web video clips for Windows users

P

powerdog

Veteran
Most of my client's clients use PCs. Would you rely on them having QT capability, or would you provide something like WMV files? If WMV or similar, what would you use to create the files? There's a program called Flip4Mac WMV Studio, for example.
 
I reviewd Flip4Mac for three magazines and use it almost daily myself. It is top quality, one of the best applications I've ever used. Not a single bad thing about it. Get it, you'll be glad you did!
 
QT is a free download. Most web users who do much video viewing have a copy. No more work than people downloading Real player or mac users downloading Windows player.
Many pro sites (paid subscriptions) use QT since it tends to provide the cleanest images.
 
Is the QT player fairly reliable on PCs? Lots of negative comments on the Apple message board, but that's true of almost anything for which there's a board. The happy people don't post.
 
Qt is just about as reliable on windows as just about anything else. You could also offer both a QT and a WMV version for clients.
 
No problems playing QT on a PC.

I'd provide a WMV choice, though, becuase you can encode much smaller files. People who download will appreciate!
 
OK, client wants to offer both QT and WMV on his website, which means I now have to choose between the regular and pro versions of F4M WMV studio. Pro adds 2-pass VBR encoding and WMV Advanced.

Are those going to make much difference to people looking at a clip in a small window on a PC? (I'm figuring roughly 200 px by 150 px and maybe 2 minutes long.) Help me decide whether to spend the big bucks or the small bucks.
 
Spend the small bucks first and see. Not knocking PCs here, I know the top boxes are good, but most people are on a $500 Dell with no ColorSync or equivalent, so unfortunately, the quality difference will be un-noticable to alot of them.
 
Thanks, PPT. Since I'm dealing with, basically, industrial video clips, even slightly better quality doesn't matter. Good enough is good enough for these.
 
Ok, there is no longer a basic and pro with Flip4Mac anymore. It is one package and contains everything. Can't beat the price. I do PC to Mac stuff weekly and find this to solve my problems totally. The picture quality is as good as you can get. If you have a PC to Mac need, Flip4Mac is a must have, period. Can't beat the price, and it's just another QTPro codec. How much easier can it be? PLUS your QT player will be able to play all WMV 9 content! Even HD!

Yes, Flip4Mac changed during NAB and is packaged and performs even better than ever!
 
You're half right. I did mean to say it was Player and Studio now. Originally it was WMV Export in a standard and pro version. That is not the case any longer. Now it is Player and Studio with pro versions of each. Player was not a part of the original Export component, as also Import and QT playback wasn't either.

What I meant was that Studio is what it is now and is way more comprehensive than the original "Export Standard" and "Export Pro" packages they sold.

Player is just that, only a playback component to QT Player, nothing more. But Studio now does SD, with HD being the pro version.

Much more complete package, not to mention for $179 you get a hell of a deal on everything in the Studio Pro package. Ability to playback WMV 9 in QT Player, both import AND export, and as tightly integrated into QTPro as you can get. Not to mention they've improved the encoding times to be much faster than they were originally. (Originally it was dog slow, now its as fast as any other QTPro codec.)

For $179 you honestly can't beat this solution. I use is 1-3 times a week and it has solved ALL my PC-to-Mac-and-back headaches. And the quality honestly is top notch.

I spent about 20 years as an IT Engineer. The majority of PC desktops I saw had no QT installed. the few that did were so out of date it made me sick. And MS has never included their whole codec library with the Mac version of MS Media Player. Not to mention how late MS was in getting the Windows Media Player v.9 out for OS X. But then, I have PC users who can't play my QT DV-NTSC encoded QT files on QT for Windows, also. It's always been a royal pain.

Flip4Mac is just out and out the best thing to use for doing the PC to Mac shuffle. And for the price, get the Studio Pro version. In my communications with them I actually suggested they only sell the Player and Studio Pro versions with nothing inbetween. Because for the price, you'd be foolish not to get the full Studio Pro version.

But then, I pay my house notes with this industry, I'm not a weekend hobbiest, it's my living. I have to satisfy clients, not my PC buddies. So to me $179 is nothing to spend for such a fantastic solution. I'm a tad biased on that note.

No, I don't get anything from Telestream for promoting their products. I just write honest reviews and tutorials for magazines. And Flip4Mac is one of the most well written pieces of software I've ever seen. Not to mention again that the price makes it just out right the deal of the century for what you get.
 
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