The Video Settings section is used to set the desired level of quality, compression, and file size of the final video using one setting — Bitrate, as well as setting the framerate and final width and height of the video.

Figure 7: Video Settings

1. Use the Bitrate stepper — or type the value in for the desired quality of the video. Bitrate is measured in kilobits per second. It determines how much compression is used on the video. The higher the bitrate, the better the quality of the video file, and the larger the file size. The lower the bitrate, the greater the compression, and thus lower quality and lower file size.

   The following list represents the optimal encoding rates for each platform. It is often best to encode at a lower resolution and a higher bitrate in order to speed up the encoding process at first, and then later create a higher resolution video, at one of the target rates below, once the final version of the video is ready.

   Maximum Practical Bitrates for each platform (kbps)

   Video Format	PS3	Xbox360	Wii	PC
   1080p	High Quality	40000	40000	n/a	40000
   1080p	Standard	30000	30000	n/a	30000
   1080p	High Compression	20000	20000	n/a	20000
   720p	High Quality	36000	36000	n/a	36000
   720p	Standard	26000	26000	n/a	26000
   720p	High Compression	16000	16000	n/a	16000
   480p	High Quality	16000	16000	8000	16000
   480p	Standard	12000	12000	6000	12000
   480p	High Compression	8000	8000	4000	8000

2. (Optional) Adjust the framerate for the encoded video using the Framerate dropdown. This is defaulted to 29.97 fps — standard NTSC video. When an AVI is loaded into the encoder, the checkmark next to Use framerate from input file will become checked, and the encoder will use the source video’s original framerate. Uncheck this option and use the dropdown if you wish to manipulate the final output framerate. Framerate is a measure of how many frames of the video are displayed in one second. Standard NTSC television signals are broadcast at 29.97 frames per second, and this is the recommended setting. PC Monitors are typically synced at 60 frames per second or 60 hertz.

3. (Optional) Adjust the final output size of the encoded video using the Resize W and H text fields. Enter a width in W, and a height in H, and place a checkmark in On.

4. Press Encode. Once encoded, press Preview to play the video. Encoding the video will create a batch file in the same directory as the output USM video file. This batch file contains the commands necessary to encode the video using the command line encoder.

5. Once the encoding process finishes, press Preview to play the video. The video may be previewed without any playback controls by unchecking the Preview in extended Video player option next to the Encode button. Otherwise leave this option checked.