Changing MOV to FLV - I think Client is insane

[treehorn]

One of my clients runs a large website and we prepare a lot of video clips for them. Up until last week they had us use Squeeze to convert the files to flv. Last week they said they could use h.264/quicktime files and we've been going back and forth on settings that would get right mixture of quality/size/speed.

Here is what they've come up with:

based on "H.264 800Kbps" - H.264 for High-bandwidth connections (under quicktime 7 compatible)

Extension* = mov

Video Data rate = 650 - Optimized for streaming

Streaming = Fast Start

Frame size = 640x360 (wide 16:9) or 640x480 (standard 4:3)

after file is ripped.* rename extension to .flv and upload


It's this last that that me scratching my head. Why on earth would you change the extension of an mov to flv? It's not going to magically become an FLV (which, unless I'm completely off-base, is a completely different format)

 

[tri3limited]

H.264 is a compression type. Mov is a QT based wrapper. The codec then sits within that.

Renaming ain't going to happen. Suggest this to them, if they decide to go ahead with it then suggest they test it first. You'll look better without taking the control from the client (all clients love some control). You can have H.264 FLVs just not simply by renaming them.

If their site is currently flash based stick with it. Also if you are going to need to do loads and loads of conversions it might well be worth investing in FCS purely for compressor. You could then automate the workflow so when files are added to certain folders they immediately start converting and outputting to a certain directory. Could also use clusters to convert quicker.

If you do decide to go H.264 QT based then I would strongly recommend getting hold of a Matrox CompressHD.
http://matrox.com/video/en/products/mac/max/realtime/#max_graph

 

[treehorn]

I have FCS and would use Compressor to make the mov file.

Just wanted to verify that I wasn't insane or missed the memo that said one could create FLV files simply by renaming a MOV file