Playback on Mac

UlfLaursen wrote on 3/23/2010, 1:12 PM
Hi

I'm going to render different formats of a small infomercial.

I will make an on-line version in flash for viewing on-line on both PC and mac. I will make a dwonloadable version in WMV for PC and a quicktime for mac, both probably 1 Mb 640 x 480 or so.

What codec should I choose for the quicktime inside Vegas?

Thanks

/Ulf

Comments

Coursedesign wrote on 3/23/2010, 7:10 PM
Use x.264 for best quality, wrapped in Flash if you want.

I would use that for both Mac and PC viewers, because you can't beat the quality.

WMV? Oldfashioned and not up to speed currently.

Flash in general has good performance on Macs in the Safari browser, but poor in Firefox and others. Fortunately the vast majority of Mac users prefer Safari because of its beautiful rendering (best of all browsers on any platform imho).

If you have more bandwidth and shoot in 16:9 widescreen, 854x480 looks totally lovely (that number is for NTSC not PAL).
PerroneFord wrote on 3/23/2010, 7:24 PM
While I will agree that using x264 for this application is the correct advice, the comments about using WMV (especially WMV 9 Advaned) couldn't be more wrong. While that container is a poor choice for Mac users, the codec, and the container allow for some amazing features, and the quality can be excellent. It is anything but old fashioned. Just ask Warner Brothers.

UlfLaursen wrote on 3/23/2010, 10:49 PM
Thanks guys :-)

Just great - ask a question in the evening here, wake up the next morning with great answers. Nothing can beat this in service :-)

/Ulf
Coursedesign wrote on 3/24/2010, 5:38 AM
Perrone, you're right about WMV having some advanced features that have certain applications.

Warner isn't the only one using WMV, but the online video world seems to be converging on H.264 as the one codec that allows you to put up one video for all to use, saving the hassle and confusion of having to put up multiple versions. H.264 even works inside a Flash wrapper, and I expect it to be fully embraced for the HTML5 "<video>" tag also.

If there is anything else that impresses me in online video, it is Silverlight.

The way it does adaptive streaming and fast forward/backward/frame-by-frame is totally awesome. I use that in Netflix Play Now, and it is unmatched in this respect as far as I know.
PerroneFord wrote on 3/24/2010, 6:46 AM
Not only that, but for our use, the 508 compatibility far exceeds anything else available. DRM is better than anything else free out there too. The VC-1 status means it's open standard enough for my governmental use while h.264 still gives me pause in terms of archival and license issues.

I agree that h.264 is a great multi-platform idea, but I really wish Apple would jump on the ball and support the now OPEN STANDARD WMV/VC-1 standard with at least a solid player.
Coursedesign wrote on 3/24/2010, 7:54 AM
The "openness" of VC-1 has been the subject of much debate, as you indicated with "open enough" also. (H.264 has concerns for the distant future, too.)

VMW plays great on Macs with the free Flip4Mac QT component.

That doesn't mean you can use WMV for all viewers, because many Macs in schools etc. are locked down, and only administrators can install this.

What part of 508 do you find yourself unable to do in with H.264? Or do you mean that in a Flash container?

DRM, depends on what you want to do. I'm checking out streaming protection for Amazon S3 and Cloudfront, haven't thought I could do much beyond that (and updating my content frequently).