I've been working on a custom sized video inset for the main page of my
website... replacing a thick horizontal black line with a custom video sized
at 800x24 pixels...

I started down the path of making it a movie... but then thought a story
would be smaller and open quicker... my rule of thumb being that story files
are only 10% the size of movies. This exercise is giving me some things to
think about, and I'd appreciate any of your comments....

Here are 4 files... a Photo Story 3 file that is the smallest file size I
can make it without taking too much of a quality hit, and then 3 movies made
in MM2 from a high quality story (580K file size for a 7 second story). All
are made by using custom profiles to make a video file of 800x24 pixel
dimensions.

http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-PhotoStory3.wmv - 202KB
http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-MM2-V7.wmv - 76 KB
http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-MM2-V8.wmv - 73 KB
http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/...oorQuality.wmv - 51 KB

Here are the tradeoffs I'm seeing when viewing the website page on my
computers...

The PS3 file looks good on all of my systems, but won't be visible on Macs
and Firefox browsers... and the file size is 3 to 4 times larger than the
movies....

The WMV V7 and V8 movie files look good on my Windows 98 and XP computers,
but don't play on my Vista system. On Vista they download and sit there as a
big black bar.

The WMV V9 movie file plays on all of my systems, including Vista.... but
the quality took such a nosedive that it's not suitable for use.

At the moment, the website page is using the WMV-V8 movie file... I'm taking
the hit with Vista and hoping it'll work on other systems.

About viewing these files in players.... the PS3 story shows correctly
proportioned in WMP10 and in Vista's WMP11.... the movies play distorted to
standard 4:3 aspect ratio in WMP10 in XP, and look fine in WMP11 in Vista.

I'd appreciate any and all feedback about....

- does the embedded WMV8 movie file on the main page of my website...
http://www.papajohn.org ... play in your browser? what system and browser
are they?
- do the story and movie files play in your players?
- do they play with the right aspect ratio, or are they mis-shaped to suit?

--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org
MM2 Tips and Tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693
Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx

PapaJohn (MVP) wrote:
> I've been working on a custom sized video inset for the
> main page of my website... replacing a thick horizontal
> black line with a custom video sized at 800x24 pixels...
>
> I started down the path of making it a movie... but then
> thought a story would be smaller and open quicker... my
> rule of thumb being that story files are only 10% the
> size of movies. This exercise is giving me some things
> to think about, and I'd appreciate any of your
> comments....
>
> Here are 4 files... a Photo Story 3 file that is the
> smallest file size I can make it without taking too much
> of a quality hit, and then 3 movies made in MM2 from a
> high quality story (580K file size for a 7 second story).
> All are made by using custom profiles to make a video
> file of 800x24 pixel dimensions.
>
> http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-PhotoStory3.wmv -
> 202KB http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-MM2-V7.wmv -
> 76 KB http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-MM2-V8.wmv -
> 73 KB
> http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/...oorQuality.wmv
> - 51 KB
>
> Here are the tradeoffs I'm seeing when viewing the
> website page on my computers...
>
> The PS3 file looks good on all of my systems, but won't
> be visible on Macs and Firefox browsers... and the file
> size is 3 to 4 times larger than the movies....
>
> The WMV V7 and V8 movie files look good on my Windows 98
> and XP computers, but don't play on my Vista system. On
> Vista they download and sit there as a big black bar.
>
> The WMV V9 movie file plays on all of my systems,
> including Vista.... but the quality took such a nosedive
> that it's not suitable for use.
>
> At the moment, the website page is using the WMV-V8 movie
> file... I'm taking the hit with Vista and hoping it'll
> work on other systems.
>
> About viewing these files in players.... the PS3 story
> shows correctly proportioned in WMP10 and in Vista's
> WMP11.... the movies play distorted to standard 4:3
> aspect ratio in WMP10 in XP, and look fine in WMP11 in
> Vista.
>
> I'd appreciate any and all feedback about....
>
> - does the embedded WMV8 movie file on the main page of
> my website... http://www.papajohn.org ... play in your
> browser? what system and browser are they?
> - do the story and movie files play in your players?
> - do they play with the right aspect ratio, or are they
> mis-shaped to suit?
====================================
You know I'm not a real pro on video but I'll
try to offer some info...

Windows XP Pro SP2...IE6.

The file on your website plays as expected
and IMHO the quality is adequate for what
it is.

The only of one the 4 files in question that
play correctly (Not Stretched) in Windows
Media Player 10 on my machine is:
90-PhotoStory3.wmv

If I download the 4 files and play them in
IrfanView the only one that is skewed is,
90-MM2-V9-PoorQuality.wmv and it plays
as a very small square in the upper left of
the screen.

If I import the four files into Movie Maker 2...
they all play the same size...as a horizontal
bar across the center of the view screen
with black at the top and bottom.

The worst resolution is:
90-MM2-V9-PoorQuality.wmv

The best resolution is:
90-PhotoStory3.wmv

The other two appear about equal...

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Thanks John,

I just swapped the V8 file online with a new V9 movie file.... I found that,
by running in widescreen 16:9 mode, Movie Maker interprets the 800x24 pixel
dimensions as 44x24, but only for the V9 codec, not the V7 or V8.

By changing to standard 4:3 mode, MM2 interprets it correctly at 800x24...
so I put that one online to replace the V8.

the V9 file is bigger but still only about 40% the size of a story file.
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org
MM2 Tips and Tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693
Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx

"John Inzer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> PapaJohn (MVP) wrote:
>> I've been working on a custom sized video inset for the
>> main page of my website... replacing a thick horizontal
>> black line with a custom video sized at 800x24 pixels...
>>
>> I started down the path of making it a movie... but then
>> thought a story would be smaller and open quicker... my
>> rule of thumb being that story files are only 10% the
>> size of movies. This exercise is giving me some things
>> to think about, and I'd appreciate any of your
>> comments.... Here are 4 files... a Photo Story 3 file that is the
>> smallest file size I can make it without taking too much
>> of a quality hit, and then 3 movies made in MM2 from a
>> high quality story (580K file size for a 7 second story).
>> All are made by using custom profiles to make a video
>> file of 800x24 pixel dimensions.
>> http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-PhotoStory3.wmv -
>> 202KB http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-MM2-V7.wmv -
>> 76 KB http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/90-MM2-V8.wmv -
>> 73 KB
>> http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/...oorQuality.wmv
>> - 51 KB Here are the tradeoffs I'm seeing when viewing the
>> website page on my computers...
>>
>> The PS3 file looks good on all of my systems, but won't
>> be visible on Macs and Firefox browsers... and the file
>> size is 3 to 4 times larger than the movies....
>>
>> The WMV V7 and V8 movie files look good on my Windows 98
>> and XP computers, but don't play on my Vista system. On
>> Vista they download and sit there as a big black bar.
>>
>> The WMV V9 movie file plays on all of my systems,
>> including Vista.... but the quality took such a nosedive
>> that it's not suitable for use. At the moment, the website page is using
>> the WMV-V8 movie
>> file... I'm taking the hit with Vista and hoping it'll
>> work on other systems. About viewing these files in players.... the PS3
>> story
>> shows correctly proportioned in WMP10 and in Vista's
>> WMP11.... the movies play distorted to standard 4:3
>> aspect ratio in WMP10 in XP, and look fine in WMP11 in
>> Vista. I'd appreciate any and all feedback about....
>>
>> - does the embedded WMV8 movie file on the main page of
>> my website... http://www.papajohn.org ... play in your
>> browser? what system and browser are they?
>> - do the story and movie files play in your players?
>> - do they play with the right aspect ratio, or are they
>> mis-shaped to suit?
> ====================================
> You know I'm not a real pro on video but I'll
> try to offer some info...
>
> Windows XP Pro SP2...IE6.
>
> The file on your website plays as expected
> and IMHO the quality is adequate for what it is.
>
> The only of one the 4 files in question that play correctly (Not
> Stretched) in Windows Media Player 10 on my machine is:
> 90-PhotoStory3.wmv
>
> If I download the 4 files and play them in
> IrfanView the only one that is skewed is,
> 90-MM2-V9-PoorQuality.wmv and it plays
> as a very small square in the upper left of the screen.
>
> If I import the four files into Movie Maker 2...
> they all play the same size...as a horizontal
> bar across the center of the view screen with black at the top and bottom.
>
> The worst resolution is:
> 90-MM2-V9-PoorQuality.wmv
>
> The best resolution is:
> 90-PhotoStory3.wmv
>
> The other two appear about equal...
>
> --
>
> John Inzer
> MS Picture It! MVP
>
> Digital Image
> Highlights and FAQs
> http://tinyurl.com/aczzp
>
> Making Good Newsgroup Posts
> http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
>
>

PapaJohn (MVP) wrote:
> Thanks John,
>
> I just swapped the V8 file online with a new V9 movie
> file.... I found that, by running in widescreen 16:9
> mode, Movie Maker interprets the 800x24 pixel dimensions
> as 44x24, but only for the V9 codec, not the V7 or V8.
>
> By changing to standard 4:3 mode, MM2 interprets it
> correctly at 800x24... so I put that one online to
> replace the V8.
>
> the V9 file is bigger but still only about 40% the size
> of a story file.
=============================
FWIW...I don't see any major
visual difference in the new file.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

I agree John... but it plays on my Vista system whereas the V7 and V8 files
don't....
--
PapaJohn

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org
MM2 Tips and Tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693
Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx

"John Inzer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> PapaJohn (MVP) wrote:
>> Thanks John,
>>
>> I just swapped the V8 file online with a new V9 movie
>> file.... I found that, by running in widescreen 16:9
>> mode, Movie Maker interprets the 800x24 pixel dimensions
>> as 44x24, but only for the V9 codec, not the V7 or V8. By changing to
>> standard 4:3 mode, MM2 interprets it
>> correctly at 800x24... so I put that one online to
>> replace the V8. the V9 file is bigger but still only about 40% the size
>> of a story file.
> =============================
> FWIW...I don't see any major visual difference in the new file.
>
> --
>
> John Inzer
> MS Picture It! MVP
>
> Digital Image
> Highlights and FAQs
> http://tinyurl.com/aczzp
>
> Making Good Newsgroup Posts
> http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
>
>
>