Timeline: Uncommon Exports (page 2)

We're not going to spend too much time here, as many of you already know how to encode for these technologies. (To find more specific articles, type "DVD authoring" in Videomaker's Web search field.) Keep this in mind: for a DVD to play in a set-top DVD player, the disc must be encoded in MPEG-2 (or DivX if your player will accept it). You can burn any type of file to DVD or CD for file transfer or back-up, but it most likely won't play on a set-top player. VCDs are considered below-VHS quality and never really caught on in the States; with the low cost of blank DVD media, they most likely never will. Another consideration is bit rate. Though video bit rate on a DVD can be set as high as 9.8Mbps (without audio), pushing it above 8.5 might be asking for trouble with some players.

Video distribution was a grim prospect ten years ago. Today there almost seem to be too many choices. As long as you know your limitations and you have the patience for some experimentation, you should be able to get pleasing results. The following question remains, though: where will video be viewed ten years from now? We really wish we could answer that, but, sadly, we left our crystal ball out in the rain...

YouTube: Compression Suggestion
QuickTime .mov, Windows .avi or .mpg files are the most common formats today, and they work well within YouTube's system. The YouTube Web site recommends using the MPEG-4 (DivX, Xvid) format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio. Here is a format that worked well for us:

• Video: Flash Video (.flv) using Sorenson Spark (H.263) at 677.7kbits/sec
• Aspect Ratio: 320x240
• Frame Rate: 29.97fps

Metacafe: Compression Suggestions
Though MetaCafe also accepts many file formats such as MPEG, .avi, .wmv, DivX, ,mov, MP4, .flv and 3GP, the Web site suggests you use these settings:

• Codec: MPEG-4 (.avi, .mov or MP4)
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
• Frame Rate: 25fps or 30fps
• Audio: MP3 audio codec
• Audio: MP3 in stereo at 44.1kHz, 128kpbs/sec

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