by wilcal » Sep 4th, '12, 18:52
FWIW
One of the biggest challenges I have in making
videos is to get them to play on a Windows
platform. At times I've all but given up trying
to get a video in some format that a particular
person, using WinBlows, can view. It's a mess.
With people still using things like Win98, 2000,
XP, 7, Vista and now a prerelease version of 8
it's hard to make something that works.
In general if they have Windows Media Player
installed then that application seems to have
better luck at playing a particular format.
Or if it does not have a specific codec it goes
out and finds it, sometimes.
I have standardized on one specific version
of Windows. That is Windows 8 Release Preview.
If I can create a video in some specific format,
lets say
H.264 MPEG4 720p V=384kb/s A=96kb/s
and that plays on Windows 8 Release Preview
with Windows Media Player then that is good
enough for me. If someone has a particular
problem playing that on their Windows box
then that is their problem not mine.
I will officially purchase a copy of Windows 8
when that is officially released and that then
will become my standard for compatibility.
If some previous version of Windows can't
handle a specific video file format then that
person will have to upgrade to Windows 8.
That is what Microsoft has been telling them
to do and I agree with that.
I am NOT endorsing Windows 8 but all the
previous versions of Windows can be a
joke when trying to play a specific video
file format.
"DISK BOOT FAILURE - INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"
is my friend