted to tell you that it sounds like you are making the coolest website EVER! Where/when can we check this out?

-Chris

well its very very primitive, i only have 1 video up ATM, i have 1 more editied and one more on stock still so, ill get those up soon. i gotta talk to a guy who owns an FTP server to borrow a few megs.

Anyways its www.appliancedeath.cjb.net. G2 the videos page, youll find the 1 ive got so far.

thanks btw.

ok im sitting here tinkering, the best i can get is like 30mb using some off brand built in codec with mac. Divx doesnt wanna cooperate with me today. 30mb for 45sec doesnt sound right to me.

How come i cant do Mpeg2? Mpeg4 is nice, however it doesnt allow full 720x480DV. This DVD has to be BEST quality, because of all the motion on the screen.

Is the new tiger codec available for download for older osx? I messed with the H.264 here and its nothing special. Im on osx3.9 btw.

Now i know my site is messed, but im out of college for the summer so i have some time to tinker. SLOWLY the graphics will look better, im notta website kinda guy.

Check in the next couple days, i have 1 finished im going to upload. We called it F You Radio lol.

Note: we never kinda kept in mind to keep this stuff clean, so uh its kinda R rated lol. language only.

thanks in advance.

You should be able to use Compressor to do Mpeg 2... I'm not sure that Final Cut or AE will do it straight as an export.

I'm not sure what you mean as far as Mpeg 4 limiting your output size either... I output from FCP to Mpeg 4 (Best Quality) all the time and it looks flawless and keeps the files around 70-80mb for 45sec.

Someone correct me if I am wrong... But I don't believe you can get H.264 on Mac unless you get Tiger... Apple does have a habit of forcing us to make major upgrades for small features.

well i have a version of H.261 H.263 and H2.64, however i think they kinda suck lol.

I found the MP4 full size rez, however im not cool with the 70mb thing. Divx is giving me 71MB for a 45sec clip. Now how can this be honestly? i mean look at some of the divx movies we download theyre amazing.

In fcp i tried exporting to Mp2, and it told me it had to be rendered first. However i just took a file, that i had PRE rendered, imported into the timeline and wanted to convert.

I remember having these problems when i first started on windows...so i guess i just hafta play until i find a great one.

OK guys, problem solved. Just get a miniDV tape, and print to tape in FCP.

My site now has 3 videos up, DVDplayer, CDplayer, and Microwave. This week, and HP printer..possibly some windows 3.1 machines.

Now, i wont post anymore updates here. Dont wanna tick off the mods, its not nice to piggy back their mail server everytime i get farhter. SO. anyone wants to know updates, PM me a screen name (AIM/MSN/ICQ/Y!) or an email. Id be happy to answer any Q's. the site no longer looks like crap, the videos are getting smaller and better quality (thanks to magic bullet)