What's The Best Format?

[Geezer]

For video, I'm not worried about quality.
I have been doing .avi and .mpg but the mpegs seem too big, is it OK to use .avi.

[dvtimes]

I tend to use wmv. See www.ezpantyhosefetish.com 4 samples.

Some sites use flash. Its eay to convert films to flash too.

One format I like, is divx format http://www.divx.com/

Some dvd players will also play divx format.

Mac computers can now also play wmv files, which was a problem a bit back.

[Geezer]

I tend to use wmv. See www.ezpantyhosefetish.com 4 samples.

Some sites use flash. Its eay to convert films to flash too.

One format I like, is divx format http://www.divx.com/

Some dvd players will also play divx format.

Mac computers can now also play wmv files, which was a problem a bit back.

So does it matter regards to people being able to view them. Whatever format should be able to be played in whatever viewer they use.

[Elisha Jade]

wmv is cool but I always thought mpg were better quality. I have a mixture on my site :)

[mellenig]

For member areas I offer members both Mpeg and Wmv. For movie galleries I prefer the mpeg format as they seem to get accepted better.

I stay away from Divx I had a lot of members complaining they couldnt play the movies.

If you are looking for another good universal format I would go with WMV I havent used avi/divx for a while.

[Geezer]

wmv is cool but I always thought mpg were better quality. I have a mixture on my site :)

Thanks Elisha and dvtimes
My concern is people being able play .avi having never used them before I wasn't sure, I suppose the most popular is Mpeg by they are very large even for a small video.

I am just trying some new software and I didn't see WMV there, I just had a look and it is indeed there (as some people know I think my eyes are packing up :p ) so I will play about with that and see what is best.

But as for people viewing it shouldn't really matter what format, right?

[dvtimes]

So does it matter regards to people being able to view them. Whatever format should be able to be played in whatever viewer they use.

Most new players seem to play most of them. It may be worth adding a link on your site(s) to the latest players.

Flash does not need a player, but people cannot save them to watch later.

I think people in the past did not use wmv as much as mac computers could not play them.

I think the question is badwidth. If you can afford to, I would try better quality.

Divx is very cool. Files are suposed to be smaller than other formats while giving a better quality than any other format. Not sure if thats true. But its a very exciting format.

[dvtimes]

Thanks Elisha and dvtimes
My concern is people being able play .avi having never used them before I wasn't sure, I suppose the most popular is Mpeg by they are very large even for a small video.

I am just trying some new software and I didn't see WMV there, I just had a look and it is indeed there (as some people know I think my eyes are packing up :p ) so I will play about with that and see what is best.

But as for people viewing it shouldn't really matter what format, right?

I am not sure if the more expensive softwear can make the files smarler without loosing quality.

I find I often make files bigger than I bet I should.

The one thought I have about mpeg files is that they seem easer to edit by others, so making it easer to steal your film clips and edit there own brand onto them.

Its probably prossible in wmv files but I bet the quality would drop.

But always have a link to a few latest players.

I still get the odd person wining, saying I have a brand new xp pc, and cannot see your films. I have to tell them that even though they have a newish pc, they still need to download the latest player.

[Elisha Jade]

I have a link to different places to download codecs in case they cant play them.. and a problems section in my members forum.

I was going to go WMV with drm protection but my bf uses linux and was saying linux users wouldnt be able to play them or something to that effect.

[Geezer]

Divx is very cool. Files are suposed to be smaller than other formats while giving a better quality than any other format. Not sure if thats true. But its a very exciting format.

I know it sounds daft but quality is not my priority :)
Thanks for the advice thought :thumbsup:

[Cardinal_Sin]

You can easily get mpg quality with wmv files nowadays.

I use Vegas 6 for all my editing and you can set the video size and quality very easily -
For example, I make the videos to 640X480 and compress the videos as if the user is going to be using a broadband 2m line - When I add them to the members areas, I let the members right click and save as - This allows them to get the whole file at whatever speed they are connected with, and once downloaded, they have a nice, clear video whic, if they choose to play at normal size (640X480) will be crystal clear - If they choose to watch at full scree size, there will be only a little distortion.

The end result is a video equal in quality to an mpg file and much, much lighter to download.

[dvtimes]

1. If quality is not important then you can get very small wmv files made. These can be extreamly small, but you will loose lots of quality. In truth I am not sure you can get smaller than wmv files.

2. DRM I do not think is a good idea as surfers seem to hate it. Plus people can remove it from the files.

3. A sample flash film I did: http://www.scuzzbucket.com/free1.htm

[Mattyboy]

1. If quality is not important then you can get very small wmv files made. These can be extreamly small, but you will loose lots of quality. In truth I am not sure you can get smaller than wmv files.

2. DRM I do not think is a good idea as surfers seem to hate it. Plus people can remove it from the files.

3. A sample flash film I did: http://www.scuzzbucket.com/free1.htm

WMV is just as good quality as mpeg now if encoded properly but a much smaller file size.

The old version of DRM was cracked but i've yet to hear of the new version being cracked.

No disrespect, but i would never even think of offering Flash movie files.

[mellenig]

2. DRM I do not think is a good idea as surfers seem to hate it. Plus people can remove it from the files.[/url]


I think the reason surfers dont like DRM as it cuts down there free porn, personally if I had exclusive video content I would be using the DRM protection.

I like the idea of being able to give away free trailers on the tour page then being able to bounce them back to a join page when the time limit runs out. There is a lot of cool stuff you can do with it.

[AndyMN]

Think about the surfer... 90% will have Windows Media Player so as long as WMP can handle the vid your golden :)

[Geezer]

Think about the surfer... 90% will have Windows Media Player so as long as WMP can handle the vid your golden :)

Yeah that makes sense :thumbsup:

[JT]

If its for a pay site, use wmv or mpeg1 unless you want to constantly be answering questions from members. I use to always use mpg but now wmv can be just as good

[johnboy]

We only use mpeg1 that normaly gives us near DVD quailty...ish.

The members tend to appreciate that and we have a lot positive comments with regard to movie quality. Check out www.pantyamateur.com , the members their love the videos.

A lot of sites tend to sacrifice quality for quantity or badwidth concerns. I think that more users are looking for quality so that where we focus.

Now you'll go and look at our preview movies at PA and tell me I've got it all wrong....:)

cheers

[Geezer]

OK, the reason I talk about quality not being important is because it's for a voyeur site. Now if it was DVD quality it wouldn't really be very voyeuristic looking.

The shittier the better :p

[cock-a-leekie]

I'd use .wmv every time.

In terms of file size vs quality and compatibility it's great.

Just for the record I compress to 512kbs 320x240 - 1mbs 640x480 for the websites and 340kbs 320x240 for MGP's

Yeah I know 340k can get a little scrappy at times but when an MPG's getting half a million page views I'm putting file size first.