QuickTime 7 and H.264

This week I did some tests using H.264 and it rocks. No questions. Much better quality at low bit rates. Ideal for videoblogging. So, since I make experimental interactive stuff that generally breaks in a lot of computers I’ve decided to, once again, jump right in and just embrace the bleeding edge. So, it is H.264 from now on. This means that you’ll need QuickTime 7 (or some nifty other video players) to be able to view what I’m making here.

Why? Because without seeding innovation everyone will settle for second best. If you don’t want to come along, that’s fine, but I’ve only ever made stuff for an interested minority, mass or at least large audiences are for others. I don’t have anything to say here outside of what videoblogging could, should, ought to be, whereas I think unsurprisingly most videobloggers are more interested in thinking about what stories about their worlds they can tell, and how. So, believe me, H.264 is a stunning codec and MPEG4 is the best architecture for this sort of time based media.

It’s no different in blogs. Most bloggers are more interested in writing about their worlds, the blogs about blogs are an (influential) minority.

In this area I’m an early adopter, test it, break it, adopt it. If you haven’t updated to QuickTime 7 yet, then we are just at different parts of the same curve. You will need to view H.264 soon, and you will be viewing it in the future whether you realise it or not (for example in next generation DVD), so come on back in a few months :-)

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