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    Convert DVDs with Flask Mpeg
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  • Extracting the DVD
  • Using Mpeg2avi
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  • Advanced DVD Conversion
    Convert DVDs with DVD2AVI
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    Advanced VirtualDub
    Digital Video Capture
  • Video Capture: Part 1
  • Special FX Tutorials
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  • Star Wars LightSaber Effects
  • The Exorcist Effect
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    VCD & SVCD Guides
  • DVD to VCD
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  • Appendix / Tips
  • Aspect Ratio's
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  • DivX Quality Guide
  • Bicubic vs Bilinear Resizing
  • Deinterlace Method Test
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  • Go Here
  • Streaming Mpeg-4 from Your Website

    Some people asked if it was possible to stream DivX or WMA audio from a website and the answer is yes! In fact, that was why the format was created in the first place. But to do so effectively we must stick with the original ASF format Micro$oft have developed. There is no reason to use Real Media anymore who make us pay for their software anyway. And it doesn't look any better than Mpeg-4 either. I know this is pandering to the Microsoft mentality of 'we give it free with Windows so we can squash the competition', so switch to Linux then - you wanna stream it or not?!

    The new streaming formats Microsoft are using are called WMV (Windows Media Video) and WMA (Windows Media Audio). There is practically no differnce between the old ASF and an WMV other than the name (i.e. something.wmv instead of something.asf) but I think that is an important point to say because the name change is confusing if you don't know.

    Before I start here are the things you will need:

    Windows Media Encoder

    Windows Media Encoder is a free utility that can be downloaded from Microsoft. It only really likes to convert AVI and Wave files, but if you have problems just follow any of my guides to convert your video or audio clips into a format Media Encoder can handle.

    ADDING STREAMING AUDIO

    Click the play buttons below and you will see what you will learn to do:

    The Matrix Soundtrack - Rage against the Machine

     
    >
    The Matrix - Clip

     

    ENCODING THE AUDIO

    This is the easiest part. Load Media Encoder and select the broadcast, capture or convert option. Press OK.

    Choose convert audio or video. Press Next.

    Choose file will stream from web server. Press Next.

    Choose the AVI or Wave file you wish to convert to mpeg audio or video. Press Next.

    Choose the bitrate. The best bitrate to choose is based on the audiance that is going to view the streaming media. If you want 99% of the internet to see it correctly choose 56 kbps modem. If you want only people with Cable modems, DSL or T1 etc., connections to see it, you can go much higher quality and choose ISDN, LAN connection or something like that. Press Next.

    If you want information about the video to be displayed by media player when prople view or download the clip you can enter it here. Press Next.

    The encoder gets to work, and before you can say: "Hey! That encodes faster than Mp3" its done!

    That was easy enough, huh! Now you have a WMA audio or WMV video which is the same format as ASF's media format.

     

    PUTTING IT INTO YOUR WEBPAGE

    If you already have good web design skills it will be easy to add these streams. To embed the video stream you must use Active X Scripting. You can also use Javascript etc., to make nice buttons etc., but this is the easiest way to do it and I'm not going to teach HTML or scripting, to be honest I only understand them very very basically myself!

     

    The Bare Essentials

    If your worried its gonna be hard to do, trust me, I'm gonna simplify it for you. The truth is you can more or less just upload your video or audio clip and 'cut & paste' the commands I will show you into your webpage and you will be done! In fact just linking to these *.WMV or *.WMA files, like you would any file, will make them play when someone clicks on the link. But what we really want to is to stick them inside the website so visitors can click on them like a virtual VCR. This is what I will explan now.

    All WMV or WMA files have and identification name to tell your internet browser what they are. But instead of calling it 'Mr. Streamiee' Microsoft decided to use the name:

    clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95

    As I'm sure you know all HTML should be put inside triangular brackets (i.e: < >). So to tell your webpage you have a streaming media clip to embed inside your page you say the following:

    <object classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95">

    Then we must tell it what video or audio is being embeded into the page so we must give it the parameter name and location of the file, like this:

    <object classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95">
    <param name="Filename" value="Http://www.webhost.com/yourname/filename.wma">

    The above is the whole web address, but if the streaming media is stored in the same location as the HTML page we can just use its name such as:

    <param name="Filename" value="filename.wma">

    Finally we can end the scripting by using the close object command i.e: </object> like this:

    <object classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95">
    <param name="Filename" value="Http://www.webhost.com/yourname/rage.wma">
    </object>

    That was the bare, bare essentials and will make the clip automatically play as soon as the webpage loads.

     

    Customising Your Streaming Media

    Now you know basically how its done we can add on our understanding with some extra commands. Let's add the line:

    <object classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95" height="352" id="Player" width="240">

    The blue part says to tell the web browser to insert the video where ever you paste the text. The green 'id="player" part merely tells it to use a video control pannel. The red parts let you to define how large the video will appear. This means even if you made a clip that was 50 pixels by 50 pixels, if you said the video screen should be 352 x 240 then that is what will be displayed. This is a useful feature becasue you can often make a video look more impressive by making a small resolution clip and then resizing it a third larger on the screen. Try that!

    Next come many 'parameters names' that can be added to control the video display. These are just added in a long list underneeth the video. For example, take a look at this rather more complex one below!!

    <object classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95" height="40" id="Player" width="139">
    <param name="AudioStream" value="-1">
    <param name="AutoSize" value="0">
    <param name="AutoStart" value="0">
    <param name="AnimationAtStart" value="0">
    <param name="AllowScan" value="-1">
    <param name="AllowChangeDisplaySize" value="-1">
    <param name="AutoRewind" value="0">
    <param name="Balance" value="0">
    <param name="BufferingTime" value="5">
    <param name="ClickToPlay" value="-1">
    <param name="CursorType" value="0">
    <param name="CurrentPosition" value="-1">
    <param name="CurrentMarker" value="0">
    <param name="DisplayBackColor" value="0">
    <param name="DisplayForeColor" value="16777215">
    <param name="DisplayMode" value="0">
    <param name="DisplaySize" value="5">
    <param name="Enabled" value="-1">
    <param name="EnableContextMenu" value="-1">
    <param name="EnablePositionControls" value="-1">
    <param name="EnableFullScreenControls" value="-1">
    <param name="EnableTracker" value="-1">
    <param name="Filename" value="filename.wma">
    <param name="InvokeURLs" value="-1">
    <param name="Language" value="-1">
    <param name="Mute" value="0">
    <param name="PlayCount" value="1">
    <param name="PreviewMode" value="0">
    <param name="Rate" value="1">
    <param name="SelectionStart" value="-1">
    <param name="SelectionEnd" value="-1">
    <param name="SendOpenStateChangeEvents" value="-1">
    <param name="SendWarningEvents" value="-1">
    <param name="SendErrorEvents" value="-1">
    <param name="SendKeyboardEvents" value="0">
    <param name="SendMouseClickEvents" value="0">
    <param name="SendMouseMoveEvents" value="0">
    <param name="SendPlayStateChangeEvents" value="-1">
    <param name="ShowCaptioning" value="0">
    <param name="ShowControls" value="-1">
    <param name="ShowAudioControls" value="-1">
    <param name="ShowDisplay" value="0">
    <param name="ShowGotoBar" value="0">
    <param name="ShowPositionControls" value="-1">
    <param name="ShowStatusBar" value="0">
    <param name="ShowTracker" value="-1">
    <param name="TransparentAtStart" value="0">
    <param name="VideoBorderWidth" value="0">
    <param name="VideoBorderColor" value="0">
    <param name="VideoBorder3D" value="0">
    <param name="Volume" value="-80">
    <param name="WindowlessVideo" value="0">
    </object>

    You'd need a whole bunch of articles to explain every feature so I am not gonna go through them all. Instead I will explan what some of the useful ones do and then you can play about with the rest to see how they work. For more information just visit Microsofts website.

    The most important thing to know about these commands is that when it asks for a value it usually will be 0 or 1. In other words its asking Yes (1) or No (0). So if you use the parameter: "ShowCaptioning" value="0" its asking the question "Show captioning?" "Answer= no!" which tells it not to show any captioning. Anyway lets continue:

    <param name="AutoStart" value="0">
    This command is vital because it decides if the video starts playing automatically or not. If you have lots of clips on the same page then you will need this option, otherwise everything will play at the same time. Just set the value to zero and the video will only play when the visitor clicks on it.
    <param name="AutoRewind" value="0">
    This tells the video to start from the begining once its done. Its not a loop to replay the video it only resets it.
    <param name="ShowStatusBar" value="0">
    This makes the little black bar we see at the bottom of media player, showing the play length, and so on.
    <param name="ShowTracker" value="1">
    This is the media player slider bar. With most audio files you can move to parts of the song but this doesn't work too well with video files. 0 means turn the slider bar (tracker bar) off, and 1 turns the trackerbar on.
    <param name="AutoSize" value="0">
    If this value is set to 1 then the video will automatically resize to the original size of the WMV file and not what you define.
    <param name="AnimationAtStart" value="0">
    If this is set to 1 it will show the media player logo before the video plays. It doesn't look very proffesional to me so I always turn the baby off by setting value 0.
    <param name="TransparentAtStart" value="0">
    Normally media player will give a black background before the video starts. If you set this to value 1 then it will start with the same colour as the webpage.
    <param name="ClickToPlay" value="1">
    This gives the option for the user to click on the video screen to start it playing. This is useful if you don't want any play buttons stuck at the bottom of the video. The visitor can just click on the video and it will play.
    <param name="ShowAudioControls" value="1">
    Shows the volume control or not.
    <param name="ShowDisplay" value="0">
    Shows the author details i.e. made by blokie etc.

    That all you need to know. If you come across a website with a Windows Streaming Media file but does something you don't know how to do just look at the HTML. To examine it in Internet Explorer just go to: View > Source. Then look for the embeded media file and see what parameters are set.

     

    COMPATABILITY

    Only Internet Explorer really supports Active scripting correctly so the above won't always work on Mac or on Netscape browsers. But the good news is there are some final tweeks we can add to our Streaming Media that will allow at least some cross browser compatability. This is the HTML that Microsoft recomend:

    <!-- BEGIN GENERIC ALL BROWSER FRIENDLY HTML FOR NETSHOW V3 -->
    <OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer" width=320 height=240 classid="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95" codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=,1,52,701"
    standby="Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components..."
    type="application/x-oleobject">
    <PARAM name="FileName" value="http://myserver/mypath/myfile.asf">
    <PARAM name="whatever" value=""
    <PARAM name="whatever" value=""
    <PARAM name="whatever" value=""

    <EMBED type="application/x-mplayer2" pluginspage="http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/Downloads/Contents/Products/MediaPlayer/"
    SRC="http://myserver/mypath/myfile.asf"
    name="MediaPlayer"
    width=320
    height=240>

    </EMBED>
    </OBJECT>

    As you can see it is exactly the same as we did before except it downloads stuff from Microsoft if it hasn't already got what it needs installed. Now this is the final step then, just copy the above for every file you want to stream and make the changes you have already learned about as needed for your perfect streaming video. Good Luck!


    ADVANCED TECHNIQUES (Chapters & ASX Files)

    Before I start you will need:

    Windows Media 7 Resource Kit

    Okay, now you have the basics lets show you how to do some more smart stuff, huh! I honestly couldn't find any websites that explained how to do this kind of thing with ASF, so as usual this guide will be one of the first you'll ever read. You'd think there would be lots of guides too, because what I'm gonna show you is such as easy thing to do! In my search I could find only the very bare bones of some ASX stuff on the Microsoft website, and to be honest I doubt anyone but the most persistent, would actually find it; searching through the Microsoft Website is like searching through a maze!

    Anyway, download Windows Media 7 Resourse Kit and install. You'll probably find it a pain to download if your on a 56k modem because its one of those direct install from the internet thingies. But the only important utility we need in this pack is Windows Media ASF indexer, you may find the other stuff useful too though. The following guide applies both to ASF, WMV and WMA files.

     

    CREATING CHAPTERS

    Since its hard to move to an exact point in an ASF file by using the slider bar the ASF indexer can be used to set as many chapters as you like, just like DVD chapters.

    Opening the File

    Start the ASF Indexer and go to File > Open... to browse for your file. If your video is called something.WMV instead of something.ASF just type in the browse box *.wmv and press Enter. Then you should be able to see the WMA file and open it.

    As you can see from the above image we have opened our streaming video. The Video has the usual play, stop, pause and volume buttons as any player. Feel free to move about in the video and play it. On the right you can enter any author details you like and these will automatically be shown once you have saved your final ASF.

    Next we have the Mark In and Mark Out buttons. These are only used if you decided you needed to cut your video into a smaller movie. These chopping controls work pretty much in the same way as VirtualDub or TMPGEnc's; press Mark In to say where the start of the movie will be and then use the Mark Out to say where the movie will end. Then just save the movie and you will find it has been chopped down to the size you wanted.

    Adding Chapters

    The Edit Markers button has one job only and that is to add chapters. Use the video player and slider bar to move to the exact place you want your first chapter to start and then press the Edit Markers button, up will pop the following box:

    Press the New button and put in the name of the chapter you want (I used the name Chapter 1 but you can put whatever you like). Notice also the Time box below, this is the position you are in the movie at the moment, so you do not need to change the time now unless you know the exact time you want this chapter to start.

    Thats it! Press OK and you have done your first chapter! Now just move to the next part of the movie and add chapter 2, then chapter 3 and so on. A list of chapters will be recorded as seen in the picture below (i.e. chapters 1-4). If you decided you wanted to change any of the chapter times or names just click on the chapter and choose Edit. If you don't want a chapter just select it and press the Remove button - you get the idea!

    When you are happy with your chapters save the file as an ASF and be amazed!

     

    ADDING URL CHANGES

    Lets assume you wanted to make a website that presented something like a new product for your business. Maybe you would like to have your business spokesman explain about it with a super-cool ASF movie? So wouldn't it be great if as he changed from one subject to the next a new webpage could load up with all the details and pictures needed to illustrate the process?! The good new is that's exactly what the Edit Script Commands button does!

    This works exactly the same way as adding chapters. Find the position in the movie where the spokesman is telling them about a certain thing and press the Edit Script Commands button. Select New and the following box appears:

    Keep the Type option set to URL and type the webpage you would like to load up at this part of the movie in the Parameter box - Bingo! As soon as your video reaches this point it will automatically load the new webpage without stopping the spokesman from talking - result!

     

    WRITING ASX FILES

    What is an ASX file? Simply put, an ASX file is a normal text file that tells Windows Media Player how you would like to play your streaming video and audio files. You can tell Media Player to play whole lists of movies by putting them in your ASX text document. You can specify the author and copyright details of each movie (even if they have been made differently on the original ASF movie). You can even specify how to show banners and logos with it. If you are a GUI freak then you can write ASX files using Windows MetaFile Creator (which is part of the Windows Media 7 Resource Kit), but its quite limited in options and I find it easier to write the ASX documents myself with notepad - so lets get writing!

    Open windows NotePad or any text editor. Now the most basic basic ASX file is written like the following (colours are mine of course so you can see whats going on better):

    <ASX Version = "3.0">
    <entry>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/myfile.asf"/>
    </entry>
    </asx>

    All ASX text documents start with <ASX Version = "3.0"> and end with </asx> that way Media Player knows where to start and stop reading it, then we tell it what we want in-between. Before every command we put <entry> and after every command we put </entry> to tell it that is the end of that command. So inbetween them I put my first command:

    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/myfile.asf"/>

    This command is the location of the asf file that I want to tell Media Player to play. Once I've written the above in notepad I save it as: "filename.asx" remember to include the quotation marks ( " " ) when saving it otherwise it will save it as filename.asx.txt or filename.asx.doc and Media Player will not know what it is. That's it! You've created your first ASX file. To play it just link to it on your website instead of your streaming media file. In the case of embeded video you'd just replace the link in the <PARAM name="whatever" value="" section of your HTML.

    Now you can write an asx file writting a more complex ones are quite straight forward, we just add more commands to the list. So now I will explain the most commonly used ones you will need to get started. If you want to learn even more complex stuff check out Microsoft's website or search the web for more information on the subject of XML syntax.

    Playlists

    Making a playlist that tells Media Player to play lots of movie clips in sequance is easy, you just list them in order like this:

    <ASX Version = "3.0">
    <entry>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file1.asf"/>
    </entry>
     
    <entry>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file2.asf"/>
    </entry>
     
    <entry>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file3.asf"/>
    </entry>
    </asx>

    Author Info

    To say what author and copyright information goes with all movies in your list we just put it at the top like this:

    <ASX Version = "3.0">
    <title> Put your title name here </title>
    <author> put your author details </author>
    <copyright> Put your Copyright notices here © </copyright>
    <entry>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/myfile.asf"/>
    </entry>
    </asx>

    Now when Media Player plays the ASX video/s it will display this information about it.

    Movie Details

    The exact same information about each movie in a list can be specified also. It is just a matter of putting them with each seperate entry like this:

    <ASX Version = "3.0">
    <title> Put your title name here </title>
    <author> put your author details </author>
    <copyright> Put your Copyright notices here © </copyright>
    <entry>
    <title> Put your title name here </title>
    <author> put your author details </author>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file1.asf"/>
    </entry>
     
    <entry>
    <title> Put your title name here </title>
    <author> put your author details </author>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file2.asf"/>
    </entry>
    </asx>

    Additional Movie Details

    An additional command called abstract can be used to add notes about each movie when they are played. For example you may wish to say something like: "This streaming video was made to teach how our new products work". So we put:

    <ASX Version = "3.0">
    <entry>
    <title> Put your title name here </title>
    <author> put your author details </author>
    <abstract> This streaming video was made to teach how our new products work </abstract>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file.asf"/>
    </entry>
    </asx>

    Now whenever the mouse hovers over the part of your asf file that has the author details displayed it will also pop up this extra message! Cool huh!

    Adding Banners

    A seperate banner can be added just under each video in the list as they play. To do this we merely put the location of each banner alongside each movie in our list, like this:

    <ASX Version = "3.0">

    <entry>

    <Banner href = "http://myserver/mypath/image.gif"/>
    <Ref href = "http://myserver/mypath/file.asf"/>
    </entry>
    </asx>

    Logo's, Icons & Watermarks

    I think you've got the idea by now. I'll finish the rest when I have more time....

    Oo, oo, I found a useful tool called ASF indexer too. Try it at: http://www.kolumbus.fi/jussi.lukkari/asxwizard/


    Duplication of links or content is strictly prohibited. (C) NICKY PAGE 2000