Best compression settings to reach most people
 

What video compression 'settings' (for lack of a better way of putting it) would yo use to "reach" the most net surfers?

I have Autodesk Cleaner, which is pretty versatile, in terms of options, but I'm not sure which ones I should deploy to make sure I get those people with dial-up modems, as well as those with faster connections.

Quicktime, Windows Media, Real Player, MPEG-4, Flash, ... It's all so confusing.

I will be making multiple versions of each video.

Also, I'm looking to get the very best quality and largest image size I get on my site. Any suggestions. Much appreciated.

Chuck

The very best quality and image size will be your native format.
For practicality, I'd go with a wmv or flash video. The size and quality will be up to you.

Since 90% of the world run windows, you'll probably best off with WMV. Though, I always use Quicktime or flash (because I like to be different).

I find H264 gives best bang for the buck, but you need to give more information of your requirements or you could find yourself exceeding your bandwidth - which could be costly.

quick time (i.e .mov) encoded in mpeg4, at 320x240 or similar for 16:9

will play on anything. fast to encode (MUCH faster than h264)

I can easily justify using Flash to reach both PC and Mac. On the other hand, if you post your video in the same format used by iTunes, people could easily transfer it to their video iPod. That would be handy.

My web site has always been primarily for PC users so I use Windows Media 9. However, with Premiere Pro CS3 being available for the Mac, I am going to redesign away from using Windows Media and start using Flash and iPod versions.

You can still use the H264 codec to create a .mov.
H264 is an approved codec for Mpeg4 and anyone with quicktime7 can play it. Yes, it can be slow to encode but the difference in file size and picture quality are huge.

true - and yes i forgot to say if you get it right then it can also be played on an ipod - which is a nice bonus

I don't think so! PC users need to install QuickTime player to play MP4. And many PC users are reluctant to do that due to the huge file size (~50 MB for the player and another 50 MB for iTunes if selected).

Are you sure about that. I thought Windows Media could happily play MP4.

MP4 is a universal standard, it's not an Apple invention.

Nope
 

Yes, MPEG4 is an ISO mandated format and still WinMedia Player won't play it as default. I have a brand spanking new PC here at work, came with Windows Media Player 11 installed and it won't play mp4; you need to install additional codecs for WMPlayer to play mp4.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316992: The MPEG-4 file format, as defined by the MPEG-4 specification, contains MPEG-4 encoded video and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)-encoded audio content. It typically uses the .mp4 extension. Windows Media Player does not support the playback of the .mp4 file format. You can play back .mp4 media files in Windows Media Player when you install DirectShow-compatible MPEG-4 decoder packs. DirectShow-compatible MPEG-4 decoder packs include the Ligos LSX-MPEG Player and the EnvivioTV.

Encoding
 

Get a copy of Sorenson Squeeze you can http://www.sorensonmedia.com/
You can choose any format you want and what file size and pixel size I convert using both WMV and MOV in 512 my video player has an auto detect t
good luck and no I do not work for Sorenson

a significant proportion of videos on the web require quick time for playback. i can't see how anyone can get away with not installing it. and if your connection is too slow to download 50mb, chances are it's also too slow to download videos.

The claim is that Flash is installed on 98% of all machines. If this is true, and it probably is, then Flash is currently the way to go to get the most eyes with the least amount of trouble for your potential viewers.

It's not the connection speed, it's the fact that some people are reluctant to install yet another software. Every single software is trying to configure your computer some other way - personally I had a lot of trouble because QT reset the file associations and embedded internet content would not play properly. And I am not presenting only my experience here, lots of people I talk with feel the same way. Please don't misunderstand me, I don't have a problem with QT, I have it on all of my PCs...

I still hope some day all of these licensing issues will be over with and there will be one player to play any and all formats.

I tried Sorenson Squeeze Suite and FlixPro8 www.on2.com/consumer. Both can encode Flash. The Sorenson is great for .mov at $499 without the flash encoder (649 with the encoder, or buy the flash VP6 encoder only for 249). I ended up buying the Flixpro for $249. It does a very nice job of encoding flash with or without the player included as a swf file. Somewhere there was a really neat side by side video comparison of Sorenson and On2, but I can't remember where.

No, I don't work for On2