Are there certain video file types that will work best when creating screensavers for Windows users on a Mac? I have tried MP4 and MOV and both work great on Macs but fail on Windows. MP4 does not run smoothly and MOV brings up an error on some Windows machines asking for Quicktime updates. Do we need to use WMV files (which cannot be created on Macs)?
I am exporting video files from Premiere Pro and Sorenson Squeeze. We used to use a different screensaver software on Windows (with WMV videos), but I want to see if I need to go back to the old way or if iScreensaver will work for making .exe screeneavers.
Thanks
On Windows PCs, when using video, any screensaver built using iScreensaver is going to either require the QuickTime plugin, or the Flash (SWF) plugin to be installed.
The safest way to encode your MP4 (H264) video seems to be to export it using QuickTime Player Pro. If you use another product (such as Adobe Media Encoder, Sorenson, etc.) we’ve seen cases where the resulting H264 file has terrible performance, even though it seems to be OK.
Thus, our first recommendation would be to try QuickTime to do a final encoding of your video.
We have been using Quicktime Pro to export a WMV file. But iScreensaver doesn’t accept them, so we have been using another software for our Windows screensavers. Our MP4 files from Premiere Pro work fine for OS X. Can you think of any other options I could try as it is a pain having to use two computers all the time. Plus WMV seems to be lower quality with bad macroblocking on some dark screensavers.
Thanks
ps. have there been any reports of problems with El Capitan? Two customers of ours have said their screensavers don’t work (I am waiting for their reply about error messages) and I don’t want to upgrade to El Capitan yet to test it, because I have heard it doesn’t work well with Premiere Pro.
iScreensaver 4.5 uses the QuickTime plugin for playback on windows PCs, so your best bet is to make a file that looks good on Mac, and use the same file for PC builds. We recommend H.264 inside a MP4 or .MOV file format. QuickTime Player 7 Pro (the older version) has more export options that the newer QuickTime X.
El Capitan: known issues, we are working on it.
Please note that iScreensaver Designer 5 has been released which addresses many of these issues.
Please see http://iscreensaver.com/features5.shtml for a list of new features in version 5.0.
Will give it a try, quite a price hike 
“quite a price hike” - Yes and no. The list prices of our lower-end license have gone up a bit; the highest end site licenses area actually cheaper.
Also, it’s important to note that we offer discounts for non-profit or educational users, as well generous return-customer upgrade discounts.
Depending on which specific discounts you qualify for, the end price can be as much as 80% discounted.
Feel free to shoot us an email if you have a unique situation and want purchasing advice.
