i can has mobile video?

June 26, 2008 12:06 PM

Where can I get some introductory-level information regarding video player implementation on mobile phones? I want to build a site that will play video on a variety of mobile phones. I have a non-mobile version of the site already, and all the videos are FLV format playing within a flash player, but the file & player format can be modified as necessary.
posted by negative1 to technology (3 answers total)

At the very least you'll want to use H.264 rather than FLV.
posted by rhizome at 1:21 PM on June 26, 2008

Have you looked into partnering with BlueApple.mobi ? Their stuff just works.
posted by stovenator at 4:01 PM on June 26, 2008

3GP is a format of video made specifically for mobile devices. It's part of the MPEG family. It's got a few advantages: It's compatible with almost every cellphone made in the last couple years, it's light-weight storage and bandwidth-wise, and if you choose, users can upload videos to your site, as most cellphones with video record in that format as well.

It also supports streaming as well as progressive downloading, meaning people can start watching the video before it's done downloading. There are many programs for converting to the format out there. When doing the encoding, keep a few things in mind: bandwidth is limited for users on 2.5G devices, which is still most people, and their screens are small. Encoding to 320x240 looks good on your desktop, but if their display is 160x128, you're wasting their bandwidth, and thusly time. Consider different links for different resolutions, there aren't many.

Also, two-pass encoding, especially for low-bitrate content like this, is your friend.

One more note, 3GP will work on the iPhone, but it's not the easiest thing out there. For that, go straight Quicktime.
posted by mattoly at 4:58 PM on June 26, 2008 [1 favorite]