QT to WMV?

[HeavyB]

Greetings!

I've been looking around the forum and the documentation for ffmpegX and I'm trying to figure out which output format to use to create files compatible with Windows Media Player for Windows. Is there a specific .wmv file format output setting that I'm missing somewhere or that I need to find?

Sorry if this is answered somewhere and I missed it, but I'd appreciate the help.


Thanks!
HeavyB

[thecoalman]

WMV series 9 is compatible with every Windows Media player going back to version 6.4

Windows Media Player will also play about anything that you have codec installed for, DV-AVI and MPEG1 out of the box (MPEG2 if you have Vista from my understanding). Divx or other codecs would need to be installed before it will play them.

[HeavyB]

WMV series 9 is compatible with every Windows Media player going back to version 6.4

Windows Media Player will also play about anything that you have codec installed for, DV-AVI and MPEG1 out of the box (MPEG2 if you have Vista from my understanding). Divx or other codecs would need to be installed before it will play them.

I guess I should have been clearer in my original post.

What I'm trying to create are clips for a website that can be viewed by a default installation of Windows Media Player by your average Joe surfind a website. I've not yet been able to figure out which output format will best create this result. So yeah, you are correct in your post coalman, but I guess I didn't really spell out what I needed the videos for. People are glossing straight over our video clips because they can't be bothered to install QT or don't "get it", so I need an option for these folks.

Thanks!
HB

[thecoalman]

It really depends on how you are delivering the content. If you are embedding the video in the page use .flv with a flash player or you might want to investigate the new silverlight plug-in from MS and use WMV. Both of these will solve cross-platform and cross browser issues. The silverlight plug-in is fairly new so you might run into issues with people not wanting to install it. Most of your users will have the flash plug-in installed.

On the other hand for directly linking to the files for download there really isn't much of a choice except WMV, as mentioned its compatible back to WMP 6.4 which covers Windows machines going back to Win95. Other platforms like Mac's can play it too with the right player. Not sure about Linux OS's. WMV will hit the widest possible audience out of any codec made for delivery of web based video for direct download.

Other than that you can use MPEG1 which will play on just about any platform/player but you'll need 4X to 5X the bitrate compared to WMV or other codecs that compress well for comparable quality.

[HeavyB]

I guess you can call me an idiot on this one. *lol*

Essentially the content is being downloaded, so we just want to give the Mac users the QT option and the Windows users the WMV version that will just play by default on most machines.

What settings in ffmpegX would you suggest I try for output? I'm lost I guess, as I've tried a dozen or more times to get this to work right and I'm still failing miserably.


Thanks again for your help!
HB

[thecoalman]

I'm not familiar with ffmpeg so I really don't know, wasn't even aware it could encode .WMV What it boils down to is if ffmpeg is providing a valid WMV its going to play on just about any windows machine with WMP installed. If file isn't playing then I'd suggest its either corrupt or invalid.

How are you determining its not working? What error are you getting?

Edit: ahh I see it's ffmpegX for the Mac , Again I really don't know but suspect the file is either corrupt or invalid. I see ffmpegx does .flv . Why not just use that instead then you only have to embed the video in the page with a flash player and both can view it without any hassle at all?

There's an excellent free for non-commercial use player here: http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_MP3_Player

[HeavyB]

Well....

Since I was posting in the "ffmpegX general discussion" forum, I assumed that replies would be directed towards that software. You're right...there is no default .WMV setting for ffmpegX, which was what this topic was all about. Either figuring out if there was a codec or some setting that wasn't obvious I could use, or which one of the default settings in the program would give me what I want, that being a format that will play by default in Windows Media Player.

The thing is I'm not a cheap-ass bastard, but I'm not really wanting to shell out $100+ for software to do this one single thing when I've been happy using Mac versions of the unix programs I've come to love over the years. I'm just not a video guru when it comes to the various formats, as I only come up against these problems once in a while. Most of my time is spent in shooting and editing, so it's just not my forte and I don't have anyone geekier than myself on the payroll. *lol*

Anyway, that's where I'm at. I do appreciate your help, coalman. You've gotten me reading a few things I hadn't known before. Thanks!

[thecoalman]

I've edited my reply above to include some info on .flv

You don't have to shell out $100 for a WMV encoder, just dump the Mac and get windows machine then you can download Windows Media Encoder for free. :P

Seriously though, it must be ffmpeg. Any windows machine can open a WMV .

[Midzuki]

[ e d i t ]

[HeavyB]

*lol*

Well, I actually do have 3 XP-based machines here that we use for various purposes...but y'know, it's a real pain to switch around and only use a single tool on another box. Just trying to find solutions for everything on this particular computer because it's my main machine.

Thanks again!

[thecoalman]

...but y'know, it's a real pain to switch around and only use a single tool on another box.

I know it might be quite painful if you're dedicated Mac user but you may have to bite the bullet here.

[HeavyB]

To quote Darth Vader:

"NOOOOOooooOOOOOooOOOOOOOooooOOOOooooooooo.....ooo o......oo....o....."


:P

[thecoalman]

Gotta love a Mac user that will take the ribbing in stride, anyhow if as Midzuki pointed out (now edited) that it only supports 7 and partially supports 8 you'll be able able to use version 9 with windows Media encoder.

Having said that I'd seriously consider .flv , Adobe released a standalone player recently so you could embed it and point them to the standalone player for local playback if they want to download it. Haven't looked and I'm assuming the player has been released on the Mac platform,

http://www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer/

By doing that you're solving a lot of problems, cross platform, cross browser, and you only need to have one file.

[Case]

I'd seriously consider .flv , Adobe released a standalone player recently so you could embed it and point them to the standalone player for local playback if they want to download it. Haven't looked and I'm assuming the player has been released on the Mac platform,

http://www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer/

No offense to you, but more aimed at Adobe. What a piece of crap AMP is. Not (just) a player, but a content delivery system, full of advertising. Not enough buffering to get smooth playback (both video and audio) at first run.

I'll stick with QuickTime Player in combination with Perian for FLV playback, tyvm.

[Midzuki]

BTW, is there such a thing as a web-browser plugin that supports
direct playback of FLVs? All SWF-based players that I know suck
--- because they hide the lower pixels of the frame and also because
they go jerky/macroblocky when attempting to deal with FLV4 files @ 640x480 or above.

[thecoalman]

I haven't used the Adobe player so i really have no idea how well it works, the only thing that makes it worthwhile is that it can play .flv standalone and has the Abode name on it so people would be more likely to install it. Realistically .flv is the only format you can deliver embedded content with that is going to be cross platform and cross browser friendly with the least amount of hassle for the users. The player adds the additionl functionality of being able to play it locally.

Silverlight will do the same thing but you're going to run into those that do not have the plug-in installed and/or won't install it. I'm sure there are many mac users that would rather commit suicide than install anything from MS ... lol. The one major thing silverlight does bring to the table is that every windows user can create these files out of the box very easily. If you're running a server with limited resources or don't have access to something like ffmpeg on your server which accounts for many sites your users can encode their material themselves and upload. Very useful for a forum setting, I'm using it on my forum now. Downside is it only accepts WMV, WMA and MP3 at the moment. There's sample here: http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/about3750.html

The player used is also provided by same person in the link I posted above for the .flv player.

What you really need is to get Adobe and MS to get their heads out of their asses and support both formats for both plug-ins.