Quicktime/mov files and the PC
 

I do really simple stuff - post and host myself. I end up with a URL like this:

http://wetstuff.com/movie/2min_AZTK.mov

It's about 55MB ...and virtually none of my PC friends can seem to see it - tho' they all claim to have QT. I suspect it may be loading in the background, but none of my ADD friends can seem to wait for it to appear. ..most are on cable - no dialups.

Is there a simple attention-holder of some sort .. like a Hula Girl that will wiggle 'till it loads, or a clock that tells them to run off to Starbucks for a bit? I have not had very good luck with a variety of conversion schemes - the results end up looking like the files have been laundered with my socks. Thanks.

Jim

I'm non-ADD and still don't have the patience to wait 15 minutes for your video to first download... I'm afraid you're doing something wrong. The video should start playing after a short buffering time (5-10 seconds). After all, we're almost in 2009... waiting is so... 1980s...

If I recall this right, there is an option some place in my PC-based QT encoders called "optimize for download", maybe that's what you need to activate?

Dunno Ervin....this works fine for me. Blaming the source is so....2000's

Jim.....
you're footage is interesting. I'm on DSL and it downloads pretty close to real time...minimal waiting....it hepls for the person downloading to set the QT player to a smaller buffer size. But, it's too bad the skier kept going out of frame. Was the cam mounted on the kite? And how do you steer the cam? OIC....sailboat, cam mounted on the mast?

Hahaha, love it, Bill! Especially your first version, 'complaining is so... 2000s'.

Well, all my stuff is 2008, so I'm not sure why my PC wants me to wait... XP Pro, latest updates, up to date Explorer, latest QT player... It is acting like it's downloading something...

Ervin....

Under QT preferences, go to the ADVANCED tab. Under Video, deselect DirectX and select Safe mode(GDI only). see if that helps you.

Did that, no change.

I just checked a few sites with QT movies, they all play fine.

couple more things to look at:
1-what version are you running. v7.4.5 works well, not so sure about 7.5
2-Under the BROWSER tab, have you selected "Play movies automatically'?
3-Under STREAMING, do you have ENABLE INSTANT ON checked. What d/l speed do you have selected?

It made me download almost the whole thing before it started playing.

Did you enable "fast start"? Check this page for info:

QuickTime 7: Preparing movies for Internet delivery

Jim, you could try launching your QuickTime movie from a QuickTime text link (.qtl) text file. Assuming it's not a fast start issue here with your movie, it might help. [EDIT: Actually, I think it's a datarate issue; this solution won't help. See next post.]

Here's how to create a QuickTime .qtl file.

First, create a text file. Copy and paste in the following example text:

Replace the source URL with the URL of your QuickTime movie. Leave the quote marks and the closing brackets (/>) in place. Save the text file with the extension .qtl (such as mymovie.qtl) and upload it to your server along with your QuickTime .mov file. Then link to the qtl file instead of directly to the .mov file.

What should happen now is that the browser will download this (very tiny) .gtl file, then hand it off to the QuickTime player. QuickTime will open it, see the URL reference to the QuickTime movie, and should start progressively downloading and simultaneously playing your movie from your server.

Jim, I'm on a fast, nearly five megabit line and even I'm having trouble downloading and playing your movie in real-time. Maybe your host's server isn't feeding out the file that fast, and/or there is congestion on the Internet between your server and my location. I ended up downloading it.

Looking at the properties, I see it is encoded at 4.18 megabits/second. Not everyone has that fast of a broadband line. I think you need to take the datarate down to at least 2-3 megabits. That is, if you really want your friends to watch it. ;-)

I doubt the .qtl solution I outlined above will help in this situation. I was thinking it was an issue with the browser wanting to download the entire file before handing it off to QuickTime. Instead, it looks like a bandwidth issue to me.

Christopher, thanks... but no thanks.

My computer plays QT video off the official Apple website, so my computer is working as intended, without any additional hacks - I'm on a corporate T1, that's 1.5Mbps I think.

The OP needs to fix the issues on his end. My goodness, 4Mbps for the internet??? That's clearly catering for only 10% or less of all potential viewers!

I'm burning DVDs with lower bitrate...

My first post re: the QuickTime .qtl solution was directed at the OP, not you. Sorry for the confusion.

As for the Apple movie trailer site, they use a type of redirector/reference movie file for their trailers, though the extension is .mov, not .qtl. QuickTime redirector files aren't really hacks, they're features. Features intended for content creators to implement, however, not viewers.

Worked fine for me and my PC, and I used both a newer PC with Vista, and an older PC with XP Pro. Both have newish versions of Quicktime. Video buffered for about 3-5 seconds then played straight through.

-P

You guys are fantastic. I'm finally learning what 'bit rate' is. I've tried to use those apps like: ffmpegx, 3ivx and DVCast with limited success. I cannot ever seem to get anything that doesn't end up looking like SD on YouTube. ...maybe I better try harder.

I did a little test of a few small HD cams, where Bit Rate has come to the fore. Me testing stuff is like handing off a F16 to a 4yr old, but I occasionally simply like [i]see what I get[/]?! Small HD video camera test: Aiptek, DXG, Flip Mino, Kodak Zi6, Sanyo HD2

Bill's question is easy to answer, since I'm the guy in the water. The cam is attached to a strut on the kite about 25 meters aloft. I buggered the setting because I made a new rig that holds the cam on the diagonal vs vertical, but then then water temps went from about 60f to low 30's - Game Over.

Ervin's made it totally clear - in a statement even I understand. Thanks.

Thanks again - 'nice holidays.

j i m

I had a couple of conversion/reduction apps and one dvcCast was buggy for me. It turns out that their recent update - including a name change: DV Kitchen is the ticket. I used one of their presets to knock the size down to 960x540 at 2200kbs to convert my clip in one shot.

http://wetstuff.com/movie/2min_aztk2.mov

This program can been seen at: DV Kitchen at DVcreators.net

Jim

....Hmmmm, on the PC that runs our embroidery machine, Google's CHROME browser will not run the video but SAFARI for the PC does, almost right away?!

Jim,
there are better ways to show your stuff on the internet. Going too high with your bitrate in order to preserv quality, will scare away a lot of viewers. Plain old .mov is way lower quality than most other delivery formats at the same bitrate (and file size), in my own testing even Windows Media beats QT. But the mpeg4/H.264 variety of QT is the real deal, and a lot of Flash video you see on the internet nowadays is actually not flash but mp4/H.264 (the flash player has been open for H.264 for over a year now). Why not take a look at my post on this very forum and see for yourself if this is something you could use - Youtube opened up wide for HD just a few weeks ago.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/dvd-web-v...y-youtube.html

Report back and see if we can further help you - what you do is really worth the best possible picture!

Thanks Karel ... "You plan on keeping that up to date...? But I think the video you should use for demo purposes should have more of a pallet of colors, and demonstrate stuff like performance in low light, and how good the lenses are - d.o.f., flare, bokeh, etc."

I fall off the wagon measuring those last parameters - I don't even know what bokeh is? I will however get some higher speed movement on a brighter day. Low light is not on my schedule; I'll leave that for an indoors person. ...the animated gif idea is a good one. People want to know something is about to happen.

....and Ervin - that's what that DV Kitchen does ... what 3ivx is supposed to do .. H.264 that is. iMovie can generate a mp4 file ...but on my Mac frickining iTunes wants to open them rather than QT?! I'll run up an take a look at your posting about YouTube.

Thanks again .. I'll leave this alone now, so old news doesn't hog the front page.

Jim

Hardly old. It's stuff we're all thinking about, and good to learn from someone who's doing it. Also a really good cheap HD camera is something we'd all like.

"I fall off the wagon measuring those last parameters"
Don't bother measuring. The kind of folk who'll buy those cameras won't know what such figures mean. They (and I) would prefer to see practical examples.

I think that low light is a priority! Most folk will expect to shoot indoors, or will want to know how well it performs at night in the street. I would never consider spending money on a camera these days that only worked well in daylight. Drive around with the thing strapped to the bonnet!

Bokeh: it's actually an interesting subject with very little theory! There's a nice article here:
Bokeh
All you have to do is shoot something close up and allow some bright points of light in the background to go out of focus. It's a very subliminal thing that makes one lens look nice and another look like your shooting cheap video. Doubtful of course that anything will look really nice at the price range your at, but we could be in for a surprise!

Some examples: Bokeh in Pictures

And here endeth the lesson. Best of luck! Do keep us informed.