EXPORT FOR WEB…(NEED ADVICE)

[Andrew Wise]

I’m pretty sure they will want to stream it…to incorporate it into the website.
-Andrew

[Arnie Schlissel]

In addition to what David said about streaming, you should know that streaming requires a dedicated streaming server. If the company is planning on hosting the video on their own servers, they can set the streaming server up themselves, but if that’s too complicated they can have it hosted by a 3rd party that offers the service. Or the video can be set up to download instead of stream, & save everyone the headache & expense.

Arnie
https://www.arniepix.com

[Andrew Wise]

Craig,
I think we (the web guy & I) will be trying to make it work together.
As far as the audience…I’d say a general, PC using audience. And for the video…it’s just a typical corporate video. Some product shots, some testimonials, etc…
Thanks, Andrew

[Ed Dooley]

OK, now that it’s more complicated. 🙂
Streaming is still misunderstood by a lot of people. True streaming requires a streaming server, but what a lot of folks think of streaming is actually progressive download
from an http server, where the app knows when enough of the video has loaded to start playing automatically. (I know most of you know this, but I’m always suprised at how many don’t) Again it depends on your audience. If you don’t want to pay for a streaming server, you should consider your audience, maybe all you need is progressive download. Even though most of the stuff we compress is viewed by people in corporate or institutional environments with fast internet, we sometimes have to consider clients with less bandwidth. Although we stopped caring about dial-up users some time ago, we still care about slow DSL users, or people with faster internet that may get bogged down to a low rate. So, we often create a 300kbs- 256×192 or 320×240 and a 700kbs-384×288 or 480×360 to
accomodate the lowest common denominator folks. Both those rates will load and play instantly on their respective 384 or 768kbs bandwidth. If it’s for a client with guaranteed higher bandwidth, we custom size the video.
One final note about protecting your video from people downloading it. Windows Media is protected from that easily when you embed the video in your web page and use a WMX file as a pointer to the video instead of linking directly to the WMV file.
Ed

[David Roth Weiss] “At the risk of making this even more complicated, in addition to what everyone else said, with a 5-minute peice you also need to decide if you will stream the video or simply make it available for download. Streaming starts very quickly and protects your video, downloading can take quite a while and it means giving your video away to all. All of the various video formats have different streaming techniques and considerations.”

[Stuart]

Hi Andrew go to popwire.com and download Compression Master 3.0.2 it will allow you to do every format there is wndows media,qiucktime,real video all flavors mpeg1/2 etc. the program is writtin from the ground up for OSX and will let you encode the first 15 seconds of your video for testing and is only 400.00 bucks to unlock it.This software does great work and the company has been doing updates (free) often. It also does Mpeg 2 enodes way better than apples compressor as well as ntsc-pal/pal-ntsc conversions and does 3g video and most all the formats for mobile video. Its really a swedish army knife of compression ( Popwire is a swedish company) The best part its real easy to learn and use and has presets taht are a great starting point for new users. IT ROCKS Good Luck Stuart

[Craig Seeman]

Yup, I use Flip4Mac often. It works in Compressor 2, FCP, QTPro, Cleaner just to name a few.

[Craig Seeman]

People seem to be confused with Progressive Download and Streaming. Progressive Download is from an HTTP server. Streaming comes from a streaming server can can be quite expensive at times. If it’s marketing material why would you want to “protect” it? Progressive Download allows the viewer to watch after a very small buffer period. The whole file does NOT have to be downloaded. The file is “cached,” so one doesn’t necessarily “Download” the file as in downloaded an software update. They can often download it in addition to playing as it’s cached (that’s why it’s called Progressive Download . . . you can play it as it “progresses”). If the user does download the file then you’ve successfully left your marketing material on their computer to be viewed again at their leisure and even show to others. Certain “artist” or other sensitive client material you DON’T WANT TO BE SHARED is the stuff folks might want to “protect.”

The above can get very confusing because people wrongly use the terms interchangeably.
There is Progressive Download (http type)
Streaming (mms, rtsp, etc)
There is DRM (digital rights management) which can be applied to various files if you license it.
Since streaming isn’t actually cached in the way Progressive Download is, it doesn’t stay in the viewer’s cache or computer hard drive.

[Craig Seeman]

Well said Ed!

In my own area, Cable Modem tends to range from 10mbps to 30mbps download and DSL tends to be 1.5mbps to 3mbps. There might be a few who are at 768kbps. That’s why knowing one’s region is important.

[Ed Dooley]

Even here in the boonies of Vermont, the cable and DSL providers have gone to multi-mb speeds, but, for example, here in my little ski town
I can’t get my local provider’s fastest services because I’m 5 miles out of town. It’s coming soon they say. Right now I have 1.5mb down and 512kb up.
Unfortunately for me, my phone company owns the cable company too, so there’s no cable, and no possibility of competition.
It’s probably more important to design files for the bogging down. One of my clients, a university, commonly has slower than advertised bandwidth.
All those students pirating music from Limewire I guess. 🙂
Ed (who luckily has most of his clients in other states and countries!)

[Craig Seeman] “In my own area, Cable Modem tends to range from 10mbps to 30mbps download and DSL tends to be 1.5mbps to 3mbps. There might be a few who are at 768kbps. That’s why knowing one’s region is important.”

[Andrew Wise]

Thanks for the reply.
I guess I would have to compare it with the already suggested flip4mac.
What are the differences between the two, besides the price (you said compression master is $400 right?)
-Andrew