File size limitation for QT movie

[rccm webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I am having trouble with an QT movie playing in Director. The file sizes are 39MB to 541MB.
Does anyone know of a problem with this? I have already compressed them from the original AVIs that they were.

Thanks,
Rccm

[Chunick webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

WOW! Those are pretty big files. I don't know what the limit for video size that Director has (if any) because normally you're trying to reduce the size of the video as much as possible. How long and what size are these QT videos? What quality were they originally and in what type of environment are they being used in? ie. presentation, interactive CD, etc.

There are many options to reduce video file size. If you have Quicktime Pro you can recompress them using Sorenson or Sorenson 3 for the video and there are a few audio compressions too. You can usually reduce the size from, say 640x480 (effectively full screen) to 320x240 and then stretch it to fill the screen for example. And, use between 90-250 KBytes/sec. You'll have to experiment with video quality since the original is already compressed. Try even reducing the frame rate. That can shave file size and still produce acceptable quality. As for audio, use IMA (4:1 compression ratio) and set to 22KHz or lower, 16-bit Mono.

Lastly, if it's an interactive CD you can create a test in Director with some lingo to test what version of quicktime they have on their system and if they don't then you can send them to a screen that allows them to install it off the CD or send them to Apple's Quicktime download site. The standalone installer program can be downloaded from their site and burnt to CD but you need to print, sign and fax a simple agreement that explains what you are using their installer for. It's just a formality, no biggy, but should be done. Also, if you're using a Mac they have a logo pkg. Mac zipped that can be downloaded too and should be used on the CD label and in the program somewhere. If you're interested I can post the link.

[rccm webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I actually was able to get them compressed through Adobe Premiere. They originally were uncompressed AVIs to be used as a demo cd. I am interested in your suggestion of making a 320x240 and expand it to fit the screen. Does this not distort the movie?

I will try your suggestions for compression.

[rccm webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Now that I have compressed these files, they play properly. However, when I unclick DTS (Direct to Stage) and attempt to view the executable, the MOVs will not play more than a few frames of the MOV. I need to be able to use the DTS, because I have the words relating to the narration in a screen on the bottom right quadrant.

Thanks,
rccm

[Chunick webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I've noticed a similar problem with quicktime MOVs when deselecting DTS. I cannot remember how I remedied it, though. I may have preloaded the video or something? Hmmmmm.....

As far as your question about distorting... distortion will only happen when you change the aspect ratio of a video from it's original. What you're probably meaning is pixelation. The pixelation is something that has to be considered, but if you compress it enough it should still look reasonably good. Also, if the space on the medium (eg. CD) is limited, then it might be an idea to save it at 320x240 and scale it 200% in Director. Another reason may be that saving it at 640x480 (full size) and playing it back on a CD is not going to be smooth (video/audio synch problems for eg.), so that's a good reason to sacrifice crystal clarity.

[Rob Dillon]

Yes, as you've seen, you need to compress the dv file. There are many
options for compressors and many settings to be controlled for each
compressor.

One critical setting is the data rate for the the compressed file. This
has to be smaller than the data transfer rate of the storage device. If
you are creating a CD, then you need to be sure that your data rate is
slower than the worst CD reader that you expect your users to have.

If you want your finished image size to be 640 X 480 then you will be
better served by saving the file to a finished size of 320 X 240. This
will result in a file that's much smaller and more easily played at a
reasonable data rate. If your authoring tool allows, use the setting
for display at double size, this will optimize the compression for
playback at 640 X 480.

Playing digital video through Director forces Director to share the
stage space on the user's computer screen. The direct to stage option
allows Director to give up control of the space occupied by the digital
video. If you don't turn on direct to stage then Director is also
sending information to those same screen pixels. This will lower
playback quality, sometimes fatally.

If you need to add titling to some portion of the digital video space,
consider adding that information to the text track of the QT file.
Alternately, consider placing the text near the dv sprite on the stage.

When designing interactive media it's critical to work within the
confines of the tools.

--
Rob
_______
Rob Dillon
Team Macromedia
[url]http://www.ddg-designs.com[/url]
412-243-9119

[url]http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial/[/url]