Video format for web

[kegobeer]

Have you visited Sony's or Pinnacle's website?  They may have software available to convert your videos.  The AC3 codec belongs to Pinnacle, so that's why I'm pointing you in that direction.

If software came bundled with your camera, you should explore whatever options you have available in that package.

[sabryan]

Bundle with a camera came Sony Picture Package, what a silly product.

Canopus Porocoder is just about the only program that can tka the movie with AC3 and output to anything you want, very good program.

if you take a look now, I took my original movie (25 megs)and using Canopus procoder, I converted the movie to a wmv 3.5 meg file, then load it the movie in Cyberlink Powerdvd and took a snapshot for the thumb.

My video plays at size 512x384 and the movie size is 3.5 megs.

I would like to find a way to get the movie to even smaller size.

[kegobeer]

There are freeware programs that will separate the audio and video, so you can convert/edit each one separately, then you can merge them back together with those same programs.  That's how I normally go about making my DVDs.  Procoder is a great program, but the price tag ( ) keeps me away from it.

You can further drop file sizes by going to a 320x240 or 352x240 size, drop the bit level of the video, and drop the audio to 11kb.  True, the product isn't as nice, but for web delivery it's a trade off that I make all the time.  I try to minimize the artifacting as much as possible while maintaining a small file size.  Sometimes it takes me a while but manual tinkering always yields a better result than using standard hi/medium/low presets.  WMV, although a Microsoft format, is about the best way to deliver a small file size.  You may have some success with a DivX encoding if you stick with MPEG-1.

[sabryan]

in your opinion, what is the most common video file used for web delivery?

[kegobeer]

I would say MPEG-1, since all operating systems have support for that file type.  If you use WMV, you exclude *nix, Mac, etc.

On my site, I use WMV, since it's a family website and geared towards my immediate family.  They all use Windows, so my target audience is covered.  I don't care if visitors aren't able to see the videos; if I cared, I would use MPEG-1 to cater to a larger audience.