After much thought, and reviewing the time and effort to support these two areas, we have decided to remove support for them from trueGOD.tv.
EXTERNAL EMBED HTML CODE:
First is allowing others to embed video HTML from outside sites into trueGOD.tv. You can still embed your videos from trueGOD into your website, blog and other areas. We mean allowing members to embed YouTube or other video site HTML code into trueGOD.tv. The major sites do not allow this. You cannot embed from AOL into YouTube, or any embed code into YouTube.
This approach although common among sites like ours, brings with it, incompatibility with the code. sizing issues, problems displaying the videos with the players on our site. Also it opens the door for advertising that is not family friendly, or out right godless to appear after the video, during or before. This combined with the fact of the 11,000+ videos uploaded to trueGOD.tv over the last 3 years only 216 have been external embed videos. These also normally are not done correctly, so also require additional support to have them presentable on our site. So as of today no more.
AVI, WMV (WINDOWS MEDIA), MPEG
AVI, Audio Video Interleave format was introduced by Micro$oft back in 1992, and is one of the oldest video formats around. As a format is is not just outdated but was invented before the World Wide Web was, and is not a format used for broadcast streaming by any major or minor video site. It is always converted from this format into something else to be used. We convert into MP4/FLV currently. We have seen timing issues, and some of our conversion tools just refuse to convert this old format. We are not sure if it is something in the AVI container, (a modern codec, in this old format) or that current tools are stating to drop support for this outdated format. Well we are dropping it as well. To learn history on AVI check out this link at Wikipedia.
WMV, The Windows media format, was great in the early days of internet video streaming, and we have broadcast many live and video on demand shows using this format in the years before trueGOD.tv. First introduced in 1999, with internal updates as the years passed to keep it competitive with the leading formats. WMV was good when it was introduced. But with the Flash video format, MP4, WebM(VP8), OGG and others, the WMV format is not keeping up with the majority of devices out there. It is not a PC world anymore, but Tablet, iPhone, Mobile, TV-topbox, and game consoles all play internet video, with almost unanimous support for MP4, a close second is FLV and in the future will be formats like WebM(VP8) and OGG providing open standards, the future of internet TV rests in these formats.
MPG (MPEG-1 known as MPEG version 1), This format was a break-thru when it was introduced back in 1993, and laid the ground work for future versions that change how we deal with media today. The popular MP3 format, is the audio portion of the MPEG-1 video format. Today we use MP4/M4V which is the current version, used by our site and countless others, but it all started with MPG/MPEG-1. This outdated format uses compression that was designed for CD, DVD and not for the web, which did not exist at the time it was created. There are many tools that convert from this outdated format, to MP4. To learn more about MPEG-1, visit Wikipedia link here. We will continue to support uploads of MPEG, because many broadcasters use this format for their systems to archive or broadcast. If you have the option, convert to MP4 before uploading. If the video contains Closed Captions, that were used in broadcast television, then upload the original file. Re-encoding can lose the Closed Captions.
Most of the major and midsize video broadcasters (Secular and Christian) provide FLV or MP4 broadcasting. This is because of 2 reasons. First, the flash player technology can play either format, as long as the video is encoded correctly. Second, iPad/Phone, does not support the FLV player and requires another format. To accommodate the millions of devices out there MP4 is the way to go. Adobe has stated that it will support WebM in its player in the future. Since flash is now at the end of life, formats that support HTML5 streaming are what we support.
Our site uses Open Source technology to convert the various video formats to MP4/HLS/MPEG-DASH videos. We are hoping as members become better at their video, we can convert less, just release the videos without reconverting to the preferred formats. We do that currently with FLVs. We currently reechoed every uploaded video to optimize them for all internet devices.
But we have noticed, and have had a lot of trouble with the conversion of WMV videos. Yes the big boys can do it without many problems, but we do not have their budget. And we have had to re-encode videos that were uploaded and converted from the WMV format time after time, year after year. Timing errors, double frames, compression artifacts and more appear in these conversions leading us to conclude that Micro$oft has placed into the format copy protection that would prevent it form being converted easily. That is understandable. Also it is interesting that as of this writing, you cannot play MP4s in the Window Media player as well. No conversion, no supported player, limited devices that can play the WMV format.
We have had 1225 videos that are uploaded in the WMV format. Many have to be deleted because of issues like those previously mentioned. This support of this format has brought lost time, and added frustration to our team and our members. So again this format will not be supported as of today on trueGOD.tv.
There are numerous alternatives to those who have their videos in this format. You can convert it to MP4, M4V, FLV, WebM(VP8/VP9) or OGG using free tools like SUPER or Handbrake. These tools are available for Windows, MAC or Linux users. We may reconsider this in the future, but not this year, as things continue to change in Internet Television, we will stay “in the know” of current trends and formats.
Yours in Christ Service,
Franklin Mayfield
Ministry Director, trueGOD Television
