Web-Video-Mastery

Several factors come into play when using video files for the web. These factors help to
determine the type of video that you are doing as well as the final product. If these
factors are off any then you will end up with a lousy video. So make sure that you
understand the factors that are involved when creating videos and how these factors
effect how your video plays.
Bit depth is one of the factors that come into play when you are creating video files for
the web. To explain bit depth very simply, it is what determines the color resolution in
your video. High bit depths are used when creating large video files. Lower bit depths
are used for smaller video files or for when you want control over the color resolutions.
Frame size is also a factor in video files that you will be placing on the web. Frame size
of a project is usually equal to the frame size of the final video file but for internet usage,
you will want to reduce the frame size so that there is less data to transfer when the
video plays on the internet.
Frame rate is also a factor with your video files in that it helps determine the quality of
motion in the video. When the frame rate is right then the video will flow smoothly and
when it is off the video will appear choppy. Frame rate of the project usually should also
be equal to the frame rate of the final video file but again for internet usage this is also
not the case. Frame rate for web videos should be lower so that it helps with
compression of the file.
Once your video is complete and you are ready to place the video on the web, you will
need to look at the compression. Compression takes a video file and compresses it to a
smaller size to allow it to play on a web page without pulling a lot of bandwidth. The
problem that some people face with video file compression is finding the right amount of
compression. If the compression is to low the data rate will be too high which can cause
errors. If the compression is too high then the date rate will be lowered to far causing
the picture quality to lousy.
Chapter 3 – Web Video File Formats
Several formats can be used for web video files. These formats determine the
compression and the decompression of the video files. They also determine which type
of player that the videos will run in. Players being Windows Media Player, Quick Time,
Flash Media Player and Real Time etcetera. However, some video formats can play
within several media players. Web video file formats also use what is known as a codec
to encode the compression and decompression of the video, also a codec can
determine what player the video is played on.
MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group)
MPEG is one of the most popular formats on the World Wide Web. Since MPEG is what
is known as a cross-platform format, it is viewable by all the mainstream web browsers.
Some professionals liken the quality of a web video in MPEG format to that of the
quality of VHS tape. The high level of compression that allows the video to be of smaller
size without losing the quality. This makes it easier for viewers to watch the video no
matter what their connection speed is. The benefit to your company is that you will not
suffer a lost sale because the viewer did not want to wait a long time for the video to
load and thus moved on to another website.
MPEG has two file extensions and they are filename.mpg and filename.mpeg.
Microsoft AVI Video (AVI)
AVI file format offers you minimal compression and is available for the Windows
platform. There are several Windows applications that can play an AVI video file but the
most common is Windows Media Player. While a video file format is basically a codec,
AVI itself uses different codecs such as Indeo 3.2, MPEG-4V2, Cinepak and several
others. This makes an AVI file format difficult to run because it requires that your
customers or clients have that specific codec installed in their media player. Should a
customer or client not have the specific codec that you used when creating your AVI file,
they will not be able to play your web video within their media player. The way around
this would be to set your web video up to play directly on the web page. This is usually
only possible if your web video is embedded in your own web page on your own
website.
File extension for Microsoft AVI format is filename.avi.
Apple Quick Time (MOV)
Apple Quick Time is a file format that was developed by Apple and is a widely used
format on the Internet. Apple Quick Time videos can be what are known as flattened.
The reason for flattening the videos is so that they can be viewed on both a Macintosh
and a PC. While Apple Quick Time can offer higher quality on the images, the file sizes
are large. This can pose a problem with loading...