At the following website, I've encoded and embed the video four different ways: Divx, wmv, Quicktime and Flash 8. In each case I limited the bitrate to 740 mbps for video and 128k for audio:
http://estatevideo.net
My observations are as follows:
DivX pro: At 740mbps this looks the best to me. I can get better results with all three using higher bitrates, but at this streamable rate, IMHO DivX has the edge. Playback accross browsers is consistant.
DivX con: I hate that you have to install the software to view it. Yeah you only have to do it once, but that is enough to keep many people away. At the end of the video it shows an ad for DivX. I'd rather have an ad for my client.
WMV pro: Views without installing software. Looks very good.
WMV con: Launches in an external player in Firefox. I'm not sure about Mac playback.
Quicktime pro: Looks good. Many people have already installed the software when they bought their iPods.
Quicktime con: You can't jump to fullframe. You can't scale the embedded video. It doesn't play at all in Netscape. It loads into external player in Firefox. Not everyone has Quicktime installed.
Flash 8 pro: Looks very good in embed window. You can scale embedded playback consistantly among the browsers. Many people have the latest version of Flash installed. Nobody seems to mind installing it if they don't. Extremely versatile. You can configure like crazy. You can put your own ads at the end, playback chains of videos, add stills, etc.
Flash 8 con: Slightly jerky playback in frame, not as good as DivX blown up fullscreen.
As far as which format is best, so far, I feel that it is a tie between DivX and Flash. With DivX I can double click and view fullscreen and it feels like I am watching a DVD. Flash doesn't give me this quality, but Flash looks about as good in the embedded window and I just LOVE the versatility and I love that a person viewing it doesn't have to install anything.
http://estatevideo.net
My observations are as follows:
DivX pro: At 740mbps this looks the best to me. I can get better results with all three using higher bitrates, but at this streamable rate, IMHO DivX has the edge. Playback accross browsers is consistant.
DivX con: I hate that you have to install the software to view it. Yeah you only have to do it once, but that is enough to keep many people away. At the end of the video it shows an ad for DivX. I'd rather have an ad for my client.
WMV pro: Views without installing software. Looks very good.
WMV con: Launches in an external player in Firefox. I'm not sure about Mac playback.
Quicktime pro: Looks good. Many people have already installed the software when they bought their iPods.
Quicktime con: You can't jump to fullframe. You can't scale the embedded video. It doesn't play at all in Netscape. It loads into external player in Firefox. Not everyone has Quicktime installed.
Flash 8 pro: Looks very good in embed window. You can scale embedded playback consistantly among the browsers. Many people have the latest version of Flash installed. Nobody seems to mind installing it if they don't. Extremely versatile. You can configure like crazy. You can put your own ads at the end, playback chains of videos, add stills, etc.
Flash 8 con: Slightly jerky playback in frame, not as good as DivX blown up fullscreen.
As far as which format is best, so far, I feel that it is a tie between DivX and Flash. With DivX I can double click and view fullscreen and it feels like I am watching a DVD. Flash doesn't give me this quality, but Flash looks about as good in the embedded window and I just LOVE the versatility and I love that a person viewing it doesn't have to install anything.