DV to ??

[zapster]

Source vid is DV. I need to create lots of short movies for computer playback. My initial thought was to use wmv because so many people will be able to play without an issue (WMP installed by default so no installing codecs or players). Are there any downsides to wmv?

[redwudz]

Computers with other than MS operating systems may have a problem with WMV. MPEG-1 is a bit more universal. But I would probably still use WMV because of more options for quality.

[zapster]

MPEG-1/2 aren't small enough. Probably should be something based on a version of MPEG-4.

[redwudz]

Probably should be something based on a version of MPEG-4.

Then Xvid or Divx would be my next choice. H.264 would be a bit harder to decode.

[zapster]

Do either of those have any big benefits over wmv?

[jagabo]

Do either of those have any big benefits over wmv?

Not really. And most people probably don't have a Divx, Xvid, or h.264 decoder. They do not come with Windows and they won't download and install automatically in WMP.

[zapster]

I did find one slight downside with WMP. While it will allow frame by frame (forward and reverse) you have to do so by clicking on the forward/reverse buttons with the mouse which is a pain in the arse. Does anyone know of a player that will play wmv and also allow frame by frame using the keyboard?

[zoobie]

what is it exactly that you're trying to do?
computer playback? yours, mine, or ours?
from a disc, the web, or hard drive?

[zapster]

PC playback. Mine and many others. Sports vid so frame by frame for analysis is a big plus. Delivery is via the web so the quality/file size of wmv is great.

[zoobie]

check out flv while you're at it

[jagabo]

PC playback. Mine and many others. Sports vid so frame by frame for analysis is a big plus. Delivery is via the web so the quality/file size of wmv is great.

You can't control what other people use to view the files.

[Endzone]

I just sent about 100 .wmv files (average 2 min 45 sec each) to 30 or 35 people and some I hadn't contacted in almost 20 years. NO ONE had any problems opening the video clips. Yes there may be a better player, but do you want to get emails from people telling you they can't run the video clip? And I'm NOT a Microsoft fan either.

My source was also DV, and if the clip was shorter I could increase the quality but they were all good quality 240 X 320 pixels. Remember that the file limitation on emails if 10MB--that means 7MB for your video clip. The servers will kick the email back to you if it exceeds 10MB. But I guess you could just upload them to your web site and send links.