Chris Blair
Forum Replies Created
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I should add that while my Windows 98 computer will recognize and open the H264 flash files from websites, the hardware is just too darn old to play it back without screeching to a halt. The H264 codec is just too complex for an Athlon 600 CPU and Windows 98 to decode fast enough.
But…that same 12 year old Windows 98 computer CAN play back an ON2 or Flash 8 (H263) video in decent fashion. So smooth playback would be a better argument for not using H264 than any compatibility issues.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Nick Griffin:
The guy who comes in before 7 in the morning, eats lunch at his desk most days, and goes home after 6 at night gets one hell of a lot more done that someone who does 9 to 5, spends half the day on Facebook, only learns new tools when forced, and wonders why the other guy and not him is getting ahead.
Nick…we weren’t disagreeing with you! I’ve had employees who spend their “down-time” trolling the internet feeding their interests in hobbies, ordering personal products, reading up about the latest movie gossip, or listening to the latest cuts from P Diddy (or whatever his name is now).
It drives me crazy because they’re the ones that wonder why they’re not getting the “golden” projects, or getting big raises or getting opportunities to work with the best clients. When I’ve brought up their misuse of down-time in evaluations, to a man they act incredulous. It’s just never occurred to them to use that time in a way that might inprove their knowledge or skills. After 25 years in this business, I’ve come to the conclusion you either have that desire to always improve…or you don’t. Because I’ve yet to see one of those people ever change and start using their time wisely…even after repeated yearly evaluations that give them typed up suggestions and guides on how to better use their down-time to improve.
But your point, while seemingly a no-brainer, gets lost on many a starry-eyed employee…and probably a few employers as well. I’m sure that’s NOT what happened at The Orphanage, but I imagine complacency has certainly sunk a good number of people in our business over the years, and will certainly sink a good number more in the near future.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Ed Dooley
You can’t just have Flash on your system to play H.264, it needs (as you said) to be in a Flash wrapper, so it’s useless by itself without QT installed.
I am not clear what you’re saying here. Are you saying you need Quicktime so you will have the H264 codec? Flash 9 has an H264 software decoder built in. It’s had it since Sept. or Oct. of 2007. That’s 18 months.
You can indeed playback an H264 encoded file from within several Windows based browsers…if the metadata needed for Flash to recognize it is injected into the H264 file, which creates the necessary flash wrapper.
You don’t need QT installed to play those files on Windows computers. Theoretically, you don’t even need it on Macs to play them, as long as you have Flash 9 or higher installed.
The original post was asking if people would be able to play his H264 files. The answer is “yes,” if he uses a flash wrapper. Flash 9 supports H264 files with the .mov extension. In fact, Flash doesn’t care what extension the file has if it has the metadata for Flash Player to recognize it, although most people recommend using .flv. Here’s info copied from an Adobe engineer’s blog about Flash’s H264 support and file extensions:
You can load and play .mp4,.m4v,.m4a,.mov and .3gp files using the same NetStream API you use to load FLV files now. We did not add any sort of new API in the Flash Player. All your existing video playback front ends will work as they are. As long as they do not look at the file extension that is, though renaming the files to use the .flv file extension might help your component. The Flash Player itself does not care about file extensions, you can feed it .txt files for all it matters. The Flash Player always looks inside the file to determine what type of file it is.
Link to his blog: https://www.kaourantin.net/2007/08/what-just-happened-to-video-on-web_20.html
H264 is an open standard and as such the specs are well defined. Much like MPG2, there isn’t a huge difference in the various implentations of the codec. So Apple’s H264 is pretty similar to Nero’s or the x264 version or the Main Concept version. Except Apple’s has a ridiculous (and years old) bug that screws up color and brightness depending on what you play the resulting file with.
So while the original poster would not have 99% compatibility like he’d get using ON2 or Flash 8, he’d still have pretty darn high playback compatibility since Adobe and other independent folks estimate Flash 9 has 97% penetration worldwide in what they term “mature” markets, which is most of the industrialized world.
https://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html
So while a small percentage of users might have trouble playing his files…it’s a good bet those people not only have problems with H264, but with a LOT of different media content.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
We had a local IT company develop a studio management app that is just a custom interface on top of Microsoft Access. There are things I love about it and things I hate about it, but it works, is customizable as we grow (or shrink), and allows us to put as much or as little information about projects as needed. We’ve never gotten to the point of keeping project billing/time logs on it, but it’s built to do that.
This was 5 years ago…and at the time, we looked at the custom software out there and it was just too expensive and when we demo’d them, they just didn’t fit our workflow.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Walter Biscardi
Not even two weeks after joining [Facebook], I was contacted by a Producer I used to work with and we’re working up a contract on a one year project. He had heard from someone else that I was doing “something with post production” in the Atlanta area, but didn’t know what.We struggle with this issue internally all the time. We have a couple of people on staff that think social networking sites are a waste of time. For that matter they even thick our website is a waste of time! A common refrain is: “Nobody is going to go to our website after an initial visit.”
I couldn’t disagree more with both opinions. While I dislike Facebook immensely on a personal level. From a pure marketing and communications standpoint, it has amazing potential. I’m sure Facebook purists hate it when people slant their profile towards their professional world, but nowadays you take any edge you can get. I have to admit I only joined about 2 weeks ago and haven’t had any time to devote to it, but I’ve heard dozens of stories like Walter’s in the last 6 months; people connecting with old friends and colleagues and business relationships blossoming from it.
The BEST thing about it? It’s free…except for the time commitment of course. The same thing can be said of YouTube. Whether you hate it or love it…it’s a great place to create a portal for people to view your work.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Ed Dooley
People on Windows either have to download QT or have iTunes, which comes with QT to see H.264.
I don’t believe that’s entirely true. You can export to MP4/H264, then use Flash as a wrapper (with many available tools to do it) and Windows will play it either embedded in a website or as a popup in HTML. The latest version of Flash 9 has H264 support, so you don’t even need Flash 10 installed.
I’m sitting here playing an H264/Flash wrapped file from a website on a Windows 98 computer as I type this. I had to update Flash, but only to something like 9.1.6xxx. I don’t have Quicktime on this computer and I have no exotic codecs or other media players installed. Of course….my 11 year old Windows computer is choking trying to decode that H264 file, but it’s playing it! My 4 year old WinXP laptop plays the very same file fine just fine even though its version of Quicktime is ancient.
Most Windows users will have little problem playing back those files as long as they let Flash update itself. That said, if you want maximum compatibility, On2 or even Flash 8 or Sorenson in Flash are better choices, but they won’t look near as good as H264.
Here’s a link to Adobe’s Flash 9 update specs with the H264 support at the top of the list:
According to Adobe, a Windows computer should even be able to play an H264 .mov file (in a Flash wrapper). This is copied from Adobe’s site:
Q: Will Flash Player 9 Update 3 support non-FLV files?
A: Yes, with this update, Flash Player will also support files derived from the standard MPEG-4 container format such as MP4, M4A, MOV, MP4V, 3GP, 3G2 if they contain H.264 video and/or HE-AAC encoded audioChris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Ron Lindeboom :
I know plenty of companies in this industry that are VERY dedicated and QUITE good and professional. They are hurting anyway and many are dropping like flies. Even companies like The Orphanage are closing — and only someone with little knowledge would argue that The Orphanage were not dedicated to making whatever they touched look and feel good.
I certainly don’t know the folks that ran the Orphanage and don’t doubt they are wonderful people who did incredible work.
But from a purely business point of view (and at the risk of angering people on here), when a company with their tremendous track record, sample reel and reputation suddenly and inexplicably closes, it’s a good bet there were some problems with their business model. Either pricing was out of whack with salaries and expenses, or their debt load was too high, or revenue was too dependent on a couple of large clients….or even a combination of those and other red flag issues simply snowballed.
Just because a company and its people do great work doesn’t magically make them good business people or guarantee financial success. They were probably GREAT people on many fronts, but most of us would like to think that a company with their reputation would have a HUGE advantage over us smaller fish in this economy. And in this case it didn’t prove to be true.
I want to be clear that I’m not knocking these guys or anyone on here who knows them and might know more about the reasons behind their closing. It could happen to any of us…especially if, as mentioned above, you have 1 or 2 very large clients that drive your sales.
But I’ve got to think there is a bigger story behing their problems than just the economy. Anybody remember Pittard-Sullivan from the late 1990’s? They were an internationally recognized branding giant with a client list that was dizzying. They suddenly closed shop in 2001 claiming they had too much work tied up in the dot-coms that went bust. But if you looked at their client roster you had to ask yourself, “how was that possible?” How could losing a few clients bankrupt the entire operation with a client roster that included what seemed like half of the Fortune 500?
They also did incredible work, so it seems there had to be more going on from the business side than just fallout from the dot-com collapse.
Anyway…Ron makes a great point that the issues affecting some companies are many and for some, they just won’t be able to figure them out before it’s too late.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
We have clients whose business is actually up over last year, especially Health Care companies. We also handle 2 car dealer groups(11 separate dealers) and their business is steady. Now if GM doesn’t survive, all bets are off, but at least at the local level, they are selling cars and are still able to secure credit for the majority of their customers.
Overall our sales are steady even though we lost our biggest client (a national company) last fall when they went belly up. We had to lay off one person but so far, that’s it.
Some companies are benefiting from people’s change in spending. Many fast food and casual dining company’s sales are up and their stock is steady or up over a year ago.
McDonalds sales are up and their stock is equal to over a year ago https://money.cnn.com/2009/02/09/news/companies/mcdonalds_sales.reut/
BW3’s stock is up nearly 50% over a year ago and sales are up something like 28% https://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014049641
Residential property companies are reporting record occupancy and revenues at their properties mainly due to people moving back into apartments who’ve lost or sold homes. My wife has worked in that industry for 18 years and has never seen it as busy or seen so many apartment communities at 100% capacity.
So in all the carnage, there ARE opportunities. But in the end, succeeding in OUR business I believe comes down to one simple principal: solving a client’s communication problem.
A client calls and his boss wants a video to stream on their website. They’re utterly confused by the jargon they read on the websites of streaming video services. They open a trial account and try to upload a video themselves. It doesn’t work. They’re frustrated and just want their damn video up on their website and they want it play when a visitor clicks on it. We take their video and have it up and working THAT DAY. In my opinion, that’s an example of what clients want today. They don’t want explanations, they want stuff done. I could give a dozen other examples like that.
Now how do you find the clients that need our services? Well…we’ve found that it takes time and persistence. Not a good answer in this economy…but there are no quick fixes here. Get your company’s name and story in front of as many of your potential customers as often as possible. Make sure they hear from you in some way every single month.
Use every opportunity available to show how you can SOLVE problems and help companies tell their story more clearly and persuasively than their competitors. In my opinion, if you do that, you’ll have a better shot at surviving all this.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Heck…do what I do when a client asks me for something I have no idea how to do. Google it! I had to make a business pitch to a defense company a few weeks back. The guy that runs the company was the best-man at my wedding!
I had to read a 40 page document about their business and all the rules and regulations in dealing with the military and government entities before pitching..and you I had to communicate that I understood their business and their challenges in the pitch if we were to have any shot at the work.
I must’ve spent 20 hours online reading about defense companies and how they market and who they market to etc. Then another 5-6 hours writing and preparing the pitch.
Unfortunately it came down to us and another much larger company and we didn’t get the gig. But it was still a great experience and my friend is excited about using us for other projects down the line that the other company doesn’t provide (like video production).
Anyway…just research it a little and I guarantee you’ll find something that you can use as “inspiration” for your client’s request.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
On the question of who to hire. Good IT companies usually have very knowledgable people when it comes to backup, moving files etc. We use a local company in our mid-sized town (150,000) and they’re very knowledgable. But they also realize what we do is very different than a corporate network…so they listen to my needs and my recommendations (based on a lot on my own research and knowledge), and they’ve been indispensible in helping to setup our shared video storage and backup.
I could’ve done all of it on my own. But at a huge price in terms of time and headaches. It’s worth it to pay them their $100/hour fee for the really complicated stuff. Often, they’ll come in and will tell me, “this isn’t that complicated,” and they’ll walk me through a configuration so that if it needs to be done again, I can just do it on my own. It saves them from having to come to our place for a task that takes 15 minutes and frees them up for their bigger jobs, and it makes me happy.
All we did was ask around town for recommendations and this company’s name popped up repeatedly. They like working with us so much (because we’re knowledgeable) they ended up becoming one of our clients too!
As for spending $2-2,500…you’re going to still be in the “cheap” range when it comes to drives and configurations (if you build it yourself and if that includes switches etc.)
Our 4TB backup LaCie NAS drive was $3000 I believe, the 2TB LaCie NAS we use for projects was $2000 and the 4TB Apace vSTor for shared video storage (12 DVCPro50 real-time streams over GigE) was $9000. We then spent another $1000 on a good managed switch, $150 on a rack to hold it all, $300 on new upgraded cabling, and about $1,500 to pay the IT company to install it all (it took them an entire day to install, cable and setup the hardware, then another day configuring and testing stuff with the help of Apace via GoToMeeting.com.)
That’s $17,000. And guess what the weakest part of the chain is?? The 2 LaCie NAS drives we bought. I didn’t research them thorougly and they just use 4 spanned drives rather than a raid. I foolishly assumed they would be RAID 5 or 6. They don’t even have the capability of doing either. They also don’t have the ability to adjust for jumbo frames (MTU), which could speed up throughput.
They work, but they only give us about 20-25MB sec throughput and we notice it occasionally while editing. A project file will pause, a photoshop file will take a bit longer to open or save etc. So I should’ve spent the extra $1500-$2000 on RAID based storage for at least the project drive.
Even if you subtract the shared storage and the 2TB unit, we still would’ve spent $6,000 for the backup alone. Sure we could’ve gone with a cheaper switch, but the one we chose was already in the middle of the pack. 4 months after installation, it went south and had to be replaced (under full warranty thankfully.) So again…if you try to do it “on the cheap,” just prepare yourself for failures. They WILL happen, usually when you’re on deadline.
You can probably configure something for $2,500 that’s pretty solid, but I’d do a lot of research on the components to make sure they’re reliable.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com