Below is my long over due reply to Dan, a Realtor in Florida who is having some trouble with using his new video camera’s MPEG-4 files with Windows Movie Maker and encoding a quality .FLV file for post. Plus I recommend a completely free online flash video player that is easy to setup and has the ability to add your logo, pre-roll ads and more. It may be perfect for your web videos too!

Hi Wayne!

Here’s my problem: I’m using Windows XP and Windows Movie Maker. The camera produces MPEG-4 files and WMM won’t accept them. So I have to convert them (with anyvideoconverter) first to XVID files which WMM will accept. I do all my editing and add music then WMM produces a WMV output file.

I’ve tried converting the WMV to FLV with limited success….the output isn’t the quality I desire and that might be my fault because I don’t even know what to set the output parameters (fps, etc) to so I just leave them at the defaults. The output isn’t clean and smooth like the input.

So my problem is all the file conversions and the resulting file looking like crap! You mentioned something about Sony Vegas? Is that my answer? And if so, does it come with a Player or what player would you recommend I use? I would need to paste the code for the player on each individual web page and then just point at the new video file each time.

Regards,

Dan, REALTOR

My reply is after the jump…

Hey Dan,

First of all thanks for sending in your questions! These sort of conversion, file type and player frustrations are shared by many. Including me- I’ve definitely had to spend hours dealing with similar issues.

Let’s break it down:

Step 1: First of all the less converting and reconverting you have to do the better. So it would be ideal if you had an editing program that would accept MPEG-4 files. I would check for an update of WMM just to be sure (even though it sounds like it won’t help). So using something like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere Elements would be a benefit.

On the other hand you can always make Windows Movie Maker work. I’m not familiar with the conversion program you mentioned but I would recommend either MPEGStreamclip (free) or this program that is specific to your needs: MP4Cam2AVI Easy Convertor (also free). When using either of these make sure you are converting to a completely Uncompressed .WMV (if you are using WMM) with all the quality settings maxed out.

Step 2: Now you have an edited file and you need to export and somehow get it in .FLV form to play on your site.

It sounds like you are getting an OK looking .WMV file from WMM. I just did some test on my WMM (on Vista) and it looks like the way to get the highest quality file is to use the ‘Publish Movie,’ then ‘This Computer’ and the ‘Compress to: ‘ and click the up arrow as high as it will go.

When I tested ‘Best quality…’ it gave me a pretty crappy looking file and with ‘More settings’ either they were settings for 16:9 (which if you are shooting HD you should use) or nothing above a bit rate of 1.0Mbps.

WMM has very limited settings but basically, since you are going to be encoding yet again for the .FLV file you want to use the highest bit rate possible at this point.

Step 3: Making a crystal clear .FLV Video File

Re-reading my section on this in my free report, I think I need to make some updates. The 2 free online file converters I recommend do the job but the output is pretty crappy. I have yet to find a 100% free option that produces a quality .FLV file. If anyone knows of one- let me know.

But here are three very affordable options:

On2Flix Standard is only $39 and is a great entry level software program for encoding.

Or you can use HeyWatch.com’s online video encoding platform, the cost starts at .10 per conversion. You just have to deposit $50 (500 credits) to start. I think it’s a totally fair pricing model. It’s a little unclear but it looks to me like this doesn’t include actual video hosting or a player.

The other option is BitsOnTheRun which includes video hosting, management and the content delivery (using their customizable player). The first 1.0 GB of content and 1.0 GB of traffic is free.

As far as .FLV conversion settings here are some basics:

Your video codec should be h.264, ON2VP6, or Sorenson Spark.
Your data rate should be at least 700kbps
Frame rate: Default or Current
Key frame: Automatic

If you use On2Flix or Hey!Watch then you need a player for your pages that you will use to submit to Realtor.com

The JW Player I recommend in my report is great but it involves some installation and setup. Thanks to Dave over at WebVideoUniversity I was just introduced to the BitGravity Player. Aside from being super easy to setup, it also allows for adding your own logo and even pre-roll (or post) advertising. At the end of setup it will give you embed code to use on your pages.

I hope that helps!

Wayne

Tags: bitgravity player, bits on the run, data rate, flv, jw player, mp4 to wmv, mpeg-4, mpeg-4 conversion, mpeg4, sony vegas, video conversion, video converter, video convertor, video hosting, video players, windows movie maker, wmv, wmv to flv

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 6th, 2009 at 11:55 pm and is filed under DIY, Equipment, Ideas, Software, Techniques, Tips, Tools, Troubleshooting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.