Metro | Encoding

Always the first question, and the answer seems to change depending on who you ask and what new "development" has been announced by the Big Three. We'll start by talking about the Big Three.

At this time, there are only three choices: Flash, Windows Media and QuickTime. You don't even have to consider Real, MPEG-1, DivX or any of the other "contenders." As of this moment it's a race between the Big Three. Here's how they stack up:

1. Flash, now an Adobe product, has flat out taken the lead. With the dawn of the YouTube age, Flash has been the most used Video Format on the internet by a wide margin. Because of the small and easily installed plugin, Flash can be viewed on 98% of all computers on the internet. Thousands of Designers are waiting to drop a video into your page and add any viewer interaction you need.

2. Windows Media from Microsoft is the current runner-up. Obviously installed on every PC but always having trouble supporting the Mac. Most of those issues have been solved by Silverlight. Silverlight is both a small plugin that can be installed on both PCs and Macs, and it represents a new architecture for Windows Media that gives Programmers the tools to make the video "jump through hoops." Windows Media has always managed to stay in the running by being the best in in something. DRM for many years and now (they hope) "Smooth Streaming."

3. QuickTime. The "Grand Dame" of video formats. Five years ago they held the #1 spot on the strength of their Trailer site. Since then Apple has failed to keep up with the times. QuickTime installation on a PC is a lugubrious process and embedding anything further than a simple player is difficult and time consuming. On the other hand, QuickTime is used in the most popular devices in history: the iPhone and the iPod.

If you just want your video to play on your page, Flash is the answer. If you want a playlist with thumbnails, Flash is probably still the answer. If you need DRM, Windows Media/Silverlight will be your choice. If you're only interested in iPhones and iPods you may lean towards QuickTime. Or you may need all three. The majority of our clients get FLV, WMV and MOV encodes for every piece of content. Our pricing structure makes it easy to choose one or more encodes from each. The more you encode the cheaper it gets.

We've come a long way from 320x240 at 300Kbs. Resolutions have increased geometrically along with the bitrates needed to get good visual quality. For information on selecting bitrates, click here

Metro Encoding does not do Site or Player design. We recommend Tracy Berna for all of your Web design needs. If you need a player for your site, we recommend Longtail Video.

The short answer is "yes." As you probably know, this is a major operation. Our current technique involves conversion to AVI on the PC then converting to any QuickTime format on the Mac. So...the long answer is yes, but it takes a lot of time and resources.