Today, video on the Internet is a growing business for many Videographers. Over the past two years, I have noticed a demand by clients to encode video into Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media, and other formats. Flash video has been the most requested format because it is the most browser friendly format. (See Adobe’s website for more info). However, the requirement of Flix Pro, the Flash 8 Encoder, or some other compressor, has made it difficult and perhaps cost prohibitive for some Videographers attempting to put their content online. Some people have even hired IT pros to compress their video.
Enter Adobe’s New Flash Media Encoder. This program, designed for their streaming media server, could be the answer for most Videographers. Media Encoder can pull in video and audio from a web-cam, a DV camera, or DV deck and encode the video into the Adobe Flash .flv file format. The compressed file can then be uploaded onto your website, using programs such as VideoBloom’s Video Management Platform. The features for this free program are very impressive. Media Encoder allows selectable frame rates, bit rates, size, audio sample rates, audio bit rates, volume, crop, resize, and the ability to compress different audio and video sources together (this is obviously for the live streamers). In a recent test, I decided to capture some DV and DVCAM footage from a deck. The deck was available in the Video and Audio drop down menus. (Remember to set both.) After changing the settings to 720×480, the bit rate to 350Kbps, and choosing the output file name, I clicked the Start button and hit the Play button on my deck (device control is not present, but this is an encoder not an editor). Media Encoder compressed my footage and in an upload test, it looked great.
Once I had my .flv file, I need to upload it to the web. YouTube and Google Video are options but they do not accept Flash formatted video. Videobloom accepts Flash formatted files encoded in both On2 and Sorenson and does not recompress your Flash file. After you upload your video, simply copy and paste the code (generated by VideoBloom) into your website editor (or have your website/ IT dept. handle this) and it is ready to be viewed.
Of course, there are downsides to the free program. First, it is only available for the PC not Mac. Second, because Media Encoder is designed for live streaming there is not a 2-pass compression option and you cannot import other files to compress. If your project needs a 2-pass, this encoder will not work for you. Third, the audio sample rate option seems lacking.
Overall, this is a great program and when coupled with VideoBloom technology can be a very effective and fast way to get your video onto the internet. click to search google