Can anyone make recommendations for video distribution?
I'm trying to balance price, quality and speed. I'm about to pull the trigger on Sandisk Cruzer Blade for $5 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/752248-REG

Are these fast enough for hd playback? For $7 Sandisk ultra are lot faster but I'm trying to keep costs down since I'm selling them for theatrical work and have multiple orders.

Purchase one of each and do a test. Let a neighbor or colleague try the video playback on their computer and try different TVs. Maybe a local electronics store will let you try playback on a couple of different model?

Good luck!

I just tried an old usb flash drive and the video played back both on the computer and tv so theses should be fine. But I'll be sure to test them when they come in.

I wanted to get the all metal Kingston drives because I like the looks with subtle branding but I've read they're really slow.

Hey Pete

Also depends on what bitrate you encode the video at. I just give brides 1920x1080 MP4 at 8000kbps and the Sandisk drives perform fine but maybe you are encoding higher?

What annoys me is brides want DVD sets too and often ask where the hilite video is and I tell them it's on the USB with the HD video files ... "Oh we haven't watched those yet"

Probably theatre performances where they are used to watching previous DVD's in SD won't be fussy when they see a FHD video of the same so I wouldn't go crazy on the bitrate so unless it's super high any drive will easily cope! $5.00 for a 16GB drive is really cheap!!

I've waited for years for flash drives to make sense. They still don't. (Please tell me I'm missing something.)

As long as PCs have their stupid 4gb cap, it's just not worth it for me to chop up a video.
As long as Blu-Ray won't let me output in progressive mode, it's not worth it.

What I do is burn DVDs with an old version of Encore on its own, old OS. If the up-conversion doesn't do it for my client, and/or if they want all the raw footage, I have them order an external hdd through Amazon with my address for shipping. I give the client everything on the drive and mail it out with the DVD. That way they get everything, it doesn't cost me anything, I don't have to worry about file size, my client has a new external and they have 1080P digitally for whatever the future brings.

I don't want to play Mickey Mouse with a flash drive working on this TV but not that TV. Until there's a shift, I'm continuing this way. My only concern is that someday I will not be able to fire-up Encore. Thoughts?

Chris: I used Compressor on the mac with the default setting for Apple devices 1080p 10k variable bitrate. I agree with you the SanDisk I got should be fine.

I'm testing the waters by offering a HD upgrade for an additional $10 I'm including usb flash drive along with the dvd.

I was expecting like in the past nobody would be interested but to my surprise I'm getting a lot of responses.

For the next performance I'm thinking of buying an encasement that holds both a dvd and flash drive. I'm just a little perturbed at the added cost.
https://www.premiumusb.com/usdm-flash-pac-case-usb-flash-drive-disc-super-clear-with-logo

I've waited for years for flash drives to make sense. They still don't. (Please tell me I'm missing something.)

As long as PCs have their stupid 4gb cap, it's just not worth it for me to chop up a video.
As long as Blu-Ray won't let me output in progressive mode, it's not worth it.
You are missing something.
It's not the PCs that have a stupid 4GB cap it's only if you use the FAT32 file system on the flash drive that files are limited to 4GB. If you format them as exFAT or NTFS or ext3 or HFS+ then there is no 4GB limit.
Blu-ray can do 1080p@24fps but TBH progressive/interlaced don't really have any meaning with digital displays as 1080i@50i is effectively 1080p@25fps & 1080i@60fps is 1080p@30fps. Whatever Blu-ray has at many times the resolution of DVD & looks enormously better especially on a modern large screen TV.

What Nigel said, my clients get a blu-ray with footage that was shot in either HD or 4K at 25 or 50fps progressive and it looks equally good on a big HD tv compared to the native footage when I play it on my pcscreen. Then I also supply a usb stick with either the film in HD or 4K with no file limitation as I format exfat so it can be read on a mac, windows and linux. That usb stick is just a carrier for the files, it's up to the client to either plug and play on their tablet or laptop or to copy the files onto a mediaplayer for playback on their tv.

I think at the moment USB is not a simple option for the client compared to DVD. Most have a DVD player still even if they no longer use it on a regular basis but lets face it, despite the SD quality, it's still a simple client operation. You open the tray, close the tray and the menu comes up and you press OK on the remote.

Even Tacky's system of menu driven USB is complicated so assuming that the client doesn't have a BD player or media player then despite crappy resolution DVD is STILL the favoured option whether we like it or not.
Until home based entertainment systems introduce a media that is as simple as DVD's then it will be a hassle to decide what to supply a client. It's really not a happy situation at the moment and DVD's will soon be hard to find.

That's why my package includes both the DVD and the USB, guaranteeing they'll be able to play it on any device they choose. Most likely the parent will reach for the dvd and their child/teenager will take the usb.

Blu-ray is the media that is as simple to use as DVD & the players are cheap. SD is going to look pretty crappy on a modern 60" 4K TV. I know that people nowadays are likely to consume HD & 4K via streaming services but there are still many who want to own physical media which is why CDs still sell.

When your eye gets used to a large set with 4K resolution and detail, as many clients are seeing lately, that DVD SD quality will look really bad as I have experienced with a past client last week. Sure, it looked great on their 32 inch 1080P telly but they were kind of disappointed when their new 55" 4K arrived last month. Many clients that are getting married this year are asking and demanding 4K quality. If I don't offer it, I lose the sale.
Pure and simple. My questions are editing and delivery media. Almost all 4K large screens out there take the USB. They want that simplicity of sticking that stick in and watch in all it's glory...4K.

I'm about to pull the trigger on Sandisk Cruzer Blade for $5 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/752248-REG
.

Pete, I used the same flash drive only a 32GB one.
It was very slow to copy over 21GB but it played back 100%

As long as PCs have their stupid 4gb cap, it's just not worth it for me to chop up a video.

Dana, I was able to put 2hrs of HD video onto the 32GB pen drive and nothing chopped up.

For the last 3 years of our major recital I didn't offer SD video DVD's, just HD data DVD's with each individual dance or segment as a separate mp4 file contained in a folder for First Half and Second Half.
Since we do a lot of dances, that has meant a two-disc set.

I haven't done any weddings in a long time, so I can't offer advice on long-form programs and their resulting file size for a single video file. I would think cutting the day into their normal segments wouldn't go over 4Gb for any one part except for unusually long ceremonies.

The primary instruction is to copy the files to your computer for viewing or uploading to the cloud, or if your modern DVD player or TV can handle mp4 files directly that's a choice but not guaranteed by us.

For the last 2 years I have also offered 8Gb USB thumb drives, usually the brightly colored Lexar USB2.0 models that swing out of their holder. I've been able to get them locally for $3 each on sale. Don't forget the cost of DVD discs also has to include the jewel cases and worse, the ink and labels, and time to make them all.

I have found their performance in writing the files to vary a lot. Out of 20, you may find a couple that are unusually fast, one that is so slow as to be considered defective and unusable, a couple that are very slow but turn out ok, and the rest are as you would expect and copy at regular USB2.0 low-priced drive speed. The "regular" ones seem to play back fine when used directly, but again the instruction is to copy the files to use on your computer or make a backup copy USB for your USB capable TV and keep the original drive stored safely. We haven't had any complaints.

Examining the very fine model and revision numbers on the packaging reveal differences but can't readily be correlated with their actual performance, they seem to be randomly fast, medium or very slow regardless of the very tiny numbers and letters printed on them.

I never would have expected there would be that much variance between them.

When I was trying to decide which flash drive to buy I was surprised to see the number complaints in the lesser brands like AData. Problems like it wouldn't reformat, extremely slow, to failure after a month. I decided to spend the extra for SanDisk.

[Nigel]>It's not the PCs that have a stupid 4GB cap it's only if you use the FAT32 file system on the flash drive that files are limited to 4GB. If you format them as exFAT or NTFS or ext3 or HFS+ then there is no 4GB limit.

I’ve tried EXFAT and have had quite a few issues with mounting on a Mac. From these posts it hit me that maybe I was using a bad flash drive. The problem, though, with EXFAT is that TVs can’t play them, from what I understand.

[Nigel]>
Blu-ray can do 1080p@24fps but TBH progressive/interlaced don't really have any meaning with digital displays as 1080i@50i is effectively 1080p@25fps & 1080i@60fps is 1080p@30fps. Whatever Blu-ray has at many times the resolution of DVD & looks enormously better especially on a modern large screen TV.

I trust you Nigel. Sounds like I need to revisit Blu-Ray.

So if exFat cannot be played on tv's usb port , assuming that, then what USB format type will allow 4K content to be watched as 4K resolution ( not watered down 1080 ) ? Without glitches/skipping frames/pausing
issues. Just a clean 2 hour uninterrupted 4K playback on a stick, no boxes or wires attached.

I think whether something is readable can vary widely. My tv for example is very limited it will only play one format mpeg2 and maybe only up to 720p while my Sony Bluray player with usb port can play almost everything mpeg2, mp4, h264, mkv etc

As far as exfat mac and pc should read it.

My TV can play USB formatted to NTFS and not exFat - tried the latter and it wouldn't recognise it. However it can play 4K uninterrupted as long as I don't see the bitrate too high. I find 60mbps works well giving smooth playback without any judder. I use this for the occasional same day edits, where I do a rough cut of the Ceremony and playback in the evening. Shown on my 55" 4K TV screen I loan for the evening, it plays a 15 min on a loop over 4 hours without hiccups. I've shown longer videos too - not for Weddings.

What Nigel said, my clients get a blu-ray with footage that was shot in either HD or 4K at 25 or 50fps progressive and it looks equally good on a big HD tv compared to the native footage when I play it on my pcscreen. Then I also supply a usb stick with either the film in HD or 4K with no file limitation as I format exfat so it can be read on a mac, windows and linux. That usb stick is just a carrier for the files, it's up to the client to either plug and play on their tablet or laptop or to copy the files onto a mediaplayer for playback on their tv.

Noa do you supply both Blu-Ray and USB as standard? Care to share a photo of your packaging?

If you want 100% TV compatibility and large file sizes greater than 4GB then you need to be looking at a HDMI media player such as this. I take one to client's homes to demo my stuff - simply plugs into the HDMI port of a TV and plays back from a selection of memory cards - £22

As far as I can tell It's the same as the TakyBox solution only without the nice looking menu

Cyclone 1080p Micro 2 (http://sumvision.com/product/cyclone-micro-2/)

If you want 100% TV compatibility and large file sizes greater than 4GB then you need to be looking at a HDMI media player such as this. I take one to client's homes to demo my stuff - simply plugs into the HDMI port of a TV and plays back from a selection of memory cards - £22

As far as I can tell It's the same as the TakyBox solution only without the nice looking menu

Cyclone 1080p Micro 2 (http://sumvision.com/product/cyclone-micro-2/)

That looks interesting Peter, just looked it up on Amazon.

Thanks.