Encoding web video

[hannahgaze]

What are good packages for editing and converting video footage to web formats?
Should I buy a copy of RealPublisher?
Hannah

[alexjames]

Don?t do it. You?ll be restricting yourself too much.
If basic usability knowledge that if you want to get good accessibility for users online you always need to provide the video in a number of formats, such as for streaming - Windows media, Quicktime or RealG2 and for downloads - Mpeg and Avi. So its worthwhile investing in something that will give you the facility to handle all these formats.
A good all in one package is Premier 6. It has nearly everything you?ll need for editing and the web including support for the main web formats.
It?s going to depend on your requirements. But if you foresee having multiple different projects in the future it is probably your best choice.


Alex

[no_one119]

When it comes to the web size is the important issue. The US has a lot of T1 and T2 connections (ie very fast) so streaming media and downloading is viable but in the UK I only know of one person using a connection faster than 56k.

Screw the downloading media, everybody hates it on a 56k connection, until broadband is in high usage the only real reason to use it is so that people can see a file but can't save it. Here the options fall into two categories really Real and Quicktime. Screw Windows Media Format, it doesn't provide anything extra, just provide links to Real and Apple to add the relevant plug-ins.

On the other hand if you want the to download it you have three choices. Real, which is lovely and small. Quicktime, which is a bit bigger but allows Apple users better access. Mpeg, which, even compressed, is still hugh but allows almost everyone to read it.

Do not, under any circumstances put it up in avi, those files are HUGH. You'll be lucky to find enough webspace to host a 10 min short on.

So the best software, well you could buy premier 6 but at what ?600 I think its bloody extortionate. You could opt for a cheaper video editing package, many of which offer Real and Quicktime support. Or you could download/buy RealProducer (RealProducer 8 Basic is available for free download I'm told) and Quicktime 4 Pro which will cost about $30 I believe and there be a tenth of what Adobe get away with charging for Premiere!

[This message has been edited by no_one119 (edited April 22, 2001).]

[no_one119]

Upon reflection I've noticed that I didn't really answer the question of video editing.

Well, after a quick bit of research in a couple of mags I had lying around two packages that came to hand were VideoWave 4 and Ulead's VideoStudio (currently on version 5, they were giving away free version 3 SE).

These can both export to RealMedia and VideoStudio can export to Quicktime as well.

They cost ?79.99 for VW and ?59.99 (quoted from jungle.com) or ?5.99 for version 3 of VideoStudio if you backorder a copy of PC Answers (www.pcanswers.co.uk).

Although if you have to buy hardware anyway you'll probably get some video editing software with it.

[marti-c]

No_one19 you now know 2 people who are running faster than 56k.........mines a nice hi speed cable modem. Lovely for watching streaming movies on atom (full screen, great resolution)

P.s. there was a company on shooting people who was selling a pinnacle dv card (i think dv200) with premiere 6 bundled with it for ?292vat inc)

marti

[This message has been edited by marti-c (edited April 22, 2001).]

[Vertino]

hannahgaze,

this is the forum for "low-budget film-making" - so the last thing you should be doing is thinking of spending cash!

first off, do you have a video capture card... because you'll need that before anything else....

if you want a good video editing package, then get hold of Adobe Premier (any version) - where from... hmm *cough* any decent warez site...

web formats.... hmmm... the discussion has been opened!

Video files are huge! well they were until recently!

RealVideo is okay for the web of 1998, lossy quality, okay file sizes, streams very nicely!

QuickTime - the most widely used compression type... works on most operating systems, Windows, Macs, basically its a universal format! - quality is good, file sizes are good.

DivX - the "MP3" of video... this is the future... very very nice quality (near DVD) - file sizes, can be very small... I mean you could fit an entire Movie (90mins+) on to one CD-R (650MB) - with near DVD-Quality!
one major draw back.... its currently only available on Windows AVIs! not much of a draw back really!

anyways... don't be buying any expensive software... thats crazy talk, and leave you with a massive hole in your wallet!

there are some cool Video Capturing Guides over at www.VCDHelp.com

[hannahgaze]

I know that a certain person mentioned I shouldn't be mentioning spending money on a low budget film makers site, surely low budget means there is a budget!!

Anyway after reading a few reviews etc I have decided I want to trial and then possibly buy Adobe Premier and want to know where to do this? Also I have only got about 100 MB of available hard-disk space left on my iMac will this be enough for Premier 6.0?

Thanks for your help.
H

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica, sans serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by alexjames:
Don?t do it. You?ll be restricting yourself too much.
If basic usability knowledge that if you want to get good accessibility for users online you always need to provide the video in a number of formats, such as for streaming - Windows media, Quicktime or RealG2 and for downloads - Mpeg and Avi. So its worthwhile investing in something that will give you the facility to handle all these formats.
A good all in one package is Premier 6. It has nearly everything you?ll need for editing and the web including support for the main web formats.
It?s going to depend on your requirements. But if you foresee having multiple different projects in the future it is probably your best choice.


Alex<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[alexjames]

I suggest you'll probably need a bigger hard drive for the video footage more than anything.

P6 is a good choice if you don't want the hassle of managing all the different software, and want the power of a high end editing package with loads of extra features. As someone said above look out for a good deal if you can get it.

Depending on what hardware your using firewire compatible? then you may be able to use that to assist with your lack of space.