mp4 for Dial-up?

2G wrote on 12/31/2005, 8:54 AM

I need to render to mp4 for use with a dial-up connection (~56KB). The smallest bit rate available in the renderer is around 190kb. I tried entering a smaller number, and it jumped back to 190kb. The rendered file is about 5 times the size of the equivalent wmv 56kb file. I didn't try it on dialup. But I doubt very seriously it will be anywhere near close to downloading and playing realtime at that size.

Has mp4 simply decided not to support bitrates for dialup? Is there something else I should do to make the clip usable in dialup?

Thanks

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 12/31/2005, 8:59 AM

It seems generally that MPEG-type encoders won't go less than 192Kbps. The only one i've seen that did was an old ULead video editing program that went as low as 40Kbps and the results were putrid.

I think WMV does about the best job at such low bitrates. I'd stick with that if i were you.

2G wrote on 12/31/2005, 2:38 PM

Wish I could. But it's not my call. Got customers with non-Win boxes on dialup. Been using Real which also goes to low bit rates. But I detest the one-step-from-a-virus-RealPlayer. I was hoping with mp4 popularity that I could dump Real once and for all as a supported format. Guess not.

Thanks for the info.

Chienworks wrote on 12/31/2005, 5:37 PM

How about 160x120 15fps AVI with cinepak? You can get those files pretty darned tiny. It's such an old codec that most media players should be able to handle it. You might also consider MOV files. They're not as good as WMV at low bitrates but they do work.

Are your non-Win boxen Macs? Most Macs can play WMV files.