Attached Link: H.264

Ready to make a movie from poser, then thought about downloading the latest Codec(s) for compression. Well, I am hearing and reading the latest is the "H.264" how good it is. I go to search for file, then find this site. Correct me, but I am seeing for this codec is $100 to $400. I downloaded codecs in the past and they were at no cost at all. Now, I beginning to wonder if I died then woke up in another world not realizing I did die. Now, they are charging for codecs?

many video decoders are usually included with video players, e.g. quicktime, which may be free. the h264 decoder is included in qt7. but video encoders sometimes hafta be paid for, especially the newer geek codecs. it's one of the big drawbacks of internet video - one never knows what geek codec is gonna be used, when one is given a link to somebody's new poser video. one on hand, nobody is obliged to view videos encoded with the latest codec, but on the other hand, the folks who wrote the codec have the right to be paid for their work, unless of course nobody uses it, in which case they'll just join the ranks of the dozens of other useless codecs out there.

Theres an open source version of that codec that works quite well, search for x264. You can also use something like ffdshow if your encoder supports  DShow codecs.

And BTW they have always charged for commercial codecs, its the formats that are free. ie while formats like mp3 or wmv or h.264 have always been free, software that decodes and encodes these formats may not always be so. Like there are several commercial audio/video codecs for pro archival and usage that support advanced features and are not free.

This is a subject that interests me, too, since I have started .... er, RE-started making animations now in Poser, Vue, etc.

tekmonk, what are some of these "advanced features" that you mention, please, and would an off-the-cuff mere animation pastimer (read me, LOL) have need of them?  I have used a lot of different codecs but frankly don't know from diddly about them technically speaking.

Thanks.

Larry F

As Miss Nancy said, the h264 decoder is included with free qt7. You can encode h264 with Quicktime7 pro ($30). Apple also has free streaming servers for mac and windows.