What is the future of video on the web?

[DannyCox]

We poll our members quite a bit, and no one really likes Flash videos. The vast majority prefer high quality WMV videos which work just fine on a Mac with the free Flip4Mac plug-in.

We do our videos in 2 versions of WMV (one being very high quality), MP4 for Quicktime, MP4 for PSP/Zune Players, an iPod version, a version for iPhone/iTouch, and a cellphone 3GP version. I also did one section with Flash video, but I just can't get really good quality without a high filesize, which to me, defeats the purpose. The members love the choices they get, and it does keep them around. I have a program on one of the Macs here that batches and converts everything for me.

Some webmasters still believe that people can't download and save Flash versions. I don't know why they believe that as there is all sorts of free tools to grab Flash, and convert it to anything you like. There are also tools that defeat most of the DRM gimmicks out there.

We started shooting High Definition a while back, and I release those videos in a WMV format at 960X540 and they are crystal clear.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by DannyCox

Some webmasters still believe that people can't download and save Flash versions. I don't know why they believe that as there is all sorts of free tools to grab Flash, and convert it to anything you like. There are also tools that defeat most of the DRM gimmicks out there.

Yeah, pretty much any utility that grabs from youtube will also grab your flash member files. But most users are lazy and unsavvy. If they cant simply right click save as, they aren't gonna bother.

Doesn't stop it, but it slows it down. Same user who is savvy enough to rip your flash is likely also savvy enough to troll torrents and newsgroups for their porn fix instead of paying for it.

The result is that in theory you deny easy downloads and propogation which encorages sales and renewals so they can continue to get their spank on.