I just wondered firstly how you embed your films so they they play progressively - as when i have tried the user must download the entire thing before it plays, it doesn't seem to have fast start.

Secondly what bitrates do you encode you films at for dial up and broadband?

Cheers

Welcome to Studentfilms Loki!

What format are you using? QuickTime is the best for what you're talking about, and the encoder is $20 from quicktime.com

Use Sorenson3 or MPEG4 in QuickTime and be sure to check the "prepare for internet streaming" options. Bitrates... broadband I try to keep at around 320x240 frame size, 80-90 kilobytes per second. Dialup needs to be as low as you can go without making it look like crap.

Cheers doughnut,

I'm using Discreet's Cleaner XL to encode the files. I've been using the Sorenson 3 codec - excellent compression and quality. I'm new to Cleaner so not sure exactly how to create progessive movies as such. I'll keep searching but if anyone knows directly that would be agreat help.

Cheers.

Sorry, I can only dream of using Cleaner, so I'm afraid I can't help there.

hey Loki, Cleaner sometimes has problems with the quickstart quicktime files. What I normally do is compress the clip first, THEN do a second pass where I select "flatten only" from the tracks menu and then make sure "flatten, cross-platform, fast start" is enabled from the output menu. This extra step has made thing work perfectly for me.

Also, regarding compression, if there's any way you can get your hands on sorenson 3 pro, you'll get much better compressed files. Their VBR logarithm is amazing.

I wasn't aware of the issues with Cleaner, thanks. I'll have a go at your suggestion and also see if i can get my hands on s3pro codec. Cheers for the help people.

Sorry - hate double posting,

Just while we're on the subject of Sorenson, has anyone tried the Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suit? How have you found it?

I think that's what Chris (Admin) uses for the videos on this site. It seems very similar to cleaner if you're using a sorenson codec. Plus, it comes with sorenson 3 pro. But, it's the codec, not that app, that does all the work, and as far as I can tell, squeeze doesn't give you anything cleaner with sorenson 3 pro doesn't have. Chris?

I REALLY want Squeeze. I am dyeing to buy that. Let me rephrase that, I am dyeing to be able to afford that

Sorenson is a life saver. I really should buy the full application. Anyone know how much it costs?

So what other software do you lot use for encoding apart from Cleaner and the Squeeze Suit?