As you shop for a company for converting video tape to streaming video for the Internet or your corporate Intranet, or for conversion to AVI, MPEG, or QuickTime on CD, price alone should be only one of the factors you consider. Getting outstanding video quality, complete technical support, and gaining maximum value from your investment should be your goal. As you've already seen on the Net, there are huge differences in the quality of the audio and video in rich media presentations. These differences are due to the quality of equipment being used during the production process, the conversion procedures used, and the experience of the producer who is providing the streaming video conversion services. Because there is such a big difference in the quality of audio and video in streaming video clips, we've put together a checklist below to help you shop for a reputable producer. Our own price list for video tape conversions follows the checklist.

Streaming Video Services - A Checklist

Beyond shopping for a competitive and reasonable price, here are the most important factors you should consider when outsourcing your video tape conversion. These guidelines will help you to avoid making a costly mistake, and will enable you to select a reputable producer who will be able to deliver high quality web audio and video encoding.

• Examples
  
  Make sure you see examples of actual streaming video on the producer's web site. If you have a standard broadband connection, please visit our sample video page to see 18 different examples of actual work that we've done for some of our customers.  We also have 6 additional streaming videos available for you to watch at a variey of lower bandwidth settings as well. Each of these is available in Real Video, Windows Media, QuickTime and Flash Video format. Further, each format is available in four different speeds to choose from. We invite you to watch these lower bandwidth examples by following any of the links on our navigation bar to the left which are followed by this video symbol:
  
  
• Customer list
  
  Make sure they prominently display their customer list so that you can easily sort out which producers are the most popular in terms of how many customers they've provided web video conversion services for. If nobody else is using their conversion services, there's usually a pretty good reason why they aren't. If on the other hand, a lot of customers use their services, there's an equally good reason and it's usually quality and customer service.
  
  
• Testimonials
  
  Do they proudly display a sampling of their unsolicited and uncompensated testimonials from their customers which reflect the consistent quality of service you're looking for? Or do they quote low-ball prices that reflect an inability to deliver consistent quality and 24/7 service?
  
  
• Audio & Video Quality
  
  Make sure their own examples look and sound good in comparison to other streaming videos you've seen. During your comparison process, make sure you're comparing video that has has been encoded at exactly the same speed as measured in kbits/sec. If you're not comparing video encoded at exactly the same speed, you will not have a valid quality comparison. See more below.
  
  
• Don't compare apples to oranges
  
  Don't assume that when a competitor's example video clips are labeled with words such as low, medium and high speed or dial-up, ISDN and broadband, that it means the clips were encoded at 37, 100 & 300 Kbits/second respectively. We've discovered many instances where competitors have encoded their dial-up or low-speed examples at 95 Kbits/sec, their ISDN or medium speed examples at 280 Kbits/sec., and their broadband or high speed examples at 770 Kbits/sec. This is a deceptive presentation tactic which prevents a prospective buyer who is connected to the Net via a high speed network from making an accurate quality comparison. If you're unable to determine the encoding speed of a video example you're viewing, you may end up comparing apples to oranges. Some people call this deceptive tactic bait & switch, others call it smoke and mirrors. We simply, but strongly caution - buyer beware!!! Since understanding how and why video quality improves at higher delivery speeds, a further discussion of this critical issue is contained on our bandwidth comparison page and is highly recommended reading.
  
  
• Choice of web video formats
  
  Make sure you deal with a producer who is not married to a single streaming video format. This can indicate a limited knowledge of video encoding. We encode in Windows Media, Real Video, QuickTime streaming, Vivo, AVI, MPEG and QuickTime formats from both NTSC and PAL formats.
  
  
• Choice of delivery speeds
  
  Make sure the producer is extremely familiar with the concepts of how delivery speed can improve audio and video quality on both the web and on Intranets, and that they illustrate and discuss the impact of video encoded at 28.8, 56k, ISDN, broadband or over a LAN on their own site. Make sure they also offer adaptive rate or Surestream encoding.
  
  
• Choice of movie size
  
  Make sure the producer is capable of going beyond the 160x120 norm and that they illustrate it on their web site.Unfortunately most producers don't know how to achieve good quality when converting video into larger viewing sizes or they don't have the proper equipment for doing so. This is why you see so many small size (160x120) videos on the Net. Although we have a variety of movie sizes shown on our web site including 160x120, most are done at 240x180 or 320x240 which we believe looks much nicer.
  
  
• Pre-sale and post-sale technical support questions
  
  Make sure the video producer is really in business full-time and available when you need to talk to them both before and after the sale, regardless of your geographic location. Is their phone number shown on their web site and do they personally answer their phone, or do you get voice mail? Do they provide toll free calling for their nationwide customers or are they only serving a local market in their own community? We're here to answer your questions 12 hours a day. Call us now toll free at 800-707-8511 or 630-690-7611 and see how easy it is to get your questions answered on the spot.
  
  
• Complete deployment instructions including HTML code and technical service
  
  Make sure you'll be receiving complete technical support in addition to the video conversion. We specialize in turnkey solutions and totally eliminate your learning curve by providing you with the complete code to paste right into your pages for instant streaming video on either your existing web server or a video server. We will work directly with your internal network administrator or your outside Internet service provider to make sure that your streaming video is implemented quickly and properly.
  
  
• Reputation & exposure
  
  Is the producer someone who is quoted or featured in the news? Have they authored articles about streaming video or are they consulted when others write on the subject? If so, they're more likely to be experts in the field and someone you can rely on.
  
  
• Fast service
  
  Make sure the producer is able to meet your demanding production schedule. On most projects, we can furnish you with your completed web video within 24 to 48 hours.
  
  
• Affordable & competitive pricing
  
  Although important, making sure you'll get high quality audio and video, and 24/7 customer support should be your main concern. Anyone can quote low-ball prices, however, delivering maximum value to our customers is what drives our company. Our prices are fully competitive with any reputable firm offering the same services. See our pricing table below for complete details.
  
  
• Technology improvements & upgrade price protection
  
  Real Video and Windows Media are constantly improving the quality of their streaming video encoding and player products. Real Networks, for example is now in their 9th version and Windows Media is in their 9th version in only7 years. Over time, this has resulted in higher quality audio and video. At some point in the future, you may want your videos re-encoded using newer technology which delivers higher quality playback. To protect our customers from the high cost of having us re-encode their videos, and to insure that our customers can always have state of the art streaming video available on their sites, we guarantee to re-encode your original videos using the latest technology available at 50% of what you originally paid. This offer applies only to the original videos we encoded, using the same format and same speed selections and is good for two years from the date of your original order. CyberTech Media was the first company in the streaming media industry, and to the best of our knowledge, we're still the only company to offer this protection to our customers.
  
  
• International service
  
  Does the producer provide services to both a national and international customer base or just a local market? In addition to providing streaming video conversions to U.S. based customers, we also provide our encoding services to customers in all corners of the world, regardless of the format of the source material, or where their ISP is located at.
  
  
• Satisfaction guarantee
  
  Does the producer provide a complete satisfaction guarantee on their streaming video encoding? To the best of our knowledge, we are the only company to stand behind our video encoding with a satisfaction guarantee.
  
  
• Convenient payment options
  
  Does the producer offer payment options to accommodate your business needs and geographic location? In additional to standard payment by check and open purchase orders for qualified repeat customers, we also accept the major credit cards your company or organization already uses - Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover/Novus.

Video Conversion Charges
Item	Price
Set-up fees	None
Per tape set-up fees	None
First video clip (first 5 minutes)	$99
Each additional clip, or for each additional 5 minute increment Volume discounting up to 80% on videos over 10 minutes Call 630-690-7611 for quotes on videos over 10 minutes	$60
Larger orders - see our $$ price matching policy $$ below	Call
Alternate speeds - if you'd like your video to be available at multiple speeds (per 5 minutes per clip) minus volume discounts	$25
Alternate formats - for example if you're ordering Real Video but would also like a second clip prepared in Windows Media, QuickTime or AVI (per clip per 5 minutes) minus volume discounts	$40
Conversion from PAL or Beta PAL	Call
Deployment instructions and dlivery on CD or by FTP	$25
Discount for carrying our banner acknowledging our firm as the producer of your streaming video	15%

• $$ Price matching policy $$
  
  Have you ever purchased something from a company just because of price alone - all the while wishing that the company you really wanted to do business with could have met their competitors price? We will! We are firmly committed to doing whatever it takes to earn your business, and we don't want to lose the opportunity to work with you just because of price alone. Based on the popularity of our company's encoding services, we believe our pricing structure is very competitive, however, we are not always aware of when other companies may be offering some special promotion in their pricing structure. If you believe in doing business with a market leader who consistently delivers high quality video encoding and expert technical support, please call us and let us know whenever we need to overcome a pricing differential with one of our competitors. We will never compromise our standards for delivering you the quality you expect, but we will always endeavor to meet or beat any legitimate quote to earn your business.

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