I’ve tried a number of flash conversion video hosts. Of the free services, Vimeo is by far the best. The Vimeo Plus service is even better. For a standard definition conversion to web video, you’re going to wind up with a file that’s approximately 15% larger than produced by their already quite good basic encoding. That makes a bigger difference than the size percentage alone might imply. It’s a two pass encode, which means less risk of pixelation on complex video. The colors are crisper and the motion is much smoother. It takes a little experimentation to hit the sweet spot with submissions, but the effort is within the comfort zone of the enthusiast. The price tag is low enough for budget conscious video artists — $60 — who need to get something on the web; preferably video that’s presented in a user-friendly, familiar manner. After upgrading, I resubmitted Lament and I’m glad I did. The Vimeo Plus version is noticeably better.
