Two Basic Compression/Format Questions

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everybodyclap

Active member
Hey - two very basic questions here.

I'm working with a client on a video who is worried that some places they send the video won't have DVD playing capability on their computers. How would I go about creating a video cd, or some sort of CD that can hold a 3 minute video, using FCP and a G5? In other words, what should I use to export/compress/author/burn?

My second question is, the company wants to put a link on their website to watch the video, and they again are concerned about some people not having certain capabilities (quicktime, for instance). So does anyone have input on what kind of file I should provide them with, or some options for the most universally playable file types and their respective levels of resolution or quality for online streaming (for people with both PCs and Macs). The goal is to make it so that as many people as possible (if not everyone) will be able to view the video that is linked on the website, and play the one on CD that will be mailed to them.

I'm obviously totally new to this kind of work, so any input I get will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
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The Quicktime MPEG-4 H.264/AVC codec will probably yield the best quality encoding currently out. but unfortunately your clients would need a fairly recent version of Quicktime to play it. You could include a copy of Quicktime for Mac and Windows on the CD just in case.

Probably the most compatible codec would be MPEG-1, virtually all players can handle it, but the files tend to be large and the quality is questionable (it's an old codec).

If your clients are predominantly Windows users than your best bet would be to go with WMV. It offers fairly good quality results in small files. You'll need to purchase an encoder (Flip4Mac) to export to it on a Mac. Or if you have a Windows box available, you can use the free Microsoft WMV9 encoder.

For the web, besides H.264, WMV, etc., another option would be Flash. If you have a recent version of Flash (the authoring environment, or After Effects, etc. which offers exporting to Flash), you can embed the video into an SWF (standard Flash file) or an FLV (special Flash video file which can then be loaded into another Flash file). The latest version of Flash (version 8) has support for On2 VP6, which is a rather good codec.

Of course, you'll need experience with authoring and embedding Flash in a web page to make this happen. You could also go so far as to create an auto-playing Flash presentation on a CD...

Hope this helps.
 
cools- this is a huge help. thank you!

yes, my clients are predominantly windows users, but that's not really the issue. they're going to be sending out the video (and the online link) to hundreds, maybe thousands of people in their homes and businesses, so there is no telling what the majority of users will have in terms of video playing capability. so if that clarifies anything and you have any more advice, i appreciate it, otherwise, youve been very helpful. thanks again.

also, still wondering about making the VCD, if anyone has any thoughts on that.
 
I use H.264 and Flip4Mac for WMV files, and I've never had a problem.

QuickTime Pro (thus, FCP) does have an FLV export option, but that's just a file you can take into an actual Flash project in a Flash authoring app. By itself the FLV file QuickTime makes is not very useful, unless you have an app that can create a stand alone Flash video file.
 
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