[MPlayer-users] Video file formats?

[Rainer Hantsch]

Hi!

I still think about a usable solution for offering videos with:
.) a minimum of bandwidth
.) static files (so a normal Apache 1.x can supply them through http
   without any additional stuff)
.) playable without unusual codecs or players from Windows/Mac
.) with a maximum of quality (in relation to the bandwidth), but it should
   be somewhere around 1/4 PAL

.) And the software for creating the files should be free.

So I finally always end with mencoder, and therefore I ask here (again).
Please, leave me your suggestions.

My researches show that only a few video file formats seem to be buffered
and instantly played while still downloading from normal Windoze machines:
- MPEG1 (*.mpg) movies  (but my Netscape on Linux has difficulties, i.e.)
- RealPlayer file format (requires the player, but this is not too exotic
  at all). But does this require a special server, too, or can I supply a
  normal file through HTTP?
- Windows Media File  (this is not really a favorite one for me)
- maybe others.

Can someone either point me to a very good description on mencoder (something
like a "cookbook" with samples on how to encode some different file formats)
and/or share his experience with me, please?
FYI: The standard mencoder manual is not detailled enough, I already read it.

mfg

  Ing. Rainer Hantsch