What video format should I distribute this in?

[plnelson]

Although I'm a software engineer professionally, I'm also an amateur artist and photographer. As a photographer (pnArt.com <- warning: parts of this are NSFW) I've worked with many models and have literally thousands of photos copyright to me and with full model releases.

As an artist I know that artists who are trying to develop their figure/people -drawing skills spend countless hours practicing "gesture drawings" a succession of short, 1, 2 or 5 minute poses where they try to quickly capture the model's pose, proportions, energy, etc. These are usually done with nude model from life but they don't have to be.

So it occurred to me that, with my huge portfolio, I could easily make some gesture-drawing practice videos to distribute to artists to practice from. I'm in an artist's association in a nearby city with several hundred members and I thought I would distribute free video files to them and, depending on the feedback, I might broaden the distribution nationally or internationally, for a small fee. I don't see this as a huge money-maker - most artists don't have money - but I wouldn't object to making some money.

My question is, what is a good video format to use for this? It should support full HD (1920x1080), be compatible with PC's and Macs, and not require a DVD player or any special codec's to play.

Thanks in advance.

[sanlyn]

My question is, what is a good video format to use for this? It should support full HD (1920x1080), be compatible with PC's and Macs, and not require a DVD player or any special codec's to play.

DVD players can play HD.

The links below describe official standards for video disc and HDD (computer) formats that can be played universally by standard players on standard monitors and on standard PC's and Macs and burned to standard optical discs or copied to hard drive or other storage devices. Once you get away from the standards listed, you encounter less and less universal compatibility. HD compatibility will require AVCHD.
BluRay/AVCHD, SD and HD (PAL & NTSC): https://www.videohelp.com/hd#tech
DVD (PAL & NTSC): https://www.videohelp.com/dvd#tech

You can also browse or acquire art training videos to see what commercials shops are using.

[usually_quiet]

There's a typo in sanlyn's post. I'm sure he meant to type "DVD players cannot play HD." since he knows 720x480 for NTSC or 720x576 for PAL are the maximum DVD resolutions.

...but since as I understand, it you want to distribute for computer playback rather than disc playback, you don't need to worry about what DVD players can handle.

For video and audio playback to succeed, the computer needs to have the right decoders installed as well as a compatible software player, plus it must have a CPU and GPU that are up to the task of decoding and display. No matter what container file format or audio and video formats you pick, there will be some computers that can't play it natively. Windows computers can play WMV files, but Apple computers won't do that natively. Some Apple computers and most Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 computers won't play .mpg files natively, although Windows XP and Windows 7 PCs will. Most Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Apple computers will play H.264 video and MP3 audio in an .MP4 file, but Windows XP doesn't have built-in H.264 support, and older Windows XP PCs may not have a video card or CPU that are up to the task of decoding it.

[smrpix]

You may want to consider some sort of streaming service like Vimeo (Pro if you feel you can generate the revenue) which automatically adapts to the client platform.

[plnelson]

[QUOTE=sanlyn;2279979]

DVD players can play HD.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. Are you referring to the DVD player that people have attached to a typical TV or are you referring to the DVD player in a typical PC?

Obviously the one attached to a PC (a DVD drive) can "play" anything because it's a just a repository for files so as long as the PC has an appropriate player and codec there's no limit. But I only want to pick formats that can be played out-of-the-box so my user doesn't have to do or acquire anything special or have special computer knowledge.

But if you mean the DVD player attached to a TV then doesn't it depend on the encoding and also the sort of connection the user has to his TV? Are you saying that if I put a DVD in such a player and it has a collection of WMV files at 1920x1080 that the average player will recognize and play those? It's been at least 10 years since I've owned a separate DVD player so I don't know what their capabilities are, but on the other hand most people I know who have one probably have really old ones.

For the record I know very few people who actually have DVD players attached to their TV's anymore. That trend seems to have faded along with the demise of DVD-rental stores. So my question was about files formats to played on a computer.

[plnelson]

There's a typo in sanlyn's post. I'm sure he meant to type "DVD players cannot play HD." since he knows 720x480 for NTSC or 720x576 for PAL are the maximum DVD resolutions.

...but since as I understand, it you want to distribute for computer playback rather than disc playback, so you don't need to worry about what DVD players can handle.

For video and audio playback to succeed, the computer needs to have the right decoders installed as well as a compatible software player, plus it must have a CPU and GPU that are up to the task of decoding and display. No matter what container file format or audio and video formats you pick, there will be some computers that can't play it natively. Windows computers can play WMV files, but Apple computers won't do that natively. Some Apple computers and most Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 computers won't play .mpg files natively, although Windows XP and Windows 7 PCs will. Most Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Apple computers will play H.264 video and MP3 audio in an .MP4 file, but Windows XP doesn't have built-in H.264 support, and older Windows XP PCs may not have a video card or CPU that are up to the task of decoding it.

So it sounds like what you're saying is that there really isn't any "universal" video format the way there is with still images (everything can display a JPEG) or audio (everything can play an MP3) .

This is depressing. How do people get around this? I've looked up similar products on the web and the ones that I've seen are basically NTSC-format DVD's made many years ago.

[TreeTops]

"This is depressing. How do people get around this?" They use the suggestion stated by 'smrpix" above.

[plnelson]

You may want to consider some sort of streaming service like Vimeo (Pro if you feel you can generate the revenue) which automatically adapts to the client platform.

I'll take a look at Vimeo. I can't use YouTube because the models are mostly nude (as they would be in any life-drawing session) and YouTube's rules on nudity are capricious at best. (This may be off-topic but does anyone understand Y.T's rules on this? I've seen some videos with nudity that have been up there for years and others with perfectly innocent, non-sexual nudity taken down in days with notices saying that they violated their nudity rules).

How big can Vimeo videos be? Their uploading FAQ talks about a "quota" but never say what it is! Mine will mostly be an hour but they're not very physically large because they consist of mostly still images so they compress well.

[smrpix]

So it sounds like what you're saying is that there really isn't any "universal" video format

Correct. Arguably the closest is h.264 video with aac audio in an mp4 container -- but no guarantees. That's why I moved to streaming several years ago. YouTube, Vimeo and others depend on being able to deliver as universally as possible -- may as well leverage that.

Edit: cross posted with your last question. Vimeo Plus($60/yr) allows 5GB per week upload, and no waiting for uploads to start. They explain it on their site.

http://vimeo.com/upgrade1c?utm_source=search&utm_medium=google-upgrade1-brand_vimeo%20...FYtjMAodaWYAFg

[usually_quiet]

There's a typo in sanlyn's post. I'm sure he meant to type "DVD players cannot play HD." since he knows 720x480 for NTSC or 720x576 for PAL are the maximum DVD resolutions.

...but since as I understand, it you want to distribute for computer playback rather than disc playback, so you don't need to worry about what DVD players can handle.

For video and audio playback to succeed, the computer needs to have the right decoders installed as well as a compatible software player, plus it must have a CPU and GPU that are up to the task of decoding and display. No matter what container file format or audio and video formats you pick, there will be some computers that can't play it natively. Windows computers can play WMV files, but Apple computers won't do that natively. Some Apple computers and most Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 computers won't play .mpg files natively, although Windows XP and Windows 7 PCs will. Most Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Apple computers will play H.264 video and MP3 audio in an .MP4 file, but Windows XP doesn't have built-in H.264 support, and older Windows XP PCs may not have a video card or CPU that are up to the task of decoding it.

So it sounds like what you're saying is that there really isn't any "universal" video format the way there is with still images (everything can display a JPEG) or audio (everything can play an MP3) .

This is depressing. How do people get around this? I've looked up similar products on the web and the ones that I've seen are basically NTSC-format DVD's made many years ago.

All the formats I mentioned are playable by many computers, just not all. Some people are going to have difficulty playing HD video period if they have a very old, under-powered computer. Basically, what people have done in the past is to pick an audio, video, and container file format that many computers can play and instruct those who run into trouble with it to install VLC or appropriate decoders to play the video.

[SpectateSwamp]

How about distributing them in multiple formats..

I shoot local drag races capturing 100 or more short clips.
I put a copy that will play on your TV DVD players.
And the originals SD / HD along with my PC player.

I prefer SD because my player handles that so well.
I seldom shoot HD but have the capabilities and it is no problem creating DVDs with both HD and SD.

4.7 is a lot of space and DVD's are cheep. Make TV DVD the top priority...

[sanlyn]

There's a typo in sanlyn's post. I'm sure he meant to type "DVD players cannot play HD." since he knows 720x480 for NTSC or 720x576 for PAL are the maximum DVD resolutions.

Yes, that's what I meant to say. Corrected above. Thanks for spotting. I don't really wake up until noon.

[TreeTops]

Here's what Vimeo has to say about posting nudity: "No sexually explicit material or pornography. (Artistic and non-sexual nudity is allowed."

[diprotic]

+1 for Vimeo. Tons of options, (including a free one), and perhaps the most universally compatible way to distribute HD video.

[racer-x]

I know where Chelmsford MA is, I used to ski at Mount Wachuesetts back in the day......many moons ago.

Anyway, I agree with Vimeo. If you need to distribute a format for PC, I would go with AVC + AAC in an mp4 container. Preferably at a resolution of 1280x720p @ 23.976 fps. I would guesstimate about a 90% compatibility factor for your audience.

Nice photography work by the way..........

[lordsmurf]

I would self-host this, to avoid the anti-boobies rules at mainstream video sites.