Mp4 vs 'movie clip' ?

[tryingtolearn]

Hi guys
So I've finally made some time to properly file my client videos from the last 8 years into a proper organizational system, and I've realized I've kind of willy nilly been hanging onto AVI files and wasting space unnecessarily

Some videos have already been in mpeg
but I've noticed that half of them are mp4, and the other half show as 'movie clip' in Windows under file type

What is the difference between these 2?

Thanks

Sky

[antonsvideo]

sounds like you have not setup windows correctly to see file extensions

by default, Microsoft want to hide file extensions from users, they think this would confuse us, they think we are all babies

[tryingtolearn]

sounds like you have not setup windows correctly to see file extensions

by default, Microsoft want to hide file extensions from users, they think this would confuse us, they think we are all babies

I am referring to the 'file type' column

[tryingtolearn]

Anton, where Windows has the columns, one column is the title, another is the file type, another is the size, another is the date and so fourth..

The file type on some is .mp4
and the file type on others is 'movie clip'
What is the difference?

- My apologize for confusing you with my wording.

[antonsvideo]

what is the file extension of the ones that are referred to as movie clip? avi? mov?

in any case, you can ignore these descriptions, what counts is the file extension, nothing else matters

[David Clarke]

It is probably down to which program is set as the default player for the program. If you click on the files that say movie file do they play in Media player? And the MP4s probably play in Quicktime? If so change the default for the MP4 files to be media player like the "movie files" and see if this description changes.

But mainly like Anton says, if they playback ok then you can ignore this.

[tryingtolearn]

Hi David, I will check that and see..

[tryingtolearn]

Hi guys, I actually really need to know the difference here..

I don't know which settings I've selected in the past, but half of my videos are showing as 'Movie Clip' file types in Windows, the other half are showing as 'MP4'

Which settings would I have exported as to show these??
Is there a quality difference?
Which is better?

Please help because I need to know if I have done the wrong thing :(

What is the difference between an MP4 clip and a movie clip mpeg?


Please help :(
Which one should I be giving clients?

FYI the MP4 plays squished in Quicktime, but plays fine in WMP
The Movie Clip Mpegs will not open in Quicktime at all - only WMP


If I open one of the Movie Clips in Edius and go to Clip Properties, it shows the details as
1920 x 1080
Aspect 16:9
Color Range Super White
Field Progressive
Stream Mpeg 2
Frame 50*
Mpeg Program Stream

If I look at an MP4 it shows as
1440x1080
1.333 Aspect 16:9
Super White
Field Order - Upper Field*
Stream AVC Coding
Frames 25

What is AVC coding? It looks like I've saved them wrong doesn't it :(

[antonsvideo]

a Movie Clip is a Movie Clip

an MP4 is also a Movie Clip

ignore what windows tells you, it only gives the name according to which software is the default player as already mentioned by David

if saving for future editing, save as HQ Fine AVI

is saving for web upload, save as MP4

[tryingtolearn]

Ok I'm still extremely confused. I get the impression you guys are confused because you don't seem to be understanding what I'm saying, and I'm not doing too well at clarifying so sorry about that :)

When I look at all my past videos, some of them are mpeg, and some are MP4. I don't understand the difference.
Edius seems to have the option to save as either.. so what is the difference between mp4 and mpeg?

I give my clients their work on hard drive. I no longer author DVDs
what is the highest quality?

I would like consistency in all my saved files so should I convert the Mpegs to mp4 or vice versa?

[antonsvideo]

mp4 = mpeg4
mpeg = usually mpeg2 or in the very old times mpeg1

mpeg2 is a great format if file size is no issue

mpeg4 is great if you need to keep file size small but you can't use EDIUS to make small file size mp4 (poor quality), use Handbrake (free)

[David Clarke]

Both are just different ways of making video clips. The advantage of MP4 is that you can make them a bit smaller for the same picture quality and they will probably play on more computers. MPEG2 files won't play on some computers without additional software, but they are less complicated so will encode quicker than MP4.

They are both fairly standard so you are likely to be able to find ways to play either for years to come. For new files I would make MP4 files as they are sort of the standard these days for generic files.

I would leave your mpeg files as mpeg and not remake them to MP4. Every time you remake a file it looses a little quality and an MP4 file won't be that much smaller than an MPEG2 file so there is not a huge reason to change them. Although you may want all your files to be the same type no doubt in 5 years time we will be using something else instead.

[dpalomaki]

I note your MP4 file has a 1440x1080 resolution. That is likely a result of the recorder (camcorder) setting, it could easily be 1920x1080 and be a MP4.

AVC is Advanced Video Coding - a method of encoding video into a file commonly used for video these days . It is also also knows as H264 and MPEG-4 depending on the context

To simplify, video files are a bit like Christmas presents, they are comprised of the gift (the data: i.e., the encoded image and sound) and the wrapper/box (additional information about the file, how it was encodeed, and possibly the source).

The file extension generally identifies the wrapper and is typically assigned by the program creating the file. Files with different file extensions could have the same type of video encoding but somewhat different other information in the file. Files with the same extension could have different encoding methods.

.MOV, .WMV, .MTS, .M2TS, .MP4, .AVI are among the many file extensions commonly associated with video files.

[tryingtolearn]

So mp4 is best for clients but takes longer to encode? I have never had clients unable to play Mpegs before.. Generally they can't play AVI files but the mpegs work

I have clients who can't play my Mpegs right now which is frustrating me!