Unsure of the aspect ratio for your iPhone? Can’t tell a bit rate from a frame rate? At a loss when it comes to lossy and lossless codecs? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

1. Video Transcoding Terms Explained
Not sure what the aspect ratio is
for your iPhone? Can’t tell a bit
rate from a frame rate? At a loss
when it comes to lossy and
lossless codecs?
With this helpful reference guide
to the most common video terms,
you’ll have everything you need to
know to start transcoding videos
like a pro.

2. Transcoding Video
Transcoding means converting one video format into another. For instance, you
may want to transcode a full HD video from your camcorder to play on your
mobile device. You can also transcode a DVD that you ripped onto your computer
and then encode it into a format that can play on your Smart TV.
Nero Recode offers many options for high quality ripping and transcoding, so you
can play your videos on virtually any device.

3. Resolution
High Resolution
Resolution describes the
amount of detail in an image.
Calculate it by multiplying the
number of horizontal and
vertical pixels (picture cells) in
Low Resolution the image. The higher the
resolution the more pixels you
will find in the image.

4. Aspect Ratio
A number that shows the width of an image compared to its height
(width:height). The most typical aspect ratios for video formats are 4:3 and 16:9.
Typical resolutions, aspect ratios and use cases
Resolution Aspect Ratio Use case
320x240 4:3 Multimedia MP3 players
480x320 4:3 iPhone 3
720x576 4:3/16:9 PAL TV, DVD
720x476 4:3/16:9 NTSC TV, DVD
1024x768 4:3 iPad
1280x720 16:9 AVC DSCs (AVCHD Lite), iPhone 4, smart phones
1920x1080 16:9 AVC DSCs, AVCHD camcorders, Blu-ray disc,
state-of-the-art smart phones

5. Frame Rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an
imaging device produces frames, or
unique consecutive images.
The minimum interval at which the
human eye perceives individual images
(frames) as consecutive motion is 18
frames per second.
Frame rates can vary, depending on the
system and codec. For example, 25 full
frames per second (50i = interlaced) are
used in PAL TV and 30 full frames (60i =
interlaced) in NTSC TV.
Computer devices and modern home
cinema or mobile devices produce video
streams in progressive (p) or interlaced (i)
frames with typical frame rates at 50i, 60i,
24p, and 25p.

6. Bit Rate
Bit rate is the number of "bits per
second" (bps) at which the data in a
video is delivered. The higher the bit
rate, the higher video image quality.

7. Container
A container is a meta-
file format whose
specification describes
how different data
elements and metadata
coexist in a computer
file.

8. CODEC
Compression/Decompression (Encoding/Decoding)
A codec (or "coder-decoder") is a
component within Nero Recode
capable of encoding or decoding a
digital data stream or signal.
Using the right video, image, and
audio codecs is critical to converting
data with the best possible
quality, while maintaining a
reasonable file size.
Codecs can be lossy and lossless. A
lossy codec loses quality with every
copy generation while a lossless
codec maintains quality from copy to
copy.

9. Encoder Settings
Encoder settings specify the type and quality of encoding that are applied during the
encoding process - for example when you convert a full HD video you shot with your
camcorder so that you can play it back on your mobile device.
Format Use Case Codec Bit rate Compression
DVD Camcorder, PC & external Player MPEG 2 interframe I-B-P Up to 9 MBit/s medium
AVCHD Camcorder, PC Players, BD-Players, AVCHD H.264/MPEG-4 AVC 4 to 24 Mbit/s high
Lite in DSCs
AVC External Players, iPhone, Android phones, MP4 container: variable high
Playstation Portable, etc. H.264/AVC,
MPEG-4 ASP
MKV Internet video streams, storing movies to file Open source container variable high
format not limited to any
codec or system. Mainly
used : H.264/AVC
WMV Portable Media Players, PC and External Windows Media Video 9 Variable Up to Medium to high
Players, Web 5 Mbit/s
WMV HD PC Players, BD-Players Windows Media 9 Up to 9 Mbit/s high
Advanced Profile (VC-1)
3GPP Mobile Phones MPEG-4, H.263 or H.264 variable high

10. Ripping DVD Video
Ripping refers to transferring
a DVD Video to a file or
folder on a hard drive.
Nero Recode has a number
of options for
ripping, including rip to
video file, rip to folder
(which transfers the original
DVD structure), rip and
shrink, and only rip audio.

11. Video Profile
A video profile is the key digital
information needed to create a video
file, such as the video
codec, container, audio
codec, resolution, and frame rate.
Nero Recode provides standard video
profile settings, depending on the
device on which the video will be
played. Each profile can be fine-tuned
or completely customized and even
saved as new custom profile. Custom
profiles can be shared with friends and
re-imported into Nero Recode.

12. Video Image Quality Factors
Aside from the actual shooting conditions, video image quality depends on a
number of factors. The most important factors are resolution (the higher, the
better), bit rate (the higher, the better) and codec (the right codec means great
results).
Of course, the higher the resolution and bit rate, the larger the file size, so it’s
important to choose the right profiles for the device used. Nero Recode provides a
large selection of profiles, as well as easy ways to adjust video settings for the best
quality.

13. Quality Factor
The quality factor defines whether a
video’s bit rate is low, good, or too high.
The quality factor is defined by the
number of bits per pixel per frame to be
encoded (Bits/(Pixel*Frame)).
The quality factor is an indicative value
and may differ depending on the
source.

14. Streaming
Streaming refers to the continuous transmission of data that can already
be played during the transmission procedure. This means that it is not
necessary to wait until a media file has been transmitted completely
before it can be played back.
A TV channel can be received and displayed at the same time without it
first having to be saved to the hard drive.

15. Hardware accelerated AVC transcoding (GPGPU)
GPGPU stands for ‘general-purpose
computing on graphics processing units’.
Modern GPUs can perform computation
in applications traditionally handled by
the CPU. All major vendors have GPGPU
based models on the market.
Nero Recode supports any graphics card
that supports hardware accelerated AVC
encoding (Nvidia CUDATM, AMD App
Acceleration, Intel® Quick Sync Video)
and helps video get transcoded up to 4
times faster.

16. www. .com