How to best make downloadable videos

[RKramkowski]

We want to allow people to download the videos we have on our site after they've viewed them. What is the best format to do that? FLV? Something else?

And how would we best structure that so we could have a "download now" button or something similar?

Thanks,
Bob

[David Dutton]

Hey Bob

David Dutton here...

I am by far no video expert but I have made a lot of money marketing
with videos. You can do a search for "David Dutton" on youtube to see what I have done.

Also, Lynn just blogged about me here:

http://www.clicknewz.com/1469/the-flip- ... ltra-buzz/

I personally would offer the file in wmv because people usually have
no problems watching that format.

I also use a service called byo audio which hosts my videos and audios so I can track how long people actually watch the video. Pretty cool.

You can check a option and BYO will place a download link under your video or audio for people.

Also, another option is to use a free service like the popular site www.box.net and upload your videos to that site and post a link on your site for people to download them from there.

I hope that helps.

Have you been using video for a while now?

Dave

[kirkward]

[CorpRebel]

JJust as another source of video and audio production ...

Check out Sherman Hu stuff at:

http://www.shermanlive.com

He has ALOT of vids explainng various aspects of video and audio production. I don't do much in the way of videos but I have learned ALOT from his stuff on the above site.

The dude is so kool and helpful about this stuff.

Hope this helps some

[alexc]

[gsmart]

[charupruthi]

I personally would offer the file in WMV because people usually have
no problems watching that format

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[wade_watson]

The most widely readable and stable video file types are the .avi or the .mpeg (or .mpg) formats. The .avi is uncompsressed video, though and rarely used for downloads, while .mpg is compressed. They seem to have fallen out of fashion in recent times, though. Unfortunately, there is no universally ideal replacement. Apple's .mov format, created for the Quicktime player is forever requiring player updates and can be rather frustrating for PC users. The .flv format is used by Flash players and is really for streaming video only. I suppose you can view one directly, but I've never tried it. The .wmv format is Microsoft's creation for Windows Media Player. I'm not sure how/if it's playable on an Apple, but most sites that offer .wmv files offer a .mov version as an alternative.

If the players work with them, your best video quality will usually come from either .wmv or .mov files. But if you want something most anybody can play, you can't beat the old fashioned .mpg format.

--Wade