Minimum Framerate and Best Codec?

[The Rev]

I just wanted to get the general consensus and ideas on the subject of minimizing file size for animations.

VirtualDub is what I am using, and it defaults to 10fps and no compression, which produces huge files.  Which codec do you think is best for compressing file size, and should I be using a higher frame rate?  Is there much gain in quality going all the way to 30fps, for example?  Also, is AVI going to give me a better video, byte for byte, than other filetypes?

Thanks for your thoughts and input.

The Rev

[David Makin]

You should be rendering at 25 fps absolute minimum if you want smooth animation - obviously simple slide-show animation is a different kettle of fish !
I would expect top-quality commercial DVD renders to be at least 50fps.
As to codecs, the best I know of are DivX, h264 and Xvid.
Xvid is completely free and the one I use, I'm not sure about the others.
In all cases if multi-pass modes are available then use them as that will make a significant difference to file size - e.g. for Xvid with VirtualDub I use the two-pass mode.
Of course there are also specific Mac (Apple) codecs too e.g. the Apple verion of h264 and as an alternative to VirtualDub it is possible to use these through Quicktime although I haven't found out how to get QT to recognize the Xvid codec (at least not under Windows).

As to compression, using a good codec should give you 10:1 compression or better (compared to raw) without too noticeable a loss of quality.
Of course compression does tend to produce more unwanted artefacts on some types of image than others, in particular if your source video is subject to aliasing then compression will often emphasize this.