[Referee0906]

I am currently going through the process of determining what slideshow application I want to buy (I have EMC8, but willing to upgrade to 9). I want a software that I can both burn to a DVD and create a file that will load quickly on a website. I was originally thinking flash, but I don't think that is an option from EMC.

So, what can I do to create a file ready for web that will either load as it plays or load quickly. I don't want people waiting 5 mintues to view the show, they will close the site before they get to it.

I have thought about WMV, but I don't know how to load the WMV to my site so it shows the controls and looks decent...any thoughts there too would be appreciated.

[Referee0906]

gentle bump...

[ggrussell]

So, what can I do to create a file ready for web that will either load as it plays or load quickly.

How that works depends on the server, not so much the file type. The other consideration is file size vs. quality. Smaller the file size = worse quality. MPEG4 or DivX will give you better quality at higher compression bitrates than MPEG 2 or WMV.

[Referee0906]

How that works depends on the server, not so much the file type. The other consideration is file size vs. quality. Smaller the file size = worse quality. MPEG4 or DivX will give you better quality at higher compression bitrates than MPEG 2 or WMV.

So you are saying that the server that my stuff is stored on is the problem, not so much the size of the file or the connection speed of the person looking at it?

If I were to use DivX or MPEG4, how would I go about getting it to play on my site?

[ggrussell]

Size and Connection speed STILL have a part in viewing. I meant whether the file is streaming or not. Anyone can place a WMV file on a site, but you need a streaming server if you want the viewer to watch it 'as it downloads'. There is still a lot more to it. How much bandwidth does you server have? Or how much are you paying for? These may determine the video dimensions and bitrate of the video. Will your viewers be using multiple download speeds like dial-up and broadband? If you create a video for broadband, then dial-up users will have a difficult time 'streaming' that.

You will need to ask the site ISP on how to upload the files and how to code the pages for their servers.

[sknis]

Check out these demo videos. They are wmv format. Don't worry about the sharpness of the video except for the text with the instructions. The Roxio "background" was captured via a program that does a screen capture at 15 fps while normal display is 30 fps. It had to be converted.

These wmv files download quickly. Other formats like mpg2 take a long time -- at high speed two to four minutes for a one minute video.

What web editor are you using? I use MS Front Page and I load the video just as if it were an image. Of course, other editors may be different but all should be able to upload a video.

This post has been edited by sknis: 06 March 2007 - 08:03 AM