[Nico]

pffff, that gif license thing. there's millions of sites on the web, 80% of them are full of gif pics. Like hell they even caren at Unisys ( btw, those guys at burnallgifs.org are morons ).

Anyway, I think the most sensible choice is WMV. Tools to make wmv files comes with every legal windows copy, it's free to use, it's not that bad, so it clears all worries. well, that's my two cents.

[KARMA]

but the problem as far as I've understood aren't the single images, but the programs using this LZW compression method to compress or decompress images ( not only gifs ), and I suppose that, in order to add gif support in FSO, this compression method should be used.
Anyway, I think you guys should choose a format considering
If there is a license
how easy it is to create an animation in that format
how easy it is to implement this format into fso
what is the quality of the format
what is the resulting filesize in this format
what is the performance hit
I think most of us -surely me- really don't have the knowledge to discuss about those points, so personally I trust your choice:)

[HotSnoJ]

KARMA: Don't forget about looping!

[Drew]

why not just load the AVI into the VRAM or sumthing; wouldnt that take the load of the CPU?

[Fry_Day]

Tehnically, instead of PNG, there's MNG, which is basically exactly what's needed as a file-format, but adunno about how much support it has as a format, so I don't know about which programs actually support saving to that format.

[Setekh]

I would die for OGG audio - it'd be fantastic for anyone who wanted to do extensive voice-acted campaigns, because WAVs are so huge.

[Kazan]

DivX is mpeg4

[Kazan]

load a movie into VRAM! *looks at 100+ meg filesizes* ARE YOU INSANE

[Fry_Day]

The LZW patent is no longer binding in the US.

I'm totally against WMV - it's unportable. Besides, Microsoft control enough fields of computing as-is. Don't give 'em more power. Besides, H.264 (aka MPEG4 part 10, H.26L) is much nicer

[karajorma]

I'm against WMV for the same reason. FS2 now runs on more than just Windows we should try to make sure that things stay that way.

[Flipside]

Agreed there, though it depends how DivX or the like performs in game, the availability of freeware converters to that video type, for people who don't have one, and whether it can convert still images etc. It would actually make life easier for me, since I can render animation straight to DivX format, as can most people with 3D animation software, but are there free BMP or JPG series to DivX video converters out there for those that work frame by frame?

Flipside

[Flaser]

Why shouldn't we use Xvid?

For all I know, that's good even license wise.

...or there's open divx, though I know little about it.

BTW ogm files are good, because they are not as valnurable as simple avi files - they have backward framing too, so skimming through them is faster as well.

[RandomTiger]

I think using a video file is less likely considering the overhead.