Automating encoding - publishing process

[fiyahd]

I am admittedly VERY new to all of this. Here is the problem and the tools available.
We capture videos in .AVI and post them on our website in .WMV. Soon we will be posting .FLV. We are currently manually importing the file into Premiere and converting the files to .WMV then manually loading up Windows Media Services and creating a publishing point for the .WMV file.

Using Premiere and Windows Media (or even a 3rd party app you guys see fit) how can I automate this process? I want the files to capture into a folder that gets monitered and if a new .avi appears I'd like it to grab the file, convert it to WMV (or FLV) and create the publishing point for our website.

Any suggesions are GREATLY appreciated! Thank you.

[Soopafresh]

Lots of ways, probably the easiest is using an app which has a "watch folder" feature. Once you copy your AVI into the watched folder, the app automatically converts the file to your format of choice. Procoder has that feature, you'll need to check if it has flv conversion. BTW, h264 .MP4 works perfectly with Flash.

Creating the publishing point is a different story.

[fiyahd]

Thanks very much...I will have a look at the program you mentioned.

Anyone have ideas on automating the publishing point?

[Benjibum]

I use Super FLV to convert into flash. It converts from any format into any format. Do a google search for Super FLV. Or click on this link and scroll to the bottom where the download link is
http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html

Its brilliant and its free!

[VirtualDoobMon]

Here's a basic simple solution using Windows built-in FTP & a batch file. Download the attached zip. There's two files, Watcher.exe and file.bat. Download and drop FFmpeg into the same folder.

By default watcher.exe watches the folder its executed in. Launch the exe and whenever you drop an AVI into the folder watcher will execute the batch file. You will have to edit the batch file and input your ftp addy,usr/pwd and modify the FFMPEG CLI to your needs. My example will encode Avi's to 320x240 WMV7 A/V - asf. and upload to my site ** don't rename File.bat to anything else ** Obviously this can be improved.works ok for me on Win XP. minimize to tray and throw in startup.

.Net 3 required

Here's the basic batch file:

for %%i in (*.avi) do ffmpeg -i %%i -vcodec wmv1 -acodec wmav1
-s 320x240 -mbd 2 -deinterlace %%~ni.asf

echo open 11.11.11.11>upload.txt
echo username>>upload.txt
echo pwd>>upload.txt
echo put >>upload.txt
dir *.asf /b>>upload.txt <<<---- change to whatever your output file ext is
echo bye>>upload.txt
echo quit>>upload.txt
echo ------------------------------------------------------->>ftp.log <---- redirects ftp output to log file
echo FTP started: %date% %time%>>ftp.log
echo ------------------------------------------------------->>ftp.log
echo.>>ftp.log

ftp -s:upload.txt>>Ftp.log


del /s/q upload.txt
del /s/q *.asf
del /s/q *.avi

[Gavino]

for %%i in (*.avi) do ffmpeg -i %%i -vcodec wmv1 -acodec wmav1
-s 320x240 -mbd 2 -deinterlace %%~ni.asff

Won't this re-encode (and subsequently upload) all avi files in the folder every time a new one is added?
Perhaps it should delete the avi afterwards, or move it somewhere else.

[VirtualDoobMon]

You are right thanks for pointing that out. I C&P after i removed my ftp info and must have deleted that line as well. Yes, user can either delete (As in my example) or they can move the AVI - but must do either one - or rewrite an entire batch file. I'm not an expert at dos so i'm sure it can be improved.

[Soopafresh]

Nice work! My only concern is how soon the conversion process executes when the watcher app sees a new file - what if the batch file begins to run before the source file is done copying into the watch folder.

[VirtualDoobMon]

I don't believe it will execute until the file is completely copied ( i don't know for sure i tested with small avi files) I will test or Let me know and we can fix that. Also, the way i have it set up is that one file at a time (for now) should be dragged into the watch folder. You would have to modify the batch file from PUT to MPUT with FTP for multiple files to upload. here's some infos from MS on scripting with FTP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/96269