In a news release given in advance exclusively to The Mac Observer, Endorphin Productions announced Monday it has posted two sample H.264 movies to its Web site. The new compression technique is being seen as the future in delivering high-quality movies to the masses over the Internet, and is some of the first content to make use of the technology, on which Apple has build at least some of its future in the digital video market.
The videos are standard definition in 16 x 9 format, but when loaded into QuickTime 7, they retain a very high quality when viewed in full-screen mode. Low video quality is often seen as a stumbling block for video delivery through the Internet, as it takes massive bandwidth to deliver even a 640 x 480, standard television size, video.
Company president Bob Franco said in the release: "We are amazed at how well the video scales up to full screen without all the ugly artifacts we are used to seeing when blowing up standard definition video. The files sizes are quite small considering the quality of the picture. We are learning more about H.264 and look forward to adding new full screen QuickTime 7 movies to endorphin.com this year."
H.264 is one of the next steps forward in the area of video delivery as it can deliver very high quality video in comparatively small files. Apple has built H.264 into both its professional (Final Cut Studio) and consumer products (iChat AV), and its flagship multimedia platform, QuickTime 7.
Content, however, is always necessary before consumers begin to care about a new multimedia technology, and thatis where Endorphinis new videos come into play.
Endorphin initiated its Internet presence in 1995 and moved into the online video space in 2000. It enjoys a close relationship with Apple that has seen many of its videos appear on the companyis QuickTime Web page.
[Update: The story was updated to clarify the image quality of movies when viewing in full-screen mode. - Editor]