What video codec to use for distribution?

[stephanV]

The container might be free, but MPEG4 systems certainly isnt. http://www.mpegla.com/m4s/

[vlada]

I found a XHTML valid solution:

<div style="width:512px;height:384px;background:gray;">
<object type="application/x-mplayer2" id="video1" data="test.wmv" width="512" height="384">
<param name="movie" value="test.mp4" /></object>
</div>


I also tried Selur's code with similar results. The movie plays well, but with VLC plugin. It is however very choppy with QuickTime and WMP plugin doesen't play it at all (standalone WMP works). But it might be a problem with WMP on my computer. The video is created using MeGUI (x264 main profile) there is no sound.

Another and also the most serious problem is, that if I upload the movie on a HTTP server, the whole movie has to be downloaded before it starts playing. Do I need any special streaming server to make it play while downloading?

I'm sorry for so many questions but I never did anything similar before and there doesen't seem to be a standard widely supported solution.

Celur> What do you mean by 'hinted'?

[Selur]

afaik a mp4 file has to be hinted (special way to save the file) so that one can stream it.

see, e.g.:
http://www.everwicked.com/content/MPEG4IP_Guide/mpeg4ip-05.php

Since I never tried it I'm not sure if mp4box can hint avc streams, but with mpeg4 sp it works fine.

Cu Selur

[Drachir]

Add hinting information to a mp4 file is only needed if a RTP streaming server is used. It don't help for http streaming. The player have to support http streaming for used container/video/audio.

MP4Box comes with some hinting option. Look here http://gpac.sourceforge.net/auth_mp4box.php in the section File hinting.

[vlada]

Selur, Drachir> Thank you for the links. It helped me a lot. So it seems that the next step will be installing and setting up a Darwin streaming server for RTP.
What about HTTP streaming? I already produced a hinted mp4 file optimized for HTTP streaming, but what will be the next. Do I only have to place it on standard HTTP server such as Appache? From VLC documentation I understood it doesen't suport MP4 streaming. What about QT7? WMP plugin deosen't seem to work with MP4 at all, I tried it even on another computer and still I managed no success.

Once again thanks for all your valueable advices.

[vlada]

I spent a lot of time testing MP4 videos. And now I'm almost lost and I have no idea what should I try next. From what I read, the only player which supports HTTP MP4 streaming is QuickTime. I made some samples (X264, 512x384@25fps, 700 kbps) in MeGUI. The files won't play at all in QT unless I remux them in MP4Box. Don't know why. Even after remuxing the player uses my whole CPU (AXP 2000+) and still the playback is choppy. VLC plays fine, but it has only plugin fo Firefox and IE (which doesen't work for me).
So I tried XviD, but it seems QT doesen't support MPEG-4 ASP. WMP won't play anything else then ASF. I didn't try RealPlayer yet. What do you think about this solution. Does RM support HTTP streaming? What MPEG-4 profiles RealPlayer supports (I heard MPEG-4 SP only)?
It seems my only chance is now WMV or Flash. Is there a free tool to produce streamable flash with VP6 video compression? I don't think so.
I wanted to use an open standard such as MP4 or matroska and avoid using proprietary formats like MOV, RM or ASF, but it seems I don't have another chance. I'm really confused and I don't know what else could I try. I will be gratefull for any advices.

Thank you,
Vlada

[Selur]

Normal 'progressive download' (is real streaming, really needed) works fine with mp4(mpeg4 as, he-aac) with the code I wrote above, at least with WMP and QT, see:
http://www.regina-turowski-willeck.de/Imagefilm_Formatauswahl.html

Cu Selur

[vlada]

Selur> Yes, this would work. How did you produce the files? Is it XviD L3 profile?
As you said I don't need a real streaming using RTP. This is what I was basically looking for. Thank you.
I'm just dissapointed I can't use AVC for video compression. I can't understand how Apple managed to make QuickTime so unbelievable slow.

[Selur]

I encoded the video stream with Xivd, the audio stream with BeSweet iirc and then muxed them using Graphedit and the 3ivx filter suite. :)

Yup, files should be Simple@L3 as far as I remember (did these quite some time ago). :)

Cu Selur