4 thoughts on “QuickTime Q & A for QuickTime and Video Compression”

1. MacBook Pro
   2.4 G, IntelCore 2 Duo
   2GB Ram

   I recently got a JVC Everio Digital video camcorder. This produces .MOD files
   From blogs I read, this is basically a mpeg2 file
   I can use standard QT to pull the files in as .mov files
   Then I saw the QT mpeg-2 plugin, so I got it
   This can convert the mod file to a dv file

   I then used iDVD to make a dvd with the same source clip with 2 clips, one with the mov, the other the dv
   I did not see any real difference ?
   Is iDVD re-encoding and losing info ?

   Here is the stream info

   Stream: MOV005.MOD
   Path: ~/Movies/iDvd/MOV005.MOD
   Type: MPEG program stream

   Duration: 0:02:52
   Data Size: 136.39 MB
   Bit Rate: 6.63 Mbps

   Video Tracks:
   224 MPEG-2, 720 × 480, 16:9, 29.97 fps, 8.40 Mbps, upper field first

   Audio Tracks:
   128 AC3 2/0, 48 kHz, 384 kbps
   =============================
   Stream Files:
   MOV005.MOD (136.39 MB)

   Stream: clip-2007-09-22 07;04;00.mov
   Path: ~/Movies/iMovie Events.localized/Alex busc 22 Sept 2007/clip-2007-09-22 07;04;00.mov

   Duration: 0:02:52
   Data Size: 149.67 MB
   Bit Rate: 7.27 Mbps

   Video Tracks:
   ‘m2v1’, 720 × 480, 29.97 fps, 5.74 Mbps

   Audio Tracks:
   16-bit Little Endian mono, 48 kHz, 768 kbps

   Stream Files:
   clip-2007-09-22 07;04;00.mov (149.67 MB)
   ==================================
   Stream: MOV005.dv
   Path: ~/Movies/iDvd/MOV005.dv

   Duration: 0:02:52
   Data Size: 1.16 GB
   Bit Rate: 57.54 Mbps

   Video Tracks:
   DV/DVCPRO – NTSC, 720 × 480, 16:9, 29.97 fps, 28.77 Mbps

   Audio Tracks:
   DV stereo, 48 kHz, 28.77 Mbps

   Stream Files:
   MOV005.dv (1.16 GB)

2. The DV compression leads to a large file mainly because it doesn’t use interframe compression. MPEG-2 compression uses both intraframe and interframe compression methods. If MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 used only intraframe compression, the file size would be fairly big. Anyhow, I don’t know how different the Video TS content with two different sources. Just because MPEG produces smaller files, that doesn’t necessarily mean that DV files have more information. MPEG uses temporal redundancy. That means when you play back an MPEG video, a near-complete frame will be restored with residual plus a reference frame.

3. Hi thanks for the feedback
   I am not that knowledgable on video compression
   I guess I am wondering what the $20 mpeg-2 plugin buys me ?
   I understand streamclip is very comprehensive, but in my application it seems like I don’t gain anything

4. I suppose that you have benefited from having the MPEG-2 component because it has helped MPEG Streamclip demux your MOD file into audio and video streams and convert it into DV or MOV.