DVD converted for streaming video use?

[WarlordBB]

First, I realize that this is a newb type question being asked in a highly technical forum.

Second, I realize that it is SOP to first search exhaustively for posts relating to your question before posting a question.

Therefore, I'm prepared for the flames if that is all I get.

However, I have been given a DVD containing a 5 minute speach by our CEO that my company is wanting to stream from their website (it takes up about 370MB on the DVD).

Since our site is Windows based and it is set to be a Streaming Video Server, I assumed I wanted to convert the DVD to WMV format. We want to give the users the option of streaming the video OR downloading it (bandwidth shouldn't be an issue).

Since I have sucessfully taken Video Camera footage via 1394 to AVI and then encoded for the web a WMV, I first assumed the way to go bout this was to use DVD2AVI and then I know how to handle it once I have an AVI.

I shouldn't have assumed it was so simple.

In any event, my question, should you choose to answer it, is:

1. Am I going about this the right way (no I can't get the original footage, all we have is the DVD)?
2. Is converting to WMV the best way to stream this? IOW, should we be considering using a Quicktime MOV or other solution.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[jggimi]

No, I think conversion to .avi is more trouble than it's worth. If you wanted complete control of the encoding, then maybe ... but for your purposes, it's really not necessary and unless done properly will introduce quality degradation.

One simple, easy solution is to use Ulead VideoStudio (free trial available from www.ulead.com), which, if I recall correctly, can take your DVD disc as input and produce streamable .wmv files for you. No special skill or special knowledge required.

[WarlordBB]

Thanks.

That is precisely why I made the post. I didn't want to be "doing things the hard way" especially if it might even be producing inferior results.