[cenutrio]

Hi guys, I´m sure this is a dilemma many have encountered, but still, i need some kind of input.

Ok, i finished a animation/video to be included in a customer web site (4 min long). I´m figuring out which video format/codec to use. The main goal being that it should just work for the largest number of clients possible.

I can assume that most will use windows/explorer.

Originally, the movie/animation is in quicktime and looks great. My concerns are:

1. Which format(s)/codecs must be available.
2. Which settings will keep quality.
3. Which software to convert it (I have quicktime pro, and Flash8)

Any advice will be very welcome. Thanks

[NZFL]

I work in the film industry and the standard format is Quicktime. If your client does not have quicktime may I recommend VLC player. It plays all or mostly all media files.

[effgee]

If the goal is to reach the broadest audience possible - Flash video, no contest. I'm not entirely sure that I remember these numbers correctly, but the installed base of the Flash plugin is about 3 times as large as QuickTime's (something in the area of >80% Flash, 25-30% QT). I no longer have Flash 8 installed, but AFAIK, QT Pro lets you convert to Flash video (*.flv).

[design219]

Flash, absolutely.

[OreoCookie]

First of all, there are countries where IE is not the #1 browser anymore, Firefox is (in Germany, about 50 % of the users surf the web with Firefox). You should make sure that your website works with Firefox and IE. I agree that you can use QuickTime to distribute your video.

[effgee]

The browser's got next to nothing to do (*) with what cenutrio needs to get done - it's a question of plugins. And not only is the user base with Flash much, much larger, the Flash player is also a seriously smaller download for those who don't have either (highly unlikely).

And I'm saying that as someone who is definitely not a big friend of Flash. But it quite simply is one of the realities a web nerd has to live with ... online video gets done most efficiently in Flash, sites need to render properly in IE, etc., etc.


(* - aside from him needing a container <div> that renders properly within the given layout)

[TETENAL]

Flash supports h.264, so I think it should be relatively easy to offer the viewer a choice to use Flash or view it directly as .mp4 (then using QuickTime or whatever plug-in he has installed for this type on his platform) while uploading the actual video file only once. You'd also support the iPhone then.

[cenutrio]

Overwhelming response here, thanks so much.

However, my question may have been a bit confusing. I was referring to customers visualizing the vid from their browser.

I agree that some of them are gonna do it from iPhone, thus there may be problems, thus I´ll also provide an h.264 option. Still, flash will be the default option.

Again thanks a lot.

[- - e r i k - -]

H.264. Hands down.

[mduell]

H.264 video in a Flash container.

[effgee]

^ You guys are aware of the fact that H.264 has only been supported since Flash player ≥v.9, and that - depending on his target audience - you might not be doing him a favor at all, right?