a quick and easy way to set up streaming video using iMovie and QuickTime Pro


All 'streaming' means is that the person downloading the clip can watch it little by little as it downloads, rather than staring at that ugly white page. A lot of people will even shut down non-streaming downloads becuse they can't tell if anything is happeneing, or they just don't want to wait that long. Give them something to look at meanwhile and they'll stick around. I don't even want to admit how many times I'll sometimes watch a partially loaded clip as it's downloading!


This isn't the only way to do it, and it's not the best way... it's just an easy way using software that comes standard on the Mac, and the most inexpensive encoding software I know of. There is software that will do a much better job, like Discreet Cleaner, but it's expensive, and if you already have software like that, this tut definitely isn't for you! So get out of here!


Ok, when you've got your clip all edited, just go to the FILE pulldown menu and select EXPORT. You'll get a popup box that looks like this:

Select 'to Quicktime'. You'll then get this popup:



Select 'Expert...'. Don't be intimidated! This scares off a lot of people, but it's nothing to fear. The worst thing that can happen is you'll mess up a clip and have to try again. You won't do any permanent damage. I always make sure to save my uncompressed clip in case I make any mistakes. You need to have QuickTime Pro to do this... it only costs $30 from the Apple website, and trust me, it's worth its weight in platinum!


Ok, here's what the dreaded Expert box looks like:

There are a LOT of different things you can do... but that's for you to experiment with if you want. For the purposes of this tutorial, here is a nice simple setup that WORKS. First, choose the size you want your clip to show at. A smaller size will download faster, and incidentally, everything looks sharper and clearer in a smaller size. Click the 4:3 box, which will keep the clip proportioned right (as long as it's in a 4:3 format, which most will be) and change either the width or the height to maybe half it's present size. The other one will change to match. Now click the Settings button and choose Sorensen Video 3 as your compression setting. It's a good standardized compressor that will play on any Quicktime player, except maybe some really old ones, but who cares about them anyway. Make sure to set the quality slider at medium. You can speed download time more by selecting a lower framerate, but that will make things look jerky. With animation, I like to keep the framerate the same for playback as it was when I shot it. You either want to select all keyframes, or no keyframes. I find that setting keyframes for any other rate will make the motion jerky... smooth movements will become ugly. That's it for the Image Settings box, now click OK and move on to the Audio Settings. You can see in the picture the settings I chose... they work, and that's good enough for me. I have tried different settings, sometimes I end up with no sound at all, and sometimes with a bizarre series of clicking noises or something equally annoying, so again that's a matter for experimentation. I recommend playing around with a very short clip to test different settings, and WRITE DOWN YOUR RESULTS or you'll promptly forget them. Qualcom Pure Voice and Q Design Music 2 are also good, and pretty self-explanatory. Ok, so that's it then. All that remains is to click the Prepare for Internet box (which makes it a streaming clip). Leave it set at Standard Web Server, unless you have access to a Quicktime optimized server of some kind. I don't know anything about them though.


Good luck, and happy streaming!