Which video codec would you advice?
 

For WMV files(HQ)

Windows Media MPEG-4 video V3
Windows media Video V7
Windows media Video 8
Windows media Video 9
Windows media Video 9 advanced profile


Andre

It?s wmv so it really doesn?t matter? it?s all shit :1orglaugh
I can?t wait till h264 manages to speed up it?s encoding speed, no reason to keep anything inferior around with h264 in the house.

Surfers just use WMV and MPEG1...

Anyway, anyone else?

Since the mass majority of 'surfers' also have DivX, why not use that? At least 90% of all internet users who watch media on their PC will have it and you'll get much better quality vs. space by using it.

You never managed a memberarea did you? Then you will find out that the whole '10%' joined YOUR site ;-)

Isn't Xvid a better alternative since it's under the GNU GPL license?

It's not a better choice for surfers as the whole point is you want them to already have the codec installed so you don't get a lot of complains. The majority have DivX already installed which is why I use it in just about everything I do to consumers.

I encode on average 250-500 clips a week for a video bank :) At work we use Mpeg-2 for the majority of our final archiving? though it is harder to edit than with plain DV :( For the sample clips we send customers, we encode exclusively with the DivX codec, and so far we haven?t had one complain out of the 4,500+ customers we have so I would consider it one of the safest codecs to use on the internet today.

It?s far from the best of course, the best for size vs. space would be H264 at the moment. God damn I love H264, it?s just SO FUCKING SLOW. It?s at least twice as slow than the majority of encoding processes ;(

Okay, well this CMS REALLY needs some WMV, I will review the programs you stated later...

As far as the so called 'sucky' WMV files, what would you use:)

I would say V7 or 9 advanced (9 advanced can make vids look fairly comparable to mpeg-2 at a nice reduction in size) . If my memory is right V8 had a few bugs in it. I have not encoded over 50 WMV clips though... If you need a definitive answer, I would visit www.videohelp.com forums and ask them, though if you need an answer asap that's not going to help you (you can read posts, but can't post for 24 hours I think after activating your free membership). People at Videohelp.com are usually really friendly and are wiling to help you out on just about any video question.

The thing I really dislike the most about the WMVs I?ve encoded that the image has ALWAYS been way too soft looking, I just could never get any crispness using them.

I don't think the majority already have Divx installed. And if the member already got Divx then he probably got Xvid aswell since it's in every codecpack out there.

But I don't think you should use Divx or Xvid for a paysite.
WMV or MPEG will be a better choice since WMP already support it.

Real player is cool

I always encode my stuff in WMV 9. Never had a complaint and the quality is there if you choose the right settings (bitrate and framesize ratio to file size)

Thanks:thumbsup