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Motion Loop Render Settings Updated

By October 6th, 2020Articles

Since posting my original article “Our Motion Loop Render Settings” back in September 2012, I have updated how we render our motion loops, video backgrounds and countdown timers. I have tried many different encoding settings and software like Episode by Streamclip, Sorenson Squeeze by Sorenson Media and MPEG Streamclip by Squared 5 and I have landed on Apple’s Compressor to be the best Mac software to create high-quality encoded videos.

The key is to produce a clean looking video with crisp detail, accurate color, smooth playback and a seamless loop when the playhead moves from the end of the video back to the beginning. Here are my QuickTime H.264 video encoding settings for Apple Compressor 4 to create the very best videos for church media playback. Note that I first render to QuickTime ProRes 422 before I encode to my final format in Apple Compressor.

Apple Compressor H.264 Video Settings

  • File extension: mov
  • Pixel aspect ratio: Square
  • Frame rate: 100% of source (Current)
  • Codec type: H.264
  • Multi-pass: On (best quality)
  • Frame reordering: On
  • Pixel depth: 24
  • Spatial quality: 75 (High)
  • Data rate: Restrict to: 5000 kbits/sec for 720 HD and Triplewide or 9000 kbits/sec 1080 HD
  • Optimized for: CD/DVD-ROM
  • Key frames: Automatic
  • H.264 profile: Main
  • Entropy mode: CAVLC
  • Audio: Disabled
  • Streaming: None
  • Add clean aperture information: On

If your video has a lot of fast motion and you are noticing a lot of blocky distortion in your video you can try increasing your spatial quality to 80 or higher. This in turn will increase the bit-rate of your video, increase your video’s file size and require more processing power for playback.