Video cast format - can I pick just one?

[benmadrid]

I am about to start releasing videos on an rss feed (before I just stuck them on youtube). So, for a video cast, if I just chose one format which was likely to please the highest number of people, which would it be? I think most people will find this through itunes, and I imagine will watch it through itunes or quicktime and on video ipods.

I am currently thinking of either mp4 or .mov, both encoded with h264. Any thoughts on which to go for? Also, I want to have just a 320 wide file, but should I really think about 640 wide too for those apple tv etc owners? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[-DH]

if I just chose one format which was likely to please the highest number of people, which would it be?

If you're seeking the best overall compatibility I'd recommend Flash or WMV.

-DH

 

[benmadrid]

I'll use flash on my website, but I still want to be able to deliver another format that people can easily put onto the greatest number of portable devices and watch on their screen.

 

[skimaxpower]

I'll use flash on my website, but I still want to be able to deliver another format that people can easily put onto the greatest number of portable devices and watch on their screen.

Well, flash video does have the most compatibility, so it's good that you have it on your website.

Personally, I HATE flash video. Give me anything else. If I were in your shoes, I would go for for QTpro's iPod video setting. That gives reasonably sized .mov files at 320x240 with h264.

Is that the perfect codec to reach all possible audiences? No. But if we're talking about people who are subscribing to RSS feeds of vidocasts, we're talking about power users. Power users are gonna have iTunes installed, and that means they have QT player. Thus, your RSS-subscribing, vcast-downloading, power users should have no problem playing your files.

Don't worry about going for higher resolution just for the seven people who own Apple TV. They can deal with the scale-up. Besides, unless you encode at a huge bitrate, you'll have better quality at the lower resolution anyway. Good luck.