VideoEncoderGui (later Veg) is a graphical front-end written in Java for two video encoder applications, MEncoder and Windows Media Encoder. It is primarily intended for encoding image sequences produced e.g. with FDS to video files to use in PowerPoint presentations or as standalone video files. Veg is designed to be as much self-explanatory and easy to use as possible while still providing enough control over the encode for the experienced user. Although there are more options regarding the encode process than is needed by the average user, you typically only need to modify the basic stuff as the advanced options' default values are suitable for most purposes. Also note that most options have a tool tip which will hopefully tell you what they are about. The advanced encoding options tab contains options that affect the encode process in various ways. The most important ones are the fps-field and the quantizer value. When choosing the frame rate for your video, remember that low values make the video jerky, which looks rather cheap. If a frame rate around 25 fps would make the video too short, it's usually better to obtain more images than to reduce the fps value. High frame rates (50 - 60 fps) would look very good with some videos, but some video players refuse to play back these videos properly even if the machine is fast enough. The quantizer value defines the video's visual quality. The lower the quantizer value the better the quality. Since the lossy video codecs produce relatively small files even at the highest quality, there is little point in increasing the quantizer value. If you still wish to reduce the image quality, remember that anything above 4 will in most cases introduce clearly visible compression artifacts to the video and you don't want that to happen.
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