Advanced settings for WMV

[AVITRY]

I was looking at the advanced settings in the export WMV, which I have never had occasion to take advantage of until now with a new project, and I didn't really understand them. I couldn't find help on them in the help file either. is there a place to look for detailed explanations?

Vers. 2 manuals didn't speak of it, Steve's book mentioned it but I couldn't find detail on decoder complexity and buffer size.

I thought buffer size was set in the software used to view a wmv file not embedded within the file itself.

Anyone know the specifics on these two things?

[Chuck Engels]

This is pretty detailed Joe, should be of some help
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... oding.aspx

Be sure to scroll down to the Encoding Techniques section.

[AVITRY]

Thanks Chuck. Boy, you would think that knowing the codec is microsoft's, I'da thought to look on their website. I blame this on age, kids, and I might as well throw in my wife too, cause it can't be me.

Anyway, the buffer default is set to 1 second in the advanced settings. Curious, that sure isn't a middle of the road default. Does anyone play with these settings or just use the defaults?

Thanks again for the link Chuck!

[Chuck Engels]

Glad I was able to dig it up for you Joe

I don't generally play with anything more than the bit rate on most exports. Many times the defaults are just fine. It depends on what it looks like and how good I need it to look. WMV usually is great right out of the box. FLV and MOV are another story. And if you think that WMV has some advanced settings, take a look at the MOV options. They will make your head spin

[RJ Johnston]

In the past when I was experimenting with WMV I found that using Constant bitrate instead of Variable bitrate was much better. Also, if you use Constant bitrate for video, pick a constant bitrate for audio. There was a time when the video setting would change to match the audio setting, so when you thought that you were getting a constant bitrate for video, you got variable because audio was variable.

[AVITRY]

Thanks Robert, what do you think about that default setting of 1 second for buffering? I'm confused by it on two counts. First, I can't see how it can accomplish anything, and secondly, I'm surprised that there is a buffer within the file itself, I always thought the software that showed the wmv file had a delay setting to allow the running of the wmv file to buffer to the hd.

[Chuck Engels]

The default for the Adobe Media Encoder is 5

[RJ Johnston]

I'm afraid I don't know much about the buffer settings. It just seems that more would be better at the expense of the video being delayed starting by that amount.