What dimensions should my machinima have? Options

[Lawladin]

As the title says, I'm really not sure what my movie dimensions should be. The default for Sony Vegas is 720x480(29.9fps). Should I stick with that? Or would it be better to change it to something else? If so, what? Hehe.

Thanks a ton in advance for the help and advice.

edit: my in-game resolution for WoW is 1280x1024, as is my desktop. if that makes a difference in your responses.

[Justin]

If we talk about dimensions, use 2 or evolve to 3 :D

Thing you aksed is resolution, and I recommend using one of HD standarts (1080i, 1080p, 720p, 480p). They usually consist of:
1080i - 1920x1080, up to 20,000kbps in bitrate
1080p - 1440x1080, up to 15,000kbps in bitrate;
720p - 1280x720, up to 7,000kbps in bitrate;
480p - 852x480, up to 5,000kbps in bitrate.

Most common codecs are H.264 (video) and AAC (audio).

All those default TV standarts or the way we export them, have less than 3,000kbps bitrate

[Forgotten Light]

As the title says, I'm really not sure what my movie dimensions should be. The default for Sony Vegas is 720x480(29.9fps). Should I stick with that? Or would it be better to change it to something else? If so, what? Hehe.

Thanks a ton in advance for the help and advice.

edit: my in-game resolution for WoW is 1280x1024, as is my desktop. if that makes a difference in your responses.

One thing about machinima, or basically anything that isn't going straight to a standard NTSC TV, [b]do not[b] use the vegas default.

For resolution a good standard is 800X450, which is the standard aspect ratio these days and a nice medium-sized frame. You'll want 30.0000 FPS for digital video. the 29.9 thing is purely for the analog draw-rate of a TV.

Oh, also, Interlacing = BAD BAD EVIL BAD. It is ALSO purely for the analog screen-draw of a TV.

[VaudeVillian]

Most common codecs are H.264 (video) and AAC (audio).

May I ask where the H.264 codec/encoder can be found?

[Forgotten Light]

May I ask where the H.264 codec/encoder can be found?

If you don't already have H.264, use Xvid .avi or MPEG-4 .wmv instead (those are actually far more common). They'll usually give you the smoothest playback, as well as be playable on the widest range of computers.