Working on an all video format.

[Huskyhunks]

I've been using the same format of amateur images and model photo sets for years now. It's getting old seeing the same faces all the time now. I'm working on an all original, all video format for Huskyhunks.com. The video is going to be much larger than the stardard vod sizes, 480x360, in the .mov format which expands very nicely to twice it's size before losing much clarity at all.

The idea is to bring a dvd type experience for the members without making them purchase a dvd. The video will be high quality so really, it eliminates the need for dvd distribution altogether. Of course i'll be saving the projects on their mini dv tapes in case I want to go that route in the future.

The site content will be primarily focused on my point of view as a webmaster and also my interaction with the men in my life. Yes, there's lots. Also, from a compliance standpoint, i feel much better having paperwork on all the models. Is anyone else sort of going in this direction ?

[basschick]

our videos are 720x480 WMVs with a 1.6mb bitrate. we are still shooting pics as we shoot the videos, however. the two newest intensecash sites have very high video quality in several formats. both their site and ours also offer lower quality video for people on slower connections - and they are definitely still out there.

i think people will still buy DVDs - after all, nothing beats having your own hard copy and there are features on DVDs like interactive menus that guys won't get on our websites.

[Huskyhunks]

Hi Basschick,

Thanks for responding. I may try that larger size, the 480x360 was sort of a comprimise for low bandwith connections but I'm definitely not set on size of video yet. Also, I will probably try to offer the windows media format as well because it's so popular.

I subscribe to the one video is worth a thousand pictures philosophy. Also, all of the positive feedback I get from our members is focused on video. When I'm at a site, I'm like a bad movie, i go straight to video

DVD is definitely here to stay, at least for the next coming years. I suspect when I reach say the 600 minute mark I will start making dvd's. I want our first dvd collection to be very strong and make a big impression.

Basschick, how big do your video files turn out for each one minute of video on that 720x480 format ?

[basschick]

1 minute is 12mb.

a 480x360 video of even fair quality is far too big for dialup users and is probably pretty daunting for folks on ISDN or slow broadband like they have in some countries.

more than 15% of our videos watched are our dialup size. i've talked to other paysite owners who are seeing the same thing, so you can't beat having multiple formats rather than just one that you hope will work for all connections.

[donatien]

hey husky

i encode video in quicktime at a 640 by 480 size,at 1060 mbps...
one minute weighs about 7mo.
i used to encode in h264 but had to stop as many members could not see it ...
so encoding now in sorenson 3.
which is ok for everybody.
the image quality is good,h264 is better though,i heard also that with the new imovie 6,you can encode for ipod .

[Huskyhunks]

I'm not sure that 15% would be a high enough number to make me want to encode all my new video on multiple size formats. I would probably not go that route simply because it's just me, and I have to sacrifice sometimes because I don't have other employees and encoding is a huge resource hog.

I like the idea of a 640x480 size with quicktime. I haven't had too many problems with encoding with h264. This time around I will have really short videos on the front end preview so potential members will know for sure that the videos inside will work for them.

[basschick]

Huskyhunks - encoding in multiple formats in sorenson is very easy and fast - and sorenson is light so you can keep working in another window while it encodes. encoding each video in one other speed - say something small like 256 - is fast. also if you have more than one video to do at a time, you can do them all in a batch

btw, our editing and encoding is just me - i'm not using a dedicated video box.

[John-MuscleGods]

Huskyhunks:

I like the idea of a 640x480 size with quicktime. I haven't had too many problems with encoding with h264. This time around I will have really short videos on the front end preview so potential members will know for sure that the videos inside will work for them.

We made the switch to Quicktime H.264 several months ago in a 640x480 resolution. The videos quality is terrific. The only problem we found is that you need Quicktime 7 which requires WindowsXP or that latest Mac OS X. Surprising how many people are running WindowsMe or 98 and refuse to upgrade.

Lost a few members but the vast majority of our customer love the increased size and quality of the video.

[Huskyhunks]

Basschick and Donatien, I was just checking sorenson reviews on version tracker and it got horrible reviews across the board on the mac OSX platform. I'm wondering why so much bad feedback from loyal customers ?

J-Musclegods, I'm actually not using the h.264 (part 10) of the mpeg-4 format from quicktime. I"m using the regular mpeg-4 (part 2) format so that's probably why I haven't had a problem with members being able to view my movies.

I think alot of people are just afraid to change as long as they can see most of the videos and images they want... alot probably won't upgrade their software.

[donatien]

yeah ....some people are afraid or do not want to bother to switch to quicktime 7....but it seems there is still a large bunch of people with windows ME...and it is just not technically possible for them to use quicktime 7 ....


i don t think sorenson 3 image quality is so bad,it s pretty good but encoding with h264 gives you just an almost perfect image quality ....and not so heavy too...

but i had to refund some members who could not get the qt7....
so with reluctance ...i decided to use sorenson 3....

i saw also a message here from muscleadonis who uses h264 to encode and he got in trouble when he had to encode his H264 qt videos in a wmv .format ....

it seems you cannot do it ....

anyway ...i do believe strongly that the 640 by 480 size is nice ...,i wanted even to use a larger size but then videos became very heavy ...and if the user has a small screen computer like 12 '' ...then it might just be too big for him...

[JusThunder]

Is anyone else sort of going in this direction ?

Someday, I'd like for us to go in that direction. I don't see it happening anytime soon unfortunately. So many people with slower connections.

[Huskyhunks]

Hi JusThunder,

I am wondering if I have enough footage to make a complete video site right now. I will also have to consider how it might affect affiliates as well. I want to change but I also don't want to tinker too much with what I know works well.

[Mugshot]

I don't recommend using .mov anymore, most users prefer .wmv

If you really want quicktime also offer a wmv version.

And you should also look in the new flash video format. It's on the rise.

And if you want to outsource your encoding .. hit me up :thumbsup: