Your thoughts on choosing a webcast format

[trolltuning]

I am trying to choose a format to put some clips on the web for a small class-around 20 students. These will be short so maximunm compression is not the main issue. The main issue is ease of use for the users.
1)I have considered wmv, but personally I have had problems with that format. It got all messed up on at least two computers and I had to reinstall Windows Medioa player to fix it.
2)I thought about Quicktime but I don't want people to have to pay for a program in order to be able to save to their harddrive. (I know their are some work arounds but I think most of these are awkward for the average user).
3)I thought about xvid but I know I had to change a setting in the registry to make it work for me and I don't want people to have to do this.
Your thoughts on these issues?

[sillKotscha]

Your thoughts on these issues?

I vote for...

flash!

my standard reply for easy and free flash content creation is:

Riva FLV Encoder (http://www.rivavx.com/index.php?encoder&L=0)

and a very easy to use flash player for your website could be:

FLASH VIDEO PLAYER 2.4 (http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=Flash_Video_Player)

[ilovejedd]

How will you be hosting the clips? Because if you won't be streaming the videos and people can just do Right Click -> Save As..., then QuickTime would be good enough. Also, there are several who have video iPods and PSPs so the MP4 container sounds good. Although, I don't know how many owners there are in your class, but for those that have them, they can watch the clips on the go.

In any case, whatever format you choose, you can always point your class to VLC Media Player. Just download the zip as that doesn't require installation. It can play a lot of formats/containers (including WMV, QuickTime, AVI, FLV) and all the codecs are built-in so they don't need to worry about installing those either.

[smok3]

make an mp4 files, you can set them up as 'play while downloading', as download and also as podcasts. For player you can suggest quicktime, vlc or mplayer (mpui maybe).

[mod]

Just another possibility: DivX Web Player.

[zambelli]

If you're not streaming, consider MPEG-1. It's supported out-of-the-box on pretty much every OS and platform. Most other formats will have specific OS/software/codec requirements.

If you're streaming, then you should adjust to your audience. If they're mostly Windows users, go with WMV or Flash (VP6). If they're Mac users, then obviously QuickTime would be most appropriate.

[GodofaGap]

I agree with zambelli. For downloads, MPEG1 is the best choice. It is hard to find a computer that cannot play it.

[Mug Funky]

although mpeg-1 is ubiquitous, nowadays there's more and more problems with playing it back.

especially with so much DVD player software out there, all of which hijacks mpeg-1 playback in directshow and breaks it for other players. i'm thinking mainly of powerDVD and nero buggering up things like MPC and WMP, etc.

so though it'll probably play back, it could be kinda jerky.

of course, in Quicktime mpeg-1 playback is pretty consistent - good but not great, slow but not too slow :)

thanks to "greedy" software, one can never know for sure how something will play back on another's machine. case in point - i sent an mpeg-1 of a movie for subtitling and they reported back that it had video freezes and audio dropouts. of course there were none, as the source was a DVD that has been out for ~2 years now with no reports of (that specific :)) error.

[GodofaGap]

Admittedly I have an old version of PowerDVD, but it doesn't break my MPEG1 playback. If one has installed Nero he is beyond all help anyway. I think you cannot rely on any format if you have to keep screwed up systems in mind.

Therefor, I think MPEG1 is the best choice.

[smok3]

omg, he just said 'the best'...

[GodofaGap]

Hey, I voiced it as my opinion. If this is considered a rule 12 violation, I will edit my posts, but I think it would be a bit weird if I had to. Obviously, I am only going to recommend things that I think are best in this particular situation, whatelse would the point of answering be? Should I instead write a summary of all possible solutions for distributing a video?

[smok3]

:D, kidding, but really this is a situation where you can hardly say whats best, since pretty much every solution has its drawbacks.

[GodofaGap]

:)

Sure, but since ease of use was the main priority... perhaps the question is better aimed at the target audience anyway...

[DarkZell666]

Just to be awkard : what about uncompressed RGB ? :rolleyes:

Are there any compatibility issues with it ? Surely it's a pretty consistent format :D (in fact, so consistent that one's internet connection might need some time to swallow those videos ;))

[Shinigami-Sama]

animated gif?
I'm sure that plays across all systems newer than win98 :D

apart from that
divx/xvid can stream can't it?
if not having a download isn't that isn't it?
unless you have to deal with that IP crap...

though flash seems to be a good choice
people dont mind updating that
I mean I bet most of them waste their time on newgrounds and such ;)