Output to AVI

Hi,

I have a client asking for output in an AVI file. AVI, of course, is a container format. The client, of course, doesn't know that.

They want something they can play on a Windows PC without installing quicktime. MPEG Streamclip can convert to AVI... but most of the codecs look like QT codecs. The default is DIVX, which the client says only comes across as audio, no video.

What codec should I be using so my Windoze client can see this file without quicktime?

Thanks,

Mike Watson

what's the source Mike?

AVI at photo jpeg 100% is what I used to use, but I've just gone there to check the process and found that this option doesn't exist anymore. For some reason there is only DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 and None. I'm on QT 7.5 (149.5).

Why are the codecs getting less flexible? I suppose you could use 'none', but it will probably make a huge file. What a pain in the ass.

I'm pretty sure MPEG Streamclip still has those options. My thinking is the same as Jude's -- use an older codec like Sorenson 3, Photo JPEG or Motion JPEG A. If your targets are really ancient, you might even go back to something like Cinepak. You didn't tell us what the purpose of these files is, though. Is it for a proof? Or do they actually need large files at high quality to use as masters?


www.derekmok.com

Ahh cool - as long as MPEG Streamclip has it I'm ok. Bit upset to see it all so dumbed down in QT though. Although .. is AVI a discontinued codec?

I don't think it comes in the category of codec at all -- in Wikipedia it's called a "multimedia container format, or what we've been calling "wrapper":

[en.wikipedia.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]

I wouldn't mind seeing AVI die. Or WMVs, for that matter. At least, until WMVs develop a long-overdue way to step through frames, stop and start on a whim, fly from place to place. This is digital, for crying out loud!


www.derekmok.com

Oh yeah, wrapper is what I meant, but I'm sure I read somewhere that it has been discontinued by Windows - it's no longer being developed. There is a distinct possibility I'm wrong, but it rings bells for me.

I can't find anything on it, so I must be wrong. So that makes me grumpy that I can't get pjpeg AVI via QT Pro again.

Ah - by chance I just refound this reference - Phillip Hodgetts Nov 1 2007 said

". . . the AVI format - abandoned in 1996 by Microsoft it's the zombie file container that won't die."