My previous post about General Conference Materials Online has generated questions about the formats for audio and video files on Church sites.
Our current standard for all new audio we create for download is to create it as MP3 with an ID3 tag version of 2.3 or newer.
Our current standard for all new video we create for download is to create it in the following:
Windows Media 8 300K (Broadcast archives include 56K version)Windows Media 10 MBR (Multi-bit Rate, allows multiple quality levels in the same file)Quicktime h.264 MOV 320×240 (File is optimized for Quicktime desktop play and to work on current Apple Ipod Video devices)Mpeg 2 VOB (Format is for purposes of copying to a DVD to be played through DVD players)
Note: Not all audio and video on Church sites currently meet these standards, but all new media we create will meet these standards.
We believe these standards provide an acceptable experience for both broadband and dial-up users.
You comments are welcomed.
See the new post Formats for Audio and Video on Church Web Sites.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but where does one download these other types of video? On the conference archives page all I see is the 56/300 Windows Media format.
I’m interesting in the h.264 versions, but don’t see them. Any help would be appreciated.
I like the idea of putting things into formats for regular DVD players, you could distribute alot more content that way, and people would have it more quickly. Also makes alot more meetings that the Church airs over the satellite system more accessible too, you almost never see the General Relief Society Meeting, the Young Women General Meeting, or CES Firesides regularly after the fact. This whole video thing could make alot more ‘out of print’ materials more accessible as well.
And also make some printable artwork for the DVDs generated available too, in several formats so you could put the DVD in a CD jewel case or the long DVD cases that you normally see them in as you chose.
I buy the multilingual DVDs for Conference, etc., as they come out, and this would make additional languages a possibility here in the US, as well as many other possibilities that neither of us can forsee right now.
Does the emphasis on “for download” mean that the video for Conference will remain streaming-only and not downloadable? (I hope this isn’t the case — I want to watch Conference on my iPod! :))
H.264? I’m pleasantly surprised. MPG2 is great as well.
My wife is really excited for this.
Have video available to download in these formats will be wonderful – I’m looking forward to it. Will we see General Conference offered in these formats any time soon, or did you intend this for other videos, such as those offered on video.lds.org?
Ben, video for conference is available for download (see http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,49-1-646,00.html).
Jeremy, for this conference video will be available in Windows Media Player format only.
How about adding the ability to download using bittorrent to improve the throughput and avoid problems with flash crowds during conference time?
Is there any particular reason why Quicktime formats are not being used for video content? If there is not a particular reason who would I contact (if not you) to request that Quicktime video be made available?
We have tried to select the video formats most widely used. The h.264 MOV 320×240 files are optimized for Quicktime desktop play and to work on current Apple Ipod Video devices. We don’t have a lot of h.264 files yet, but they are coming.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for finally making video downloadable and QuickTime/iPod friendly!
Any plans for Flash video in the future…
The quote below is in no way authoritative, but the author raises some good points:
“Flash Video is the new internet video standard”
from
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000755.html
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