Encoding videos for internet

[macmithos]

Hi Guys,
I'm finally making my website to spread the word of my expertise and work. As I'm not a web developer, I'm using iWeb with some tips and tricks given in the site www.iwebunlimited.com , which is very good. the good is that I'm forcing myself to learn some HTML codes ... lol
But I'm stuck with a very old question .... Should I compress / encode my videos in H264 (best quality) or Flash (more viable for PC users ) or should I offer both on my site ?
Then I've read some posts here and there saying the ability of Flash Player 9 of being able to "open" H264.
For H264 the audience has to have, at least, Quicktime 7+ or Flash Player 9+ , to open it on their browsers, right ?
As I'm a Mac user, I have both softwares to compress video, Compressor (Final Cut Studio 2 ) and Sorenson Squeeze 5.
Thanks in advance for spending your time reading it ....

[Baldrick]

You can use h264 as it's supported by flash since version 9.0.115, see http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:H.264.

Convert to a mp4 or flv container with H264(also called AVC) video and AAC audio. You can convert using free software like handbrake or avidemux but I guess sorenson also supports it.

[terryj]

macmithos, I answered your PM.

[macmithos]

Unfortunatly, I'm using a "software", I don't know if it can be called that or is more like a plugin, anyway, with a code in my webpage added with this "software" in the server, I can reach a nice effect for openning my videos within the page but it doesn't support .m4p . I can use it to open, with the effect, these kind of files: ['img', 'html', 'iframe', 'qt', 'wmp', 'swf', 'flv'] .
So, I guess I will have to go for a QT (H264) and a FLV, right ?
If you would like to see what I'm talking about, go to the second QT icon and the second FLASH icon on this link:

http://www.bananadaterra.net/bananadaterra/P_V_C_tvcoz.html

thanks .....

[macmithos]

guys ... forget the last post ...... I could just add tha "m4p" along with the others .... and it open the video WITH THE EFFECT" desired.
Now I just have to work on a good settings for the .m4p .....

[terryj]

mithos, if you mean good settings for .mp4 files,
VisualHub's "Standard" encode for .mp4 files is good.
I also like Digitial Juice's settings for mp4, with AAC audio
(2.0 stereo, 48khz) and using Quicktime's Mpeg-4 Improved
(HD, 30fps) video codec.

[macmithos]

My friend terryj,
I'm realizing that I'm totally lost with this mp4 "world" .... I know it is a container that supports many codecs ...
When I read that Flash Player 9+ is now able to open h264 in a mp4 container I thought that whatever I put in a mp4, it would be opened by the Flash Player.
So, I did a test with a PC with Flash Player installed and without Quicktime 7 (for h264). When clicking on the link to open the movie, the PC asks to update to Quicktime 7 ..... Shouldn't it be able to open because it has Flash Player 9 ?
...... or, what I have to do is make the mp4 with the movie encoded in Flash and then the PCs will be able to open the mp4 and also those who have the Quicktime player ?

need to find the right track .... lol

[terryj]

Your mix mashing your ideas.

Mp4 is a container, true.
FLV ( Flash Video) is a container, true.

Flash Video is a codec that requires Flash Player to be installed to playback said codec, true.

h.264 is a codec that requires some type of app that supports
the h.264 codec to play it back, in this case Flash Player or Quicktime 7.

.mp4 (container) can contain either h.264(codec endcoded) video
or Flash ( codec encoded) Video.

clear?

[macmithos]

Clear .... I guess ... lol

So if the audience of my site clicks on a link ( to a mp4 with video encoded as h264) and the computer (PC) asks to download the latest upgrade of Quicktime, that means the PC does not has Flash Player 9 neither Quicktime 7, right ?

[terryj]

If you encode an .mp4 with h.264 codec using Quicktime to encode it
and a visitor tries to play it in the web browser and it tells them they need
Quicktime to decode and playback the file, then YES, they need to install Quicktime.

If you encode an .mp4 file with the flash video codec using Adobe Flash video Encoder
and a visitor tries to play it in the web browser and it tells them they need
Flash to decode and playback the file, then YES, they need to install Flash.

whatever the user is prompted for, they do not have, that simple.