The best way would be to make a few diffrent files, one that is insanely compressed for those on dialup, and one that is less compressed for those on broadband. And don't forget about your MAC users, they need quicktime files so one of each of those is nice to have also. I used to put just wmv files on my website and you'd be amazed how many complaints I got from MAC users complaining that they couldn't see the video. So now for everything I make 2 wmv files and 2 quicktime files just so everyone will be happy.

Other tips to get better quality is crop the picture to only the most relevant action. If you want to re-edit the picture, dissolves and pans do not compress well, straight cuts and wipes work better.

Advanced techniques for streaming include processing the audio to create smaller files. You don't need CD-quality audio for streaming, you can create mono files and cutoff some of the lower and higher frequencies. In effect create a thinner audio track (less bits) but keep the volume and clarity. Another technique is to "crush black" to at .025 using "Restore Blacks" in Vegas. Our eyes can't distinguish between one very dark black pixel and another very, very dark black pixel, but the encoder can. The technique makes them all the same color. This means the encoder does less work and allows it to concentrate only on the parts we see. You may also want to reduce contrast and color saturation. I would save copies of the project like this "projectforDV.veg" which the original and "projectforweb.veg" which has all the streaming tweaks.


http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/editing.htm has some info him on video for the web.