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WHAT
IS MPEG-4
MPEG-4
is a new standard of video compression that is both high quality
and low bitrate. They are usually only a fraction (around
15%) of the size of a standard DVD, even at 640x480 resolutions,
making them the best home video format thus far. They only
take half the time to encode, but also smaller in size than
MPEG-1 - due to their incredible compression technology -
some have even called MPEG-4 the "MP3 of the video world".
Quality ranges from net-streaming quality to DVD and better
!!
- Below
are some useful statistics :
- Format
: flexible - most common form : .avi
- Resolution
: Variable, most common : 640x480 or default PAL/NTSC resolution
- Bitrate
: Depending on resolution/sound bitrate. Most common : 650MB
stores 80-90 minutes at 640x480
- Quality
: VIDEO - Variable, most common : similar to SVHS/DVD ;
AUDIO - Variable, most common : CD Quality+ (48kHz, 96kBits,
stereo)
- Encoding
time : 2-4 frames per second on a PII-350
HOW
CAN I MAKE THEM ?
Please
reffer to some of the tutorials on the left.
HOW
CAN I PLAY THEM ?
| DivX
MPEG-4 Player |
A
very early version of a dedicated DivX MPEG-4 player |
| Microsoft
Media player |
A
functional, although quite boring to use player |
| MicroDVD |
Looks
like PowerDVD, but completely re-designed to work best
with MPEG-4 content - needs Microsoft Media Player (above)
installed |
| PowerDVD |
Also
support Microsoft Media player codecs, you can view MPEG-4
movies, but may have aspect ratio problems. Microsoft
Media Player (above) needed. |
And
you'll need the below minimum system specs for smooth playback
:
- CPU
: PII-300
- VIDEO
CARD : 4MB card or better
- SOUND
CARD (preferred) : 48kHz, PCI
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