Output

Now your video is complete and is a massive, full-resolution file on the editor’s computer.  How will you take delivery?  How will you distribute it?

Remember, the key factor is how your audience will watch the video, not how you will watch it.

So, you fought for your budget, you negotiated with the production company, you oversaw each stage of production, and now you have your video.  Unless you use it, it was all for nothing.  Make sure the right audience gets it in the right format!

Quick guide to output and formatting:

Broadcast – If your video is going on TV, you will need the specifications from the broadcaster on what format they prefer.  Most require Betacam SP or DigiBeta.  Often this will determine the format of the video shooting, however, footage shot in HDV and other formats can be transferred to the broadcaster’s specifications.

MPEG and QuickTime – Often most recognized by their file extensions, .avi and .mov, MPEG and QuickTime are playable on most computers.  The less compression, the more processor power is needed to play the video smoothly, so find a balance so that most people can watch it in decent quality.
MPEG and QuickTime have hundreds of possible codecs (compression software), so if you have no specific requirements, your producer will be able to make a good suggestion.
Not all media players can play all codecs, and not all codecs are installed properly.  To avoid hassle, VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org) is free, easy, and contains a comprehensive internal codec library to play virtually any video with no fuss.

DVD PAL/NTSC – Nowadays most DVD players, and DVD software, support both PAL and NTSC, however, it is generally a good idea to know the standard in the country of your audience.  Japan and U.S.A. are the two major areas where NTSC is prevalent, with PAL in use in most other countries.

Flash – This is a compact, easy to install and use software that has over 90% market penetration.  Almost everyone who is online has it installed.  The beauty of Flash is that it plays video smoothly in almost any internet browser with a minimum of memory usage, so it is a highly preferred format for internet distribution.