Change Video Transcoding Settings
NOTE - For Transcoding setting changes take effect you must re-encode your videos. The system will not automatically re-encode them when settings are changed. You may re-encode a set by editing that set, checking approproate boxes and selecting Overwrite Existing FIles from the Overwrite dropdown on the set add/edit page. This may also be done for multiple sets under Utilities, Batch Operations.
*Please be careful when editing transcoder types as there is no "undo" operation. The only option we have is to reset your transcoder settings back to factory default.
Step 1) Click Plug-Ins and then click Manage for Video Transcoder.
Here you will see a list of all encoding formats currently setup on your system. Clicking edit will load a page containing fields for the encoding settings. Options include video source, destination, width and height to resize to, bitrate, buffer size, codecs and settings for specifying how to cut the video.
NOTE - Destinations are Media Types specified under Utilities, Media Types.
The Split By dropdown lets you choose whether to split the source video into parts or split it by length.
Entering number of clips and specifying a number in the Split By Number field will result in the video being cut into that many parts. For erxample if you enter 5 in that field, the video will be cut into 5 clips.
Selecting by Length and entering a number of minutes or seconds below will result in the video being cut into clips of equal length.
Default and Suggested Settings:
Video quality is subjective. What one user finds to be good quality, another may not. For this reason we suggest that you try different settings and test the encoder until you find a file size, quality level and playback speed you are happy with.
The system defaults to a video bitrate of 1500kb with no Max Rate or Max Buffer. It is suggested that the Max rates be set to no more than 1/4-1/3 higher than the Bitrate, for example if a video has a Bitrate of 1500, the Max Rate fields can be set to 2000.
Audio is typically set to 44100 for all formats.
Source Formats:
There is no suggested source format. The source chosen will depend on a few factors. If you want high quality output video and disk space/storage is no concern to you, raw AVI files may be used as video source. Many users feel that MPG or even a HD or High Bitrate/High Res WMV or Quicktime file works well and provides high quality output while reducing file sizes to cut down on storage requirements.
Some users upload source video encoded at 5000k and others upload 2000k or lower. There is no concrete answer on what works best as each user's opinion differs based on individual preference but generally source video of at least 640 or 720 in size with a Bitrate of 2500k seems to deliver an acceptable output quality for nearly 90% of our users.
You may use ANY source that the ffmpeg server module supports. We do not supply the module so our ability to provide support in relation to video is limited.
Note - At this time ffmpeg 1.2.X DOES NOT support videos encoded using WIndows Media Pro.
Destination Formats:
A variety of formats are supported, however for most users only a few are needed. These include the most commonly used such as Flash, AVI, MPG, WMV, Quicktime and MP4 for mobile devices.
