Basics: Choosing A Video Format

Remember 8 tracks and vinyl records? How about Beta tapes for VCRs? On the internet you are dealing with Quick Time, Vivo, Real Player, Windows Media Player (formerly Net Show) and MPEG, to name a few.

Confused? Most computers do the work for you but if you plan to put video on your web site you need to be certain of two things:

1. You have the right player for the content you are trying to view. (And be sure to make the players available to your audience.)

2. Your producer for Web video can provide high quality output in all of the formats available to your audience.

You can download several different players (all are free) to get a feel for the differences:

Real Player is a good general player.

Vivo is a wise choice if you prefer speed over quality.

Choose QuickTime or Windows Media Player serves as a happy medium between speed and quality. They can both provide for streaming content.

Choose MPEG if you want to download the movie and watch it later with QuickTime or Windows Media Player. Downloading means a longer loading time (since you have to wait to download the whole file, as opposed to watching it as it streams), but higher quality.

Reprinted with permission from authors John Moore and Pippa Nicholson, whose Web site explains their video production services.