RAD Video Tools Help Options:

The "Analyze" button is one of the most handy features in the RAD Video Tools. Use this button to check general bandwidth use. The Analyze window can tell you a bunch about a Bink or Smacker file without even having to play it. It displays a visual representation of the video file's data-rate. Here is an example of the Analysis window from a Bink file:

The graph has four lines: the green line is the best quality rate that a PS3 or Xbox 360 can play, the blue line is the data rate off a 1x DVD drive, the red line is the actual data-rate of the Bink file, and the yellow line is a one-second data-rate average.

The video's frame to frame data-rate can spike above the device data rate without too much trouble, but the one-second average should stay close to your target data-rate! If the "one-second-average" goes above your target data rate, then you're very likely to have skipped frames. If the video data-rate is way below the target data-rate, then you can improve the quality just by compressing it again.

So, the analysis option can not only tell you when you exceeded your target data-rate, but it can also tell you when you've over-compressed. If the analysis shows that you are well under your data rate, then you can go back and re-compress for better quality. I find the analysis option so handy that I now automatically check out my videos after every compression. That way I know I'm always getting the best possible quality for my target.

The analysis window has many other options that can be accessed by right-clicking on the graph. Right-clicking on the graph will present the following list of options:

Close: simply closes the analysis window.

Help: shows this help page.

Zoom: allows you to see the big picture or the really little picture.

Show Legend: hides and shows the legend in the upper right corner.

Show Values: will display the value of each point on the graph (this is really only useful if you're zoomed in a bit).

Show Grid: controls the grid visibility.

Show 1 Second Average, Show DVD, Show best for 360/PS3, and Show 4x CD, and Show best for Nintendo DS: all control whether the respective data line is shown in the graph.

Show as Bytes per Frame: controls whether you view the values in bytes-per-frame or bytes-per-second.

Copy Graph and Copy Values: copy the analysis data onto the clipboard.

Print Graph: prints the current graph view.