Please Help Me eMail my Videos via OSX Mail

May 9, 2009 5:59 PM

I want to send YouTube and other videos via email after I've download them. I am using OSX 10.5.6 and v3.5 Mail.

I have a QT Pro license, so I can convert the format once the video is downloaded. I would like for friends who use PCs and those who use Macs to be able to play the videos. My questions are:

1) In what format should the video be when I send it, so that users of both platforms are able to enjoy the video?

2) If a PC user tells me that they cannot view the video, what application should I advise they obtain in order to do so. (I am not going to try to troubleshoot their PC, I just want to tell them that they need "X" program in order to play the movie.)

3) Is there any other info that I need to be aware of, from your experience, to do this as seamlessly as possible?

I have done a lot of searching for these answers and cannot seem to find them. I sincerely appreciate your assistance in advance!

posted by konig to computers & internet (15 comments total)

VLC can handle FLV (youtube videos are in FLV) on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 6:03 PM on May 9

Download the "HQ" H.254 .mp4 version instead of the flash video and it is a self-contained movie anybody should be able to play.
posted by floam at 6:03 PM on May 9

VLC can also handle almost everything else.
posted by odinsdream at 6:04 PM on May 9

er, that 5 was meant to be a 6, of course.
posted by floam at 6:06 PM on May 9

I'm confused. If the videos are on YouTube, why do you need to download them? Just email a link.

But, in any case, I don't see what's wrong with .mov format. Mac users can play it without a doubt, and just tell PC users to download Quicktime.
posted by reductiondesign at 6:07 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

just tell PC users to download Quicktime

FYI, the Windows Quicktime client is a horrendous, ill-behaved piece of crap.
posted by The Tensor at 6:11 PM on May 9 [2 favorites]

FYI, the Windows Quicktime client is a horrendous, ill-behaved piece of crap.

Indeed. Sometimes I think Apple just tosses Windows porting of their stuff to summer students. It's a horrible move, marketing-wise, because Windows-only users have no idea how good QuickTime (or iTunes) are on a Mac.
posted by rokusan at 6:17 PM on May 9

Yeah, tell 'em to download VLC before you tell 'em to download QuickTime.
posted by box at 6:22 PM on May 9

I agree, just send a link... many videos will be large enough to clog an e/mail account....

Is there a reason this won't work for you... ?
posted by HuronBob at 6:27 PM on May 9

FYI, the Windows Quicktime client is a horrendous, ill-behaved piece of crap.

I'm sure I'm not the only Windows user who has been burned by it and now refuses to install it on my computer.

Zoom Player also can play FLV's. I prefer it to VLC. And the version I have can also play Quick Time MOV's, so I don't have to risk Apple's player any more. (However, I have one of the pay versions. I don't know if the free version can play MOVs.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:24 PM on May 9

Thanks very much to everyone who responded; I really appreciate the input. It gives me some options to try. In re to why I want to imbed the video, it's just a personal choice that I would like to employ at times when I provide commentary within the email. Mail makes it very easy to provide links to vids, but sometimes I like to just provide a newsletter type of correspondence and I prefer to send everything as a package. Thanks again!
posted by konig at 8:40 PM on May 9

If you send your newsletter in html form, you may be able to embed the Youtube videos. It's another possible route.
posted by box at 9:00 PM on May 9

Thanks, box. That may also be a reasonable alternative. I'll give it a try.
posted by konig at 9:13 PM on May 9

I am interested in your ideas, but I do not want my inbox clogged with your newsletter.

Go the embedded route. It will work for everybody and doesn't involve sending multiple megabytes of video via POP3 and MIME, causing your content to consume 33% more bandwidth than it ought to and breaking people's mail clients.
posted by flabdablet at 10:39 PM on May 9 [1 favorite]

The best way to do this is to create it as a web page containing Flash video players (either the original YouTube embeds or ones you've created yourself by converting to FLV and using one of the available players) and email the link. Emailing around video files will be irritating to many people, and many/most email clients aren't going to play embedded video within emails by default.
posted by malevolent at 12:59 AM on May 10