Looking for advice on distribution medium

[masonc]

I want to get yur advice on distribution methods for video clips. I want to send out a 10 minute tourism video and a five minute promotional clip, with a menu, on an optical disk. I have great editing equipment and shoot on DV, but I am not sure how to distribute.
We need to send 1,000 copies out at the lowest cost possible. I tried VCD which is cheap enough, but I found the quality to be insufficient. DVD is too expensive although technically perfect. SVCD is fine to watch, but I am not sure how many people can watch it.
Is it possible to send out a SVCD that has player software on the disc? That would allow our users a simple way to play the disc if their DVD player did not support SVCD.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Chris Mason
www.anguillaguide.com

[BJ_M]

make a dual type cd with svcd and also put the movie on it in QT (most compatable) .

just make a reg svcd disk with a subdirectory off the root with the QT files in it ..

you can have even a http page in root as a pointer i believe.

i would even include the qt software on the disk

QT = quicktime

[offline]

masonc,

since you are direct marketing I gather you have a strong profile
of your market segment (demographics, income, distribution etc.)
If you want to get your message across with maximum impact you
have to match your target segment with the likely technology they
will have at hand. It is all very well producing a snazzy electronic
brochure only to have it read by less than 20% if your audience. There are a number of companies on the web that can help you at low cost to make sure what you are producing can be used and is attractive to those
you are targeting. Also do not forget that direct mail is not the only cheap
alternative for multimedia. With video streaming so inexpensive, it may
pay your co. to keep the video etc. on a server and attract via a promotion, your clients to you via an interactive website.

I might have taught you to suck eggs here and if so I apologise. There
are, however, so many many cases similar to yours where time and money were simply wasted whereas a few bucks directed to MR would
have forseen the problem.

best of luck.

[masonc]

I was really interested in specific information on players, suitability of the format, etc. I know I want to send this CD out, no question about it. We already stream video on www.anguillaguide.com and will add the promo piece there when it is done.

My specific issues are:
SVCD: The best, cheap format?
Player software: Is there a distributable player? I can't be sure of internet access.

I can encode and prepare the disc with no problem, even DVDs, but they are too expensive per unit.

Thanks
Chris

[disturbed1]

There is no possible way to gaurentee the compatibility of "home brew" discs.

Not all DVD players will play CDR, or even DVD-R.

If being compatible is what you need, master your video to DVD-R, send to a production house and have them press it to DVD. With a bulk order of 1000 copies, your cost shouldn't be too high.

Another option is to make a CD-R of your media in mpeg1. All Windows, and Macs have built in mpeg1 decoders. You can encode at 2400 for compatibility down to a 2x CD reader.
Pentium 200's, and Mac's with 040's can decode these streams without a problem.

Quick Time is another great option too.
But you'd have to include the installation codec on disc, incase they don't have internet.

With mpeg2 you need a "good" computer for quality playback. I know plenty of people who are still using 200mmx pentiums because all they need is an email machine.

In the long run a professional promotion will show your serious about your bussiness. A half ass promotion shows a half ass bussiness.