If you or your company has something to say, adding a video to your web site is a very attractive method to catch the users’ attention. The latest plug-ins allow you to insert vide to your site more easily then ever. With the help of other applications you can even stream a video. Although it may be with worse quality it will be still a good choice because there will be no download needed.

The process of integrating a video includes uploading, digitalizing and editing. This may sound a little bit difficult but it is not impossible. The only thing you should worry about is the amount of bandwidth that is required (and of course there will be some legal obstacles if you are using video clips which are not your property). Before starting the whole process there are some issues that you need your attention – what are the benefits of applying video to your web site? Is the time spent in optimizing a video worth it? Will it be necessary for people who visit your web site to download the video? It is recommended to spent some time browsing different web sites with integrated video files and see for yourself how it works for them.

File types

There are three major file types which are used in the Internet – QuickTime, AVI and MPEG. Among them QuickTime takes the first place as most popular format. If you take a closer look you will see that most of the entertainment sites use it.
AVI is more Windows-oriented file format and it is not as popular as QuickTime and MPEG. This is due the existing problems with synchronizing video and audio. Maybe that is one of the reasons why AVI is gradually disappearing from the Web.

MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) is known as the format which provides best output quality. According to this criterion MPEG takes place over QuickTime. MPEG was originally designed for video games and media that require quality video.

The main drawback when using MPEG is the fact that it takes a lot of time to digitalize and then playing it back. Also you need to have specific type of hardware which will cost some money. Another thing to watch out is the fact that MPEG is not compatible with Mac so the users who are using that platform will be not able to see your video. Even though there are IBM-compatible machines which have the necessary MPEG hardware the quality still may differ a lot. For instance one video can look prefect on Compaq and awful on Acer.

QuickTime is designed by Apple and it works on both PC and Mac. Another advantage of QuickTime is that the hardware needed for digitalizing is much cheaper then the one required for MPEG and its editing is entirely software-based.

Process your video

The first thing you should do is to find a video and keep in mind that if your source video is with high quality then the result will be better. Hi8 is maybe the best option but if you are working for an entertainment company then you should search for something better then Hi8.

Most of the Macintosh machines have built-in A/V equipment that significantly eases the process of digitalizing. Consider in advance what will be the size of your movie when capturing a video for Web purposes. Most probably you will look not for a full-screen movie but for a small one with better compression and resolution.
In order to edit your video you can choose from several editing tools which Adobe provides. Premiere is an extremely effective software tool and it works on both Windows and Macintosh. It allows you to merge different video clips and offer a great variety of features. The fact that there are over 50 transitions and filters will make your video unique. Premiere will also allow you to put additional things and make more modifications that were generally left to the post-production houses.

Another tool that Adobe offers and needs out attention are the AfterEffects or so-called “Photoshop for video”. While it has a user-friendly interface it can be also a very powerful tool when it comes to video editing. The effects are very similar to those who are included in Photoshop.

Sound Advice

Although the sound is very often underestimated by the most people it is actually a very important part of the video. In order to perform an audio-editing you will need specific software. Remember, the sound is as important as any other element of your web site. First, separate the audio from the video file (the easiest way to do that with QuickTime is to use MoviePlayer and export the audio as AIFF). Then listen to the audio with headphones (recommended) or good speakers so you will know what the people will hear. When people are watching your video they probably won’t pay attention to the sound but if the sound is with poor quality they will notice that for sure. So why risk at all?

Another good option is using SoundEdit16 which will allow you to treat the separated audio like any other audio file. In the latest release of SoundEdit16 there is a built-in IMA sound compression for QuickTime which allows you to perform 4:1 audio compression.

The last thing that needs your attention before uploading your video is compression. If you are using QuickTime then you can choose among few applications that offer such option. The most popular tool for compression is Radius Cinepak. Many big companies like Creative Labs are using it although sometimes it could be tricky and time-consuming.

Upload it!

After you have found a video and performed all modifications it is time to upload it on the Web. First of all see how much disk space you will need because if you are planning to upload few large files you may exceed your disk quota.

In case you own a server you will need to set up your server’s MIME types. MIME types are files that the server recognizes and when someone downloads .mpg or .mov file the browser will know which application to launch in order to play them. Note that some ISPs want users to change MIME types so make sure you read your ISP’s FAQ first. When uploading a video make a separate directory in your public html directory which will contain only video files.

After you have uploaded the file you will need to create a link to it on your web site. Most people use a screenshot of the video. Also you will have to tell what the video format is, how many minutes last and how much disk space it requires. This is important because people usually do not download video clips unless they are sure about. You can even download the file yourself and then use different programs to play it in order to make sure everything works properly.

Streaming Video

In the past few years streaming video and audio over the Internet has become very popular. At first it was RealAudio which allowed audio files to be streamed. The quality was very low but in the same time it was easier because there was no download needed. Then StreamWorks came and it was capable of streaming video over 14.4-Kbps modems. However, the quality of the video was very poor and not suitable for movies but it was enough for press conferences for example.

The secret behind the compression technologies is that the compression software is installed on the server which allows the video to be streamed to the client. The client has to download additional applications which will read the compression properly. Those additional applications are usually free while the full version of server software is very expensive.

Another place where video files can be very efficient is internal corporate networks. That way training videos can be distributed very easily. Streaming technologies will certainly be part of the future of the Internet. Users with T1 connections can download 2-3MB files without much effort but if your video is interesting be sure that people will see it even if they have to wait to download it.