Adding Video to the Web.

[Guy Godwin]

I have a little sports related website that I do and am adding a small video page to it. I just learned how to add the video to and still learning some things. However, I think my quality is diminished once it goes from the .avi file to the flash file. Here are two examples.

I have read somewhere that 30p is better for Web purposes and looking for opinions?

Linked footage:
1.) Is my neighbors son playing the drums (He is five BTW) 60i, Av Iris 1.6, XL2, 3x lens
2.) My son playing basketball 60i, Tv Shutter 60,XL2, 20x lens

http://visualboxscore.com/Video/default.aspx

The purpose here is to not worry so much about my videography/camera skills. I am mainly looking at the footage and how to make it as clear as possible. I think the flash video is very bad compared to the original avi.

[Josh Chesarek]

The compressed files will always have less quality than the AVIs. But you can get a good compression :)

Can you tell us the flash video settings? It looks like you are using a low bit rate. If you can increase that a little bit and maybe play with the resolution you will be OK.

Flash can work nicely once you get it setup for your needs.

[Ervin Farkas]

Re: 30p - Two things come to mind.

1. All video you watch on computers IS progressive, that's the only way computers display video. Compression software does the deinterlacing for you, but they are not all created equal - some do a better job than others. I achieved best results deinterlacing with VirtualDub BEFORE compressing.

2. If you're asking about FILMING progressive, the answer is yes, filming progressive will yield a sharper picture, especially on fast moving scenes like in sports.

[Guy Godwin]

Originally Posted by Josh Chesarek

The compressed files will always have less quality than the AVIs. But you can get a good compression :)

Can you tell us the flash video settings? It looks like you are using a low bit rate. If you can increase that a little bit and maybe play with the resolution you will be OK.

Flash can work nicely once you get it setup for your needs.

I am using the adobe flash video encoder. Currently on the 30 day trial until find something I like.

The setting's I used are:
Soresan Spark (No idea what this is)
Quality: High
Max Date Rate: 700kbps
Frame Rate: Same as source
Key Frame Rate: Automatic

Actual Html Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
- <FLVCoreSettings Version="1">
<Version>2</Version>
- <EncodeVideo>
<VideoCodec>spark</VideoCodec>
<VideoDataRate>700000</VideoDataRate>
- <Resize>
<Width>510</Width>
<Height>288</Height>
<RespectAspectRatio>false</RespectAspectRatio>
</Resize>
<Deinterlace>true</Deinterlace>
</EncodeVideo>
- <EncodeAudio>
<AudioCodec>mp3</AudioCodec>
<AudioDataRate>128000</AudioDataRate>
<AudioChannels>2</AudioChannels>
</EncodeAudio>
</FLVCoreSettings>

Thanks for the help.

[Guy Godwin]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

I achieved best results deinterlacing with VirtualDub BEFORE compressing.

Virtual dub is it a freebie? and can I just take an avi file and deinterlace it?

[Josh Chesarek]

That is really strange. I wonder if the trial has a limit or something. The only thing I could think of is maybe it was encoded at a lower resolution than 510 by 288 and the player you are using isnt very good at scaling it? I recommend the JW FLV Player. Can you give me the FLV file name/location and I will try downloading to look at the actual FLV

[Ervin Farkas]

Originally Posted by Guy Godwin

Virtual dub is it a freebie? and can I just take an avi file and deinterlace it?

Yes on both questions. It can do a lot more than just deinterlacing, check it out.

But depending on your NLE you might be able to use that to output a deinterlaced video.

[Guy Godwin]

Originally Posted by Josh Chesarek

That is really strange. I wonder if the trial has a limit or something. The only thing I could think of is maybe it was encoded at a lower resolution than 510 by 288 and the player you are using isnt very good at scaling it? I recommend the JW FLV Player. Can you give me the FLV file name/location and I will try downloading to look at the actual FLV

I don't think it has a limit because to get the real version all I do is give them the money and they provide me the registration key. I think I have the full version now.

Thanks for the help.

http://visualboxscore.com/Video/zack/zack_on_drums.flv

[Josh Chesarek]

Yeah quality is about same even when playing with a local player or the one I use ( http://www.simplethoughtproductions....ads/drums.html)

Maybe try scaling down the resolution a tad if you can for that bit rate. I prefer a smaller better looking video over a larger resolution video with less quality.

[Guy Godwin]

Originally Posted by Josh Chesarek

Yeah quality is about same even when playing with a local player or the one I use ( http://www.simplethoughtproductions....ads/drums.html)

Maybe try scaling down the resolution a tad if you can for that bit rate. I prefer a smaller better looking video over a larger resolution video with less quality.

Josh,
Thanks for the help. I will get it figured out eventually and yes the size will be a first step. I just learned this in the last couple days and will be making several changes.

[Ben Dailey]

Have you cosidered converting to DIVX file?
It's great quality, but visiters would have to download the software to be able to watch.

You can download what you need here. http://www.divx.com/

[Guy Godwin]

Is it as easy to add to sites as flash?

[Josh Chesarek]

Fairly easy to add but it requires the user installing their package and is not as commonly used as Flash. While both require the user to install something 98% of people who are looking for video all ready have Flash installed. If you really want great quality you can use .mp4 files with any decent flash player and require people to update to the latest version of flash (2 minute install process) and have a great looking file using flash. On the next major update this will be taken care for you though.

[Guy Godwin]

Josh,
Thanks..
Do you know of any good tutorials or guidance for doing this?

I am still kinda stuck in learning how to de-interlace a file.

[Josh Chesarek]

Well what software do you have? If you are compressing out of a video editor deinterlacing can also be called progressive. So you would want to turn that on. I use Sorenson Squeeze for my compression needs.