ASF and WMV are the same format, but Microsoft changed the extentions when Windows Media 7 was released. one reason was so you could tell the difference between an audio and a video file (WMA or WMV).

there is a far more important difference though. ASF (or Windows Media 6.4) is the easiest format to deliver from the viewer's perspective.

this is why.

Win98 and Win2k come with the 6.4 player pre-installed, so an ASF file will run without requiring a connection to the internet, and without requiring any codec installations. and WinNT4 and Win95 users are limited to the 6.4 player. this is important because ASF files perform better on a 6.4 player (the one most people will be using) compared to WMV files. you can see this by playing with the seek bar while viewing an ASF vs. a WMV using the 6.4 player.

so if you are delivering to a corporate audience, all of whom are running Win2k, some of whom will be running the video on a laptop on the road, you definitely don't want to require any downloads or installations, and you definitely want to deliver the best performance possible. the quality gain in later versions of Windows Media are significant, but not worth the tradeoff when performance will go down the tubes and the help desk will have an increase of calls from people who may have tried to upgrade the player and have run into problems.

"I can't play the video" or "this plugin screwed up my system" is not what I want someone to ever say about one of my productions. no one has ever complained about the quality of the video.

but unfortunately I am one of the only media producers who seems to care about the experience of the end viewer, because every time this issue comes up I point out that it was a mistake for Sonic Foundry to drop the Windows Media 6.4 (ASF) compressor from Vegas and beg that it be put back in. (it was standard in earlier versions of Vegas 2, then it just disappeared... wonder why?)

no one else on the forum seems to have a problem with this, although in my circle of business associates, I can assure you many Vegas 3 licenses were not purchased because of this very issue. they stuck with Vegas 2. for those who didn't have Vegas 2, I could offer no solution to them even though I am enthusiastic about Vegas and always recommend it to people.

That's funny. I have ASF in Vegas 3 and have used it. Maybe the codec is there because I also have Video Factory installed on my system??

Advanced Streaming Format, I think...

yes you can use it, but it isn't much use unless you can customize the presets. for that, I have to install Vegas 2.0b and keep it open so I can go in and customize presets which are then available to Vegas 3.

can you hit the customize button and mess with the presets from VV3? that would be really cool but I doubt it will work.

As a matter of fact, you can't mess with the presets, and it just doesn't compare to wmv. For smaller videos on my web site (say 100K or less) I'm experimenting with Real for the moment.

for those who can customize the encoder presets, here are the settings I usually use.

my priorities in order:
1. Provide the easiest experience to the viewer
(win2k/98 and up requires no plugin download or other install)
2. Provide best quality possible for each target format
(good sound, no lip sync issues, fast startup, fast video update after seek)
3. Lowest System Requirements (cpu util is low enough to work on p200)


Multimedia Specs

Video for CD-ROM

Media Format for best compatibility:
Windows Media Version 6.4 (.ASF)

Bandwidth:
250K-1000K depending on video frame size and complexity of content

Video Codec: MS MPEG-4 Video Codec V3

Advanced Video Parameters for Best Performance:
Iframes=1 Buffer=1 Quality=0% FPS=15

Audio Codec: Windows Media Audio V2
Audio Format: 64kbps 32kHz stereo for audio/video

------------------

Audio for CD-ROM

Media Format for best compatibility:
Windows Media Version 6.4 (.ASF)

Audio Codec: Windows Media Audio V2
Audio Format: 64kbps 32kHz stereo for audio/video

-----------------

Streaming Video for Web (streaming requires Windows Media Server)

Media Format for best compatibility:
Windows Media Version 6.4 (.ASF)

85K-300K depending on:
- target audience connection speed
- video frame size
- complexity of content

Video Codec: MS MPEG-4 Video Codec V3

Advanced Video Parameters:
Iframes=3 Buffer=1 Quality=0% FPS=15

Audio Codec: Windows Media Audio V2
Audio Format: 20kbps 22kHz mono


----------------------------

Streaming Audio for Web (streaming requires Windows Media Server)

Media Format for best compatibility:
Windows Media Version 6.4 (.ASF)

Audio Codec: ACELP.net
Audio Format: 16kbps 16kHz mono