Best Streaming Video Available ?

[Steve Eisen]

MLB.com

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Howard Ferguson]

Any suggestions as to where to go for high quality video web hosting ?

We’ve got 90 minutes worth of videos that we need to put up, the longest is 35 mins. They need to appear to the web viewer in as high quality as possible.

Thanks.

Howard Ferguson

[Arnie Schlissel]

Your web host does not usually have that much to do with the quality of the video that your end user sees. The quality is determined by the compressionist, and unless you’re hosting on a site like youtube, that’s not a service provided by the host.

First you need to decide whether you want your videos to stream or download. Streaming (like youtube or vimeo) is more expensive than downloading, but your video does not stay on the end user’s hard drive like it does with downloading.

Then you need to find a compressionist who can make the best looking video for the bandwidth available. The less bandwidth, the longer it takes to download a video, the smaller the file you’ll need to create, the less quality you’ll be able to deliver.

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[Howard Ferguson]

Thanks for your response Arnie !

It’s always kind of a balancing act between having enough details, and too many details, sometimes in these postings . . .

It’s Streaming Video that we’re looking for.

I’m told that is the most universally accessible format for video streaming from the internet.
So, I’ve tried a few Quicktime to flv converters,
    trying to get my Quicktime files into a flv looking good,

But the results were not nearly as good visually, which is important on this project.

Is there are practical way to make a QT files universally accessible via Streaming Video ?

  For instance, I’ve got a 8.2 gb mov file,
         compressed down to 26 mb
           And I’d be happy if I could put that up . . .
and streaming down looking the same.

Visual Hub turns those files into a 37 or 47 mb flv file,
        that doesn’t look nearly as good . . .
At any of the basic settings.
And the interface warns one away from the advanced settings.

I installed On2 Flix Exporter, but it does appear in the menu bar or anywhere in Compressor 2, so I haven’t been able to try that one.

With Perian installed, along with On2 Flix Exporter, Quicktime can convert to flv using that plugin, but it is very slow, and looks pretty bad.

MEPG Streamclip doesn’t convert to flv, unless you have special Adobe software installed, which I don’t.

How to get those QT files happily up for quality viewing ?
All thoughts and advice very welcome !

Thanks much for your time and your help !

Howard Ferguson
  Chicago

[Dean Mikulla]

Have you tried “export for web” in QT Pro?

[Howard Ferguson]

Hi Dean,

Is “Export for Web” better than Compressor 2 ?

As it turns out, it looks like Progressive Download will work for us.

What is a good practical bit rate, so it will play well on most computers ?

I think we’ve decided to go with Quicktime movies, and let the PC people pull it in to view, if they don’t have it already.

It’s not a difficult process, and this is a specialized sort of situation- noncommercial.

One question about Compressor:
Does anyone know when it’s useful to use
Rate Conversion: Best High Quality Motion Compensated ?

I’ve never had it be useful, but I try it now and then just to check.
But it takes a very long time . . .

Any quality enhancement tips for the Compression procedure greatly appreciated !

Thanks very much !
Very interested in all the thoughts on this matter !

Howard Ferguson

[Dean Mikulla]

Howard, I’m usually one of the ones asking questions here on CC! But here is what I’ve come up with.
I’ve found that just experimenting with different codecs and bit rates on the same movies/vid and looking at it on as many different computers/browsers I could and see what looks best, then take note.
But, in my quest to show my movies on the web without using youtube or vimeo, it was to use that “export to web” function. It does take a while to render but I think it looks pretty good for compressing it to such a small file. And it has the added bonus of automatically generating the html code that enables playback on IPhone and Ipods. Only set back, the viewer must have QT, but you can always make a .wmv link too with Flip for mac added to QT pro. Also, I had to learn a little html to put it all together, not that bad though.
You can always do test and trim one of your movies down to a minute or less in QT pro and see how it works/looks.
Here is an informative link https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=QuickTime%20Player/7.2/en/c4qt25.html
and one of my movies shot with a GL2, edited in FCP, and compressed using that “export to web” function.
https://www.marshallmovies.net/attic%20jam/atticjam.html

[Dave Blodgett]

yes, progressive download is the way to go unless you have a very large customer base that will be watching the movie simoultaneously.

The bit rate you choose for compression is a function your content, the frame size you want the video to play in, and the quality you want it to display at. A ‘talking head’ with static background will require a significantly lower bit rate than say, auto racing, and a frame size of 640×360 will require a higher bit rate than a 320×240 frame to deliver the same perceived quality. As Dean mentioned, this is why you need to experiment to determine what works best for your content, and your expectations.

We encode all of our online content to H.264 – the ubiquity of flash players that support it combined with the quality (both defined frame size and full screen) make it a clear choice for us.

http://www.adrenalinevision.com