My camera records on SD memory cards in avi format, which is easy for me to work with in Videowave. I videoed a concert and output the files to wmv (huge file size), uploaded them to a website, and emailed the link to the band. It was well received and they wanted to put the clips on their website and also wanted a DVD. I output the files to MPEG-2 for DVD, best quality, and added them and a customized menu in MyDVD, and burned to a disk. It came out very nice, but my question is: Should I have just kept the clips in avi format to send to someone who is going to reformat them for viewing on a website? I did ask what format they would prefer, but didn't get a reply, so I am asking for future reference, as I plan to do more of this type of production. Also, what is the best format for clips of a music concert that will be uploaded to a website? (Trying to get a better understanding of file types and uses.) Thanks in advance

karri

My opinion is your best format, if you have the space, is DV-AVI. Once it's encoded to mpeg and compressed somewhat, bringing back to an avi will be downgrading. Sometimes it's not that bad but I can definitely tell the difference.
Many web sites require H.264/MP4 files to be uploaded. The newest kid on the block seems to be Flash FLV but it's not a completely open format.

That's great, thanks for replying Beerman Is the 'one hour per DVD" rule still in effect when using larger files like DV-AVI? or should I expect to use several DVDs for the same amount of video time?

I output a small (10 sec) video clip each to DV-AVI, AVC (H.264) (I think that is the right one?), and WMV best quality. The difference was 35.9 MB vs 2.73 MB vs 4.92 MB. The H.264 only wanted to play in Quicktime but I thought it was good quality for such a small file size. Can you send those via email as an attachment to people who have Quicktime installed?

I think I read there are some utilities that offer conversion to FLV, but I haven't had time to try them.

Thanks for the help

The 1 hour rule is a good one to follow if you want excellent quality. The little I know of H.264 files it that they are a type of mpeg4 file designed for small file sizes with better quality. I'm not positive but I think VideoLan and Media Classic Player will play these files and maybe even the most recent PowerDVD.
I'm not a fan of FLV's quality but for web content, what can you expect?

Thanks, Beerman! I will give it a try

Perhaps I'm missing something. If you have the videos uploaded to your web site, why can't they just right click and save the "target as" They can put them on their web site from that saved file. It will take some time to download and upload but there are shortcuts such as download directly to the network rather than a computer.

Thanks, sknis ... I'm not sure really, why they didn't do that. That was my original plan for them. When they talked about a DVD, I just thought that was because they wanted a better quality than WMV, so that they would have better quality to start with when they compressed them into FLV or whatever they were going to do with them.

(I am unfamiliar with downloading to a network rather than a computer.)

Seems like they are asking a lot; I hope that they are giving (paying) a lot also.
Did you suggest Buzz (lite) ? Since it sounds like they want to use a public video sharing site.

Karri,

If you need to convert to various formats, you could look at Super (free). It will convert to (and from) flv, amongst many other options. A good and versatile converter, does not require additional codecs. Of course Super is only a converter, does not have editing functions like Videowave.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Also, FYI, H264 AVC files will play in WMP 11 if one has the required codec. I use the PowerDVD 7 ones from Cyberlink. I happen to have purchased PowerDVD 7 player, but the codecs are also available sparately, at cost. There are others.

Well, not really since it just seems to be figuring out the right output format for whomever I am creating productions, whether it be dvd, wmv, flv, etc.. For example, do they want a dvd (in avi format as Beerman suggested) that they can then edit themselves and upload in whatever format they want, or do they want an already edited and converted file ready to upload to their website, or youtube, etc. My plan to to be able to get all these formats straight and then be able to just ask what people want, and then if they don't know, I will be able to let them know what will work best for their purposes and go from there.

Thanks for the link to Buzz, I think I had tried that link previously but it wasn't ready for Version 9? Or that may have been something else Roxio. Anyway, thanks and I will check it out. So much information, so little time



Thanks for the heads up on Super; I will check it out. I think I may hold off on H264 AVC, since it sounds like not everyone has access to playing that file type yet. Thanks for the particulars; from what I have read it seems like it is great quality in a small size.