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WOW, a lot of bias in Niels reply. No offense Niels, but you spin QT
better than the republicans spin Iraq.
WMT is on more computers than any other platform. Real and QT are far,
far behind in installed share. And, yes it is possible to play WMT
files on Linux (see mplayer for example). They even play in an embedded
player.
Yes, MPEG4 and DSS can stream to more devices but theses devices do not
share the same specifications so you may have a lot of different
variants (resolution/bit rate) of the same video. But, these same MPEG4
files will not play on most corporate computers because the typical
corporate user is on a managed desktop that does NOT include VLC or QT
players. But, these corporate viewers do have the WMT player. Of
course you could go to each corporate entity and convince the IT
department to drop all their other tasks and add VLC or QT to their
desktop users (ROTFLMAO). Bottom line is if you target corporate users
you will have to stream WMT.
So, if you want maximum ability to deliver you should follow Niels
advice and use a QT server AND you should also stream WMT. Easiest way
to accomplish this is to get an XServe (better than DSS in my opinion)
and a WMT server, place both in a Tier 1 data center (cheapest way to
get high bandwidth), manage remotely and dual purpose all of your
videos. Provide links to both and then see which the viewer prefers.
Like I always say, identify your target audience first then deliver the
format that fits their needs and viewing capabilities. If your audience
includes the corporate market then you will have to stream WMT. Aside
from that target market, MPEG4 is without a doubt the way to go.
If there is an absolute need to serve Windows Media format files, you
will need to buy a Windows server. However, WMP is only valid for
about 40% of the installed devices that can consume video. MPEG-4 is
much more widespread reaching roughly 90% of all digital-video
capable devices installed on the market today, including Windows,
Mac, Linux, cell-phones, iPods, PSPs and more. QTSS can serve
MPEG-4, so for broader reach it is the better option. MPEG-4 can be
read on a PC with clients other than QuickTime.
If you go Flash, you'll have to go Flash 8 to get halfway-decent
looking video & that was only released a little over a month ago.
The install base isn't there yet & I think it's probably easier to
just have QuickTime installed on the Windows machines. Also, if any
of those windows machines have iTunes installed, they already have
QuickTime. Given how popular the iPod & iTunes are, it's generally a
given that QT is already installed on most windows machines.
On Nov 11, 2005, at 1:56 PM, Steven Philips wrote:
Thanks in advance for your help.
Client needs to offer a large library of media (movies and audio) to
both Mac and PC users (some of which do not have Quicktime) in both
QT and Windows Media formats. I'm suggesting an xserve and xserve
raid, running OSX Server and Quicktime Streaming Server. This will
work fine for the MPEG-4 movies, but is there a need to have the
Windows Media files coming off a different server? Different
drive? What's the best setup for this? Is there a format that will
work for both? Is it worth converting everything to flash?
Thanks again.
Steven Philips
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