Best Web Compression Software
by Alex Bond
on
Nov 27, 2008 at 11:31:04 am
Hi,
We produce a lot of web tv content these days and I've managed to improve our quality by exporting Quicktimes to FLV using Sorensen VP6 as opposed to Riva's FLV encoder (though we still use that when time is an issue since sorensen is uber slow).
I was wondering if anyone had managed to find any better encoders than these?
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Daniel Low on Nov 27, 2008 at 7:55:14 pm
By 'better' do you mean better quality, better speed, better value, better to use, better features, better interface, better toolset or?
Mac or PC based?
Any budget limits?
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Re: Best Web Compression Software by Daniel Low on Nov 28, 2008 at 9:26:57 am
You'll need to spend quite a bit more to beat the quality of the combination of squeeze and VP6. Vividas was a service rather than a product obviously, and sadly they went bankrupt recently.
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Daniel Low on Nov 28, 2008 at 10:53:15 am
Nothing at all special about their compression techniques but a clever method of delivery that others are now using. They just didn't have a solid business model.
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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying 'thanks' is free!
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Maxwell Federman on Nov 29, 2008 at 6:39:54 am
Hello
There is a little-known company called KulaByte (www.kulabyte.com)that has developed amazing technology that allows you to stream full resolution video over the web (even HD!)
There is a demo on the main page. What is really amazing though is how you can view the stream on an HDTV and it looks awesome.
Currently several branches of the US government are using this encoder for HD surveillance and over two dozen broadcasting companies have bought them. I have personally seen a full demonstration and I was blown away by the quality. I am curious to hear if anyone else has even heard of them.
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Daniel Low on Nov 29, 2008 at 8:07:21 am
I've evaluated Kulabytes stuff in the past and would have mentioned it but it's likely to be WAY too expensive for Alex!
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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying 'thanks' is free!
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Ed Dooley on Nov 29, 2008 at 2:27:03 pm
Depending on market penetration issues, you can also export to H.264, since it can be played in Flash now. If you don't like slow compressing, you may not like it, if you have viewers that don't have the latest Flash Player you might not like it. But the quality is very good (I use H.264 and VP6 and depending on the footage it may be hard to see any difference). H.264 also has very small data rate for comparable quality, so if file size is an issue, that may help decide.
Ed
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Alex Bond on Nov 29, 2008 at 3:53:11 pm
Interesting but up to date flash players could be an issue, I'm trying to make sure our subscribers don't need to download anything new if at all possible.
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Ed Dooley on Nov 29, 2008 at 4:35:13 pm
Yeah, that's always a concern. Most, if not all, Flash video you see from major TV networks require Flash 9, so people are used to being asked to update. For me the biggest roadblock are corporate clients, where their IT departments don't allow individuals to download anything, fearing viruses, etc.
The Flash update is very quick, but you don't always get right back to the site you were on afterwards, so another inconvenience.
Ed
[Alex Bond]"Interesting but up to date flash players could be an issue, I'm trying to make sure our subscribers don't need to download anything new if at all possible.
"
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Daniel Low on Nov 29, 2008 at 10:35:31 pm
Much as I love H.264 (x264 is simply stunning), the problem I've found is that most people don't have computers powerful enough to play back H.264, let alone inside the crappy Flash container. (Flash 'video' might be everywhere, but it's rubbish performance-wise).
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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying 'thanks' is free!
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Alex Bond on Dec 9, 2008 at 11:01:53 pm
Flowplayer looks like a smart interface, esp on my mac, but the quality doesn't appear to be any better than what I've already got. I'd probably have to fork out on more web development too :(
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Daniel Low on Dec 11, 2008 at 4:46:06 pm
Yes, on a daily basis.
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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying 'thanks' is free!
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Derek Lau on Jan 16, 2009 at 12:56:55 pm
I have been using one called "Flash Video Studio" they just came out with version 3.0 that lets you use h.264 codec,as well as vp6. It also lets you add in a playlist, fullscreen button, and lots of other features.
Re: Best Web Compression Software by Chris Blair on Jan 24, 2009 at 2:28:06 am
We also use Flash Video Studio and couldn't be happier with it. Much easier than trying to learn Adobe Flash or use Adobe Flash Encoder. There's also another program similar to it called Turbine Video Encoder that's good.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
www.videomi.com
