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We recently made a switch in the format of our NHRA Online QuickTime video highlight clips. While we still are using QuickTime, we now are supporting more recent versions of QuickTime than we did previously.
We now support QuickTime 3, QuickTime 3 for Windows, QuickTime 4, and QuickTime for Windows 4, instead of QuickTime 2.5. If you have been routinely updating your computer with the newest versions of QuickTime as they have been released over the years, you should experience no problems. Those who have been viewing the earlier QuickTime 2.5 clips within Windows Media Player will no longer be able to watch these new clips with that Player. You'll need to add QuickTime 3 or 4 to your system.
Why did we make this change? For same reason Top Fuel teams switch from transmissions to direct drive. We wanted not only to keep current with the evolving world (in this case, of the world of online video), which has seen many remarkable improvements over the last few years, but also to find a way to get there quicker and more efficiently.
Within QuickTime (and within Real Video and Windows Media) are components of the software called "codecs." A codec is the actual part of the software that compresses the video so it will "fit" over the internet, and then decompresses the video on playback on your computer. In the past two years, significant advancements have been made in these codecs - so that now we can offer you video clips that have many distinct and dramatic improvements over what we offered previously:
1.) Vastly better visual quality. The new codec makes cleaner-looking video, and it can be enlarged on playback with really good results.
2.) Much smaller file sizes. The same 15-second long clip that previously was just about 2 Megabytes in size is now only 1.3 MB. Smaller file sizes equals shorter download times! (just how long do you want to wait for your video clips to download?)
3.) Bigger, longer clips are possible. With the new codec, we can make bigger clips and longer clips, while keeping file sizes below 2MB. This would allow, for example, us to provide longer, more complete sequences crash or we pre-run footage that includes more staging close ups, etc.
We know that some of you will be temporarily inconvenienced by this change and we apologize for any problems our change may have caused you. However, please be assured that we have your interests at heart and want to continue to provide you with exciting highlight clips that you can enjoy.
We have many new ideas which we are discussing, ways to bring you even more racing enjoyment into your home computer. Take the time and effort to make the update to QuickTime 4. You have our word that the video content that we'll be providing to you in the future will make you very glad that you did.
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