making a media player compliant file for the web... at DVinfo.net

David J. Payne · March 1st, 2006, 05:32 PM

Hi,
has anyone got any ideas what to use once I have an avi or mpeg in order to convert it so that the average pc newbie would be able to just download the file and watch it without having to download a silly number of codecs? All of my wedding preview files I make now work on some peoples pc's but not everyones. does anyone know the best way to make something thats compatible with everyones version of windows media player without having to download extra codecs? If it means the file has to be less compressed and therefore larger then so be it.. i just need something that everyone can watch!
thanks a lot
David

Robert M Wright · March 1st, 2006, 05:36 PM

WMVs should work fine on PCs (and the compression is excellent), but I don't know about how they'd play on Macs.

Most compatible cross-platform is probably Flash SWF.

Mike F Smith · March 2nd, 2006, 12:19 AM

To awnser Roberts question, I have not run across anything that the latest quicktime player won't handle on my mac.

Mike

Robert M Wright · March 2nd, 2006, 12:33 AM

That's really good to hear Mike. When the time comes to publish my site, I'm probably going to go with WMVs, at least for awhile. Good compression and easy to tweak straight out from Vegas.

David J. Payne · March 2nd, 2006, 01:35 AM

quicktime is fine but obviously its necessary to download the player.
Do any wmv's play without having to download codecs? despite what codecs I have on my computer? I might covert somehow and get a few friends to do a test download.
many thanks

Robert M Wright · March 2nd, 2006, 04:30 AM

I'm pretty sure Mike meant that Quicktime on a Mac will play WMVs. On a PC, Windows Media Player would be the default player, shipped with Windows, that plays WMVs. (WMV stands for "Windows Media Video")

Patrick Pike · March 2nd, 2006, 09:33 AM

Quicktime will play WMV files thanks to Flip4Mac. Its free, but it still may require a download. In fact, I believe although I'm not a 100%, if you try to open a WMV file from within Safari without Flip4Macs software, it will take ask you to install their software to continue.

David J. Payne · March 2nd, 2006, 11:31 AM

yeh i know a fair bit about wmv's, i just didnt know if there were different codecs needed for different levels of wmv.. or are they all pretty much universal?

Dan Euritt · March 2nd, 2006, 02:34 PM

you want to use wmv 9 to encode windows media files, not the older wmv codecs... you can download the free windows media encoder from microsoft, it does a good job.

try to avoid using mpeg's as source files for encoding web video, the quality just isn't there.

David J. Payne · March 2nd, 2006, 02:46 PM

excellent, thanks to everyone for their help.

Michael Liebergot · March 2nd, 2006, 03:57 PM

Take a serious look at using the new Flash8 video codec. The image quality to compression is the best thing going right now.

There is a product that Flix that was developed by Wildform and recently purchased by ON2 Technologies.

You can actually create your own players and have tem either embeded in you webpage or pop up in a sperate wndow on your site.

The Flash codec is cross platform and compatible on 99% of the browsers on the internet. The only drawback right now is that the new Flash8 codec hasbeen out only about 6 months, so there might be those out there that don't have the update for their browser yet.
Although you if someone doesn't have the new codec yet, they will be directed to the Flash site for the update automatically, and is super easy to install.

Check it out here.

http://www.on2.com/technology/flix-features/

David J. Payne · March 29th, 2006, 08:19 AM

what about from the presets already loaded into premiere pro? I have been playing around with the export settings today and notice that all the quicktime files i make seem to be quite large in file size compared to their resolution and audio quality. Another problem I'm having when exporting to .wmv is that I cant lower the resolution of the video in order to improve the quality slightly, it always seems to stay on 320x240 and I'm more looking for 280x210 kind of size.
any ideas?!

Richard Wakefield · March 29th, 2006, 09:44 AM

when I was hunting around for information on web movie conversions, i found one amazing package that does it all in a couple of clicks, and it saves so much time

http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoTools/index.aspx

it's worth the money...it's perfect for anyone who wants to make wmv's, movs, flash swf's, video ipod movies without ever having to think of codecs and compression!!

Dan Shallenberger · March 29th, 2006, 03:58 PM

The Flip4Mac player is really nice. If you buy the full version, you can encode wmv right from quicktime, and it does a great job.

I use Squeeze to encode flash video, and I can make it compatible with player v6, which has quite a large installed base as opposed to v8. Plus, while the compression is not quite as good as v8, it's stunning what you can get with just Squeeze.

To see it, go to http://www.popdesignworks.com, click on Flash/Video in the main nav, then click on "Cincinnati Bell Commercial", then click "Watch Clip" in the lower right corner. It'll pop open a window with a flash video in it, with the standard Flash MX 2004 controller, saved for flash player v6.

Dan

March 1st, 2006, 05:32 PM	#1
David J. Payne Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southend-On-Sea, England Posts: 368	making a media player compliant file for the web... Hi, has anyone got any ideas what to use once I have an avi or mpeg in order to convert it so that the average pc newbie would be able to just download the file and watch it without having to download a silly number of codecs? All of my wedding preview files I make now work on some peoples pc's but not everyones. does anyone know the best way to make something thats compatible with everyones version of windows media player without having to download extra codecs? If it means the file has to be less compressed and therefore larger then so be it.. i just need something that everyone can watch! thanks a lot David

March 2nd, 2006, 03:57 PM	#11
Michael Liebergot Trustee Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Maryland Posts: 1,505	Take a serious look at using the new Flash8 video codec. The image quality to compression is the best thing going right now. There is a product that Flix that was developed by Wildform and recently purchased by ON2 Technologies. You can actually create your own players and have tem either embeded in you webpage or pop up in a sperate wndow on your site. The Flash codec is cross platform and compatible on 99% of the browsers on the internet. The only drawback right now is that the new Flash8 codec hasbeen out only about 6 months, so there might be those out there that don't have the update for their browser yet. Although you if someone doesn't have the new codec yet, they will be directed to the Flash site for the update automatically, and is super easy to install. Check it out here. http://www.on2.com/technology/flix-features/ __________________ Michael www.lvpvideo.com

March 1st, 2006, 05:36 PM	#2
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	WMVs should work fine on PCs (and the compression is excellent), but I don't know about how they'd play on Macs. Most compatible cross-platform is probably Flash SWF.

March 2nd, 2006, 12:19 AM	#3
Mike F Smith Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 156	To awnser Roberts question, I have not run across anything that the latest quicktime player won't handle on my mac. Mike

March 2nd, 2006, 12:33 AM	#4
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	That's really good to hear Mike. When the time comes to publish my site, I'm probably going to go with WMVs, at least for awhile. Good compression and easy to tweak straight out from Vegas.

March 2nd, 2006, 01:35 AM	#5
David J. Payne Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southend-On-Sea, England Posts: 368	quicktime is fine but obviously its necessary to download the player. Do any wmv's play without having to download codecs? despite what codecs I have on my computer? I might covert somehow and get a few friends to do a test download. many thanks

March 2nd, 2006, 04:30 AM	#6
Robert M Wright Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Minnesota (USA) Posts: 2,171	I'm pretty sure Mike meant that Quicktime on a Mac will play WMVs. On a PC, Windows Media Player would be the default player, shipped with Windows, that plays WMVs. (WMV stands for "Windows Media Video")

March 2nd, 2006, 09:33 AM	#7
Patrick Pike Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Mariposa, CA Posts: 200	Quicktime will play WMV files thanks to Flip4Mac. Its free, but it still may require a download. In fact, I believe although I'm not a 100%, if you try to open a WMV file from within Safari without Flip4Macs software, it will take ask you to install their software to continue.

March 2nd, 2006, 11:31 AM	#8
David J. Payne Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southend-On-Sea, England Posts: 368	yeh i know a fair bit about wmv's, i just didnt know if there were different codecs needed for different levels of wmv.. or are they all pretty much universal?

March 2nd, 2006, 02:34 PM	#9
Dan Euritt Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Carlsbad CA Posts: 1,132	you want to use wmv 9 to encode windows media files, not the older wmv codecs... you can download the free windows media encoder from microsoft, it does a good job. try to avoid using mpeg's as source files for encoding web video, the quality just isn't there.

March 2nd, 2006, 02:46 PM	#10
David J. Payne Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southend-On-Sea, England Posts: 368	excellent, thanks to everyone for their help.

March 29th, 2006, 08:19 AM	#12
David J. Payne Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southend-On-Sea, England Posts: 368	what about from the presets already loaded into premiere pro? I have been playing around with the export settings today and notice that all the quicktime files i make seem to be quite large in file size compared to their resolution and audio quality. Another problem I'm having when exporting to .wmv is that I cant lower the resolution of the video in order to improve the quality slightly, it always seems to stay on 320x240 and I'm more looking for 280x210 kind of size. any ideas?!

March 29th, 2006, 09:44 AM	#13
Richard Wakefield Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 680	when I was hunting around for information on web movie conversions, i found one amazing package that does it all in a couple of clicks, and it saves so much time http://www.avsmedia.com/VideoTools/index.aspx it's worth the money...it's perfect for anyone who wants to make wmv's, movs, flash swf's, video ipod movies without ever having to think of codecs and compression!!

March 29th, 2006, 03:58 PM	#14
Dan Shallenberger Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 253	The Flip4Mac player is really nice. If you buy the full version, you can encode wmv right from quicktime, and it does a great job. I use Squeeze to encode flash video, and I can make it compatible with player v6, which has quite a large installed base as opposed to v8. Plus, while the compression is not quite as good as v8, it's stunning what you can get with just Squeeze. To see it, go to http://www.popdesignworks.com, click on Flash/Video in the main nav, then click on "Cincinnati Bell Commercial", then click "Watch Clip" in the lower right corner. It'll pop open a window with a flash video in it, with the standard Flash MX 2004 controller, saved for flash player v6. Dan