One of the things I’ve kind of taken a personal and professional interest in has been to understand the ins and outs of online video hosting, compression, data rates and spatial resolutions.

For those out there that have worked with me or I’ve been able to grace with my wonderful abilities to educate in the field of Video Production and Post Production… You all know that I am a fanatic about compression and online distribution models… I’ve even given seminars about how to encode video for Hosted vs. Self-Hosted Websites.

Lumped in with that is the exploration of Social Network Distribution and integration. I’ve sought out and used numerous tools and services to study this integration. My studies so far have yielded some predictable, some relative, some disappointing and a lot of unexpected results. As our lives are further enveloped, or integrated into cloud services and social networks, our personal and professional media moves in the same capacity. As a cultural producer in this era and environment it’s import to know what your options are and how to present your work in it’s most ideal environment. This is to say that when you are planning your work you have to consider the distribution channels, viewing, screening and presentation of the final piece even before you’re planning the material construction and physical actualization of the work.

The materials and environment are as much of the work as the proposed content. That should always be considered.

Okay. Now that that is out of the way… The obvious observation is that there is a lot of growth in online video playback, hosting and support. With all of this growth and expansion comes a lot of questions with a ton of potential answers, all of which have a right answer depending on the variables and goals for the video hosting model.

By ‘Hosted’ video I mean; video that is hosted on a site such as You Tube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Blip TV or some of the many others out there. The advantages of ‘Hosted” video and embedding externally is that you as the user doesn’t have to worry about their own Web Hosting bandwidth limitations, usage or self-embedding. Self-embedding of course means that the user, Developer or Producer has to choose between which video format to host… Flv, mov, DivX, avi, wmv or mpg formats. Most video hosting is already h.264, mp4 flash… All the big sites host Flash MP4 h.264 currently. That’s changing, but right now, that’s the reality. This is advantageous for users that have limitations on the bandwidth and storage on their websites. For instance a Video Blog would be better serviced by a Hosted Video platform for a the previous reasons, but also because the Platform in itself is a Trafficking model, meaning that the Hosted Site is a platform for promoting your video content and site just as much as your actual site is. So for Serialized content spreading across these services works to your advantage. Especially if the content is ad supported in a few of them.

There are some very distinct disadvantages to Hosted Video… Advertising, or “Related” videos, their players and brands being all over your work. You’re stuck with their compression and support. Their site aesthetics and distribution model.
Self-Hosted video… It’s more scalable, and you define who your audience is and how they should see your work. The quality, scale and presentation is completely yours. You skin and host it. It’s the most control you will have in showing your video online. Period.

The flaws… It’s more work, it forces you to make tough choices about the format and size of the video. Plus, you have to answer all the questions about how to encode it, so you have to identify who is watching your video and how it will scale and be effectively delivered to them. Meaning; what is the connection speed of the viewers ISP? Is your audience Dial Up or High Speed? Mobile or PC? Do they have Quicktime, Flash or Windows Media Player? How current is their software? What is their display resolution? Many of these questions are parallel to the questions most web developers have to ask during site creation… So, now we can see the benefits of having an experienced Video Editor communicating directly to a Web Developer.

Anyway… How do I encode?

For uploading to Hosted services… For my HD content… I encode a 720p H.264 at 10 to 12mbps Data Rate, with 44.1kHz, 320kbps AAC Audio. For my SD Content… 480p H.264 at 15mbps and 44.1Khz, 320kbps AAC Audio.

For my Self-Hosted work… HD Content is 720p H.264 MP4 at 5mbps with 44.1Khz 256kbps MP4 Audio. I embed in an FLV/SWF Wrapper… Why? Because, Not every PC user has a current version of QuickTime. But they will Flash, especially if their playing games on Facebook, or Online Poker. The SD Content is 480p H.264 MP4 at 3mbps with 44.1Khz 256kbps MP4 Audio. Again, in an FLF/SWF Wrapper.

For Mobile content on the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, WebOS, Blackberry, Android and Windows Mobile Phones… I have a Free Podcast, new episodes are added weekly. That’s how I’ve chosen to link to that platform from some of my sites.

This may not be the right solution for everyone. But, it is for me.

Also, I am outputting 1080p24 or 30, depending on the product. h.264 at 15mbps (to YouTube) with AAC 320kbps sound.