Rendering Videos In Cinelerra For Windows Machines

[umechanism]

I've created a video in Cinelerra and want to render it to a format that can be played on any Windows based computer. I've tried .AVI which rendered but will not play on a Windows computer. What format should I render to? Also, Does the base install of Cinelerra come with all the codecs I need to do this?

Thanks!!

[labinnsw]

.wav should be the default windows file but it should be able to read other types including .avi

[bobince]

The selection of codecs included with a vanilla install of Windows is very limited, for both licensing and political reasons. If you can't persuade the user to install a codec, and you can't rely on any of the common codecs (Xvid/DivX, MPEG-4 AVC etc.) being installed, the only usable options are:

* Windows Media [WMV video+WMA audio in ASF container, .wmv]
* MPEG-1 [MPEG-1 video+MP3 audio in MPEG Program Stream container, .mpeg]

I'm not sure what codecs Cinelerra gives you. Possibly MPEG-1, though that's an old and somewhat inefficient format which is limited in its resolution. WMV, probably not. You could export video in the least-lossy format available (MJPEG? DV?) then use ffmpeg to convert to WMV (“-vcodec wmv2 -acodec wmav2”, or use a front-end such as winff).

[umechanism]

The selection of codecs included with a vanilla install of Windows is very limited, for both licensing and political reasons. If you can't persuade the user to install a codec, and you can't rely on any of the common codecs (Xvid/DivX, MPEG-4 AVC etc.) being installed, the only usable options are:

* Windows Media [WMV video+WMA audio in ASF container, .wmv]
* MPEG-1 [MPEG-1 video+MP3 audio in MPEG Program Stream container, .mpeg]

I'm not sure what codecs Cinelerra gives you. Possibly MPEG-1, though that's an old and somewhat inefficient format which is limited in its resolution. WMV, probably not. You could export video in the least-lossy format available (MJPEG? DV?) then use ffmpeg to convert to WMV (“-vcodec wmv2 -acodec wmav2”, or use a front-end such as winff).

I have attached two images of the export options that I am given when rendering. I'm a video noob so I'm not sure which one is best but I want to share this video with a Windows user. I do have Winff installed along with Kino and Kdenlive.

Thanks for your help.

[bobince]

Yeah, the only plausible formats I can see in there are:

* MPEG (would have to be MPEG-1; relatively poor compression; limited resolution)
* AVI (would have to be DV-in-AVI, assuming that's offered; full resolution only, minimal compression)

[umechanism]

Actually, I used .MP4 which worked great! 9 out of 10 Windows machines have iTunes on them and, if so, they can play .MP4 file formats. I'll use .MP4 for now.

However, I would like to know if there are additional codecs that I can download for Cinelerra and, if so, where do I find them?

Thanks!

[kelvin spratt]

VLC for windows will play all Linux formats I find rendering video4linux is the best format for rendering in Cinelerra for normal use.
winff is a very good straight linux converter that I use to convert dodgy formats before editing with Cinelerra.

[umechanism]

The problem I have with VLC is that not all my Windows-using-noob family members know anything about VLC and struggle even with Windows medial players. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Whatever I render must work with the native Windows install or, at least, iTunes.

[brousch]

Actually, I used .MP4 which worked great! 9 out of 10 Windows machines have iTunes on them and, if so, they can play .MP4 file formats. I'll use .MP4 for now.

Which of the options produced a usable MP4 for you?