Ideas for Video via email?

PeterWright wrote on 5/13/2009, 11:56 PM
I am planning a project with a client, demonstrating a school hygiene product. Video Duration about 1 min, and the main distribution is currently intended to be as an attachment with private email, which his recipients click to open and watch.

A major issue is that it should open and play quickly on as many computers as possible, but quality of pic is obviously important, but file size must be within common email limits.
What would you recommend under the headings below?

Video Format/Codec
Frame Size
Settings/Bitrate
Max File Size

- or would it be better to recommend hosting the video somewhere for streaming and send out a link? If so - what format / quality for this video?

Comments

farss wrote on 5/14/2009, 12:17 AM
Host it on Vimeo and/or YouTube if the content is for general exhibition.
Mostly emails seem limited to 10MB today but I've had 8MB email attachment get bounced with a message saying I'd exceeded the server's 10MB limit. Maybe it's due to the MiB / MB thingy.

Bob.
PeterWright wrote on 5/14/2009, 12:31 AM
Thanks Bob - I'll check to see whether he wants it generally available, but that would certainly make good quality easily possible.
MarkWWWW wrote on 5/14/2009, 5:50 AM
> I've had 8MB email attachment get bounced with a message saying I'd exceeded the server's 10MB limit.

This happens because email is still at heart a 7-bit system. Any 8-bit files (i.e. any attachments) have to be encoded into 7-bit form and the methods used mean that the size grows by about a third. So your 8MB attachment takes up a bit more than 10MB by the time it reaches the server and triggers the limit exceeded message.

Mark
farss wrote on 5/14/2009, 6:05 AM
Thanks.
As an old fart who still remembers Baudot and EBCDIC I should have fathomed that out.

Bob.
richard-courtney wrote on 5/14/2009, 6:26 AM
IMHO:

Not everyone has high speed internet so loading emails with long attachments
is a NO NO. I filter any image or video at the server for my family so it would get thrown out.

I feel if you have a great product, send a demo on a 3.5 inch miniDVD along
with a coupon.
RalphM wrote on 5/14/2009, 6:56 AM
Posting it on Vimeo also has the advantage of being able to password protect the file, if that is desirable.

Read the Vimeo recommendations as to file types and sizes. Consider how much detail is to be shown and try a sample to see if it fits your needs. Vimeo is going to convert it to Flash for viewing.