Video in websites...?

[visionofdesign]

I am building a site for a company that just released a video, and I am wondering what the best way to go about playing a trailor on the site would be. I have no experience in flash (not enough to know if flash is even capable of playing video), and I know very little about video/multimedia on the web in general. Usually the sites I build are pretty much images and text. There has never been much more than that. I have looked into a few different ways, but every time I think I found the way that is best, I find out something that I really don't like about it. Does anybody have any suggestions? The video is about 2.5mb, and it is in wmv format right now.

 

[NickStagg]

Flash is certainly capable of playing video and will also allow you to stream the video, which is handy for slower connections, without needing to use a streaming server. The video is compressed via flash and played back via the browser as with any other media, if you need more help or advice drop me a PM and I will help you out.

http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/flashpro/video/gallery/

 

[StudioWorks]

You can place the video in the site in these formats

- flash
- quicktime
- media player

 

[visionofdesign]

I don't know much about quicktime, is it just a video player for macs? Plugin needed, I would assume. I would imagine that the majority of my audience will be using Windows with IE, so does that make playing it in windows media player the most universal?

 

[skrilla]

id go with flash, but either that or windows media player would be the best.. IMHO

 

[visionofdesign]

well I appreciate the opinions, and what I think I will do is make the video stream from the site with flash, and downloadable in a wmv format. Does that sound logical?

 

[LeeRyder]

use E107 ( http://www.gnudownloads.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=1&ttitle=E107 ) and the video (media) plugin to show videos.

I used it for a long long time. was solid and as efficient as possible.

 

[Rowan W]

WMV doesn't tend to work at all in Gecko browsers (mozilla, netscape...), whereas Quicktime should work on any browser.

Personally I prefer quicktime because it has a small clean interface, it loads fast and you can scrub the video.

Just convert your video to MPG or MOV and embed it on your page.

 

[visionofdesign]

When somebody comes to my site, will there be an ugly, drawn-out process for quicktime video plug-in if I choose quicktime?

 

[Rowan W]

It should just be a white box with a small gray bar underneath. It doesn't look nearly as bad as Media Player.

 

[visionofdesign]

I just went to the quicktime site and tried to watch a movie trailer... the installation of the plugin is EXTREMELY confusing. I could barely figure it out and I'm a web designer. I will make quicktime an optional way to view the video, but there's no way that's gonna be the primary way to view it.

 

[Rowan W]

That's a shame, it's really worth it in the end. However if more people are happy to use IE and Media Player, then so be it. :]

 

[unknowngiver]

You can change the the wmv to Flash easily and since u r good with Images and text in webdesigning....u can add attractive borders and stuff outside it....if u need help wid CONVERTING wmv to Flash...then just let me know