Video formats

Formats of video file created by MediaRecorder

The video format MediaRecorder creates, depends on the input:

• PhenoTyper Top Unit camera - Video files in H.264 AVC in an MPG container.
• IP cameras – Video files in H.264 AVC with audio in AAC in an MP4 container.
• Other digital cameras – Video files in MPEG-4 DivX with audio in AAC in an MP4 container.
• Picture in Picture, or Picture by Picture; all video formats – Video files in MPEG-4 DivX with audio in AAC in an MP4 container. See Video file options in Record video for more information on the options Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture.

Background information

MPEG-4 DivX

MPEG-4 can achieve a high rate of compression with good quality, because it separately codes the background (which does not change much from frame to frame) from the moving parts of the video. MPEG-4 is in fact best seen as a collection of definitions rather than one fixed file format, and there are many different implementations of MPEG-4. MPEG-4 has a higher compression rate than for example MPEG-2 and it can have much higher resolution (with MediaRecorder up to 1920 x 1280 pixels).

MediaRecorder creates MPEG-4 DivX video files from several digital recording devices (see above). DivX is an implementation of MPEG-4 which has both high quality and good compression. MPEG-4 DivX decoding software for playing back the video files is installed with MediaRecorder.

H.264 AVC

H.264 AVC is a type of MPEG-4 and is also known under the names H.264/AVC, AVC/H.264, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-4/H.264 AVC, MPEG-4 Part 10 or x.264. It creates good video quality and uses previously-encoded pictures as references in a much more flexible way than in other standards, allowing the use of up to 16 reference frames. MediaRecorder creates H.264 AVC video files from output of analog and IP cameras (see above). H.264 decoding software for playing back the video files is installed with MediaRecorder.

Note

On computers with Windows 10, some Windows Media Player codecs need to be disabled to be able to play back the H.264 video files with an MPG container which MediaRecorder creates from PhenoTyper Top Unit camera. These codecs are disabled by MediaRecorder installation. De-installing MediaRecorder restores the Windows Media Player codecs. Contact Noldus Support if you want to play back the videos from PhenoTyper Top Unit camera on another computer than the one with MediaRecorder.