Distribution deal
Published: 10 Jan 2003
For years, video distribution involved rendering your production back to videotape, then dubbing (copying) the finished version onto VHS for distribution to friends, family or business associates. You can use DV cameras to dub video onto VHS, too, or just connect them to television sets and watch your videos that way. But these days, you can do much more.
Streaming and encoding
First, of course, you can burn video to CD or DVD. You also can post your video to a Web site or send it via email. In both instances, you'll want to compress your video to make it easier to download or transfer, which means choosing one of three streaming formats: RealVideo, Microsoft’s Windows Media Technologies or Apple’s QuickTime.
Most consumer video editors -- such as Ulead’s VideoStudio, Roxio’s VideoWave and Pinnacle Studio -- can output in at least one of these formats, and your viewers can easily download a free player. Unfortunately, encoding into these formats is a lossy process, meaning you lose quality as you compress the video for streaming.
Improving your stream
However, when you compress video to very low bit rates for streaming from a Web site or sending quickly via email, you have to use formats and compression speeds that may noticeably degrade video quality. To arrive at the best possible compression quality, you should experiment with the presets found in most editing software; hopefully, you can identify the best trade-off between quality and file size. For example, if you want to email a video to friends, you don't need to encode video at a jerky 56Kbps just to accommodate those who access the Internet via dial-up modem. Instead, you can choose a preset with a higher connection rate, but doing so will extend the download time for those with slower connections.
Web-based video
If you'd like to email video after you've compressed it, note that most HTML-based mail services, including Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, put limits -- usually about 1MB to 2MB -- on attachment sizes. Full-service Internet service providers typically allow up to 5MB. Your ISP simply won't deliver larger attachments.
Another alternative is to host your videos on Web sites such as SpotLife or TeVeo, which accept both streaming Webcam videos and previously encoded videos. Once you join (TeVeo is free, SpotLife charges $2.95 per month after a 30-day trial), you can upload your videos to either site, then send links to your friends. Check each service's FAQ for supported formats and file-size limitations.
Of course, you also can post videos on your personal or corporate Web site. Unfortunately, HTML editors such as Microsoft’s FrontPage still don't make this task easy for beginners, and your ISP may limit or prohibit bulky video files. This makes SpotLife and TeVeo very attractive options for most casual users.
If you're determined to post videos on your own site, Microsoft offers free tools included in the Windows Media Encoder that help create the necessary HTML code, which you can copy and paste into your Web pages using any HTML editor. RealNetworks also offers wizard-based HTML-creation tools, but you'll have to upgrade from the basic Helix Producer Basic to Helix Producer Plus for $199 (~£124) to access them. If you'd rather use QuickTime, check the QuickTime site for a list of third-party products that simplify the integration of QuickTime content into your Web site.
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