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General - Stock Video / H264, again...
« on: December 01, 2015, 09:29 »
Ok guys, need some fresh feedback on this.
Is H264 really still treated as a red-headed step child in this business, I mean really?
I'm in stock video for 3 years already and I've been uploading all my footage as H264 broadcast intermediate; and yes even the animations - especially the animations.
I mean, the H264 BI is so superior to PJPEG, particularly in terms of quality that it is not even funny. I've recently joined VideoBlocks and they clearly state that PJPEG is the most desireable codec for them while H264 is the least desireable one. And yet, I cannot bring myself to butcher, yes BUTCHER my files by re-rendering them to a clearly inferior format. Color banding is a particularly glaring problem - even at 92% (yes 92%) the banding in my subtle color shifting backgrounds is painful to watch while the H264 BI versions of the same there is no banding at all - frankly it looks like it wasn't compressed at all.
To clarify - so far I've been uploading all my stuff at H264 broadcast intermediate, that's 100% quality with 1 frame keyframes. Even the stuff I live shoot at lower bitrates get a CC treatment and are exported at BI standard which tremendously increases their quality. PJPEG even at maximum rates simply cannot compare, neither in detail, nor in artifacts and particularly not in terms of color definition (see banding).
So I'm asking you guys, what's the deal here? Should I degrade my existing footage just to serve some ancient ridiculous prejudice or stick to my guns? I know I shouldn't really care because I'm in it for the money and buyer beware and all that, but I mean, it's so * obvious the difference in quality! Even when I'm occasionally buying stock for my video projects I prefer the H264 because I've really explored the 2 formats and I know which one is clearly superior and ultimately less work in editing. So what should I do? Am I missing something?
Is H264 really still treated as a red-headed step child in this business, I mean really?
I'm in stock video for 3 years already and I've been uploading all my footage as H264 broadcast intermediate; and yes even the animations - especially the animations.
I mean, the H264 BI is so superior to PJPEG, particularly in terms of quality that it is not even funny. I've recently joined VideoBlocks and they clearly state that PJPEG is the most desireable codec for them while H264 is the least desireable one. And yet, I cannot bring myself to butcher, yes BUTCHER my files by re-rendering them to a clearly inferior format. Color banding is a particularly glaring problem - even at 92% (yes 92%) the banding in my subtle color shifting backgrounds is painful to watch while the H264 BI versions of the same there is no banding at all - frankly it looks like it wasn't compressed at all.
To clarify - so far I've been uploading all my stuff at H264 broadcast intermediate, that's 100% quality with 1 frame keyframes. Even the stuff I live shoot at lower bitrates get a CC treatment and are exported at BI standard which tremendously increases their quality. PJPEG even at maximum rates simply cannot compare, neither in detail, nor in artifacts and particularly not in terms of color definition (see banding).
So I'm asking you guys, what's the deal here? Should I degrade my existing footage just to serve some ancient ridiculous prejudice or stick to my guns? I know I shouldn't really care because I'm in it for the money and buyer beware and all that, but I mean, it's so * obvious the difference in quality! Even when I'm occasionally buying stock for my video projects I prefer the H264 because I've really explored the 2 formats and I know which one is clearly superior and ultimately less work in editing. So what should I do? Am I missing something?
