Re: Dual Format

I appreciate your comments & you are correct that if you are only targeting Windows desktops, then WMP might be a better option. However, I made my recommendations based on stats, not bias. Gartner recently stated that 21% of all desktops in businesses of 10,000 employees or more were running OS X. In businesses of 250 or more employees it was 17%.

Also, a recent article in Streaming Media Magazine shows QuickTime and Real Player in a statistical dead heat in terms of usage. In terms or actual installed players WMP does lead the pack with a 94% installed base, with Real and QuickTime trailing only slightly in the high 80%. 5-10% doesn't seem "far, far behind in installed share". Thus, you're likely looking at only a 5-10% pain point if you go MPEG-4 with QT as the client software. Setting up a second server is to address a small a group of people who only have WMP, assuming you are targeting just computers as the consuming device might not be the best option. Combine that with the support of 2 systems & coding your embed pages to point to either version & it might be better to have the 5-10% user base install QT or another MPEG-4 client. When you further consider the other devices as I mentioned, WMP becomes a far less compelling solution, since it loses out on them. Right now, there are more cell-phones capable of playing MPEG-4 installed globally than computers running Windows.

Of course every client is different, some might have a larger or smaller install base of Macs and/or QuickTime than the overall stats. If your plan is to only target desktop computers, you'll want to look at that more closely. That's why I started off by saying if your client requires WMP, you'd need a second server. But, in the aggregate numbers, MPEG-4 is a better solution. I'm an advocate of MPEG-4, not necessarily QT. QuickTime just happens to be one of the more mainstream technologies that supports MPEG-4. Back when QT didn't support MPEG-4 & had a install base below 50%, I advocated multiple server installs, for all 3 major formats. With the recent statistics, I see less need for that now. I also happen to believe that the desktop is becoming a less-relevant venue for consuming streaming media, as other digital devices are becoming more common, which further tips the scales toward a MPEG-4 streaming server solution. QTSS is nice since Apple covers the MPEG-4 licensing. You could of course, use Helix as an alternate server, but then you'd need to cover the MPEG-4 licensing yourself. The Xserve/QTSS combo is a really nice solution as you suggested & I think it's a compelling option for MPEG-4 streaming.

On Nov 11, 2005, at 3:43 PM, Ray wrote:

WOW, a lot of bias in Niels reply. No offense Niels, but you spin QT better than the republicans spin Iraq.

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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.

<snip>
Ray Harris

References:
	>Dual Format (From: Steven Philips <email@hidden>)
	>Re: Dual Format (From: Niels Meersschaert <email@hidden>)
	>Re: Dual Format (From: Ray <email@hidden>)