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+--- Thread: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? (/showthread.php?tid=19764)
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Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - tuqqer - 09-30-2006
I have a few videos segments that I have up on my site. I'm trying to determine which is the least hassle for most viewers to watch. I'm able to watch them all in Safari, but my guess is that PC viewers won't be able to view them all.
Also, what is the method for turning both .mov and .mp4 videos into WMV? The segments are small enough so that if there's a loss of quality, I don't think it'll matter. I do own QT Pro, if that helps.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - ztirffritz - 09-30-2006
WMV files look and function the worst out of all of the options, but unfortunately it is also the most ubiquitous format as it works on 90+% of the computers in the world. Having said that, I implore you to start a trend of using anything but WMV. As for converting them, good luck. I've never found anything that does it well. Flip4Mac will get you from WMV to MOV and from there you can use QT-Pro to get to just about everything else. I don't know how to get it to WMV though. I never wanted to do that and hope to never need to do that.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - jimbrady - 09-30-2006
It's very common for sites with video clip galleries to offer both QT (.mov) and .wmv options.
I have a video samples page on my site with ONLY Quicktime clips (and a link to the QT download page). I've never had a complaint about this issue, but I'm sure it would cause the occasional visitor to skip my site.
I think Windows Media Player sucks, so I avoid it. If I'm cutting a little of my nose off and spiting my face, so be it.
BTW, I'm not sure there's a cheap/easy way to encode WMV.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - tuqqer - 09-30-2006
Man, this is music to my ears. And it's made me determined to only do QT. I'm going to take your suggestion, jimbrady, and put a link to QT.
So is .mov better for most viewers than .mp4? Is there any difference if the viewer as QT installed? Or would either work.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - jimbrady - 09-30-2006
[quote tuqqer]Man, this is music to my ears. And it's made me determined to only do QT. I'm going to take your suggestion, jimbrady, and put a link to QT.
So is .mov better for most viewers than .mp4? Is there any difference if the viewer as QT installed? Or would either work.
Here's the link: www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ and the Apple site re-directs to the Windows or Mac download depending on which you're using.
I think mp4 will work if you prefer it, but I'm not certain, so test one.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - onthedownlow - 09-30-2006
If you have access to a Windows environment (PC, BootCamp/Parallels, etc.)...then you can encode .WMV for free, etc. with: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx
...similar to QuickTime Broadcaster too, if you are used to that.
You have .mov and .mp4 files...but if the video can easily be in another format to encode...just run it through WM-Encoder. Works great.
thanks all. n/t - tuqqer - 09-30-2006
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Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - dotman - 09-30-2006
you might consider flash video. It's what all the vid sites use, so that should tell you it has wide compatability. quicktime pro can output flv files. If you have Dreamweaver 8, it will embed the video with contols. pretty slick. If you don't have DW, I'd be happy to embed the file for you.
dot.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - TheTominator - 09-30-2006
[quote onthedownlow]You have .mov and .mp4 files...but if the video can easily be in another format to encode...just run it through WM-Encoder.
I used WM Encoder to test it out and found that it doesn't read in QT files. And I couldn't get it to read the DV file (my source material). I had to use QT Pro to generate an uncompressed AVI of the DV file to use as the input for WM Encoder. I wouldn't describe my experiences with "easily be in another format to encode" since I found my options very limited.
I'd be happy to learn that there was an easier way to feed WM Encoder from the source material I edited in iMovie and/or Final Cut Express.
As it turned out with the type of video I was doing (Snapz X Pro screen recordings), Sorenson 3 compression with QT gave the best quality versus size so I'm sticking with that for this series of videos. But I'd like to have the option of WMV for other projects so that I could provide that sometimes as an alternate download to MP4.
Re: Mov? MP4? WMV? Which best for sites? - dotman - 09-30-2006
one other option which we have used is to get a youtube account, upload your video and then use their code to embed it on your page. The quality is good, it plays on your site as well as theres (giving it more exposure), and they pay for the bandwidth. Just another option.
dot.