JW Player and Flowplayer Flash Video Players Work with Joomla

Posted by Derrick on March 9, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

JW Player and Flowplayer Flash Video Players Work with Joomla.  This is great is you’re looking to use either player to author your Flash Streaming video content.  Both JW Player and Flowplayer work well with authoring On-demand and Live Streaming streaming videos. Both players have free versions as well as commercial versions.  Make sure you check the JW Player and Flowplayer websites for details on the free and commercial versions of the players.

Webcasting from the iPhone Included in Video Streaming and Compression Training

Posted by Derrick on March 7, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Be the First to Comment

Webcasting from the iPhone is included in our Video Streaming and Compression Training.  The iPhone is now one of the killer apps and has many capibilities and one of them includes Webcasting from it.  Attend one of our 2-Day Video Streaming and Compression Trainings and learn how to do it.  Learn how to include you iPhone Live Webcast in a Blog Page or in a Web Page.  The 2-Day Training is available in Orlando, On-line and On-site.  View Upcoming Training Schedule

Here are some other items included in the training:

• How to encode Downloadable streaming videos
• How to encode Real-time streaming videos
• Best Practices for Compression and Streaming
• How to encode to QuickTime, Windows Media, H.264, Real Media and Flash video formats
• What the best CODECS are for their streaming formats
• How to author QuickTime, Windows Media, H.264 and Flash downloadable streaming videos
• How to author Flash .FLV files using Dreamweaver .SWF players
• How to author Flash .FLV files using JW Player
• Benefits of 1-Pass CBR, 1-Pass VBR, 2-pass CBR and 2-Pass VBR compression
• Knowledge of Deinterlacing, Key Frame Every, Frames Per Second, Cropping and other items
• How to set up Live Streaming
• How to analyze log files using Sawmill Professional

Featured Software for the class:

• Sorenson Squeeze 6
• Episode Encoder Pro
• Wirecast
• Dreamweaver
• Sawmill Professional

Call Freeman Compression Inc. at 407.477.5837 or contact us by E-mail at info@freemancompression.com to register for a class.

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.

Playing .FLV files in RealPlayer SP

Posted by Derrick on January 19, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | Read the First Comment

Playing Flash .FLV files in RealPlayer SP is very handy.   Many times when you’re encoding content for Flash video using the .FLV wrapper, you need to play your video to make sure it looks good.  Well, RealPlayer SP does this well and is available on both PC and Mac platforms.  You also can play .FLV videos in the player to see if your encode was successful in hitting your target datatrate.  Needless to say it’s great to have around.  So if you don’t have a player to view your .FLV videos your can set RealPlayer SP to open all your .FLV files.

To do this select any .FLV file and on the Mac click Command-I.

When the Get Info Window opens click the Open with Pop-up Window and choose RealPlayer.  Make sure you also click the Change All button to force RealPlayer to open all of videos.  Now you can enjoy viewing all of your .FLV videos in RealPlayer SP.

The process is very similar for doing this on a MAC or PC.