Movie codecs

[Drew]

Hi, This is the 2nd question on a 30 meg AVI movie I want to use as a screensaver. Is there a preferred codec to use to compresses the file so it won't be so big? I've tried 2 or 3 with no success. I have an executable but the screensaver program doesn't see that as a media file. What do you recommend?

We are rendering the file from the AVI from premiere

[bitwise]

I render videos into wmv format. It's the smallest, best quality file for screensavers that I've been able to do.

I use this format because nearly 100% of end users should be able to play it. I don't see why any couldn't.

When you start using codecs, like divx, the end user has to have the codec installed, and if you want the end user to install it, then you probably need to make sure they know that hey to do that. The easiest way would probably be to allow them to install the codec during the installation process, but you'll obviously have to create .scr files, then create your own installers, etc.

[Drew]

Thanks so much. That makes perfect sense. I should have thought of it. I'm off to get a converter and try it out.

[bitwise]

My pleasure.

Here's some tools you can use:

Microsoft encoder is free, but a real pain in the rear!!
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... fault.mspx

This one costs a bit, but well worth it!!
http://www.xilisoft.com/video-converter.html

Good luck with it all!

[Drew]

Thanks for the tip on the converter. I'm using it to convert to MPEG1. My 33 second movie plays perfectly in Windows Media Player on repeat. But in the screensaver I'm getting a jump or blip at the point of the loop. I've tried it on several computers. From 1.5Ghz to 3Ghz and it's pretty much the same on all of them. Not exactly the same blip, but sort of a double jump at the beginning. Any suggestions?

[Karlis]

Yes, currently a blip might be there due to way how the internal machinery works. We will try to work around this in the future updates.

[bitwise]

Is there a video format that will work in the screensaver factory that won't have a little blip when it repeats?

I love this software very much, and that's about the only thing I don't like about it.

There are other far inferior screensaver makers that don't have a little skip when it repeats.

It would be wonderful if this could be resolved somehow.

Thanks!

[bitwise]

I'm nearly 100% sure that flash files don't skip, but my video files compile to a much higher quality, and if I want the same quality in a flash file, it just gets to be too large of a file, and can slow down a computer if it doesn't have enough resources.

So, any other video formats that don't skip, aside from a flash file?

Thanks!