Video Advice Needed

[1a2b3c4d]

I have recently been working for several clients who have video clips they want to display on their web site.

The first Client had 5 clips, each 30 seconds long that they wanted to feature. Because they had already used REAL in the past we sent the tapes out to our local video production company and they digitized them and sent them back to us on CD as REAL streams. We now have to pay extra to our ISP every month to use their REAL server.

Our next Client had several 30 second videos and wanted Windows Media (WMV) so we again sent these to our video production company who digitized them and returned them to us as download (not streaming) WMV files. In this case we did a narrowband and wideband version of each.

We now have another client who wants his 11-minute demo video on his web site and I need a better way!!!

First, my video production company charges me for every version they output so if I request 4 "flavors" they charge me 4x the price. I've gotta believe there is software out there I can purchase to allow me to save videos in multiple formats more cost effectively than that! Is Cleaner the way to go? Any ideas?

Second, should I just ditch all of these various formats and simply ask my video guy to give me a full-screen, hi-res Quicktime and then size it using Cleaner or something and finally import that into Flash MX using maybe Flix or Squeeze? Then my clients won't need a streaming server (or will they?)

Is Flash MX now a viable alternative to the other industry "standards" such as QT, REAL, WMV, etc.?

[Wheels]

Well you won't want to stream 11 minutes of Flash video, it seems to work best at around 5 minutes or less because of memory issues. You could try to stitch them if you want go that route, both Sqeeze and Flix will allow you to stitch Flash movies.

I would recommend Quicktime for the longer videos. It sounds like you have Cleaner (5?). You can make your own video from Cleaner, you can even do multiple formats at the same time through the batch feature (the whole interface is set up to utilize batching). Same thing with Sorenson's products - although Sorenson features fewer codecs, more specific to .mov output.

With QuickTime you can stream off a QT streaming server (QTSS) by hinting the movie, or just deliver it with http:// using quickstart.

Flash works great with shorter clips like the first one's you mentioned.

Just curious, how does your encoder charge you and how is it broken down?

[1a2b3c4d]

I am charged by the minute with a one-minute minimum so 5 clips at 30 seconds each would count as 5 separate encodings. Then, if I want each one in 4 "flavors", I multiply that times 4.

I do not yet have Cleaner or anything like it. The video production company I use has it. Is there a better solution than Cleaner for Windows platforms?

And, if I were to use Flash for the 30-second clips, would these stream or would they need to download entirely before the user could view them?

[Wheels]

Well I'm pretty sure Cleaner will run on a PC http://www.discreet.com/products/cleaner/ But check their site to be sure. I doubt you'll find a better product for encoding. It's the standard.

Yes, Flash can stream - that's what it does best. To stream Flash you must load into a level with the loadMovieNum method. If you load into a Movie clip, it will have to download completely before playing.

5G

btw - how much doe's your encoding person charge per/minute?

[Wheels]

Post from Mudgy removed for solicitation.