| 14 May 2008 09:07 pm |
GeekyGirl Guest | I am using a program called Watermark Master to convert a set of videos for my web gallery. I am using the XviD MPEG-4 codec to convert to .avi files.
It seems that the videos don’t play on certain computers. I need to have the best chance at having my customers be able to view the videos without too much trouble since they aren’t necessarily computer savy.
I have uploaded one test file onto my gallery if you would like to give it a shot. You can view it by going to http://www.brainiacproductions.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=107 and scrolling down to the bottom. The last image on the left is the video file and is called GM001-AN. Just click on the image and the video should start automatically.
The computers that didn’t play it didn’t show any errors. It just didn’t play.
Any ideas on how I can make my videos play on most computers better? Is it better to make them in a different format or use a different codec?
Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated here.
| |
| | 15 May 2008 12:06 am |
Regular Rep: 5 Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,269 | AVI is not intended as a streaming container. Streaming videos you’ll see on the web tend to be in .mov (QuickTime), .wmv/.asf (Windows Media), or .rm (Real Media); or more recently .flv (Flash Video) (though the last one requires specific flash (.swf) stuff to display properly).
AVI and MPEG might stream if the person has a fast enough connection. I did a test in both Firefox and Internet Explorer and surely it didn’t work (the embedded WMP plugin that is). Perhaps Microsoft disabled streaming AVI’s in more recent versions of WMP? (I know they disabled streaming of AVI’s with the Indeo 4 and 5 codec in SP2, but it’s possible they may have extended it to all AVI’s now... just a speculation)
What are your options?
1. The simplest is put a button that says right click and save this video. A lot of codec manufacturing sites do it that way for their sample videos (especially the ones they can’t stream). Here’s an example
2. Convert it to a streaming format (mov wmv rm flv). Whatever program you used to produce the Xvid AVI’s may have the option to pick one of the other formats. If not you can use QuickTime Pro ($30) for mov, Windows Media Encoder (freeware) for wmv, and Real Producer Basic (freeware) for rm. I haven’t really done my homework for flv, but a google search should yield tons of results. Note that if you get the third party programs, you should really tweak some of the advanced settings to get good quality video with decent (streamable) bitrate (generally the default settings tend to be lousy).
If you need more guidance on using one of them just get back to this thread.
3. You could do a combination of both. Do a low-res, low-quality streaming video in a streaming format and embed it. Then put a button to download the pristine-quality Xvid AVI.
Note: you should include a download to the Xvid codec if you want users to be able to play the file. Not everyone has Xvid installed (it doesn’t come default with Windows, although it is freeware and freely distributed).
Last edited 15 May 2008 12:08 am by anonymous | | | 15 May 2008 02:31 am |
GeekyGirl Guest | Thanks for the great info. My program can convert to all the files you mention above so I decided to shoot for the windows media file.
When I did a small test, I noticed that the file sizes are coming out much larger this way. I’m trying to understand how to use all the codec settings but am not grasping it too well yet.
Now there is a huge difference in file size. I was able to create videos in .avi that were only a few hundred Kb in size. Now with the .wmv file, even if I make the video 50% smaller in overall dimensions, the files are over 5MB.
So now, what’s the trick to get the smaller file size that is more suitable for the web?
| | | 15 May 2008 06:58 pm |
Regular Rep: 5Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,269 | Does whatever program you use have advanced settings for producing WMV files? If not, I suggest getting Windows Media Encoder. It is freeware.
You can use the default profiles, but it’s best if you make your own custom profile. Here’s how it goes.
When you start WME you’ll get a wizard. Pick 'convert a file'. Select your source and make a destination name. Next window: 'Web server progressive download' is probably the best choice here*. Next window: pick random encoding options, keeping in mind you can change them later. Click next a couple of times. Do not click Finish yet! On the last window uncheck 'Begin converting when I click Finish'. Then click finish. Now click properties. This is where all the settings can be adjusted. You can pick to encode audio and video or video only or audio only in the sources tab. On the video size tab you can pick 'no resizing' or whatever dimensions you want for the output. You can also crop there if you want.
Compression tab (this is the important one): click edit, then click new. Type some name for your profile. Pick an audio and a video codec. I recommend WMV 9 for video. VBR means variable bitrate, and CBR constant bitrate. My personal favorite is 'quality VBR'. At the bottom click add for a bitrate. If you picked a bitrate-based setting, you’ll get to manually type a bitrate. If you picked quality, you can set the quality level. You can also adjust video size and frame rate here (it’s possible that if the default frame rate is 29.97 fps, that that’s what made your video bigger). If you do constant quality, avoid 100% because that tends to be close to uncompressed. 90’s is pretty good (you may do a few trials and error to find out if you want 97 vs. 92 or if 85 cuts it etc.). The keyframe interval is also important. Smaller means easier to seek, but bigger files. Bigger means harder to seek, but smaller file size. (Keyframe = frame that has all the image information; non-key frames just contain data about how much has changed since the previous frame (that takes less space to store) - they’re harder to seek because it takes time to compute that difference (from the previous keyframe all the way to the current non-keyframe), whereas you have all the info with a keyframe from reading it). If you liked your settings, remember to click the general tab again, then click export to save the profile for future encodes. When you’re done click apply and start encoding.
* I’m saying that because you’re hosting on http. The choice 'Windows Media Server' requires special components to be installed in IIS (Internet Information Server) in a server version of Windows (2000, 2003, 2008) - it basically streams the videos without people being able to (easily) download and save them for offline playback (it’s not http - i think it’s rtsp or whatever).
Last edited 15 May 2008 07:01 pm by anonymous | | | 16 May 2008 07:33 am |
GeekyGirl Guest | Wow - what a great source of information! Thanks for the details - I really appreciate the details which is something I rarely get on forums.
Watermark Master also allows those same settings so I gave it a shot and works like a charm.
Much appreciated! I’m off to compress a few hundred files now.
| |
|
|
Post Reply |
Moderated by: Admins, Superusers |
»
Editing/Conversion
» Problems with Compressing/Converting Videos for Web
First ]
