Most Common Tasks

This section includes the most common tasks for Web Video Machine:

Encoding to Different Video Formats

Usually encoding to more than one video format is very useful - for instance, encoding to FLV, F4V, MP3 and SWF:

1. Open the FLV_H264_MP3_SWF.XML settings file which will create several workers, one for each different format.
2. Configure the directories for each worker accordingly to your needs and directory structure. Understand how different workers work together.
3. Optionally change the encoding settings.
4. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Encoding to Different Bitrates

Encoding to different bitrates could be very useful - for instance, to stream to different users that have access to different Internet speeds:

1. Open the FLV_Hi_Lo.XML settings file which will create two workers, one for broadband access, the other for modem access.
2. Configure the directories for each worker accordingly to your needs and directory structure. Understand how different workers work together.
3. Optionally change the encoding settings.
4. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Encoding to MP3

To extract the audio track of any video or to convert any audio format to MP3 follow these steps:

1. Open the MP3.XML settings file which will create one worker to convert media to MP3.
2. Configure the directories for each worker accordingly to your needs and directory structure.
3. Optionally change the encoding settings.
4. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Taking Advantage of Multiple Cores

If your server is multicore then you can make each worker run on a different core. For instance, if you have two workers in a two core machine then you can proceed as follows:

1. Open the FLV_H264.XML settings file which will create two workers, one for converting to FLV, the other for converting to F4V.
2. Configure the directories for each worker accordingly to your needs and directory structure. Understand how different workers work together.
3. Optionally change the encoding settings.
4. Select "FLV Worker" from the "Selected Worker" drop-down box on the Dashboard toolbar. Set its encoding process affinity to "CPU 0".
5. Apply the same procedure to "H264 Worker" but set it to "CPU 1".
6. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Sending an Email When an Error Happens

To configure the Machine to send you an email if something goes wrong, follow these steps:

1. Open the FLV.XML settings file which will create one worker to convert media to FLV.
2. Configure the directories for each worker accordingly to your needs and directory structure.
3. Optionally change the encoding settings.
4. Select the "Notify" tab and locate "send_email_local_server.vbs" in the "Encoding Failed" section.
5. Open the "send_email_local_server.vbs" file with your preferred text editor and customize the script accordingly with your server settings and message settings.
6. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Calling an URL After a Successful Encoding

To configure the Machine to call an URL after a successful encoding, follow these steps:

1. Open the FLV.XML settings file which will create one worker to convert media to FLV.
2. Configure the directories for each worker accordingly to your needs and directory structure.
3. Optionally change the encoding settings.
4. Select the "Notify" tab and locate "invoque_URL.vbs" in the "Encoding with Success " section.
5. Open the "invoque_URL.vbs" file with your preferred text editor and customize the script accordingly with what URL you want to invoke.
6. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Thumbnail Generation

By default all the included scripts will generate an image thumbnail in JPEG format. You can configure the JPEG image quality and in what instant in time should the thumbnail be generated. Its dimensions will be equal to the encoded media. To change the JPEG thumbnail configuration follow these steps:

1. Choose the encoding settings you want to use for the current worker.
2. Open the selected encoding settings file with your preferred text editor. Locate and edit the following:
   1. <Param name="exportFrameJPGTimeSec" value="0"/>
      If set to a value greater or equal to zero (>= 0) means the instant in seconds at which to export a processed video frame into a JPEG file. The exported image file will have the name of the output file appended with ".jpg"
   2. <Param name="exportFrameJPGQuality" value="80"/>
      This value represents JPEG image quality. Accepted values are between 0 and 100, with 100 meaning highest image quality but greater file size.
3. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.

Custom Logo Watermarking

The Machine can watermark all your media with a custom logo:

1. Use FLV_Default_with_Logo.settings encoding settings for the current worker.
2. This encoding settings will place a Blue Pacific logo on all your media, but you can choose to open the settings file with your preferred text editor. Locate and edit the following:
   1. <Param name="imageOverlay" value="presets/logo.png"/>
      This is the location of an image to use as watermark for the video. Possible formats are: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP. Use "" for none.
   2. <Param name="imageOverlayAlignX" value="0"/>
      This is the horizontal alignment for the image watermark: 0 (align left), -1 (align center), -2 (align right). A positive value will be used as a X coordinate.
   3. <Param name="imageOverlayAlignY" value="0"/>
      This is the vertical alignment for the image watermark: 0 (align top), -1 (align center), -2 (align bottom). A positive value will be used as a Y coordinate.
   4. <Param name="imageOverlayAlpha" value="100"/>
      A transparency value for the watermark image, between 0 (fully transparent) and 100 (opaque).
3. Start the Machine. Click "Yes" when asked if you want to apply the settings.