Best digital video format?

[Lutris Man]

I am getting ready to import some digital video into my dmx2004 cdrom project.
I have a few options and was wondering if anyone can offer advice on what would
be my best bet:

Option 1: going the normal route with quicktime linked externally

Option 2: Using a Flash SWF file that has the video embedded in the file. The
video was compressed with Sorenson squeeze, which makes it look nice with a
small file size.

Option 3: Purchasing Sorenson Video 3.1 Pro codec, and creating an external QT
file

Option X: do I have any other choices that would work better than the above?

Unless option 3 will make a big difference in results, I'd rather not shell
out the $300 for SV 3.1.

Anyone know if going with the swf (option 2) will slow down the performance of
the cd significantly, for instance like using a large internal audio file does
compared to linking the audio to an external file? I have done some research on
this, but have found nothing regarding using a swf file, so I am not sure if
there are major disadvantages. For the intro of my cd I am using a swf created
in flashmx2004 that contains a video video clip, and it seems to work fine.
Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Lutris Man]

Judging from the performance problems I've had today when playing director
projector with embedded flash files, in even slightly older machines than mine,
I think I will avoid going the flash swf route, and will stick to QT.

[Emilio Azeri]

Hi,

Why don't you use mpeg1 which doesn't require end-user's having the QT installed in his system? What is your constraint?

[Lutris Man]

Hi Emilio,
The videos were edited in iMovie, it is easy to export as quicktime. What do I
need to create Mpeg1 files from iMovie? I also have final cut express. Do you
think mpeg1 is my best option here?

Anyone know of a good tutorial or website that talks about the pros and cons
of various video formats in director? I haven't been able to find much.

As far as constraints, my project is on CD, so file size is not a big concern,
however I do want it to be able to play smoothly on a variety of machines. With
that in mind however, I am more concerned ab out having good quality on newer
computers, than having it be able to play on older machines.

[Emilio Azeri]

Mostly I use .avi format with CINEPAC compression which allows me to play with
compression rate and data rate. For better quality you can decrease compression
rate and increase the data rate. Almost all machines support CINEPAC. And it is
best for its compatibility and smoothness. So far I have not any problems and I
recommend it to you. But as for iMovie I am not familiar with it. I use
Premiere and in version 6.5 it started to support mpeg1 and mpeg2.

[Lutris Man]

Hey thanks,
I checked out the Cinepak website, unfortunately Cinepak AVI codec is only
available for PC, and I'm using a mac, Cinepak pro would work for me, but I
can't afford the $350 at this point. For simplicity's sake I'll probably just
go quicktime for now, and upgrade in the future.

[Doug Golenski]

I have been using QT with the Sorenson Professional Codec for years. The
quality is equal to that of MPEG 1 and the compression is better...AND the
data rate is lower. Only Director MX 2K4 supports MPEG 1 out of the box
(using Media Player or QT technology), earlier versions of Director required
you to use either QT or a third party Xtra. So if you are still using an
older version of Director than MPEG 1 might not be an option for you.

hth,
Doug
"Lutris Man" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:c6mer0$cf3$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Hi Emilio,
> The videos were edited in iMovie, it is easy to export as quicktime. What

do I

> need to create Mpeg1 files from iMovie? I also have final cut express. Do

you

> think mpeg1 is my best option here?
>
> Anyone know of a good tutorial or website that talks about the pros and

cons

> of various video formats in director? I haven't been able to find much.
>
> As far as constraints, my project is on CD, so file size is not a big

concern,

> however I do want it to be able to play smoothly on a variety of machines.

With

> that in mind however, I am more concerned ab out having good quality on

newer

> computers, than having it be able to play on older machines.
>