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best file format for video on DSL?
I hate to admit it, but I’m just now getting around to posting some of my video on my website. In my initial quicktime output test, the video was too slow, and the size of a seven minute file at 180×120 was 39 megs. Any suggestions on best output formats and parameters would be appreciated. I am using an older version of FCP.
sincerely
John
“Life is good, as long as it doesn’t take up too much of my time.”
-Gene
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7 Replies
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What do you mean, “the video was too slow”? The size, framerate, and kbs rate should be determined by your host throughput (can it handle
high enough data rate throughput) and your audience’s internet, not yours. You can upload large files to your site even if you have a modem,
it depends on what the person viewing your video has for an internet hookup. Slow DSL in some places is still 384kbs, but in most places it’s at
least 500kbs and more typically at least 784kbs. You don’t say what you’re using to compress the video, but since you mention FCP, I assume
you’re exporting from there. I would compress using either the latest MPEG4 or Sorenson 3 Pro to a 256×192 at 300kbs, or 320×240 at 300-500kbs.
Just a ball park though, without knowing more.
Ed[avantis] “I hate to admit it, but I’m just now getting around to posting some of my video on my website. In my initial quicktime output test, the video was too slow, and the size of a seven minute file at 180×120 was 39 megs. Any suggestions on best output formats and parameters would be appreciated. I am using an older version of FCP. “
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WHat I’m saying, Ed, is that while some links I visit have fairly smooth streaming video I can read on my own DSL line, my own video file I posted to my site cannot play in real time from my Earthlink ISP. Perhaps you’re right, maybe it is the Earthlink server on the other end that makes fast playback possible, and my Earthlink is not giving me the speed I need. As you say, the problem may not be my file format but the server that is supplying the file.
-John
“Life is good, as long as it doesn’t take up too much of my time.”
-Gene
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You and Ed are both a bit off on this… 39mb QT files will not “stream” from your server unless properly prepared for streaming, and they certainly will not just play out over a normal DSL connection, as there is not enough bandwidth. And, no one will sit around and wait for your 39mb file to download. You must either learn to stream QT (not very easy), or switch to Flash or WMV and learn to stream them (both very easy).
DRW
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I like the sound of making a streaming WMV. How do I do that? Shouldn’t FCP have the WMV file output format available?? And flash for that matter? But whoa, FLASH is first and foremost a vector format…why should FLASH be helpful for streaming video? WMV I know, but FLASH for streaming video?
-John
“Life is good, as long as it doesn’t take up too much of my time.”
-Gene
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John,
Since the release of Flash 8, Flash is now an ideal format for streaming video. Its used by most of the major studios to stream their trailers now. Read up on it, its all over the Internet. Very small files sizes, very good video quality. Nope, FCP won’t do it right out of the box, you need eithet Macromedia Flash 8 or the On2 Technologies’ VP6 standalone encoder.
To output WMV from FCP you need Flip4mac Studio Pro for $99. Google “WMV streaming” for the instructions, its very simple.
DRW
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Thanks for the valuable information. That’s useful. I’m continuing to work with FCP output, and I’m having better results. Actually, I became aware of the whole pulldown menu for streaming quicktime videos, and I’ve been going with a 40K/s music/hi motion setting, 180×120, and 15 x /sec which seems to work fairly well for me. 6 minutes is reduced to 11 megs. Only issue is sometimes there is a slight lag in the audio.
-John
“Life is good, as long as it doesn’t take up too much of my time.”
-Gene
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Not sure how I’m “a bit off on this” David. Nowhere in the original post or my answer was “streaming” mentioned, nor did I suggest
that a 39 MB file would “stream” on “normal DSL”. But I will say it’s true in this post. 🙂
What I suggested was a basic understanding of bandwidth limitations on the server side having
a lot to do with how well a file plays. I also suggested a number of compression scenarios to allow a file to play on various connection
speeds. As for “streaming”, of course files will “stream” without using a special streaming server, *if* you create files in the sizes I suggested.
It’s called progressive download, and a 300kbs file will easily “stream” on a slow 384kb http server. For example, I have a video I’m looking at
right now that’s exactly 7:00 minutes long. It’s compressed as both a WMV and a QT at 384×288 at 710kbs, with a file size in both cases of a
little under 36megs. And it’s streaming online as we speak, on my “normal” DSL connection. As I also mentioned in my post, the typical DSL connection
these days in most of the US is not 384kbs anymore, the rates are much higher. Verizon and my local phone company’s DSL
for “everyone” is 1500kbs (in theory) now, with a real-life rate not far below that. I can “stream” 2 700kbs videos at the same time at that rate.
The same file compressed as a 256×192 300kbs video will “stream” (http progressive DL) on the less-common-these-days 384kbs DSL, with a
file size of 15.5MB.
John, unless you want to pay for a special streaming server, *do not* select the hinted streaming option in the fast start menu for QTs. The first fast start option means
progressive download, so that when enough of your video has downloaded to play all the way through as a stream, it will start playing automatically.
If you create a file in the rates I mentioned (or any rate lower than a viewers data rata) the video will fast start immediately. The hinted stream options are for special streaming servers only.Ed
[David Roth Weiss] “You and Ed are both a bit off on this… 39mb QT files will not “stream” from your server unless properly prepared for streaming, and they certainly will not just play out over a normal DSL connection, as there is not enough bandwidth. And, no one will sit around and wait for your 39mb file to download. You must either learn to stream QT (not very easy), or switch to Flash or WMV and learn to stream them (both very easy).”
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