-
mpeg nightmares!!
I know this gets asked a lot but i am constantly getting bugged by people for file types they can’t open!
When a client requests “an mpg”…what the heck do they really want?
Most just look dumb when you ask which type (mpg, mpeg, mp4, etc etc.) – and to tell the truth I don’t know which is which either.
What format is the most universally accepted one to use? The material i send is usually no more than a 20 sec 16:9 commercial, which i try to reduce to no more than 5mb to aid emailing.
please help before i loose all my hair!!
adam
Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK -
2 Replies
-
i sthis for broadcast or a pproval? if the former then they probably want a high bit-rate MPEG 2 file … forget emailing, 5 MB is too small, set up an ftp server where they can download the larger, better quality file from instead.
-
If someone’s asking for the most universally accepted file, they want an MPEG-1,
which will play on anything. It’s not the best looking file though, especially at low
bit rates. If you know what the target machine and OS is, try to give them the best that
will play for them. We often give cllient approvals in both WM9 (although some corporate clients don’t have
WM9 on their PCs yet) and QT (the MPEG4 version unless we know they have QT7, then we give them H.264 QTs).
With batch compressing it’s almost as easy to give 3 versions as one. Give them options, from the
highest quality down to the most universal, WM9, QT H.264 or MPEG-4, and MPEG-1. Flash is another option,
but you still have to think about their player. They need Flash 8 to play the higher quality ON2VP6 flash codec,
otherwise it’s not worth using Flash for anything of quality.
Ed
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up