hinted streaming, fast start and fast start compressed header

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hinted streaming, fast start and fast start compressed header

Hi,

I am trying to export a movie trailer from FCP through Compressor for use on a website hosted by Wordpress. I am using h.264 and am trying to decide whether it is optimal to use hinted streaming, fast start or fast start compressed header. I found this discussion stream:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10451326

which was helpful, but stated explicitly to not use fast start compressed header. Can someone explain why not? I am also interested in a more in depth explanation of how/when you would choose each of these options.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Becky

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Dec 28, 2010 9:35 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 29, 2010 2:15 AM in response to shmeckers

The header information would normally be at the end of the file. Fast Start places it at the beginning so that this is the first part of the file to be loaded. This means that you can start playing the movie before it has finished downloading.

Fast Start Compressed Header goes one step further by compressing the header, but it is not always compatible with applications and I believe Adobe Flash Player is unable to play it.

Hinting tells the server the optimal method of streaming the movie, but this is only relevant if you have a streaming server (expensive). For most people, Fast Start will suffice.

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