Compress members vids with DIVX, or just plain WMV file ?
 

I want to deliver hi-quality videos to my members, and at the same time try not to rape my bandwidth.


Would it be wise to encode my videos using the DivX format, or will it piss customers off if I require them to have the codec ? (of course, a link to the free codec would be provided)



Opinions ?

wmv

You simply will get problems and complaints. Surfers are not webmasters and often retarded when it comes to codecs.

Hands down .wmv

wmv... divx sucks and is a hassle for your customers, especially when they visit the divx site and are bombarded w/ upsells and confusing download options..

.mov - make them download quicktime.

wmv, some people don't like bothering with codecs.

you could offer the choice of both.

This is what I'm thinking for my site. 5 wmv files and one full download mpeg.

so you're gonna put them all in the wmv format....and offer the video downloaded in two choices: 5 clips or 1 huge file ?

all in WMV, or the 1 huge one in Divx and the parts in wmv ?

1 huge one in Mpeg and the parts in wmv.

WMV in vhs quality would be the best way to save bandwidth and have ok quality video for a members site.

DIVX is a horrible solution to offer members. The codec is available in pay and advertising versions. The advertising version puts crappy spyware on your 'puter that delivers popup ads that work regardless of popup blocker or SP2 upgrade. It's really awful.

thanks for the advice...pure wmv files for me !

Our sites offer both WMV and DIVX. I recently made a members' poll, and about 15% still prefer the DivX, either because of certain Mac OS users, or windows 95-98non-se types. Whatever the case, you'll lose about 15% of potential customers it its worth it to you.

give them an option :)

Quicktime .mov files....they compress great and the quality is superb

http://www.picassocash.com/picassocash.gif

We have both... just have a link to the codec they need and instructions... the only potential problem is that they have to restart for the codec to work properly (sometimes). People like the quality of DivX better.

Hey, I was wondering where you get this mis-information. It isn't a knock or anything, it just seems like we need to help with the education.

To download the player, you can use the link - http://www.divx.com/divx/player/download/

They don't even leave your site and it doesn't take a restart.

We also have a browser plugin in development that you can implement.

http://trailers.divx.com/plugin/index.html (you can view source to play with the active X.)

and the api info is here - http://www.mikx.de/divx_reference.php

So chupa, let me know where that came from and I will try and let them know the truth.

Thanks -

This is not true. There is an optional google toolbar instal for the pro-codec, which isn't even needed for playback.

See above post for more details.

Soory for the barage here,

I just got a better link for a player download - http://download.divx.com/player/DivXPlayerInstaller.exe

It will install right in there. no google tool bar. no restart. no nothing.

thanks for the handy info Divo !

:thumbsup