At the moment i am using .. 712x400 rez or 720x480 and indeo video 5.10, 25fps, 100% Quality ... its ok but not great ... i need the best!!!!!!

To obtain a birds eye is to turn a blizzard into a breeze :)> ? B

If you're importing footage you don't need to use any compression (and you can't) the compression is DV compression and it's built into the camera/tape.

If you're talking about outputing your final edit, then that's a whole can of worms. It all comes down to the codec you choose for your video and audio. Most PCs come with a few codecs installed by default, and programs like Premiere etc will install a few more, but like everything in the world, if it's free it usually isn't the highest quality.

But before you run off to pay loads of $ for a pro codec, the other problem is that only people who have the codec you have chosen to compress your movie with installed on their PC will be able to view it!

To cut complex story short, you should experiment with the different codecs on your machine and see which provides the best results. If you want to max out quality, then you will sacrifice filesize, but that's the trade-off. Go for full-screen (720x480 for NTSC at 4:3), 29.97fps (again, NTSC), and max out any settings you see in the codec's control panel which look like they might affect quality.

Finally, if you are experimenting, remember to note down the settings that you like the best for future reference!

Ben C.

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