Any major cons on having an avi file for a website based demo?

[SpyderWeb]

Any major cons on having an avi file for a website based demo? Just thought I would ask to see if I am missing something. I like the idea of using Windows Media Player broad reach to demo a product. Also, should I code the page to read the header info for a download speed info and redirect them to a dail-up/broadband page or just have a default “best option” page. Redirect to Windows Media Player/QuickTime file format page? Adding a QuickTime file format would require converting the movie from the avi file format is this easily possible? I am worried about compatibility issues and how difficult it may be to address all involved. I am truly interested in a single avi file format “best option” page, unless addressing all the various compatibility issues is worthwhile enough for the effort.

[Jon_King]

AVI's play in Quicktime and MediaPlayer. I would simply give a user choice of dialup or broadband versions. I think what you propose will work fine.

[legalzoom]

There is also the option of wrapping the AVI with Flash (making a swf file) and building a player with a preloader, play and stop buttons. That might be an even more ubiquitous solution as many people can play Flash. If you can publish a flash file in an older format like Flash 5 or 6 your can even cover more people using your AVI file as the source material.