Best way to share .mpg file?

[Touchdown]

I have a 2 minute .mpg video clip that is 250MB. I'd like to share it with someone. Ideally I'd like to post it to my website and they can view it online. How would i go about streaming? What would be the best way to do this? If I wanted to email it to them it would be too large so I'm thinking I'd need to convert it down?

Thanks

[Tommyknocker]

The best way to do it would be to convert to .wmv, .rm, .qt. If you only want one person to view it, copying the movie in its native format and snail mailing it to them is also an option. MPEG-1 is perfect for this, as almost all PCs can run it with no problems.

[Vejita-sama]

If it's 2mins and you want to display it on your website MPEG is not the best format (as mentioned aboved). Best to convert to divx (and if necessary give a link to d/load the codec).

If you want to share the actually 250MB file, try bittorrent. There are several trackers that will let you host files.

[garryheather]

If you've got a fixed IP and don't mind leaving your PC on for a bit, you can get free FTP clients that would allow you to "host" it.

Just tell the third party what your IP is and what username and password you have given them, and let them retrieve it from you at their leisure.

[teegee420]

I use a little program called WWWFileShare when I want to share something too large to e-mail. What it does is set up a simple web server that allows people to download from your computer using http. You can allow as few or as many people to download(and upload) to a directory specified by you. All you have to do is send the person the URL and password.

[Spicuzza]

Touchdown, MPEG-1 with a 352 x 240 frame size @ 900 to 1000 kbps encoded from a quality source is in fact the most perfect way for the Internet assuming you don't care about users with dial-up modems.

The reason I say this is because Windows Media Player, RealPlayer and QuickTime will all play an MPEG-1 video without the end user doing anything except clicking on the link.

This site is full of advanced computer users who have no problem getting anything to work on a computer, however, the vast majority of computers users WILL NOT download or install anything just to get your video to play. They view the lack of the video not playing as something the web site has done incorrectly. They are partly correct.

If you choose .wmv it will only play in Windows Media Player, if you choose .rm it will only play with RealPlayer, if you choose .mov it will only play with QuickTime, if you choose Divx they have to install the codec. My point is MPEG-1 will play in anyone's machine and is backwards compatible with even an old 586 133mhz clunker.

Again, as long as they have high speed internet, if not, I concur with Tommyknocker, just burn the video as a data MPEG-1 file on a CD-R and send via snail mail.

My 2 cents!

[Gazorgan]

That bitrate exceeds DVD standard. What exactly were you attempting?

[Touchdown]

Thanks for the feedback. A little more clarification as to what I want to do with this.

Would like to have this file hosted on my business website so potential clients could see the type of videography/slide show work that I do.

So I would want to accomdate people with dial-up as well as broadband. I would guess ease of use and speed is more desirable than quality as I only want to give them a sample of what I do.

Is it difficult to create a streaming video file so they do not have to wait for the entire clip to d/l?

Thanks

[Spicuzza]

Touchdown, I would go for .wmv 320 x 240 @ 700 kbps.

The reason being everyone except Mac users have Windows Media Player on their machines and it will stream just fine. No matter what you do the dial-up modem users just aren't going to be able to view most video files directly from the Internet. Also, if they are an AOL user, forget about it, AOL sucks, period.

Just add a note on your site as to how to download the video file to their hard drive to view, just keep in mind that even a 15 MB video file downloaded from the Internet could easily take a dial-up modem user 25 to 40 minutes to download. Something they probably won't bother with.

I'm up to 3 cents now!

[Touchdown]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go ahead and do that I think.

I've noticed on some sites that they sometimes have two versions of the file, one for Dial-Up users and another for Broadband. I think I might do that as well.

Will the .wmv file play right away? It doesn't make the user sit and have the whole thing d/l first does it?

[Gazorgan]

You can't play what isn't there.

Streaming doesn't speed anyting up unless the file is very very small, or you have a large broadband connection. A 10 MB file will still take a dial-up user 30-60 minutes to view it, and it doesn't matter if it's WMV or RM or DivX. You don't want it to play for 2 seconds, then pause for 10 over and over do you? It makes your work look bad.

Just put up a 2 MB file for dial-up users and maybe a 30 MB file for broadband. MPEG1 is natively supported by everyone, and you can make it look really good with a higher bitrate (I said MPEG1, not true VCD).

[MrMungus]

Again, as long as they have high speed internet, if not, I concur with Tommyknocker, just burn the video as a data MPEG-1 file on a CD-R and send via snail mail.

My 2 cents!

Even if they don't have high-speed internet, they can still download it, then watch it.

How did your 2 minute MPEG get to be 250MB???

[Spicuzza]

MrMungus, you are correct "technically."

You are incorrect in reality. Most people are not going spend 30 or 40 minutes or more downloading a sample video clip from the Internet. Then there are AOL users on dial-up modems with AOL'S proxy server system. This makes for a nightmare.

Believe what you want but if you are going to be showing video clips on the Internet, practically speaking, you're limiting your audience to those with high speed internet connections.

[Gritz]

Touchdown,
Check this out first to see if something like will work for what you want. At this site check out selection # 4. http://www.peaceofficerministriesvideo.com/ Selection #4 is 340 Kbps and seems to work well with a broadband connection and takes about 15 seconds to start playing ... at least what I've been able to find out from friends who have a highspeed connections. Granted, it's not full screen, but it gets the point accross. The wmv file is 25 MB, and I reduced it to this size using Windows Moviemaker2 that comes with XP. You may have to download the latest version. In the program import your video and save to your computer using the DSL speed of 340 Kbps, and then upload to your site. I even got the dial-up to work .... although it takes much longer to start and the resolution is not as good. I just suggest they put a pot of coffee on!!

[MrMungus]

MrMungus, you are correct "technically."

You are incorrect in reality. Most people are not going spend 30 or 40 minutes or more downloading a sample video clip from the Internet. Then there are AOL users on dial-up modems with AOL'S proxy server system. This makes for a nightmare.

Believe what you want but if you are going to be showing video clips on the Internet, practically speaking, you're limiting your audience to those with high speed internet connections.

Right, I agree. In reality some people won't wait. I'm just saying that you don't *need* broadband to watch high-bitrate clips (I thought there was some confusion there).