Download Movie Formats: Which do you like?

[BillShipton]

Sorry for a very dull post but we need to know...

Which of the formats available for movie downloads do you prefer? Which works best? Which is the best quality for the file size etc. As far as we can see there are three main contenders but some cyber genius out there might now better...

Do let us know so we can start converting our movies to download.

[mrandmrsfilth]

DivX gives far better quality but some P.C.'s / players don't always have the relevant components. So, from a useability point of view, I'd suggest WMV as the quality is comparable but it is a more robust format particularly if the files are going to be large in size. You need to know a download won't crash out and if it does, when in WMV format, it seems to continue where it left off and then complete / play properly.

As for QuickTime I don't believe it gives you as many options as the other 2, being Apple's proprietary media player.

Whichever way you go I'm pleased we can finally see the results of the download conversion and get our hands on some Splosh classics.

[DecadentDoll]

If its in quicktime then i do believe i can have them all on my iPod!

I like Divx, it is good quality, but some people do complain about it...

[Jonny]

Divx is good quality but not compatiable with most players. The universal format is WMV. DivX sadly the betamax of tis generation

[Richard]

I favour WMV because I have a PC but the Mac brigade will probably disagree.

[TraderJones]

DivX will give the best quality to size ratio, and provides a lot more flexibility of playback (For instance you can get a £30 dvd player from asda that will place DivX clips straight of a CD! )

Though if your get swayed away from DivX then WMV is quite passable, just make sure you create 'Seekable' files, very important in WAM! Quite a few of the early gunge-girls files we're released unseekable, which meant that you couldn't skip to the action, you had to sit through all the build up first!

Oooh have you got clips in mind for the first releases ? Will you be releasing the Long awaited 'barn' scene with Tracey ?

[muckypup]

I guess this thread shows there is no "right" answer. There are pros and cons for all the formats.

Movs - most generic will work on Apple Macs and iPods and PCs.
WMV - would work best with most PCs
DivX - best file size/quality but may require people to download additional software (not sure if thats an issue)

I havent helped much here have I? Thats before you get into the whole getting software to produce each of the different versions...

WMV and MOV seem to be the standard on most other download services in my experience so I'd probably go with either/both of those.

[DungeonMasterOne]

The DivX problem can usually be solved by downloading the free player and codec from http://www.divx.com. I encode all the Gungemaster videos as DivX, and the compression is incredible, what starts out as a 1GB DV avi file ends up as a tiny 55mb DivX, with no loss of quality that I've noticed so far.

I'd vote for DivX, tiny files, great quality, and fully seekable.

[TottyMcGee]

Out of those three, I'd choose wmv, but would suggest offering both wmv and mov formats in order to make it easy for mac users.

The problem with DivX is compatability problems. Being a seperate company without the muscle of Microsoft or Apple they are invariably shat on by the big boys, finding and installing the correct codecs is a pain many can do without and even once installed there's no guarantee that they'll work properly with the most popular players.

[dirtydids]

On the old *Wamchantelle* site we did originally do a test with Divx but found people were having problems downloading within a few days so we did all future video as WMV format.

For people with a Mac who dont know you can play windows Media Player on a Mac if you havnt already got it go here.


http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherprodu ... ndowsmedia

Dids