Help With Video Quality Please

[heyphae]

Hi I really need some help.
Does anyone know if there is a way of PRESERVING a video's original quality, exactly, even after converting it to another format? Or does converting a video mean that you cannot get back the same exact quality of the original, and the only way to fix this is by changing "profile"/ "bitrate" and stuff like that to get the "next best thing"...or shall I say, next best quality available after conversion?
I would like to have the EXACT quality of original video after converting it to ipod format, because I want to watch the video both on the ipod and the computer. Video size and convertion time is not an issue.

Right now, after converting, I am left with 2 VERSIONS of 1 video. Having TWO versions of one video does not make sense, and deleting the ORIGINAL copy is not an option, since it is the one with the best quality that i use to watch on my computer. Deleting the second copy would just be lame because I wouldnt be able use ipod to watch a video.
This is really stressing and bumming me out, because even after playing around with the settings for Videora, I still cannot find a setting/ profile which can allow me to get exact same quality of my original videos, after conversion.

Oh yes, i dont know is this si helpful or not, but I found out that one of my original video has the size of 128 MB while the converted version (for ipod, using videora) is 82, 883 KB. Why is there such a great difference?

SORRY FOR THE ESSAY LIKE QUESTION. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT, THANKS!

[msopnet]

Use a H.264 VGA 2-pass profile with the highest bitrate (kbps). In general, that will get you a video very close to (if not as good as) your source quality - even if it's a DVD.

[heyphae]

That's odd..I tried that out, but the quality was still poor in comparison to the original video.. (thanks for your suggestion though)

[Midiman]

Try another video.

[msopnet]

Use a H.264 VGA 2-pass profile with the highest bitrate (kbps). In general, that will get you a video very close to (if not as good as) your source quality - even if it's a DVD.

Are you sure you remembered 2-pass?

You can also "Edit" a profile that has "VGA" and "Advanced" in the title, go to the "Video" tab and copy the Advanced CLI Options.

Then go back and edit the 2-pass one that contains "H264" "VGA" 2-Pass" and a high bitrate (more than 1000 kbps) and "Edit" that. Paste the copied lines into the Advanced CLI Options.

In there, you can change the bitrate to be even higher too. I think ~1400kbps is what Sketch uses. With 2-pass and Advanced options, I actually only use 640kbps and get high enough quality to watch on TV.