Remember this rule: If you put poorly-rendered content into a server, the media server will output poor graphics. Low-resolution images and movies that are formatted in the wrong file type or with the wrong codec are examples of poorly-rendered content to avoid. Why? Low-res images are difficult to scale up without getting visibly distorted and pixelated. That’s not to say that they can’t be used, but the results you will get with them will usually not be acceptable. High-resolution images are generally better off to start with as they allow more room to scale up or down from within the media server. And movies rendered at a higher resolution than required task the server’s processor more, and it causes it to play back frame rates slower. Knowing and adhering to these things ahead of time means you won’t waste your time (nor the LD’s or the client’s) with content that can’t be used.
– From Vickie Claiborne’s Video Digerati column in the May issue of PLSN
