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Hi,

we used several different of the newer video compression codecs, like
XviD or DivX and Quicktime, they all give surprisingly good results if
you don't have too much noise. You can prefilter a bit to reduce noise
and improve compression further.

With XviD we often compress 500MB TIFF time series of 2MP to ~10MB,
with acceptable quality, good enough for Beamer presentation. Thats
of course all depending on your noise and variance between images, but
I would anticipate a 10 - 50 fold decrease of size. XviD is well sup-
ported and freeware on most platforms, and we export from MetaXpress
directly.

Best,

    Mario




On 02/27/2013 05:08 PM, John Oreopoulos wrote:
> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
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> *****
> 
> I use the same method described by Jay below. This works very well for me. 
> 
> John Oreopoulos
> 
> 
> On 2013-02-27, at 11:05 AM, "Unruh, Jay" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>> *****
>>
>> The size limits for publication are unfortunate.  You essentially have no choice but to reduce the quality of movies so you can publish them.  I suppose the purpose of this is for rapid web viewing.
>>
>> We routinely use Quicktime Pro (no commercial connection) with the H.264 compression (also low cost software at around $30).  It does a relatively decent job of compressing and preserving sharp features and gives you flexibility on compression level.  My typical workflow is to convert to RGB and then save as uncompressed avi from ImageJ.  Those movies will import directly into Quicktime Pro.
>>
>> I would also highly recommend providing uncompressed or even raw files via your own website so people can access them there.  I have seen situations where authors reference the website from within a publication to direct people there (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7305/full/nature09255.html).
>>
>> Jay
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Guy Cox
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 6:56 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Video compression
>>
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
>> *****
>>
>> Jasc Software Paint Shop Pro also comes with Animation Shop which offers a wide range of compression options.  Some are terrible, others are good - it needs a fair bit of experimentation.  But it is low cost software.  I use it a lot, but otherwise have no commercial connection.
>>
>>                                   Guy
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Simon Walker
>> Sent: Wednesday, 27 February 2013 11:06 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Video compression
>>
>> *****
>> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
>> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
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>>
>> Dear List,
>> Can anyone recommend software for video compression (either free or licensed)?  We have some large files from live cell imaging exps that we need to submit to a journal and somehow get them down to less than 10 MB (this size limit seems crazy in this day and age, but maybe there are still people using dial-up to access journals..).  What codecs/file formats are people using to obtain the best compression with minimal loss of information?
>> Thanks,
>> Simon
>