We're considering using this new fangled Flash video stuff on AusGamers - you know, like YouTube. The cool thing is it means you can quickly and easily check out new game trailers to see if they're vaguely interesting to you. The bad thing is it means you miss out on all the lush high-def visuals that are on offer in recent trailers - you're not streaming a HD trailer any time soon, unless you like seeing the word "buffering" for periods long enough to ensure it ends up stamped permanently on your retinas.

So, we're curious as to what people think and why. So let us know by voting in our poll (sorry, registration required). If you have any further comments please drop them here! We'll be using the information gathered from this to help us decide whether this is something worth doing for our user base.

Personally I watch the first few seconds of a streaming trailer (movie/game) to determine if I should invest in the high-def version for the "full experience". A sort of preview I guess.

Or is that the point? :)

last edited by parabol at 15:47:57 22/May/07

FWIW, I personally never stream if there's a downloadable option available.

I always download too. I like to take something free away with me, like when going to the Car Show.

I voted that I'd rather download it.

If there was controls to stop, pause and resume buffering in the flash things I'd be more inclined to watch and use streaming stuff.

I like to get a preview of the content, to see if I want to download the full HD version(if that option is there) as the thread suggests, but still being a bandwidth tightass (a remnant of being put on the BP Cable 3gig plan years ago), I'm not a fan of downloading a full video in flash that I might not watch the whole way through.
For example, a 10 minute video that sounded interesting but ended up boring me to death in the first minute ends up wasting part of my quota (albeit a small part)just by buffering the whole video within that first minute, considering you'll get speeds from 600 to 1600?k/s from ausgamers. Do this a few times and those measly megabytes start to add up.
Currently the only way to stop flash video (that I'm aware of and is easy) is to hit the back button in your browser, which is a pain in the ass.

I'd rather download for things I am really keen on watching, however if its just some random video or trailer I would rather check out the streaming version first to save some megs.

cant have both? i like downloading vids of stuff im interested in but like streaming stuff im not so interested in.

Same as trog - I'd rather use works bandwith to completely leech something, and then stick it on the server if it's worth sending to others.

It also means I can watch stuff on the train home etc. Try streaming HD stuff on a GPRS connection (forgetting even the cost of doing so at 2.2c/KB)

I never download... I have downloaded in the past but I have found that I only ever watch a trailer once and then it "collects dust" and takes up space on my HDD for many years...

When I stream, I get a good idea of what the game is like/about and consider a purchase.

I am really getting into watching high-def trailers lately and I get most of them from ausgamers.

Keep the high def please.

yer, HD rules

i only stream stuff i never want to watch again

Yeah, I used to think streaming was complete balls but that was when streaming consisted of s***ty real media plugins or windows media embedded and constant "buffering". Now that the Internet generally runs faster and most streaming is handled by flash I think that It cant be beat for quick previewing.

If a video is worthy of downloading for higher quality/archiving then i'll go for that but generally only after streaming first if that's an option.

I tend to download a HD versions if it's available, i'm far to lazy to preview something. That said i'd probably watch more trailers for random stuff if i could just stream it.

Use Divx Web Player. It supports streaming (including HD), and you can download what you stream. DivX Labs even have a nice HTML code generator.

the one reasons i like ausgamers so much is because its so easy to download files, its not a f*** around to find something and its always 2 buttons away from a download.

whilst streaming from flash has its good points that kind of videos i get from ausgames i always prefer to download and watch locally because they are the videos/trailers that i want in decent quality, so i vote against it.

I do what dan does.

He's so dreamy.

i would only want to have streaming if, and only if, i have a download button next to it, i don't like the google / you-tube method of not allowing you to download the media.

A poll is a stupid way to decide which option to go for.

You're right, which is why it's not going to decide what option we go with. It's a good way to quickly and easily summarise what user preference is one way or the other though. WELCOME TO THA INTARNETSS

Isn't that like saying, "Different people will prefer different things?" It's a given.

Yeh, but if 1000000 people say "I like streaming" and only 6 people say "I like downloading" it's a good indicator that maybe we should spend some time on this streaming stuff and build it into our website!

(Normally we'd just go the f*** ahead and do it anyway but it's a pretty massive pain in the balls to do it, so before we do I want to find out if at least a few people are going to use it)

Not really... cause I'm doing third year stats (WOW!!#) I'm being elitist and saying there are heaps of problems with the poll and you can't draw those conclusions from it. For example, you have an option "I don't care". Most people who don't care wouldn't bother voting which means the polled number is most likely far below what it is in reality.

Even if 1000000 people responded like you said, it is still not significant because you haven't taken a random sample:O

Most people who don't care wouldn't bother voting which means the polled number is most likely far below what it is in reality.

I don't want a random sample - I want a sample of people that actually care enough to vote. Everyone that votes "I don't care" or doesn't vote - we don't care about!

I could have just put up a single option, "yes I'd like the option to watch streaming videos", but I wanted a comparison from our registered user base, which I consider to be a little more technically savvy than those that would randomly drift into a more public poll

I don't want a random sample - I want a sample of people that actually care enough to vote. Everyone that votes "I don't care" or doesn't vote - we don't care about!

Well if it was a scientific study you should keep in an option like that, because if it turns out to be significantly more popular than the others, it'd mean you do whichever option is easier or most cost effective.

Hahaha obviously putting up only one option would be stupid. You still need a random sample of your user base... because people who want to be able to download might be more inclined to vote... or who knows whatever else. Polls might be an ok way to "eye-ball" data, but if you did it as a proper experiment you might find that poll results are grossly inaccurate.

As long as it doesn't go towards cap ( ie ga mirror ) then I don't care :)

..sort of like when the GA community were asked if they liked the recent 'new theme':P

Dude, if democracy worked, EVERYONE would be doing it

see trog, I TOLD you it needed a "I do care" option

Personally I don't care, and that's what I voted. Unless a trailer is a show off for that particular game's engine and how pretty it can make everything look streaming is just fine to demonstrate gameplay. If it's a (insert game name here) is so realistic you'll think you're watching TV type of demo then yeah I'd want a hi-res file to download or else what's the point.

HD rolling demos would be cool if 90% of PC games weren't s***e.


if you could somehow get HD versions of exciting content like this instead of crap, then HD downloads would make sense to me.

last edited by koopz at 20:10:28 23/May/07