What video file format to use?

[Dave A]

I have Mobius cameras and they can generate several file types. What's the best type to use for editing later?
Which editing software you like to use?

 

[noffie79]

I have an iMac, so my Möbius is formatted for that. Not sure of the file type. I do all of my editing right on my phone using iMovie. Obviously my videos are not cinema quality, but it gets the job done well for me.

 

[Buckeye]

Loaded questions with many opinions!

I do a lot of CAE animation and generally prefer Quicktime (MOV) for final output, as it gives a good combo of quality and compression.

As for my rocket onboard camera made in China, it records in mov format. I then edit in GoPro Studio, only because I am familiar with it. It reads MOV as input, converts to AVI for detailed editing, and then exports MP4 suitable for YouTube. So, a variety of file types are used!

Check out Dashware, also. It overlays your numerical data in the form of dials and guages on top of your video. Very cool, but a bit tricky to learn. Somebody posted a how-to document on the forum a while back. I think GoPro acquired Dashware, so there may be some integration in the future.

 

[rharshberger]

I have Mobius cameras and they can generate several file types. What's the best type to use for editing later?
Which editing software you like to use?

As a final format MP4 would probably the most useful for sharing.

 

[manixFan]

I have Mobius cameras and they can generate several file types. What's the best type to use for editing later?
Which editing software you like to use?

After looking at the Moibus website, I would recommend the following:

* 1080P frame resolution
* 30 Frames per second
* change movie quality from Standard to High
* for Mac editing choose .mov
* for standard Windows editing choose .mp4

It's important to understand that there are two parts to a video file - the format and the CODEC. The format is the .mov or .mp4 part of the file - the type of container it is in. It has ZERO effect on quality. The CODEC is the way the file is compressed. It is the ONLY thing that affects image quality. The Moibus uses H.264/AVC1 video/audio codecs regardless of the file format. The most important quality setting is changing from Standard (the default setting) to High movie quality.

I would also set the white color balance manually to daylight color balance so all your videos look the same. Otherwise the color of your video will vary depending on what's in the frame and will be inconsistent over time.

I edit with Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro. But there are many consumer based editors out there that should serve your purposes.


Tony