h.264 (mp4) Slow Start Issue

Hi Warriors,

I'm in a bit of a pinch and need some expert advice regarding MP4 and the "moov atom" problem I seem to be having and need a FIX from those who are "in the know".

I recently started moving all my vids over to Amazon S3 format and use the Flowplayer to pick up the videos to post on my blog. The problem I am having at the moment is a slow start.

Let me explain how I create MOST of my videos so you can understand where the problem lies and possibly help me find a solution.

For the most part, I use Camtasia to do a screen capture, usually in a length of 4-7 minutes. I then export the capture from Camtasia to Sony's Movie Studio, HD Platinum 10 program as an AVI file -- where I will then add in transitions and Video FX features in addition to enhancing my audio, which all wrapped up helps me create a video that informs as well as entertains.

Frankly, there is nothing as dull as a video that does nothing but talk! How B O R I N G!

Now the problem...

Apparently, the Sony Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 does not place the metadata at the beginning of the file when I export to MP4 format. It places it at the end. When I place the videos on YouTube, I don't have a slow start problem. Once the play button is engaged with YouTube, the video plays immediately without fail. But this is because I upload my HD videos to YouTube as AVI files and let them convert it.

HOWEVER, when I take the same video and place it onto Amazon S3 and use my FlowPlayer to get the file for posting to my blog -- the entire video has to download first before it starts to play.

Doing research, I found the some programs place the metadata at the end of the file, which is bad. The "move atom" that holds all the index information for my video is at the end of the video rather than the beginning because this is how Sony Movie Studio exported the file.

NOW when I try to view the same video through Amazon S3, the entire video has to download FIRST before it can be watched from my blog post. This is totally unacceptable to me. NO person in their right mind, wants to sit and wait for an 80mb HD video to load to the screen before they can view it. Can you say B O R I N G!?

I can make a pot of coffee and brush my teeth before this entire thing loads to the screen. I need a solution!

Has anybody ever had this problem?

What can I do to fix it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Kind regards,

-- Bonnie