Website Design

thefilmaddict

thefilmaddict

Veteran
I just built a website for my company. It's mainly HTML, stock flash elements and H264 Quicktime movies. It works great for me, but how do you guys (that build you own sites) deal with clients who can't play quicktime files? Do you tell them to just download the latest version for free with a link or do you stream other types of video files that are more user friendly? I guess I am asking what kind of video file types are the norm for mass public friendly viewing?

Thanks!
 
Vimeo is great!

Quicktime is great for mac users but PC users may find issues. Its also faster to host off another site and you do not have to worry about bandwidth.

I use vimeo (wow)

My 2 cents NZD
 
I was back in the U.S. this spring and was alarmed at the number of friends and relatives who can't view H.264-encoded quicktime videos on their Windows boxes. They don't upgrade, they don't care.
I use vPIP plugin (videos playing in place) on my wordpress-powered site to allow users to choose quicktime or flash version. Works well. vPIP site Example on my site
 
Tom Marshall said:
Use Flash. :)
Click to expand...

my answer, exactly. flash-encoded video plays in flash (obviously) and people would be more likely to have the latest (or late-enough) version of flash to play it. we encoded our trailer into the flash site and never had any complaints, nor have i tried someone's computer (i obsessively tested the site on any new computer i came across) and had a problem. and it's seamless. :)
 
if giving a secondary format, why not give the option of downloading? look at apple site with their trailers. they've got all sizes covered. then again, they only have quicktime. (wondering now if my mac is showing). still, having the option to view windows media or quicktime would eliminate the problem - and allow them to download it (then upload to youtube, and get more viewers, etc, etc).
 
Guys,

Thanks for the good info.

So you know what I am talking about, here is the first version of our site:

www.torchlight.tv

All the videos on the work page are H264 Quicktime files.

If I do change everything over to flash (which sounds like a ton of work), can I do it from these quicktime files or do I have to start over? Is there an easy way to make flash files? I don't own flash or know how to use it. I built the site in freeway pro. I can work with quicktime or SWF files in that program.

I really appreciate your input. We are a small business, but we do quality work. Our website needs to show off our past projects.

I am an apple user and I love quicktime, but if pc users can't view our work, we may not gain any new clients.
 
Also, if I host my videos off of another site, can I keep my files as quicktimes? Who are some of these hosting companies and how does the service work?
 
You would be best to use the original file to convert to flash, and avoid the generation loss from converting a compressed copy. What NLE are you using? Some will save as flash videos.
 
The easiest way to convert your files to Flash FLV files is to use the Flash import function. You can use the final Quicktime files, but as Capt mentioned, you'll have a quality loss in doing so.

How big are the uncompressed Quicktime files?
 
thefilmaddict said:
If I do change everything over to flash (which sounds like a ton of work), can I do it from these quicktime files or do I have to start over?
Click to expand...

maybe someone more experienced can chime in since i don't remember the specifics, but all i did for our site was import the quicktime file into flash as video, add a skin (an option in flash) and that was pretty much it. very intuitive and straightforward. i think there's the option of linking to a flash video file rather than embedding the whole thing in the timeline to keep size down. in which case, and in the case of linking quicktime files, too, consider a free hosting site like doteasy (which we use - now upgraded to a paid plan for increased storage/etc). that should give you the space you need for any files.
 
The current flash player (10) can now play quicktime files encoded as h.264. However for authoring the link you'll need CS4 version of Flash.
 
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