Podcasting: File format for posting to an Intranet

What format would you normally save audio/video in to stream it on a corporate Intranet – avi, move, wms, other? I’m clueless on this podcast and need to have our agency produce this for us. Any help is appreciated. -B.D.

The term "podcast" is used to widely to mean audio (and sometimes video) content that is updated frequently for subscribers to view online or download it to a portable player. Video files produced for general viewing (not suitable for broadcast) are posted to a site in .FLV format, then streamed within a page using an embedded Flash player. Example: http://www3.lehigh.edu/about/news/vidmenon.asp. Adjacent to this example, note there are downloadable videos in iTunes (.MP4) and Windows Media Player (.WMV) as well.

However, it seems like you want to post a web video file for a select audience to download and play on their desktop/notebook computers. I assume you just want the people to view it, and don't intend for anyone to rebroadcast it professionally in any way. If so, that should be relatively simple to direct. Record video digitally to .AVI format as a source for the agency. If your Intranet audience is made up of predominantly Windows users, have the agency convert to .WMV and post that file. If that audience is made up of predominantly Mac users, have the agency convert to .MP4 and post that file. (Or you could offer both.) In either case, your agency can reduce the video aspect ratio proportionately down to 320 x 240 pixels if resulting files sizes are too large and unwieldy at the original size.

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Converting from Pantone Color to RGB or Hex

I'm trying to resolve a color variance. When we develop web pages in our office that are to match printed brochures, colors within tables and text colors are different between our machines. For example, a red similar to a PMS 186 on one screen is pretty pink on mine. A reflex blue tone on my screen is darker than on a colleague's. - RN

Since PMS (Pantone® Matching System) colors are exclusive to printing inks, the Web-based equivalents to them will be approximate at best. Also, there will always be slight variations as to how a color will be perceived on one computer or another due to ambient light and the computer's video hardware configuration.
About the only practical way to avoid what you're experiencing is to use a color model that's common to every user. Specifically, that means specifying a color either in RGB or Hex (Hexadecimal) values.
Since you deal with commercial printing, you could opt to purchase one of the Pantone color utilities -- but you might not need it. If you have access to Photoshop, you can specify a Pantone color fill then note it's RGB equivalent. There are also several Pantone to RGB conversion charts floating around on the Web. You may consider using a reference chart like this http://www.sandaleo.com/pantone.asp or this http://www.logoorange.com/color/color-codes-chart.php to lookup what you need.

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