Mike,
I agree tha MOV files are a bit harder to work with than MPEG's. And when I first got the camera, I too was a bit let down by the vid files. But now, having seen my final results, compared to other MPEG1 recorders (cameras), I would not change this feature. This is because the Quicktime files made by the Olympus are compressed very very little. This makes for large files, but also means the raw vid is better. MPEG require CPU power, and not all cameras are fit to keep up. The usually translates to 30 sec max vids, choppy framerates, or poor resolution.
I use plenty of compression. All MPEG's are compressed to some degree. What differs is the bit rate. The only, truly uncompressed video comes in AVI or MOV format. And this usually runs about 200mb/min. Standard VCD (MPEG1 format) bitrate is around 1100 kb/sec. That equates to about 10 megs a minute. This is the format I use. Fact is, even at 1100 kb/sec, the file is still smaller than the original MOV. And don't forget, you want some compression (to remove the static). I've tried converting the MOV files to uncompressed AVI and the results were NOT as good as compressing them to MPEG1. The best I can describe this "phenomenom" is that it is like using the 'blur' feature on photoshop if a photo appears too sharp.
Bear in mind that [even] MPEG encoding has come a long way in the past few years, so make sure your using current software/codecs. True that Divx and Xvid have pretty much dominated the DVD ripping arena, but good ol' MPEG has been chugging along right beside em. And WMV files (formerly known as ASF) have come the furthest in my opinion. Streaming video should always be your first choice when size matters.
Ted
I agree tha MOV files are a bit harder to work with than MPEG's. And when I first got the camera, I too was a bit let down by the vid files. But now, having seen my final results, compared to other MPEG1 recorders (cameras), I would not change this feature. This is because the Quicktime files made by the Olympus are compressed very very little. This makes for large files, but also means the raw vid is better. MPEG require CPU power, and not all cameras are fit to keep up. The usually translates to 30 sec max vids, choppy framerates, or poor resolution.
I use plenty of compression. All MPEG's are compressed to some degree. What differs is the bit rate. The only, truly uncompressed video comes in AVI or MOV format. And this usually runs about 200mb/min. Standard VCD (MPEG1 format) bitrate is around 1100 kb/sec. That equates to about 10 megs a minute. This is the format I use. Fact is, even at 1100 kb/sec, the file is still smaller than the original MOV. And don't forget, you want some compression (to remove the static). I've tried converting the MOV files to uncompressed AVI and the results were NOT as good as compressing them to MPEG1. The best I can describe this "phenomenom" is that it is like using the 'blur' feature on photoshop if a photo appears too sharp.
Bear in mind that [even] MPEG encoding has come a long way in the past few years, so make sure your using current software/codecs. True that Divx and Xvid have pretty much dominated the DVD ripping arena, but good ol' MPEG has been chugging along right beside em. And WMV files (formerly known as ASF) have come the furthest in my opinion. Streaming video should always be your first choice when size matters.
Ted
. Jon spotted me his 512 card (bless his soul), and a coworker gave me two, 128 smart media cards. All in all, I think I had about 800 or 900 megs of storage - and used about 700 of that. I did take it upon myself every night to delete the really crappy photos and vids. This saved a lot of space, but more importantly cleaned things up. No one wants to view a slideshow of someone's vacation where they have to look at the same damn photo 10 times. Pick the best one and can the rest!
