A test of Windows Media Encoder

[Lin Evans]

I've been using Flash for some time to share P2E and Proshow Gold shows on the web. Windows has made some major improvements to their Media Encoder and I thought I would pass along what I've learned.

The free Windows Media Encoder with take your AVI files produced with P2E and convert them to Windows compatible streaming slideshows. There are some real advantages and some disadvantages over Flash. First the disadvantages. Flash is compatible with both MacIntosh and Windows based computers, where the Windows Media Video (.wmv) format is only compatible with Windows based computers. Flash does a better job with smaller tighter code, but if you have broadband to upload, the Windows Media Encoder will produce a superior file especially at about 640x480. The streaming works very well I think and the Windows Media Player is usually defaulted to play the files though they can be played with other players such as IrfanView as well.

Here's two samples. I would appreciate feedback to let me know how well it works. The first show is about 2 minutes long, is about 9 meg in executable format and about 42 meg the way I have encoded it with Windows Media Encoder. It should begin playing after a short buffering period but with normal broadband it should play very quickly. The second is about 63 meg and 4 minutes 50 seconds long. Both should stream without long delays. Click the links below:

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/planets.wmv

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/reflect.wmv

Best regards,

Lin

[Guest Techman1]

Lin,

That looks really very good. Have you tried it with photos of people or animals? I'm interested to see if the quality looks good when you need to see some details (facial expressions, etc.).

Do you know (right off the top of your head), where to download the latest version of Windows Media Encoder? I'm sure I can do a search and find it, but they aren't always the latest versions. Or did you just download it from the Microsoft site?

Thanks for sharing this info with us. I appreciate it!

Fred

[Ken Cox]

Fred

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...er/default.mspx

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-...-encoder-9.html

Lin music is not my cupppa - but video fine

ken

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

That looks really very good. Have you tried it with photos of people or animals? I'm interested to see if the quality looks good when you need to see some details (facial expressions, etc.).

Do you know (right off the top of your head), where to download the latest version of Windows Media Encoder? I'm sure I can do a search and find it, but they aren't always the latest versions. Or did you just download it from the Microsoft site?

Thanks for sharing this info with us. I appreciate it!

Fred

Hi Fred,

You can download the latest version here:

http://www.download.com/Windows-Media-Enco...4-10211788.html

Best regards,

Lin

Lin,

That looks really very good. Have you tried it with photos of people or animals? I'm interested to see if the quality looks good when you need to see some details (facial expressions, etc.).

Do you know (right off the top of your head), where to download the latest version of Windows Media Encoder? I'm sure I can do a search and find it, but they aren't always the latest versions. Or did you just download it from the Microsoft site?

Thanks for sharing this info with us. I appreciate it!

Fred

Hi Fred,

I haven't, but these tiny planets reveal a lot about the encoder. There is very little difference in this particular slideshow between the original AVI and the Windows.wmv files so I would expect fine performance for people and animals. The quality depends greatly on the amount of compresion used. The original AVI was about 64 meg and the .wmv for this one about 42 meg for only a 2 minute show so I would expect pretty large files. Of course this means you need plenty of storage space on the server if you want high quality output, but since the buffering seems to work quite well I would expect that with that single caveat one could get excellent results, at least at 640x480 file size. The encoder will output a wide variety of quality, etc., so it's really up to the user to decide how much to give up in term of quality for file size.

I think with the combination of Flash and wmv files p2e can be quite competitive with Proshow Producer without going to some proprietary format. If Igor could include an internal converter to wmv and flash in some future version there would be no reason why the p2e shows can't be web compatible and better than the competition. Of course all these converters only output about 29.97 fps which is far below the 60 fps of our executable shows, but they still seem pretty good for web purposes.

Best regards,

Lin

Fred

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...er/default.mspx

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-...-encoder-9.html

Lin music is not my cupppa - but video fine

ken

Hey, as long as it works - LOL

Best regards,

Lin

[Guest Techman1]

Thanks Lin & Ken (that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it ).

I'll give it a try and see how it works.

Lin,

Regarding PTE supporting wmv & flash, I hope this is something that Igor can incorporate in a future version (sounds like a 6.x version or should we call it PTE GOLD)!

Thanks again,

Fred

[Lin Evans]

Thanks Lin & Ken (that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it ).

I'll give it a try and see how it works.

Lin,

Regarding PTE supporting wmv & flash, I hope this is something that Igor can incorporate in a future version (sounds like a 6.x version or should we call it PTE GOLD)!

Thanks again,

Fred

Naaa.....

Gold is old, Platinum is Happenin'

Lin

[potwnc]

the Windows Media Video (.wmv) format is only compatible with Windows based computers.

Actually, Macs can play wmv with the right software.

[Lin Evans]

Actually, Macs can play wmv with the right software.

Yes, they can use p2e as well, but not with native OS and there are lots of older Mac's which don't work well with the newer Windows emulation software so Flash is still a better choice if you must reach an Apple audience as well.

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

That looks really very good. Have you tried it with photos of people or animals? I'm interested to see if the quality looks good when you need to see some details (facial expressions, etc.).

Do you know (right off the top of your head), where to download the latest version of Windows Media Encoder? I'm sure I can do a search and find it, but they aren't always the latest versions. Or did you just download it from the Microsoft site?

Thanks for sharing this info with us. I appreciate it!

Fred

Hi again Fred,

I updated the post with another link to my "Reflections" slideshow which has some closeups of animals, birds, etc., so you can get some idea of the Windows Media Encoder's capabilities. Actually it works out quite well I think in terms of DVD quality on-line. Go to the original and choose the second link...

Best regards,

Lin

[jevans]

I've been using Flash for some time to share P2E and Proshow Gold shows on the web. Windows has made some major improvements to their Media Encoder and I thought I would pass along what I've learned.

The free Windows Media Encoder with take your AVI files produced with P2E and convert them to Windows compatible streaming slideshows. There are some real advantages and some disadvantages over Flash. First the disadvantages. Flash is compatible with both MacIntosh and Windows based computers, where the Windows Media Video (.wmv) format is only compatible with Windows based computers. Flash does a better job with smaller tighter code, but if you have broadband to upload, the Windows Media Encoder will produce a superior file especially at about 640x480. The streaming works very well I think and the Windows Media Player is usually defaulted to play the files though they can be played with other players such as IrfanView as well.

Here's two samples. I would appreciate feedback to let me know how well it works. The first show is about 2 minutes long, is about 9 meg in executable format and about 42 meg the way I have encoded it with Windows Media Encoder. It should begin playing after a short buffering period but with normal broadband it should play very quickly. The second is about 63 meg and 4 minutes 50 seconds long. Both should stream without long delays. Click the links below:

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/planets.wmv

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/reflect.wmv

Best regards,

Lin

Lin,

The streaming action does not work for me, even if I have WMP open before the download. All that happens is that the whole file downloads and then WMP starts up and plays the video file.

Jeff

[Lin Evans]

Lin,

The streaming action does not work for me, even if I have WMP open before the download. All that happens is that the whole file downloads and then WMP starts up and plays the video file.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks much for the feedback! I'm not sure why it works for some and not for others. I'm going to do some more searching for answers. There is probably some sensible answer to explain the differences, but I don't know enough about how the Windows streaming works to sort it out yet. I'll get back when I have some suggestions.

I have had this same comment from at least one other person but also a number who find the streaming works as it should so there is something not quite right.

Could you tell me which browser you are using? I know people can't get it to work with IE 5.57 but it should work with earlier and later versions.

Best regads,

Lin

[Ken Cox]

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/planets.wmv

http://www.lin-evans.net/p2e/reflect.wmv

R MOUSE THE LINKS AND SAVE AS to a folder

doubleclick the links and wmp starts- the way i have wmp set up it downloads the +- 80% of the file to wmp's cache then selection starts to play - download continues to completion of file

running IE 6.0 sp2 cw with latest updates

ken