Re: Movie Corruption Issue ... video codecs

Posted by George McNamara on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Movie-Corruption-Issue-tp591691p591711.html

Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal Hi Joel and listserv,

From my scoring scheme. Sorry about the (lack of) formatting in the raw data scoring sheet below - I tried sending the original Excel file (only 37 kb) but the message bounced. I've slightly formatted it here. I assume "brand marks" would go away if I paid for the codec (brand marks = "free" trial version). I've also included comments at bottom. The uncompressed did look 'slightly pixelated" compared to the original stack in MetaMorph.

filename                                   filesize                 Score (sum) B&W Title Text readability  Video quality Color text readability Color text color Brand marks
VP61 Advanced Profile            1,582,592       1 0 1 0 0 0
VP62 Heightened Sharpness                1,584,640       1 0 1 0 0 0
VP60 Simple Profile                       1,612,288       1 0 1 0 0 0
XviD MPEG-4                                2,207,744       1 0 0 0 0 1
DivX MPEG-4 Fast-Motion                  2,459,648       5 1 2 0 1 1
3ivx D4 4.5.1 Pro Video Codec            3,172,352       2 0 2 0 0 0
DivX 6.0 codec                    4,224,512       3 0 1 0 1 1
DivX MPEG-4 Low-Motion           4,312,064       4 1 1 0 1 1
Microsoft MPEG-4 V2                       6,698,496       2 1 0 0 1 0
Microsoft MPEG-4 V1                       6,865,920       2 1 0 0 1 0
Microsoft Windows Media Video   6,865,920       3 1 1 0 1 0
VP31 Compressor                           7,894,528       8 1 3 2 2 0
Intel I.263 Video Driver 2.55.01                 13,934,080      5 0 2 2 1 0
PICVideo MJPEG Codec             16,908,288      9 1 3 2 1 2
Intel Indeo video R3.2                    20,154,880      6 1 2 2 1 0
Microsoft Windows Media Video 9         28,512,768      2 0 1 0 1 0
Cinepak                                    35,144,192      2 1 1 0 0 0
Ligos Indeo Video 5.11           37,864,448      4 1 1 1 1 0
Ligos Indeo XP Video 5.2                 37,864,448      1 0 0 0 1 0
Intel Indeo Video 4.5                     38,092,800      2 0 1 0 1 0
Microsoft Video 1                         65,801,728      3 1 2 0 0 0
Huffyuv v2.1.1 - CESSP Patch             147,447,808     2 0 2 0 0 0
blank (no name) Codec            181,941,248     4 1 2 0 0 1
QuickTime                                  225,830,571     4 0 4 0 0 0
uncompressed                      363,842,048     2 0 2 0 0 0

average score                              50,512,800      3.2 0.5 1.4 0.4 0.6 0.3
standard deviation                        88,101,414      2.1 0.5 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.5
median                             13,934,080      2.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
Scoring   (0=good, 1=acceptable, 2=bad) (0=good, 1=slightly pixelated, 2=strongly pixelated; 3=blurry; 4=jitters) (0=good, 1=acceptable, 2=bad) (0=good, 1=acceptable, 2=bad) (0=absent; 1=present some frames; 2=present all frames)


Codec Comment
--------- ---------------
VP61 Advanced Profile            title text slightly pixelated (blue grunge at bottom on a 320x239 dataset, ok with 320x240 pixel data).
VP62 Heightened Sharpness                title text slightly pixelated (blue grunge at bottom on a 320x239 dataset).
VP60 Simple Profile                       title text slightly pixelated
XviD MPEG-4 Brand                         marks overlay over some early frames (on top of scale bar). title text slightly pixelated
DivX MPEG-4 Fast-Motion                  Brand marks overlay over some early frames (on top of scale bar). title text slightly pixelated
3ivx D4 4.5.1 Pro Video Codec            Brand marks. title text slightly pixelated
DivX 6.0 codec                    Brand marks overlay over some early frames (on top of scale bar). Slightly pixelated.
DivX MPEG-4 Low-Motion           Brand marks overlay over some early frames (on top of scale bar). title text slightly pixelated
Microsoft MPEG-4 V2                       title text off-white; title text oddly pixelated
Microsoft MPEG-4 V1                       title text slightly pixelated
Microsoft Windows Media Video   title text slightly pixelated
VP31 Compressor Blurry text,             blurry images.
Intel I.263 Video Driver 2.55.01                 ghosting around cells and color letters. Colors (k, d) washed out.
PICVideo MJPEG Codec             Brand marks overlay over all frames. Slightly pixelated.
Intel Indeo video R3.2                    strongly pixelated
Microsoft Windows Media Video 9         title text slightly pixelated. Colors (k, d) partly washed out.
Cinepak title text off-white,            slightly blurry.
Ligos Indeo Video 5.11           title text off-white
Ligos Indeo XP Video 5.2                 title text slightly pixelated
Intel Indeo Video 4.5                     Colors (k, d) partly washed out.
Microsoft Video 1                         pixelated
Huffyuv v2.1.1 - CESSP Patch             Pixelated.
blank (no name) Codec            Pixelated.
QuickTime                                  jitters mar playback.
uncompressed                      slightly pixelated

average score
standard deviation
median


At 10:39 PM 1/22/2008, you wrote:

George,

As always, I am impressed by the comprehensiveness of your posts. 
However, I am a little puzzled by the "score" item in your list. 
What do those numbers represent?

Joel


-------------- Original message ---------------
Date sent:      Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:12:55 -0500
Send reply to:  Confocal Microscopy List
<[hidden email]>
From:   George McNamara <[hidden email]>
Subject:         Re: Movie Corruption Issue ... video codecs
To:      [hidden email]


Search the CONFOCAL archive at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-
bin/wa?S1=confocal

Dear Listserv,


I've been burned enough with compressed videos on different PC's that
I now routinely use uncompressed AVI, made with MetaMorph or ImageJ.
Big but safe.

Web sites where I've found video codec's are listed below. I am a fan
of the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack. At bottom is a comparison table I made
using MetaMorph to generate the movies (except for Quicktime, which
Meta 6.x always crashed trying to make).

Download, install, use at your own risk!


Video Codec downloads

Siggraph Codec Central
http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/video/codecs/De
fault.htm

FourCC codecs list (Four-Character Codes to identify video
streams) http://www.fourcc.org/codecs.php

Microsoft's FourCC for video compression
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/fourcc.mspx

Microsoft DirectX 9.0c end-user runtime
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a9b6820-
bfbb-4799-9908-d418cdeac197&displaylang=en

Microsoft Codec installation packages
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.asp
x

DivX codec
http://www.divx.com/divx/

Codec-Download (archive) http://www.codec-
download.com/

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 
http://www.codecguide.com/download_mega.htm

Ligos Indeo codec family
http://www.ligos.com/indeo.htm

3ivx D4
4.5http://www.3ivx.co
m/

XviD codec
http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/

HuffYUV
http://neuron2.net/www.math.berkeley.edu/benrg/huffyuv.html

Apple Quicktime
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/




filenamefilesizeScor
e (sum)
VP61 Advanced Profile1,582,592 1
VP62 Heightened Sharpness1,584,640 1
VP60 Simple Profile1,612,288 1
DivX MPEG-4 Fast-Motion2,459,648 5
DivX MPEG-4 Low-Motion4,312,064 4
Microsoft MPEG-4 V26,698,496 2
Intel Indeo video R3.220,154,880 6
Microsoft Windows Media Video 928,512,768 2
Cinepak35,144,192 2
Intel Indeo Video 4.538,092,800 2
Microsoft Video 165,801,728 3
QuickTime225,830,571 4
uncompressed363,842,048 2

average score (of 24 codecs)50,512,800 3.16
standard deviation88,101,414 2.13
median13,934,080 2
maximum possible score (high is bad) 12


Videos made with MetaMorph 6.3.2.
Videos examined in Microsoft Windows Media Player 9.00.00.3250, zoom
200%, except for Quicktime movie viewed with Apple Quicktime Player
6.5.2.




At 03:54 PM 1/22/2008, you wrote:
    Search the CONFOCAL archive at
    http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
   
    On Tue, 22 Jan 2008, Hanspeter Niederstrasser wrote:


    with a repaired codec. Does anyone know how to raise such issues with
    Apple?
   
    I have not found Apple to be very responsive.
   
    However, there is one last thing you can try. I'm more of a Linux
    guy than a Mac or Windoze person, and there is a player originally
    written for Linux but ported to the Mac called "mplayer." It's
    primarily a command-line player (though it has a gui if you want to
    use it). The nice thing about it is that it comes with a zillion
    codecs (that you have to download separately), and I have yet to find
    an unenrypted movie that it can't handle. It comes with a function
    for translating between formats and codecs, and is generally the
    workhorse for this kind of in the Linux world.
   
    Take a look at: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html
   
    billo





George McNamara, Ph.D.
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Image Core
Miami, FL 33010
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
305-243-8436 office
http://home.earthlink.net/~pubspectra/
http://home.earthlink.net/~geomcnamara/
http://www.sylvester.org/health_pro/shared_resources/index.asp (see
Analytical Imaging Core Facility)




Joel B. Sheffield, Ph.D
Department of Biology
Temple University
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Voice: 215 204 8839
e-mail: [hidden email]
URL:  http://astro.temple.edu/~jbs

 

George McNamara, Ph.D.
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Image Core
Miami, FL 33010
[hidden email]
[hidden email]
305-243-8436 office
http://home.earthlink.net/~pubspectra/
http://home.earthlink.net/~geomcnamara/
http://www.sylvester.org/health_pro/shared_resources/index.asp (see Analytical Imaging Core Facility)