Video for web

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H and M Video
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Joined: Jun 5 1999
Quote:
they have asked for a mov file preferably h264. Also if you could 16:9 format rather than 4:3 that would be good.

I have been asked to supply some footage for a web site. The footage was shot some years ago in 4:3 format. The quote above is part of their request. My understanding is that a MOV file is different from an H264 one and cannot be both, eg a H264 MOV file. I can create both formats via Adobe CS3 but have a query on converting the 4:3 to 16;9 which might look a bit "stretched" and spoil the footage. Also should I reduce the size to 360 * 288 for both H264 and Quicktime's Mov. files for the WEB?

Obviously I am looking for advice and look forward to hearing your comments and tips.

Harry

PC Specialist 3Gz Dual Core, Premiere CS3, Encore CS3, After Effects CS3, Matrox RT.X2, Panasonic HD HS-300, Z1E & PMW-EX3 Cams.
 
Now with a PC Specialist Quad Core i7-3770, 16GB RAM, 180GB SSD, GeForce GTX560 Ti Graphics Card, Blu-Ray & DVD R/W Burners and can't wait to set it up. Now up and running.  What a difference in Blu-Ray footage.

Dave R Smith
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Joined: May 10 2005

Hi Harry,
Just so happened I was experimenting with intermediate file types today for importing HDV to after affects. One option I used from P.pro v2 was to export as mov at full res with H264 codec, which AE was happy with.. though went for uncompressed in the end.
For web content I would expect square pixel aspect ratio to be best for quality, but would no doubt be a correspondingly bigger data file, so any gain could be offset.
I don't do much for web, probably like yourself, I try several ways and try and factor in whether typical user would typically be someone on slow computer (aged viewer) or fast connection (company intranet) and maybe offer 2 versions for fast/slow. HTH

DAVE M
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Joined: May 17 1999

Teh 16:9 from 4x3 (it always seems better written that way to me!) kind of depends on what the content is.

If you take the whole picture, you'll squash it butif there was enough headroom could you crop it? As they want it for the web, that might help.

I was given some 4x3 footage to fit in with a 16:9 video (the guy was told but forgot to reset his camera) and I got away with selectivly loosing the top/bottom of the picture.

Not perfect but it worked

mooblie
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Joined: Apr 27 2001

Just a point of pendantry: you CAN have .mov files that are H.264 (my website is full of them!) A .mov file is just a container file using many (any?) codec you like, including H.264.

BTW: don't forget you can now play H.264 files in the embedded Flash Player in any browser - it doesn't have to be presented in Quicktime Player - thereby getting (i) the quality of H.264 with (ii) the wide playability in the large population of Flash-enabled browsers out there (i.e. nearly everybody).

These files can, of course, be any pixel size and aspect ratio you like: the usual questions of cropping/letterboxing/pillarboxing arise. Please... no aspect ratio distortion!!

Martin - DVdoctor in moderation. Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

H and M Video
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Joined: Jun 5 1999

Thanks for all your assistance although they do raise more questions on which I will probably get back to you.

Dave, I tried the conversion from 4:3 to 16:9 by cropping etc. but the footage does not look good and some detail is lost so I will contact the people and ask them to accept the 4:3 format.

BTW I read somewhere on this forum that YouTube retains the right to the copyright of any material that you place on their site. Do you know if this is true?

Harry

PC Specialist 3Gz Dual Core, Premiere CS3, Encore CS3, After Effects CS3, Matrox RT.X2, Panasonic HD HS-300, Z1E & PMW-EX3 Cams.
 
Now with a PC Specialist Quad Core i7-3770, 16GB RAM, 180GB SSD, GeForce GTX560 Ti Graphics Card, Blu-Ray & DVD R/W Burners and can't wait to set it up. Now up and running.  What a difference in Blu-Ray footage.

Dave R Smith
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Joined: May 10 2005

Hi Harry.
Yes it pays to be wary.
A businesslink directory website I was once invited to list on claimed that submission gave them copyright on content, so I didn't procede.
Youtube - see:
http://www.youtube.com/t/terms?hl=en_GB
sections 8.3 to 10, though have no knowledge if there are other issues in practice.

sleepytom
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Joined: Sep 15 2000

the youtube agreement is not dissimilar to a standard rights / distribution contract. It gives youtube quite a lot of rights to resell your content without passing on any profits to you.

All these video upload sites will have similar contracts / terms of use. Without them such sites couldn't operate legally. If your worried about such agreements then pretty much your only choice is to host your video on a private web server. This is expensive and complex when compared to youtube but offers potentially significantly better quality as well as being able to use your own branded player which is designed to fit in with the rest of the site.

You can contact me at http://tombassford.org
People interested in live production might like to check out http://atemuser.com