Encoding to Windows Media Standard in Squeeze 6 for Mac

Posted by Derrick on June 27, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Encoding to Windows Media Standard in Squeeze 6 for Mac is different than in the past with using Squeeze 4 and 5. Most likely you’ll think that it’s not possible in Squeeze 6 if you look under the Windows Media Presets. However, it is possible just a little hidden in this latest version.

The benefit of using Windows Media Standard is you can encode videos using 2-pass CBR and get other features for encoding Windows Media video files.   First, you must have a license of  Telestream’s Flip4Mac WMV. OK, so let’s show you where to look to encode to Windows Media Standard in Squeeze 6.

Navigate to the presets in Squeeze 6 and choose the Formats view.  Click on the + button similar to above and choose the creation of a QuickTime Export preset.

When the next dialog opens choose Windows Media from the Pop-up Menu.

Now on the right of the Custom preset dialog you’ll see an Option button on the right towards the top.  Click the Option button.

Now you can see all the options available for encoding to Windows Media. Bascially these are the Flip4Mac options.  Within Flip4Mac you can choose your desired output settings as well as 2-pass CBR or other compression methods. You can also select the Windows Media Standard option.  Once you make your adjustments click the OK button.

Now you should see your compression preset for output to Windows Media Standard listed under the Windows Media presets with the QuickTime Export options.

Encoding Flash Linked Downloadable Streaming Videos with Squeeze 6

Posted by Derrick on February 5, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | 2 Comments to Read

Encoding Flash Linked Downloadable Streaming videos with Sorenson Media’s Sorenson Squeeze 6 is enhanced.  This tutorial will help you if you’ve upgraded to Sorenson Squeeze 6 or purchased the new version and new Squeeze 6 license.  This workflow in this tutorial is helpful if you need to encode Flash Linked .SWF and .FLV using the Sorenson Media player skins for Download Streaming.    We’ll show you how to create a Flash Linked Downloadable Streaming video that is geared for high broadband users.   The video that we’re encoding is a 720 x 480 DV progressive source with PCM audio and black edges.

Now, let’s get started.

Navigate to the Formats tab located in the Presets section.  Twirl down the Adobe Flash Movie (.swf) templates and navigate to the F8 SWF 360p (4×3) compression preset.  Now copy the preset to create a version you can customize.  Select the preset and Right-click your mouse and select Copy Audience Preset from the Contextual Menu.  You can also select the Creates a Copy button below the presets.  Locate your new preset which should have copy at the end of the Preset name.  Double-click the preset to open it for editing.

Once your preset opens you can adjust your settings but first you need to name your new preset.  For this tutorial name your preset F8_flashlinked_DL_360.  Remember it’s best to make sure you don’t have any spaces in your preset names as they are included in the name of your output file.  Removing spaces mainly helps in the web authoring process.

OK.  Now move to the Codec settings within the Video Tab. You’ll adjust our preset for Downloadable Streaming video for high broadband users.  Keep in mind this is general preset.  You might have to do some additional tweaking to get your desired quality for output.  In your preset the On2 VP6 Pro Codec should be selected along with 2-Pass VBR.  Since the video frame rate is 29.97 frames per second adjust your output frame rate to 15 fps.  By doing this you’re cutting the frame rate in half which will give you smooth motion.  For your target Data Rate adjust it to 600Kbps.  You can keep VP6-E for the Profile with Auto Key Frames Enabled with an Auto Key Frame Threshold of 70.

For Frame Size select 480 x 360.  You can select Maintain Aspect Ratio with Key Frames set to Key Frame Every 90 frames.  So in this case the codec will ad a new key frame at least every 6 seconds since 15 fps is our output frame rate.

Moving onto the Audio settings within the Audio tab.  The Fraunhofer MP3 Codec should be selected.  Adjust your datarate to 40Kbps, Sample Rate set to 22050,  Channels to Stereo and 16 bit for your Sample Size.

Next move to the Player Options Tab.  At this point you’re going to determine the Player/Skin that you want to surround your video for playback on the web.  For this tutorial select the Aluminum Player.

For the Video location you can leave the default value of http:// for the URL/Path and make sure Play Automatically is selected.

A new feature in Squeeze 6 is you can actually attach Filter presets within your compression presets.  However, in this tutorial you want to create a filter that we can apply to other videos as well.  Moving on, navigate to the Filters section on the left hand side within Squeeze 6.

Move down to the Web Generic Filter and select it then click the Creates a Copy button.  Now double-click the Web Generic copy Filter you just created.  When the Filter preset opens change your filter name to SD_Cropping_NoDeinterlace.  You’re giving your Filter this name because you’re making a Filter preset for encoding Progressive SD sources that have blacking edges.

In the Filter preset settings you can check on uncheck items you don’t want to include.  For this Filter uncheck Deinterlace since the source is progressive.  Now check Crop, Brightness, Contrast and Audio Volume.  For Brightness adjust to your setting to 10.  For contrast adjust your setting to 15,  and for Audio Choose Normalize and adjust to 90.  Keep in mind if your source file is really bright you might need to deselect the Contrast and Brightness values.

For cropping off our black edges you’ll multiply the aspect ratio of 4:3 times 8 in which you’ll crop 32 pixels off the left and right and 24 pixels off the top and bottom.  So for the Top input 12 pixels, for Bottom input 12 pixels, for the Left 16 pixels and for the Right input 16 pixels.  Click OK once you’ve made all of your adjustments.

Now onto compressing your video.  Drag your source file into the Batch Tree.  You can also choose Import File from the Input Options and navigate to your desired video and click Open.

Next Select your F8_flashlinked_DL_360 Compression preset and drag it onto your video.  In my case, I’ll drag the F8_flashlinked_DL_360 preset on top of my video called Car02 in the Batch Tree.   Then drag your Filter preset over top of your Compression Preset in the Batch Tree.  Looking at the image above you would drag your Filter preset over top of F8_flashlinked_DL_360 located under Source Settings.  You’ll know your filter is applied when you see Filter : SD_Cropping_NoDeinterlace display within your applied Compression preset.

To select a custom output for you file you can adjust this within the Squeeze Preferences.  Click the Edit Pull-down menu and choose Preferences.

When the dialog opens click the Output Tab and the Browse button to create an output location for all of your encodes.  If you don’t select a custom output for your video Squeeze will put your output videos in the same location as your source.  Click OK on the Preferences tab once you’re done.

Now you’re all set to encode your video.  Click the Squeeze It! button.

Once your video is finished encoding you will have 3 files in your output location.  All files will have the same name except for the file extension.  One file is the .SWF file, another if the Flash .FLV file and the final file is an .HTML file.  You will need these files when you author your video for your Web Page. For details on the authoring process for Flash Linked .SWF and .FLV files view the tutorial Authoring a Web Page for Flash Linked Downloadable Streaming with Dreamweaver CS4. Other tutorials are available on our blog as well.

Compression using Encoding.com Desktop

Posted by Derrick on February 3, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Compression using Encoding.com Desktop is very handy if you subscribe to the Encoding.com service.  The Encoding.com Desktop Uploader is available for both Mac and PC users. This  tutorial will get you familiar with using Encoding.com Desktop as you learn how to encode downloadable streaming videos for Flash using the On2VP6 codec.  To help with this tutorial please sign-up for a free trial account at Encoding.com and install Encoding.com Desktop.  The benefit of Encoding.com Desktop is it allows you to upload you videos to the Encoding.com Cloud for encoding instead of compressing videos on your desktop.

OK. Let’s begin.

Open up Encoding.com Desktop.  Notice that in the image above it’s labeled encoding.com desktop uploader.app.

When Encoding.com Desktop opens go to the File Pull-down menu and click on Preferences.

When the Preferences Dialog window opens click on the Account tab. Before you can begin encoding videos you’ll need to add your  User Id and API User Key here.  This allows Encoding.com Desktop to know which account to upload videos to for encoding.  Once you enter your information click the Save button.

First you need to add a source file to encode.  Click on the Add Media button.

Then locate the video on your desktop that you would like to encode.  For this tutorial I’m encoding the QuickTime video called 166_10105.mov.

Once you choose your video for encoding click the Select button.

You’ll see your video displayed now in Encoding.com Desktop.  Select the video similar to above to create a compression preset.  Once you select your video you will notice it highlighted.

With your video selected click the Add Task Items button.

When the dialog window opens listing your available presets click the Add Preset button.  It’s located at the button left of the My Presets Dialog window.

Next, click the Save as button when the Video Compression Setting Dialog window opens.

Now type in the name for your compression setting.  You can type in Flash_600k_DL. Once you name your setting click the Save button.

Now time to customize your compression setting.  This preset will serve as a good starting point for encoding downloadable streaming video for high broadband viewers. On this preset you’re creating a good general setting that will work well for SD and HD content.  Flash up to 9 should be selected. For the frame size select 480 x 360 and type in 600k for the Video bitrate.  For audio type in 64k with 44100 for your sample rate with 2 for the Audio channels to make it stereo.  Under the Video codec setting choose vp6 and for the audio codec choose libm3lame.  Lastly for this section, click the 2 pass encoding check box.

Let’s continue with adjusting your preset.  For the Minimum bit rate type in 100k and for Maximum bit rate type in 1000k.  Make sure the De-interlacing check box is selected if your content in Interlaced.  You can specify a Thumbnail size of 160 x 120 to get familiar with the thumbnail setting.  You can leave it set at the default value for Time to capture thumbnail.  For the Keyframe period type in 180.  This will work well for a video that is 29.97 frames per second.  For audio volume adjust this value to 200.  This will boost the audio little for those that don’t have amplified speakers.  Once you make all of your adjustments click the Save button.  Now click on the Show Presets button.

When your presets display select the preset that you’ve just created and click the Add Task button.  Your preset should be labeled Flash_600k_DL.

Now that your preset is applied you will see it displayed right below your source file.  You can apply multiple compression presets to a source if you’d like.

Next when you’re ready for encoding to begin using the Encoding.com Cloud click the upload button and your file will begin uploading.

To check the status of your upload, you can click the Show Details button within Encoding.com Desktop.

The Show Details section will display the Start Upload Time and End Upload time for your video upload.  If you see the End Upload Time displayed you’ll know that video has finished uploading.  To see the processing status of the actually encoding you can view your Encoding Queue within your Encoding.com account on-line.  Congratulations! Now your familiar with utilizing Encoding.com Desktop to upload videos for encoding with the Encoding.com Cloud.

Downloadable Streaming with Sorenson Squeeze and Dreamweaver

Posted by Derrick on October 19, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Downloadable Streaming with Sorenson Squeeze and Dreamweaver is very common.  Today we’ll show you how to encode a Real Media video with Sorenson Squeeze and then author that video in Dreamweaver with a RAM file.  RAM files are beneficial to use because you can hide the absolute path to the video file on your Server.  Let’s begin.

Open up Sorenson Squeeze and click the Import File button to bring your source files into Squeeze.

When you click the Import File button you’ll see a dialog window open up. Select you file and click the open button.  For this tutorial I’ll select the Step10DraggingaPreset.mov file and click the Open button.

Now you’ll can see you source file in Squeeze.  Notice that the Batch Tree display the file Step10DraggingaPreset.mov video ready for encoding in the Batch Tree.  You can also see a still frame of the video in the Squeeze Preview Window.

Let me take a moment to talk about the source and explain our approach for encoding this video.  The source is a 720 x 480 video with Animation for the video codec and IMA for the audio codec.  This is a video tutorial that has edited screen captures. Our delivery will be for downloadable streaming with Real Media.  OK, now let’s move forward with out tutorial.

Now, that we have our source ready for encoding we need to create our compression preset.

Navigate to the Audience presets.  Switch to Format view by adjusting the pull-down and  open up the Real Media presets (Real Media presets are only available for PC users).  Once you open the presets click the Lg setting.  Once selected click the Copy a Preset button which is the second button from the left.

When the Audio/Video Compression Settings dialog opens your preset will be labled Lg copy.

By highlighting your text in the Name text box you can change the name.  For this tutorial change the name of your preset to 1000k_DL.

Now it’s time to custom your Real Media downloadable streaming preset.   For the video codec we want to make sure RealVideo 10.  This is the latest codec for Real Media and it’ll give you the best quality. Since we’re doing downloadable streaming we want to use 2-Pass VBR for our compression method.  We definitely want to vary our bit rate to achieve the highest quality for our output.  For our the Video datarate you can type in 1000 kbps.  For Frame select 640 x 480 and select Maintain Aspect Ratio.  For the frame rate you can use 10 frames per second since this video is screen captures with very little motion.

For our Key Frame Every value we’ll use 300 frames.  This will produce a key frame at least every 300 frames.  A higher keyframe value or a longer period before new key frames is better with this type of content since many of the frames are similar.  Since our Frame Rate is 10 frames per second.  This Key Frame Every interval produces a key frame a least every 30 seconds.  If the codec feels that it needs to insert a key frame it will do it automatically.  You can need the Video Mode at Normal with the default Startup Latency of 4 Secs.

Moving on to the Audio settings you can select 64 kbps for the audio datarate leaving 16 for the Sample Size, 44.1 kHz for the Sample Rate with Stereo audio.

Once you’ve made all of the adjustments to your Audio/Video Compression Settings you can click the OK button.  Now you have a Real Media preset called 1000k_DL inside your Audiences.

Now that your setting is created you need to apply it to your video source.  Select the Real Media 1000k_DL setting and drag it over top of your source.

You can now see the compression setting applied to the video in the image above.  Once applied it appears below the source video.

Before we encode the video we need to create a filter preset for this encode.  Under the Filters select the Generic Web filter setting. Once selected click the Copy a Preset button.

You can now see the new copy of the Filter preset labled Generic Web Copy in the Name Text Box.

Select the text and rename the Filter preset Deinterlace_Blend.  This gives our filter a good description just in case we want to use it for other projects in the future.

In the filter preset there are checked boxes that a enabled which shows the values being used in this setting.  For your setting you should have the Deinterlace, Contrast, Brightness and Audio Volume filters checked.

Let’s adjust the Deinterlace filter first.  Generally, when performing encodes with screen captured tutorials content it’s better to Deinterlace by using a Blend where the 2 fields are blended together.  This works better than totally discarding one of your fields.

Adding a Contrast and Brightness boost is good for delivering web content so we’ll leave our Contrast value at 15

and you can leave your Brightness value at 10.

For the Audio Volume select Normalize from the pull-down and input a value of 90.  This will increase the lower audio levels to match the higher audio levels.  There’s also an option to do a volume adjust by selecting Adjust from the pull-down menu.

Once all of your adjustments are made click the OK button to save and close your filter.

To apply your filter select Deinterlace_Blend filter and drag onto your Real Media 1000k_DL preset that you have applied.

Notice the Deinterlace_Blend filter appears on the bottom of your applied preset.

To start encoding click the Squeeze It button.

When you video has finished encoding you will see Complete displayed in the Progress section of the Batch Tree.  By default the file will output to the same folder as your source file.

Once your Real Media file is encoded you can author it for your website.  When you are authoring web pages it’s important that you have a folder on your desktop that has the same folder structure as your website.  For example, if you have a folder called html, images and movies in the root directory of your website then you should have folder on your website with the same folder names similar to the image above.  In this example we have a folder for the website on the desktop called training_website.

Before you start authoring it’s best to movie your encoded Real Media video to its destination on the web. Navigate to the output location of your video file and copy it to the movies folder which should be inside the training_website folder that you are using for this tutorial.

Open Dreamweaver and select the Site that you want to access.  In my case I’m using Freeman for Classes.  Make sure you click the connect button to the far left right under you site.  Next, click on Expand button to expand your view.  You should be able to see your Remote Files and your Local Files.  Above is view on the Local Files. This are the files sitting on your desktop.  They are located on the right inside Dreamweaver in the Files view.

The Remote Files are located on the left.  Notice that there is a movies, images and html file in both locations.

If you open up the movies folder you can see your Real Media Downloadable Streaming video that you moved to the movies folder earlier.  Let’s upload it to your website.  Select the Real Media video and drag it to the movies folder on your Web Server.  This is where the Remote File are located.

When the file starts transferring or uploading to your website you’ll see a Background File Activity dialog appear.  This dialog provides you with a status on your upload.

Moving on, let’s author the Real Media video for the web.  First, let me talk about what we’re doing here in this step.  We’re going to create a web page with a link that when clicked will open up our Real Media downloadable streaming video.  However, we want to hide the location of where the file is stored on our server along with any IP address information.  To do this we’ll use a RAM file which is a text file with a .ram extension that holds the absolute path to the Real Media Download video.  This file will sit on our server in the same folder as our video file.

OK.  Open Notepad

and type in the following information highlighted in the image above.

Type in http://www.yourwebsite.com/movies/youvideoname.rmvb?title=”My Video”.  Make sure you put the URL to the Real Media video on your own website here.  This is where your video is located.  It you followed the tutorial correctly your Real Media download streaming video should be located in your movies folder.

Next, choose Save from the File Pull-down menu and call the file RM1000DL.ram.

Place the RM1000DL.ram file in your movies folder.  Next upload the 1000DL.RAM file you created to the Movies folder on your web server.

Once your Real Media RAM file is on-line you can create your web page.  In Dreamweaver select New from the File Pull-down menu.

When the Dialog Window opens choose HTML

and then choose Create.

Now Save your HTML page and call it RM1000DL.html.  Make sure you save the RM1000DL.html page in your html folder inside your training_website folder.

Next, move you cursor to the top of the page in the Design View similar to the image above.

Navigate to the Insert Pull-down menu and select Hyperlink to add a link to our RAM file.

Remember, our RAM file holds the absolute path to our Real Media Downloadable Streaming file.  When we create our link to the video we don’t have to reference the video, we can simply reference the RAM file.  When viewers click on the link if Real Media Player is installed the video will be automatically open in the player.

Let’s continue.  For Text type in My Real Media Video.  For Link you need to put the path to your RAM file.  This can be a relative path by typing in ../movies/RM1000DL.ram.  The reason why we can use this relative path is because the html folder is parallel to the movies folder in this tutorial.  It’s best to always use relative paths.  One benefit is that you can view all of your pages from your desktop.  A greater benefit is that it’ll make your website portable to another Web Server with a different Domain Name. Select _parent for the Target.

This is what you new link looks like.

We’re almost finished.  Save your file by selecting Save from the File Pull-down menu.

In the File View in Dreamweaver open the html folder and click on the RM1000DL.html web page.  Drag it to the html folder under Remote Files on the left of the File View.

If you see a dialog that asks you if you want to Put dependent files? you can click No.

Now that your new wep page is created and is on your website .  Type in the URL to your new page.   This should be http://www.yourwebsite.com/html.RM1000DL.html.  You should then see the your page appear.  Click on the link that displays My Real Media Video.

With Real Media Player installed you should see you video open up in the Real Media Player similar to the image shown here.  Congratulations on encodiing a Real Media Downloadable Streaming video in Squeeze and authoring it in Dreaweaver!

Episode Pro Training

Posted by Derrick on July 12, 2009 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Class Summary: Learn how to compress videos in this 1-Day Episode Pro training to formats like QuickTime, Real Media, Flash, Windows Media and H.264. As one of the best applications for craft encoding, Episode Pro 5 gives users the power to make a wide number of adjustments and changes to compression settings, filters and many other settings.  With Episode Pro users have total control over the adjustments that they would like to make for their encoding jobs.  This one day class gives users hands-on tips and tricks for utilizing this video compression tool. Students will learn how to encode to all the popular video formats for Web Server and Streaming Server delivery.  In addition attendees will learn how to encode to 25 Mbps and higher MPEG-2 files, how to encode Multiple Bit Rate Real Media video files, and how to add and adjust filters. Our Episode Pro Training class is available On-site or On-line. Contact us for more details.

Episode Pro training class schedule

In this training students will also learn:

• How to encode to QuickTime, RealMedia, Flash, Windows Media and H.264 formats
• How to encode Real-time and Downloadable streaming videos
• How to set-up Filters for Encoding Projects
• The process for encoding multiple videos using Watch Folders
• How to choose the proper codec for your output format
• How to compress videos for Video iPods, iPhones and Video Podcasts
• How to encode Multi Bit Rate Windows Media Files
• How to add watermarks when encoding
• The process for including bumpers and trailers on video output files

Featured Software for Class

Episode Pro 5 with Flash 8 encoder

Class Overview

1. Interface Overview

Your instructor will show you the different features of the interface to get you familiar with the application quickly. This part of the class will cover Bookmarks, Compression Settings, the Job Batch, the Settings Editor, and the various Tabs within the Compression Settings. This part of the training will also cover the Source and Preview windows along with how to choose a custom output location for your encodes.

2. Encoding Downloadable Streaming Videos

You will encode videos for downloadable streaming in formats such as: QuickTime, H.264, Windows Media, Real Media and Flash. This part of the class will teach you how to get the quality you desire for your downloading streaming videos.  Learn how to adjust the various Compression Settings for your desired format and how to choose the proper codec in Episode Pro 5. You’ll also learn how to take a default compression preset and customize it for better quality.

3. Encoding Real-time Streaming Videos

Learn how to encode real-time streaming videos for streaming server delivery to QuickTime, H.264, Windows Media, Real Media and Flash file formats. Also learn about hinting and how to deliver real-time QuickTime and H.264 files for a QuickTime Streaming Server, Flash Streaming Server or Helix Universal streaming Server.  You’ll learn what you will need to consider when compressing your videos for Streaming Servers such as: bandwidth considerations, target audiences, frame size, frames per second and other items.

4. Compression for Video iPods, Video Podcasts and Audio Podcasts

Students will learn how to compress video content for Video iPods, iPhones, Video Podcasts and Audio Podcasts using Episode Pro 5. Participants will learn how to adjust their compression settings to get high quality results. The instructor will also show you how to get encoded videos onto the video iPod and how to display them onto your TV. This class will teach you the best codec to use for compressing your videos for Video iPods, Video Podcasts, iPhones and Audio Podcasts with Episode Pro 5.

5. Compression Settings

This portion of the class will cover the details of adjusting the many compression presets. Learn how to set parameters such as: Data rate, Sample Size, Sample Rate, Encoding Method, Frame Size, Frame Rate, Frames Per Second, Profile, Key Frame Every.  Also learn which codecs to use with your desired output format.

6. Adding and Adjusting Filters

You will learn how to add and adjust filters for your compression presets. Learn how to add and adjust Deinterlace, Noise Reduction, Contrast, Fade, Smoothing, Burn Timecode and Watermark filters along with many others.

7. Encoding 25 Mbps and higher MPEG-2 files

Many video editors need to create high bit rate MPEG-2 files for services such as DGFastchannel. Episode Pro is the perfect encoding tool for this. Learn how to create an encoding preset that will allow you to encode 25 Mbps or 50 Mbps MPEG-2 files with Episode Pro 5.

8. Creating Multiple Bit Rate Windows Media and Real Media files

Students will learn how to create multiple bit rate Windows Media files for playback on a Windows Media Streaming Server or a Helix Universal Server.  Class attendees will also learn how to encode Real Media files for a a Helix Universal Server.  With the MBR files the player will automatically detect the best data rate to use for the end user based on their Internet Connection.

Give us a call about signing up to attend one of our Episode Encoder Pro Trainings in Orlando or On-line.  Call Freeman Compression Inc. at 407.477.5837 for more information or E-mail us at info@freemancompression.com.  Contact us about training times for your country if you are an international student.