Rendering HD for Facebook using 'Pogressive D/L'

ShaneJ wrote on 3/5/2016, 1:44 PM
Hello. I've been searching the forum and have been unable to find anything regarding rendering HD video suitable for Facebook. I typically use Sony AVC/MCV codec for .mp4 and use the "Internet 1920x1080-30p" template as a base and then tweak the custom settings from there accordingly based on the source and other factors.

My main question is the "Enable progressive download" option. I typically uncheck that because I figure since the video is going to get processed again once uploaded to Facebook, the progressive option wouldn't make any difference other than creating unwanted artifacts after Facebook processing. I have been unable to research that assumption, so I would like to ask if anyone here would know and could let me know either way if that's correct or not? I have a half hour video I need to render and I calculated that I will need to set the bitrate to around 7,250 kbps to make it fit within the 1,700 MB file size upload limit. Wondering if progressive download should be enabled or not.

Additionally, I would love to see some tutorials of the best way to render an edited work from Vegas where the source files are 1080p MOV files with the H.264 MPEG-4 AVC codec (from my Canon Powershot SX-260). Also from iPhone 6 videos.

Any tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, I really wish Sony would give us the option to "Upload to Facebook" in the File dropdown menu just like they have for YouTube. That is the first thing I look for whenever I upgrade to the newer version of Vegas Pro or update. I do not usually upload to YouTube, but mostly upload to Facebook to share videos with people on my friends list. An upload to Facebook option would be really helpful for me and save me a lot of time.

Comments

larry-peter wrote on 3/5/2016, 2:42 PM
AFAIK, the "progressive download" option simply moves the moov atom (which contains indexing and other info about the file) to the beginning of the file so it can be played before the entire file is downloaded. I haven't heard of any artifacts or visual differences introduced by doing this (perhaps others have better info on that).

Perhaps with the moov atom at the head of the file, processing of the file may be able to start before the upload is complete, which would mean your file may be visible on Facebook a bit sooner than otherwise.
musicvid10 wrote on 3/5/2016, 2:51 PM
Do your final render in Handbrake and check "Web Optimized."
Best way allaround.

It means Facebook's servers can process it without waiting for your whole upload in order to find the moov atom.

ShaneJ wrote on 3/5/2016, 3:01 PM
Thanks for the info, atom12.

Musicvid10, thanks also for your suggestion. The only problem I have with that is the videos will have been rendered twice, followed by the Facebook processing. That means the video has been compressed three times in total. I try to keep processing and renders down to an absolute minimum to prevent loss. This is why Sony needs to add a proper Facebook option to the rendering in Vegas.

Too keep as lossless as possible, do you recommend my first render from Vegas for the file to be further compressed/optimized in Handbreak be something like 20,000 kbps or more? The source files are variable from 18,000 to 20,000 kbps.
john_dennis wrote on 3/5/2016, 3:29 PM
"[I]The only problem I have with that is the videos will have been rendered twice, followed by the Facebook processing.[/I]"

Follow this workflow to frameserve directly from Vegas Pro to Handbrake or render from Vegas Pro to a lossless intermediate and use that as your input to Handbrake. In either case generation loss is not an issue.
Eagle Six wrote on 3/5/2016, 3:35 PM
Handbrake will encode to mp4. But it will accept a source from many codec and containers. You may want to render to an intermediate format providing near lossless, visually lossless or lossless, then feed that into Handbrake. Just a thought.

I don't use direct upload to YouTube, because YouTube can change the properties of the upload without notice. I would think other online services may do this as well. I always found the extra step less headache in the long run. Just the way I do it.


Best Regards......George

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musicvid10 wrote on 3/5/2016, 4:40 PM
Shane,
It's not about loss, it's about time.
A lossless intermediate to Handbrake is Standard Operating Procedure in my corner of the business, and if there is ANY resizing or deinterlacing to be done, the results will be better than doing these things in Vegas, esp. at typical upload bitrates. This has been shown to be a consistent outcome many times on this forum.

If you are able to get the Frameserving script going to Handbrake or MeGUI, you will save even more time, with the same color accuracy as an uncompressed intermediate.
ShaneJ wrote on 3/7/2016, 12:19 AM
Thank you so much everybody. I tried out the methods that John suggested to me and it worked great. This is what I'll use going forward. Thank you everyone who responded for all of your help. It is greatly appreciated. Love this forum. :D