where/when is video encoded on a website?

[grower]

Hello
I'm setting up a website with videos - and trying to find out where the video is encoded and how often.


For example, if I put 1000MB unencoded video on the server (i.e. from a camcorder) when does the encoding take place to turn it into flv. file? Does it take place once the visitor requests the video and tries to play it in the media player or do I have to go into the server and use ffmpeg to convert it first.

Also, if the video is encoded everytime the video is played then the original 1000MB file has to stay on the server - which is going to cost alot of money in storage, or can I remove the original raw file on the server and just keep the encoded versions.

Thanks
Grower

[Supreme2k]

You REALLY need to do more research. Check out youtube and other video hosting sites for a primer.

You either have to set up the video to be encoded when uploaded, or have it encoded to flv when you load it on your server. If it is in its raw format, it will always be that way when (if) you stream it.

[poisondeathray]

encoding never occurs as soon as you request it, this would be real time and not feasible. It has to be processed before

if this is your own site, you can set it up how ever you want

different sites have different practices

e.g. vimeo keeps the original, and if you have a plus account, the original can be downloaded , so it has to be stored
e.g. youtube encodes 3-4 different res versions as soon as it's uploaded, and doesn't keep the original (or at least it's not publically accessible)

most people would encode it once, but it's going to depend how much $ you have for bandwidth and equipment, and who your audicence is (do you need several versions and a low bandwidth option? are all your visitors high bandwidth? et.c...)

[aedipuss]

hi and welcome to the forum.

you don't really know anything about how a website works or how to code one do you? you're going to have to do quite a lot more research and learn the basics. maybe start with buying a domain name and buying hosting for a small personal "hi it's me" site and build from there.

p.s. if you put a 1000MB file on a web server it will stay a 1000MB file forever....

[grower]

Thanks for the replies.

I have built my own website ( actually a few times) but I don't know how video works, which is why I am here

I should have mentioned - I will be hosting the videos on my own site using a managed VPS from an ISP, I am not using Vimeo or Vzaar or Amazon or Youtube, the 3 former due to costs and the latter due to privacy. I am not sure how companies charge such high rates as I can get I Terrabyte of bandwith to their 250GB - but I digress.

So what you guys have told me is a) I need to convert the files into the desired formats (flv. mobile iPod, Android etc.) before hand, upload them to my server, and if I get this right, I don't need to upload the original file since it won't used by the Flashplayer (JWPlayer, Flowplayer). Is that correct?

The reason I ask is because I don't want to keep raw files on the site which will consume alot of storage and I will be paying overages.

Does anyone have experience with a good free codec or should I use an online service like encoding.com or zencoder.com? Although their customer service is somewhat poor.

Thanks
Grower

[poisondeathray]

So what you guys have told me is a) I need to convert the files into the desired formats (flv. mobile iPod, Android etc.) before hand, upload them to my server, and if I get this right, I don't need to upload the original file since it won't used by the Flashplayer (JWPlayer, Flowplayer). Is that correct?

yes

you can use x264encoder , probably the best in terms of configurability and quality. Lots of free front ends e.g. handbrake, xvid4psp, ripbot, megui

you can check out other host prices for content delivery e.g. amazon cloudfront is a popular one , not sure what your're paying with your isp's service

EDIT: in case this wasn't clear, a lot of people use a different provider for their video host, becaues most ISPs, have low transfer speeds and low limits. In this day and age of HD and high bandwidth, many ISP's haven't kept up and you tend to have a lot of buffering and slow transfer speeds. Many even prohibit video in their EULA agreement because of bandwidth concerns. So you can still host your site (HTML page) on your ISP , but the actual multimedia and content delivery can be handled / hosted/ delivered by another service

[aedipuss]

fast start .flv or .mp4 is what you should encode to. keep the size fairly small 320x240 and around 200kbps, that way the video shouldn't need to pause and buffer much. a free isp hosting probably isn't going to give you much in the way of bandwidth or storage space so keep things as compressed as possible. as poisondeathray said use a free x264 encoder and control things yourself. i like handbrake and it's not too hard to figure out.

what are you using to play the videos with on your website? you need an embedded player and coding to get them to show up.

[grower]

Thanks - I will do that. And thanks for the lists, never heard of those.

Regarding hosting prices, for $49.99 I have 30 GB and 1 TB of transfer. I did the calculations on a few hosted services, such as Amazon, for the same transfer loads it's way higher. For example Amazon is $.18 per GB out - at 1000GB (I TB) that's $180.00 alone without even adding in the 30GB of storage.
So I self-hosting seems to be the only way.

G.

-- Just after I posted I saw your edit and newer reply.

@poison. You're correct. I am looking at ServInt whom I was referred to by a well established coder who himself has a site with 400+ videos and a number of clients using that service ( I won't be that large just yet). But your point is bang on because many offer unlimited then restrict in their User Agreement.


@aed
I have looked at JWPlayer and FlowPlayer - seem to be well respected and have enough installs and support.


I have also looked at VideoPress ( from WordPress) who provide unlimited bandwidth but there are issues with cost in terms of storage and they haven't yet restricted the ability to embedd videos ( I won't be sharing my videos on other sites since they are training and paid).

Thanks

[poisondeathray]

Another factor to remember is transfer speeds ,do they have a guaranteed transfer speeds etc... Many ISPs have very poor service and low capped speeds. As soon as you have >2 simultaneous visitors, the bandwith is shared, so both are 50% slower, instead of providing a set bandwidth as a dedicated host. Most shared bandwidth and low cost hosting packages do this. If you're only doing SD material you might be able to get away with it , but it's something to be aware of, especially if this is for commercial purpose and it's not just a fun hobby project.

[grower]

I'll check with them but so far no one has commented on that issue. I will post if there is.


BTW, can anyone suggest a good capture device i.e.Canon videocam, or such. Looking for a medium of the road device. I keep hearing the quality of the end video is directly proportional to the quality of the input product. I don't plan on using a cell phone. Thanks

[poisondeathray]

can you be more specific?

do you mean a camcorder or a capture device for a signal like a HDMI or HD-SDI signal ?

what kinds of things are you "capturing?" e.g. sports with lots of motion ? , screen recording? green screen? etc...

price range?

[grower]

Sorry, I guess I don't know what details to include in my questions.

Yes, just a camcorder to shoot off a tripod - would be doing coporate training videos in conference rooms, not a lot of movement (people coming in and out etc.) - various sounds, mostly lighted places.

Cost is one factor, I was hoping around $500, but don't know if that's reasonable. I need to shoot about 100 videos of 15 - 30 minutes in length.

Someone told me about a Canon Rebel, but then said it only allowed for 10 minutes of recording time.

Thanks

[poisondeathray]

Yes , many of the DSLR type cameras have limited record times

Yes, Quality of finished product is definitely proprotional to the input (garbage in = garbage out)

First thing I would do is split of this into a different topic, maybe a mod can move it , because people knowledgeable about current camera models in this price range for corporate shoots, might not know anything about the topic of the thread, and they might not drop in to comment

You're going to need other things too like $ for proper lighting setup, tripod , etc...

You can also check out some camcorder reviews at camcorderinfo.com

[grower]

Thanks for the camcorder site - didn't know it was there. And thanks for the quick replies.
Cheers.

[aedipuss]

i didn't notice, did you ever say whether you need to stream HD or SD material? HD -> 720p or better. SD would be more like 320 or 480 type material. it will make a difference in the camera you purchase.

[grower]

Hmm, thanks for the tip.
I have been battling that one - I think very high quality would be ok and that I have been told can be achieved with the 264 codec. It's near HD.

The problem with HD is that people must have a good bandwidth connection or it will stutter - at least on the few websites I've tried it does and I have DSL (although on a laptop).

I will keep that in mind though, thx.