Advanced Encoding Settings

<format>
    <output>kindle_fire</output>
    <size>1024x600</size>
    <bitrate>2500k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <turbo>no</turbo>
    <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>auto</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <rotate>def</rotate>
    <strip_chapters>no</strip_chapters>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
    <metadata>
      <copy>no</copy>
    </metadata>
  </format>

Have a ton of videos that just require lossless rotation? Did someone have too much fun with the iPhone and shoot everything portrait instead of landscape?

Try this on for size. Lossless rotation for use with .mov --> .mov files only.

<format>
  <output>mov</output>
  <destination>[Destination]</destination>
  <rotate>0</rotate>
  <set_rotate>90</set_rotate>
  <video_codec>copy</video_codec>
  <audio_codec>copy</audio_codec>
</format>

The encoder that we choose for this particular encode will automagically change the dimension on your requested encode to the nearest multiple of 16 for both width and height. This is to give you the best possible results for viewing these particular flash files. 

Roku 2700k Template

<format>
  <output>mp4</output>
  <destination>
  <size>1280x720</size>
  <bitrate>2700k</bitrate>
  <audio_bitrate>192k</audio_bitrate>
  <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
  <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
  <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
  <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
  <profile>high</profile>
  <VCodecParameters>yes</VCodecParameters>
           <video_codec_parameters>
           <coder>1</coder>
           <flags>+loop</flags>
           <flags2>+wpred+mixed_refs+dct8x8+fastpskip</flags2>
           <partitions>+parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8</partitions>
           <me_method>umh</me_method>
           <subq>8</subq>
           <me_range>16</me_range>
           <bf>4</bf>
           <keyint_min>25</keyint_min>
           <sc_threshold>40</sc_threshold>
           <i_qfactor>0.71</i_qfactor>
           <b_strategy>2</b_strategy>
           <qcomp>0.6</qcomp>
           <qmin>10</qmin>
           <qmax>51</qmax>
           <qdiff>4</qdiff>
           <b_qfactor/>
           <directpred>3</directpred>
           <trellis>1</trellis>
           <level>30</level>
           <refs>4</refs>
           <wpredp>0</wpredp>
  </video_codec_parameters>
  <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
  <two_pass>no</two_pass>
  <turbo>yes</turbo>
  <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
  <cbr>no</cbr>
  <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
  <keyframe>200</keyframe>
  <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
  <rotate>0</rotate>
  <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
  <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Roku 1800k Template

<format>
  <output>mp4</output>
  <destination>
  <size>1280x720</size>
  <bitrate>1800k</bitrate>
  <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
  <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
  <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
  <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
  <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
  <profile>high</profile>
  <VCodecParameters>yes</VCodecParameters>
           <video_codec_parameters>
           <coder>1</coder>
           <flags>+loop</flags>
           <flags2>+wpred+mixed_refs+dct8x8+fastpskip</flags2>
           <partitions>+parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8</partitions>
           <me_method>umh</me_method>
           <subq>8</subq>
           <me_range>16</me_range>
           <bf>4</bf>
           <keyint_min>25</keyint_min>
           <sc_threshold>40</sc_threshold>
           <i_qfactor>0.71</i_qfactor>
           <b_strategy>2</b_strategy>
           <qcomp>0.6</qcomp>
           <qmin>10</qmin>
           <qmax>51</qmax>
           <qdiff>4</qdiff>
           <b_qfactor/>
           <directpred>3</directpred>
           <trellis>1</trellis>
           <level>30</level>
           <refs>4</refs>
           <wpredp>0</wpredp>
  </video_codec_parameters>
  <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
  <two_pass>no</two_pass>
  <turbo>yes</turbo>
  <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
  <cbr>no</cbr>
  <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
  <keyframe>200</keyframe>
  <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
  <rotate>0</rotate>
  <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
  <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Roku 1200k Template

<format>
  <output>mp4</output>
  <destination>
  <size>640x480</size>
  <bitrate>1200k</bitrate>
  <audio_bitrate>192k</audio_bitrate>
  <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
  <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
  <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
  <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
  <profile>main</profile>
  <VCodecParameters>yes</VCodecParameters>
           <video_codec_parameters>
           <coder>1</coder>
           <flags>+loop</flags>
           <flags2>+wpred+mixed_refs+dct8x8+fastpskip</flags2>
           <partitions>+parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8</partitions>
           <me_method>umh</me_method>
           <subq>8</subq>
           <me_range>16</me_range>
           <bf>4</bf>
           <keyint_min>25</keyint_min>
           <sc_threshold>40</sc_threshold>
           <i_qfactor>0.71</i_qfactor>
           <b_strategy>2</b_strategy>
           <qcomp>0.6</qcomp>
           <qmin>10</qmin>
           <qmax>51</qmax>
           <qdiff>4</qdiff>
           <b_qfactor/>
           <directpred>3</directpred>
           <trellis>1</trellis>
           <level>30</level>
           <refs>4</refs>
           <wpredp>0</wpredp>
  </video_codec_parameters>
  <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
  <two_pass>no</two_pass>
  <turbo>yes</turbo>
  <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
  <cbr>no</cbr>
  <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
  <keyframe>200</keyframe>
  <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
  <rotate>0</rotate>
  <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
  <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Standard Template for 800k

<format>
  <output>mp4</output>
  <destination>
  <size>640x480</size>
  <bitrate>800k</bitrate>
  <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
  <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
  <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
  <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
  <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
  <profile>main</profile>
  <VCodecParameters>yes</VCodecParameters>
           <video_codec_parameters>
           <coder>1</coder>
           <flags>+loop</flags>
           <flags2>+wpred+mixed_refs+dct8x8+fastpskip</flags2>
           <partitions>+parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8</partitions>
           <me_method>umh</me_method>
           <subq>8</subq>
           <me_range>16</me_range>
           <bf>4</bf>
           <keyint_min>25</keyint_min>
           <sc_threshold>40</sc_threshold>
           <i_qfactor>0.71</i_qfactor>
           <b_strategy>2</b_strategy>
           <qcomp>0.6</qcomp>
           <qmin>10</qmin>
           <qmax>51</qmax>
           <qdiff>4</qdiff>
           <b_qfactor/>
           <directpred>3</directpred>
           <trellis>1</trellis>
           <level>30</level>
           <refs>4</refs>
           <wpredp>0</wpredp>
  </video_codec_parameters>
  <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
  <two_pass>no</two_pass>
  <turbo>yes</turbo>
  <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
  <cbr>no</cbr>
  <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
  <keyframe>200</keyframe>
  <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
  <rotate>0</rotate>
  <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
  <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Use a PNG with alpha-channel as Logo source.
If your logo source is PNG with alpha-channel, set logo_mode equal to 1, to keep transparency.

Note: the logo_transparent tag is only for usage with the vp6_flix output via XML.

Example XML:

<logo>
  <logo_source>[LogoURL]</logo_source>
  <logo_x>[LogoLeft]</logo_x>
  <logo_y>[LogoTop]</logo_y>
  <logo_mode>1</logo_mode>
  <logo_threshold>[LogoTreshold]</logo_threshold>
  <logo_transparent>[LogoTransparent]</logo_transparent>
</logo>

Thinking of using FTPS as your source locations? No problemo.

All you need to do is specify the port in which we access your file at. Connections via FTPS will use port 22 by default. If you'd like to specify a different port, add it to then end of your URL.

Example:

FTPS://www.xyz.com:[port]/files/input.mov

Thinking of using HTTPS as your source locations? No problemo.

All you need to do is specify the port in which we access your file at. Connections via HTTPS will use port 443 by default. If you'd like to specify a different port, add it to then end of your URL.

Example:

HTTPS://www.xyz.com:[port]/files/input.mov

Save some time with your encodes with this simple step, if you are sourcing from S3, try this URL formatting:

http://[AWS_KEY:AWS_SECRET@][bucket].s3.amazonaws.com/[filename]?nocopy

if 'nocopy' is specified at the end of your URL, the source file will be downloaded directly from your bucket, thus saving time. Please use this only if your buckets are located in the US. If ?nocopy is not specified at the end of your URL, the source will be copied to Encoding.com bucket first. This workflow saves you traffic in the case of non-US buckets and more than one encoding task per source.

Standard Wowza Template

<format>
    <output>wowza</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>48000</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <framerate>24</framerate>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <turbo>no</turbo>
    <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mov</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
  </format>

Standard Wowza MBR Template

<format>
    <output>wowza_multibitrate</output>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>48000</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <framerate>24</framerate>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <turbo>no</turbo>
    <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mov</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
    <bitrates>270k,570k,1000k,1200k,1400k</bitrates>
    <sizes>320x180,420x270,720x406,1024x576,1080x608</sizes>
  </format>

Roku HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) Template

<format>
  <output>ipad_stream</output>
  <destination>
  <size>0x480</size>
  <bitrate>1024k</bitrate>
  <audio_bitrate>96k</audio_bitrate>
  <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
  <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
  <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
  <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
  <VCodecParameters>yes</VCodecParameters>
           <video_codec_parameters>
           <coder>1</coder>
           <flags>+loop</flags>
           <flags2>+wpred+mixed_refs+dct8x8+fastpskip</flags2>
           <partitions>+parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8</partitions>
           <me_method>umh</me_method>
           <subq>8</subq>
           <me_range>16</me_range>
           <bf>4</bf>
           <keyint_min>25</keyint_min>
           <sc_threshold>40</sc_threshold>
           <i_qfactor>0.71</i_qfactor>
           <b_strategy>2</b_strategy>
           <qcomp>0.6</qcomp>
           <qmin>10</qmin>
           <qmax>51</qmax>
           <qdiff>4</qdiff>
           <b_qfactor/>
           <directpred>3</directpred>
           <trellis>1</trellis>
           <level>30</level>
           <refs>4</refs>
           <wpredp>0</wpredp>
  </video_codec_parameters>
  <profile>main</profile>
  <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
  <two_pass>no</two_pass>
  <turbo>yes</turbo>
  <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
  <cbr>no</cbr>
  <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
  <keyframe>300</keyframe>
  <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
  <rotate>def</rotate>
  <file_extension>tar</file_extension>
  <hint>no</hint>
  <bitrates>1200k,800k,600k,400k,200k,110k</bitrates>
  <framerates>29.97,29.97,29.97,29.97,15,10</framerates>
  <keyframes>90,90,90,90,45,30</keyframes>
  <pack_files>no</pack_files>
  <segment_duration>10</segment_duration>
  <add_audio_only>no</add_audio_only>
  <still_image></still_image>
  <still_image_time></still_image_time>
</format>

Standard Templates for Blackberry devices. 

Old phones

<format>
   <output>3gp</output>
   <size>176x144</size>
   <bitrate>384k</bitrate>
   <audio_bitrate>12.2k</audio_bitrate>
   <audio_sample_rate>8000</audio_sample_rate>
   <audio_channels_number>1</audio_channels_number>
   <framerate>15</framerate>
   <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
   <video_codec>h263</video_codec>
   <profile>baseline</profile>
   <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
   <audio_codec>libamr_nb</audio_codec>
   <two_pass>no</two_pass>
   <turbo>no</turbo>
   <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
   <cbr>no</cbr>
   <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
   <keyframe>90</keyframe>
   <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
   <file_extension>3gp</file_extension>
</format>

New Phones

<format>
   <output>mp4</output>
   <size>240x180</size>
   <bitrate>240k</bitrate>
   <audio_bitrate>40k</audio_bitrate>
   <audio_sample_rate>22050</audio_sample_rate>
   <audio_channels_number>1</audio_channels_number>
   <framerate>15</framerate>
   <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
   <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
   <profile>main</profile>
   <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
   <audio_codec>libmp3lame</audio_codec>
   <two_pass>yes</two_pass>
   <turbo>no</turbo>
   <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
   <cbr>no</cbr>
   <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
   <keyframe>90</keyframe>
   <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
   <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
   <hint>no</hint>
</format>

<format>
   <output>mp4</output>
   <size>240x180</size>
   <bitrate>300k</bitrate>
   <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
   <audio_sample_rate>22050</audio_sample_rate>
   <audio_channels_number>1</audio_channels_number>
   <framerate>25</framerate>
   <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
   <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
   <profile>baseline</profile>
   <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
   <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
   <two_pass>yes</two_pass>
   <turbo>no</turbo>
   <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
   <cbr>no</cbr>
   <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
   <keyframe>150</keyframe>
   <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
   <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
   <hint>no</hint>
</format>
</query>

Standard Zune Template

<format>
    <output>zune</output>
    <size>320x180</size>
    <bitrate>512k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>wmv2</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>wmav2</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <turbo>no</turbo>
    <twin_turbo>no</twin_turbo>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>wmv</file_extension>
  </format>

Use GetBandwidthStatGroupDate to return encoding traffic of selected user. You can specify a certain date to return information on a particular user. The traffic will be grouped by existing's dates. Please note "date_to" and "date_from" the optional fields. You should use it if you intend to recieve bandwidth statistic into specified date interval. Post the following XML to the API

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>GetBandwidthStatGroupDate</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
<date_from>[YYYY-MM-DD]</date_from>
</date_to>[YYYY-MM-DD]</date_to>
</query>

Response:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
  <action>getbandwidthstatgroupdate</action>
  <status>Success</status>
  <result>
     <user_id>[userID]</user_id>
     <date_[date1]>
       <in>
         <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
         <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
      </in>
       <out>
         <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
         <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
      </out>
     </date_[date1]>
     <date_[date2]>
        <in>
          <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
          <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
       </in>
       <out>
         <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
         <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
      </out>
    </date_[date2]>
...
  </result>
</response>

Use GetBandwidthStat to return encoding traffic of selected user. You can specify a certain date to return information on a particular user. Please note "date_to" and "date_from" the optional fields. You should use it if you intend to recieve bandwidth statistic into specified date interval. Post the following XML to the API:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>GetBandwidthStat</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
<date_from>[YYYY-MM-DD]</date_from>
</date_to>[YYYY-MM-DD]</date_to>
</query>

and your return will be:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
   <action>getbandwidthstat</action>
   <status>Success</status>
   <result>
    <user_id>[UserID]</user_id>
    <date_from>[Date from]</date_from>
    <date_to>[Date to]</date_to>
    <in>
       <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
       <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
   </in>
   <out>
       <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
       <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
   </out>
   <turbo>
       <bytes>[amount in bytes]</bytes>
       <gb>[amount in gigabytes]</gb>
   </turbo>
  </result>
</response>

Interested in a particular user's storage space. Send this XML to our API:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>GetStorageSpace</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
</query>

The response that you'll receive in is GB as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
   <action>getstoragespace</action>
   <status>Success</status>
   <result>
     <user_id>[UserID]</user_id>
     <gb>[Storage Space]</gb>
   </result>
</response>

Say you're interested in how a user's been using the platform. In particular, their success rate, queue times, bandwidth specs, etc. Use GetASM to return this info. Here's an example of the XML to send to the API

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>GetASM</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
</query>

and the response:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
  <action>getasm</action>
  <status>Success</status>
  <result>
    <user_id>[UserID]</user_id>
    <encoding_success_rate>
        <percentage>100</percentage>
    </encoding_success_rate>
    <queue_time>
        <second>[average queue time in this month]</second>
    </queue_time>
    <processing_time>
        <second>[average processing time in this month]</second>
    </processing_time>
    <connection_speed>
        <kbs>[average connection speed]</kbs>
    </connection_speed>
    <encoding_bandwidth>
         <gb>[average amount of encoding bandwidth]</gb>
    </encoding_bandwidth>
  </result>
</response>

Let's say you've made a ton of subusers, but want information back as a whole on all the users you've created. Send the following to the API...

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<!-- Main fields -->
    <userid>[UserID]</userid>
    <userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
    <action>getsubusers</action>
</query>

and you'll get in return a complete list of who's who for sub users:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
  <action>getsubusers</action>
  <status>Success</status>
  <result>
    <user_id></user_id>
    <user_0>
      <ID>[UserID]</ID>
      <Login>[Login]</Login>
      <FirstName>[FirstName]</FirstName>
      <LastName>[LastName]</LastName>
      <Email>[Email]</Email>
      <UserKey>[UserKey]</UserKey>
      <Country>[Country]</Country>
      <Phone>[Phone]</Phone>
      <Status>[Status]</Status>
    </user_0>
    <user_1>
      <ID>[UserID]</ID>
      <Login>[Login]</Login>
      <FirstName>[FirstName]</FirstName>
      <LastName>[LastName]</LastName>
      <Email>[Email]</Email>
      <UserKey>[UserKey]</UserKey>
      <Country>[Country]</Country>
      <Phone>[Phone]</Phone>
      <Status>[Status]</Status>
   </user_1>
  </result>
</response>

For sub accounts, the whole point of creating them is to track usage, right? Well, since we have no UI, you'll want a way to see the information we have stored on a particular user under your main account. Use GetUserInfo to return information on a particular user:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>GetUserInfo</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
</query>

We'll return back this handy information:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
  <action>getuserinfo</action>
  <status>Success</status>
  <result>
    <user_id>[ActionUserID]</user_id>
    <ID>[ActionUserID]</ID>
    <Login>[Login]</Login>
    <FirstName>[FirstName]</FirstName>
    <LastName>[LastName]</LastName>
    <Email>[Email]</Email>
    <UserKey>[UserKey]</UserKey>
    <Country>[Country]</Country>
    <Phone>[Phone]</Phone>
    <Status>[Status]</Status>
  </result>
</response>

If you wish to update the email address and phone number of a sub user, send the following format of XML to our API.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<!-- Main fields -->
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>UpdateSubUser</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
<user_data>
<email>[New email]</email>
<phone>[New phone]</phone>
</user_data>
</query>

You'll receive the following back to confirm success of the update:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
  <action>updatesubuser</action>
  <status>Success</status>
  <result>
    <user_id></user_id>
    <message>The user data was updated</message>
    <email>[New Email]</email>
    <country>[New Country]</country>
  </result>
</response>

You can easily delete sub accounts from your master account by sending the following XML to the API:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>DeleteSubUser</action>
<action_user_id>[ActionUserID]</action_user_id>
</query>

You'll receive the following response:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
<action>deletesubuser</action>
<status>Success</status>
</response>

To sign up a sub user on your account, you'll need to provide Encoding.com with a few pieces of information on the sub user. 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<!-- Main fields -->
<userid>[UserID]</userid>
<userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
<action>AddSubUser</action>
<user_data>
<email>[Email]</email>
<login>[Login]</login>
<password>[Password]</password>
<first_name>[FirstName]</first_name>
<last_name>[LastName]</last_name>
<phone>[Phone]</phone>
</user_data>
</query>

You'll receive the following response back from the system once the user has been created:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<response>
<action>addsubuser</action>
<status>Success</status>
<result>
<plan>Max</plan>
<user_id>New_UserID</user_id>
<user_key>Unique_subaccount_API_key</user_key>
<message>The new sub user has been created</message>
</result>
</response>

Sub accounts are only granted to users on MAX or higher accounts. They are a useful way of tracking bandwidth on the master account if you have many users / agencies on your account. Please note that there is no UI for sub users, as its entirely supported by the API. Contact the administrator of the plan that signed up with Encoding.com for more information. This feature is not automatically turned on by Encoding.com; you must request this by contacting the Help Desk. For full information on sub accounts, please check out the complete API documentation.

http://www.encoding.com/api/category/category/sub_account_api_documentation

Encoding.com does not use FTP passive mode by default when retrieving or placing files. To use FTP with passive mode turned on, add ?passive=yes to the end of your FTP URL string (either source or destination): ftp://user:pass@ftphost.tld/path/to/your/file.ext?passive=yes

So you're hunting for the field in the web UI or our API as to designate hinting on 3GP files? Easy answer, our encoders prep all 3GP files for streaming, no need to do anything else to your settings files.

If you're interested in using Encoding.com's platform to create iPhone Streaming (m3u8) files from your source content, there's a number of ways to achieve that using the options listed below. Our new HLS encoding has better adaptive bitrate distribution within the H.264 segments!

<format>
    <output>iphone_stream</output>
    <destination>ftp://***** the output iphone index file (.m3u8) *****</destination>
    <size>400x300</size>
    <audio_bitrate>56k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>iphone_stream</profile>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <turbo>yes</turbo>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <rotate>0</rotate>
    <file_extension>tar</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
    <bitrates>600k,400k,200k,110k</bitrates>
    <framerates>29.97,29.97,15,10</framerates>
    <keyframes>90,90,45,30</keyframes>
    <pack_files>no</pack_files>
    <segment_duration>10</segment_duration>
    <add_audio_only>yes</add_audio_only>
    <still_image>first_segment</still_image>
    <still_image_time>5</still_image_time>
    <still_image_size>480x320</still_image_size>
  </format>

Set to 'yes' to initiate the encoding process immediately when source video begins downloading to our processing center as opposed to waiting until after the download has completed. Also, this feature can be used when source media is still uploading to the specified source FTP location - our system will recognize if the source file size increases while downloading, or soon after, and the "tail" will be downloaded and concatenated.

Our MPEG-2 encoder offers advanced encoding parameters for both GOP structure and cadence. Closed GOPs with scene detection are ideal for delivery to many STBs (Set-Top-Boxes), such as Tivo and Roku. The Strict GOPs option locks the size to your keyframe value, and is necessary for some hardware DRM solutions. We also now provide MPEG-2 keyframe presets for both DVD and Long-GOP output, as well as the option to turn B-frames on/off. This greatly increases compatibility with a wide range of MPEG-2 players and chipsets.

MPEG-2 API options

Here are all the accepted values for our API

<output>mpeg2</output>  
<keyframe>[12|15|25|30]</keyframe><!--GOP length for NTSC/PAL-->
<bframes>[2|0]</bframes><!--bidirectional frames-->
<gop>[cgop|sgop]</gop><!--closed or strict GOP-->   
</output>

MPEG-2 Advanced XML Samples

Sample for Tivo and NTSC DVD output

Closed 15-frame GOP using standard IPBBPBBP cadence.

<output>mpeg2</output>  
<keyframe>15</keyframe>   
<bframes>2</bframes>  
<gop>cgop</gop>   
</output>

Sample for PAL DVD output

Closed 12-frame GOP using standard IPBBPBBP cadence.

<output>mpeg2</output>  
<keyframe>12</keyframe>   
<bframes>2</bframes>  
<gop>cgop</gop>   
</output>

Sample for Cablelabs Broadcast NTSC output

Long 30-frame GOP using broadcast IPPPPPPP cadence.

<output>mpeg2</output>  
<keyframe>30</keyframe>   
<bframes>0</bframes>  
<gop>cgop</gop>   
</output>

Standard Flash 9 Template

<format>
    <output>fl9</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>high</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
  </format>

Standard Template for MPEG2

<format>
    <output>mpeg2</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>256k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg2video</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>mp2</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>15</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mpg</file_extension>
    <bframes>2</bframes>
    <gop>cgop</gop>
</format>

Standard AAC Audio Template

<format>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <output>m4a</output>
    <file_extension>m4a</file_extension>
</format>

Standard Windows Media Audio Template

<format>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <audio_codec>wmav2</audio_codec>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <output>wma</output>
    <file_extension>wma</file_extension>
</format>

Standard MP3 Audio Template

<format> 
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <audio_codec>libmp3lame</audio_codec>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <output>mp3</output>
    <file_extension>mp3</file_extension>
</format>

Standard Image2Image Template

<format>
    <output>image</output>
    <image_format>jpg</image_format>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <resize_method>resize</resize_method>
    <quality>80</quality>
    <sharpen_sigma>0.5</sharpen_sigma>
</format>

Standard Thumbnail Template

 <format>
    <output>thumbnail</output>
    <time>5</time>
    <video_codec>mjpeg</video_codec>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <file_extension>jpg</file_extension>
 </format>

Standard Template for WebM

<format>
    <output>webm</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libvpx</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libvorbis</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <preset>6</preset>
    <file_extension>webm</file_extension>
    <acbr>no</acbr>
</format>

Standard template for 3GP

 <format>
    <output>3gp</output>
    <size>176x144</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>12.2k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>8000</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>1</audio_channels_number>
    <framerate>15</framerate>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>h263</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libamr_nb</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>3gp</file_extension>
</format>

Standard Flash 8 VP6 Flix Engine Template

<format>
    <output>vp6_flix</output>
    <file_extension>flv</file_extension>
    <video_codec>vp6_flix</video_codec>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>200k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <vp6_profile>1</vp6_profile>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <upct>90</upct>
    <kfinttype>1</kfinttype>
    <cxmode>1</cxmode>
</format>

Standard Flash 8 VP6 Template

<format>
    <output>vp6</output>
    <file_extension>flv</file_extension>
    <video_codec>vp6</video_codec>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>200k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
</format>

Standard Template for muxed output

<format>
    <output>muxer</output>
    <file_extension>vcd</file_extension>
    <video_codec>muxer</video_codec>
    <target>ntsc-dvd</target>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <maps>0:0,1:0</maps>
</format>

Standard PSP Template

<format>
    <output>psp</output>
    <size>368x192</size>
    <bitrate>1024k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>24000</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <framerate>30000/1001</framerate>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
 </format>

Standard Template for Apple TV

<format>
    <output>appletv</output>
    <size>710x480</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Standard Ogg Video Template

<format>
    <output>ogg</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libtheora</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libvorbis</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>ogg</file_extension>
    <acbr>no</acbr>
 </format>

Standard iPad Streaming Template

<format>
    <output>ipad_stream</output>
    <size>640x480</size>
    <audio_bitrate>40k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>tar</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
    <bitrates>1200k,800k,600k,400k,200k,110k</bitrates>
    <framerates>29.97,29.97,29.97,29.97,15,10</framerates>
    <keyframes>90,90,90,90,45,30</keyframes>
    <pack_files>yes</pack_files>
    <segment_duration>10</segment_duration>
    <add_audio_only>no</add_audio_only>
    <still_image>no</still_image>
    <still_image_time>5</still_image_time>
    <still_image_size>480x320</still_image_size>
 </format>

<format>
    <output>iphone_stream</output>
    <size>400x300</size>
    <audio_bitrate>40k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>iphone_stream</profile>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>tar</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
    <bitrates>600k,400k,200k,110k</bitrates>
    <framerates>29.97,29.97,15,10</framerates>
    <keyframes>90,90,45,30</keyframes>
    <pack_files>yes</pack_files>
    <segment_duration>10</segment_duration>
    <add_audio_only>no</add_audio_only>
    <still_image>no</still_image>
    <still_image_time>5</still_image_time>
    <still_image_size>480x320</still_image_size>
</format>

Standard iPad Template

<format>
    <output>ipad</output>
    <size>640x480</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>40k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>22050</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Standard template for iPhone video

<format>
    <output>iphone</output>
    <size>480x368</size>
    <bitrate>1024k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
 </format>

Standard iPod template

<format>
    <output>ipod</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>1024k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>128k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>libx264</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Raw MPEG4 Template

<format>
    <output>m4v</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>m4v</file_extension>
  </format>

Standard QuickTime MOV template

<format>
    <output>mov</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mov</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
</format>

Standard template for MPEG4

<format>
    <output>mp4</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
    <profile>main</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libfaac</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>mp4</file_extension>
    <hint>no</hint>
  </format>

Standard template for WMV:

<format>
    <output>wmv</output>
    <size>320x240</size>
    <bitrate>256k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>64k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>2</audio_channels_number>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>wmv2</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>wmav2</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>wmv</file_extension>
</format>

Standard template for Android preset:

<format>
    <output>android</output>
    <size>800x480</size>
    <bitrate>1024k</bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate>12.2k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_sample_rate>8000</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>1</audio_channels_number>
    <framerate>30</framerate>
    <keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>
    <video_codec>mpeg4</video_codec>
    <profile>baseline</profile>
    <VCodecParameters>no</VCodecParameters>
    <audio_codec>libamr_nb</audio_codec>
    <two_pass>no</two_pass>
    <cbr>no</cbr>
    <deinterlacing>no</deinterlacing>
    <keyframe>300</keyframe>
    <audio_volume>100</audio_volume>
    <file_extension>3gp</file_extension>
</format>

We now have an mpeg-2 muxing feature that takes two source files and outputs a DVD format mpeg-2 file (PAL or NTSC)

Here's a snippet of the XML you would use:

	<?xml version="1.0"?> 

	<query> 

	<action>AddMedia</action> 

	<userid/> 

	<userkey/> 

	<source>[Video source]</source> 

	<source>[Audio source]</source> 

	<format> 

	<output>muxer</output> 

	<target>ntsc-dvd</target>  <!---or pal-dvd---!>

	<maps>0:0,1:0</maps> 

	</format> 

	</query>   

Unfortunately, we do not currently support muxing to mpeg-4 output. We also do not support start/duration flags for multiple sources during a concatenation encode, and have no plans to do so.

Encoding.com's watermarking feature does not yet support semi-transparent masks, alpha-channels and a few other potential image features. The watermarking process is based on plain colors, meaning, all pixels should be at 100% opacity and use black (HTML color code: #000000) to produce optimal results. Please also refer to the logo placement help guide for further reading on how to get the service working for watermarking:

http://encoding.com/help/article/how_to_place_a_logo_watermark_in_your_movie/

This feature allows you to combine several video files to one file.

 You can use it via User Interface, or via API.

 User Interface

 To use this feature via user interface, you have to add several video sources in "Add Media" section. And they would automatically combined to one file (in sequential order) during the encoding process.

 API

 To combine several video sources to one file, you should use several <source> elements in your XML request.

 For example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
<!-- Main fields -->
    <userid>[UserID]</userid><br>
    <userkey>[UserKey]</userkey>
    <action>[Action]</action>
    <mediaid>[MediaID]</mediaid>
    <source>[SourceFile]</source>
    <source>[SourceFile1]</source> <!-- if multiple SourceFile added, they will be concatenated -->
    ...
    <source>[SourceFileN]</source>
    <format>
      [FormatFields]
    </format>
</query>

For VBScript output to work, you may need to percent-encode the destination path twice. Like this.

Regular FTP path:
ftp://username@yourcompany.com:password@server.com/file.m3u8?passive=yes

Single URL (%) encoded - used for some standard FTP configurations
ftp://username%40yourcompany.com:password@server.com/file.m3u8?passive=yes

Double URL (%) encoded - used for VBScript FTP
ftp%3A%2F%2Fusername%2540yourcompany%3Apassword%40server.com%2Ffile.m3u8%3Fpassive%3Dyes

<-- Hide

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<query>

  <userid>xxx</userid>

  <userkey>yyy</userkey>

  <action>AddMediaBenchmark</action>

  <source>http://domain.com/source/file/url</source>

</query>

	<?xml version="1.0"?>

	<query>

	  <userid>xxx</userid>

	  <userkey>yyy</userkey>

	  <action>GetMediaInfo</action>

	  <mediaid>3402153</mediaid>

	</query>

<?xml version="1.0" ?> 

<response>

<bitrate>518k</bitrate> 

<duration>723.09</duration> 

<audio_bitrate>256K</audio_bitrate> 

<audio_duration>1253</audio_duration> 

<video_duration>1253</video_duration> 

<video_codec>mpeg2video</video_codec> 

<frame_rate>29.97</frame_rate> 

<size>320x240</size> 

<video_bitrate>104857k</video_bitrate> 

<pixel_aspect_ratio>1:1</pixel_aspect_ratio> 

<display_aspect_ratio>4:3</display_aspect_ratio> 

<audio_codec>mp2</audio_codec> 

<audio_sample_rate>44100</audio_sample_rate> 

<audio_channels>2</audio_channels> 

<format>mpeg-ps</format> 

<format_profile>Main@Main</format_profile> 

<scan_type>Progressive</scan_type> 

</response>

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<query>

  <userid>xxx</userid>

  <userkey>yyy</userkey>

  <action>UpdateMedia</action>

  <mediaid>3402153</mediaid>

<format>

      <output>mp4</output>

      <start>0</start>

      <duration>600</duration>

</format>

<format>

      <output>mp4</output>

      <start>600</start>

      <duration>600</duration>

</format>

<format>

      <output>mp4</output>

      <start>1200</start>

      <duration>53</duration>

</format>

</query>

There's a variety of ways that you can use Encoding.com's platform to bring together multiple sources to create a completely customized workflow that can dynamically change, as time requires. You can add just a bumper or a trailer to any clip, or both! Plus, you can concatenate videos exponentially.

Here's how:

1) Log into the customer area.

2) Select 'Add Media'

3) Click [ + ]  to add in the number of fields that you need to create the concatenated file. Click [ x ] at any time to remove the clips that you wish to join.

That's it! Keep in mind that the order in which you add clips, is the order that they will appear within the final output file.

The x264 Project has lead the way on H.264 development by introducing many key features. Variance Adaptive Quantization (VAQ) and Rate–Distortion Optimization (RDO) attempt to preserve video quality and motion estimation against the amount of data required to encode the video. Advanced controls include options for GOP structure, keyframing, scene detection, macroblocking, and interframe quantization. Many of these features are discussed in depth on the x264 forums. A list of the x264 flags available to our API follows:

Frame-type options:

Ratecontrol:

Analysis:

The default value for keyframe interval set by the optional format field <keyframe> is 300, i.e. keyframe is added every 300 frames. For a framerate of 30fps this would equal 10 secs. But for 15fps (most often used for FLV) it would be 20 seconds, which may be too often. To change this value, simply use the <keyframe> parameter within the <format> element. For example, setting the value to 30 will allow to seek the video for every 2 seconds, assuming framerate 15 fps.

About Keyframes: Because video compression only stores incremental changes between frames (except for key frames), it is not possible to fast forward or rewind to any arbitrary spot in the video stream. That is because the data for a given frame only represents how that frame was different from the preceding frame. For that reason it is beneficial to include key frames at arbitrary intervals while encoding video. For example, a key frame may be output once for each 10 seconds of video, even though the video image does not change enough visually to warrant the automatic creation of the key frame. That would allow seeking within the video stream at a minimum of 10 second intervals. The down side is that the resulting video stream will be larger in size because many key frames were added when they were not necessary for the visual representation of the frame. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_frame

Occasionally compression requirements dictate that you use a Constant Bit Rate (CBR) instead of a Variable Bit Rate (VBR). This is especially helpful for video streaming.  In our encoding platform, VBR is the default setting for Encoding.com since it generally provides much higher quality. For scenes where there is a high amount of action or detail, VBR will often spike up to 300% of the target bitrate. The reverse is also true, VBR will dramatically pull back on scenes with low detail.

Why would you use CBR?

CBR is far more constrained, with the actual bitrate only floating about 20% above and below the target. Some video playback devices have cheaper "chips", hardware decoders with limited buffer that are unable to handle VBR. With MPEG-4 being built into most modern chipsets, this issue is largely going away. CBR is also often used in satellite television broadcasts, where many channels will be multiplexed into one transport stream with limited bandwidth.

Sample API tags for CBR:

If you wish to check your encodes, Winhoros Bitrate Viewer is a great way to scan your files and quickly get detailed bitrate information.

If you are having problems getting the bitrate you need, try using a lower value in the bitrate tag. If that doesn't work, please submit a support ticket with the Media ID # of the job.

When you're using our powerful API to control the VBR settings of your encode, there's a few additional options that you can supply to control the settings. There are a few things to consider:

---> - Bufsize: (Rate control buffer size) You always MUST specify it when setting minrate and/or maxrate. A buffer with that size will be used to calculate current bitrate. 
 
bufsize [optional] - Rate control buffer size (bits).
     Allowed values: N or Nk - where N is any non-zero integer.
     Default: None
 
--> - Minrate and Maxrate : These items limit the bitrate of the encoded video must not drop below or exceed.  
maxrate [optional] - Maximum allowed video bitrate.
     Allowed values: N or Nk - where N is any non-zero integer.
     Default: None
 
minrate [optional] - Minimum allowed video bitrate.
     Allowed values: N or Nk - where N is any non-zero integer.
     Default: None
 
--> - Rc_init_occupancy: The initial rate control buffer occupancy (number of bits which should be loaded into the RC buffer before decoding starts). 
 
rc_init_occupancy [optional] - Initial rate control buffer occupancy (bits).
     Allowed values:  N or Nk - where N is any non-zero integer.
     Default: None

We test video playback on a variety of devices, from Mac and Windows PCs, to all the various mobile phone platforms available today. One critical issue that comes up often is that the hosting server has not set the MIME types for the video type. A typical error message for this would be "unknown application/octet-stream". Here is a list of many common formats we encounter.

IMPORTANT: You will need to configure your ftp server to these MIME types for them to be properly recognized by their respective playback devices.

With TAR output is set to OFF, and should see .m3u8 pointers and .ts segment files populate your output directory. The trick is correctly formatting the output filepath. You have to make sure your output filepath has a filename WITHOUT a 3-character file extension. I had this same problem because I either defined only the output directory, or had an output filename with .m3u on it. In both cases that will force a TAR output even if you have set it to off. SAMPLES: To get your segments, a correct output filepath should look something like this: http://yourbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/iphonetest/outputfilename ftp://username:password@ftp.yourserver.net/iphonetest/outputfilename

• def - don't change anything. Video will be rotated according to 'Rotation' meta data parameter, if it exists
• 0 - don't rotate and ignore 'Rotation' meta data parameter
• 90 - rotate by 90 degree CW and ignore 'Rotation' meta data parameter
• 180 - rotate by 180 degree and ignore 'Rotation' meta data parameter
• 270 - rotate by 270 degree CW and ignore 'Rotation' meta data parameter
• Default: def

The following types of metadata are allowed to be added for the following formats: 3gp, appletv, fl9, iphone, ipod, m4a, mp4, wmv, zune.

Please note that the length of metatag value can't be greater than 256 characters. This functionality is only supported via AP.

• title [optional] - Title of the media
• copyright [optional] - Copyright information
• author [optional] - Source author
• description [optional] - Media description
• album [optional] - Media album

Since users often will be uploading a wide variety of videos, I generally like to break them down into two types:

Static/Low Action - stable tripod shots, very little background movement, actors standing still 
Active/High Action - panning/jerky camera, lots of action, sports-like movement

A good starting point is to choose a variable bitrate setting equal to the width of the video. So, for example: 640x480 SD at 640 kilobits per sec (kbps), or 1280x720 HD at 1280 kbps. Higher action video may require a slightly higher bitrate to prevent blocking artifacts.

Noise Reduction

Applying some noise reduction is useful to save bits for high detail regions, but be careful not to overdo it. I've seen video samples where whole areas of ocean and grassy fields disappear to achieve a lower bitrate. This of course, falls under artistic preference, but generally I'd rather see a smaller framesize and more detail. At low bitrates, it is increasing important to improve the quality of noisy video sources, such as film containing lots of grain or video shot in low light. The 3D noise reduction in ffmpeg allows control over both luma and chroma values for fine-tuning your output image quality.

	<noise_reduction>4:3:6</noise_reduction> 

luma_spatial – Spatial Luma Strength. Allowed values: [0,255]
chroma_spatial – Spatial Chroma Strength. Allowed values: [0,255]
luma_temp – Temporal Luma Strength. Allowed values: [0,255]

General recommended starting value is 4:3:6. [luma_spatial:chroma_spatial:luma_temp] Noise reduction is also available via our web interface as the High Quality 3D Denoiser option.

Single Pass vs. Two Pass

For most purposes 2-pass encoding achieves very good results. It's a tradeoff of diminishing returns, 2-pass gaining perhaps 10% quality bit-for-bit but doubling the encoding time. Do not lower qcomp, CBR is horrible on quality. I'd experiment with values floating between 0.60 and 0.80 if you want more VBR. if qcomp = 1.00 then quantizer is constant for second pass. Real variable bitrate with constant quality. if qcomp = 0.00 then bitrate is constant for second pass. Real constant bitrate with variable quality.

<two_pass>yes</two_pass>

I'd recommend having two sample videos, tell your users to choose Low or High Action content setting, experiment a bit with your B-frames then define two "baseline" settings for each bitrate. For web video it's best to narrow your targets to four different bitrates at most, especially if you are going to be processing thousands of users uploading. Most folks have a slow (up to 240kbits), good (~700kbits), or fast (2mbits and higher) connection. I'd say H.264 over 2mbits is generally overkill for website content. For general purposes, I'd recommend 2-pass and we push a 10 second keyframe interval (300 frames) which may not be appropriate for "high-action" source video.

For more detail on H.264 controls for scenecut thresholds, B-frames, and more, please refer to:

Advanced H.264 Guide http://sites.google.com/site/linuxencoding/x264-ffmpeg-mapping

H.264 parameters for our API http://www.encoding.com/help/article/advanced_configuration_options_for_the_libx264_video_codec

An excellent collection of HD videos at 2mbits/sec can be found at http://californiaisaplace.com/cali/ 

16x16 Macroblocks

H.264/AVC does a much more efficient job when the horizontal and vertical framesize dimensions are multiples of 16. Good examples include:

SD (4:3) aspect ratios: 320x240, 432x320, 480x360, 544x400, 640x480, 768x576
HD (16:9) aspect ratios: 432x240, 576x320, 640x360, 720x400, 848x480, 1024x576, 1280x720, 1920x1080

In 4:2:0 H.264/AVC coding, each block contains 4 luminance samples (Y), 1 blue sample (Cb), and 1 red sample (Cr). Modern video decoding chips (GPUs) are optimized for playback of 16x16 macroblocking.

Keyframes and GOPs

Low action scenes generally handle more bidirectional (B-frames) better since they don't have to track interframe motion as aggressively. Higher action content will require more keyframes (I-frames) to keep the picture from breaking apart. Longer GOPs with more B-frames also require more buffering by the playback GPU to recursively track the motion for each macroblock. Fortunately, x264 offers very good scene detection, which is why for most applications, we set keyframes to 300.

H.264/AVC sample for modern mobiles (30 fps with a 10 second GOP)

	<framerate>30</framerate>
	<keyframe>300</keyframe>

For older computers, and early generations of iPod and Blackberry phones, the chips might not have enough processing power and memory to successfully buffer longer GOPs. Keep your bitrates low, try lower framerates, and shorter GOPs.

H.264/AVC sample for older mobiles (15 fps with a 4 second GOP)

	<framerate>15</framerate>
	<keyframe>60</keyframe>

More information about GOPs available on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_pictures

Turbo Mode

NOTE: For bigger or longer HD encoding jobs, turbo mode is absolutely recommended since you will see speed gains in the neighborhood of 3x faster vs. normal mode. Please be aware turbo is running on more powerful encoders, so it costs an extra $1 per gigabyte.

<turbo>yes</turbo>

Video codecs perform best when the frame width and height use multiples of 16. While you can use any width and height in your encoding settings, non-optimal dimensions can result in poor image quality and reduced frame rate. For the best image quality and playback, you should always use width and height dimensions that use a multiple of 16 (best), 8 (better), or 4 (good). We would recommend that you refrain from using 4 or 8 multiples unless it is absolutely necessary. 

Note: Both the native encoding dimensions and the playback dimensions should be a multiple of 16. For example, if you encode your FLV file to use a frame dimension of 320 x 240, you should scale to a size such as 512 x 384. 

Refer to the following tables to pick dimensions for your layout.

Many of our customers ask for guidance on how to place a watermark image into a video. This feature is provided in the Encoding.com API and here we will show how to quickly and easily create a watermark.  Please note that the source and output frame sizes need to match. If they do not match, the logo will be distorted.

Creating a source image

Here are two sample images, both created in Photoshop as RGB, then saved in PNG format using an 8-bit color palette. We will show the "best case" design using a gray logo with a black background, and a "worst case" design using a bright red logo. Bright color edges are generally harder to blend into most encoded video, and particularly with red you will see more visual artifacts. (aka "jaggies")

"Best case" image with a gray logo and black background, defined in web hex color code as #000000.	"Worst case" image with a bright red logo and gray background, defined in web hex color code as #808080.

Sample API tags for black background in blend mode

Code used for the "best case" image, setting a background threshold of #000000 to make the black a transparent mask. <logo_mode> chosen for this demonstration is "0" for blend mode, but you also could use "1" to have an opaque logo.

<format>
<output>mp4</output>
<size>864x360</size>  –– output resolution, important for logo placement
<bitrate>1600k</bitrate>  –– higher bitrates get better results
<profile>high</profile>  –– high profile better than main profile, but longer encode time
<two_pass>yes</two_pass>  –– much better quality than single pass
<logo>
<logo_source>http://www.encoding.com/images/KB/prolab200pix.png</logo_source>
<logo_x>630</logo_x>  –– horizontal logo offset from top left 
<logo_y>230</logo_y>  –– vertical logo offset from top left
<logo_mode>0</logo_mode>  –– zero value for "blend" translucent mode, one for opaque
<logo_threshold>000000</logo_threshold>  –– sets color black to transparent mask
</logo>
</format>

Sample API tags for gray background in blend mode

Code used for the "worst case" image, setting a background threshold of #808080 to make the gray a transparent mask. Note the much rougher edges of the red logo.

<format>
<output>mp4</output>
<size>864x360</size>  –– output resolution, important for logo placement
<bitrate>1600k</bitrate>  –– higher bitrates get better results
<profile>high</profile>  –– high profile better than main profile, but longer encode time
<two_pass>yes</two_pass>  –– much better quality than single pass
<logo>
<logo_source>http://www.encoding.com/images/KB/pleasebuy120pix.png</logo_source>
<logo_x>620</logo_x>  –– horizontal logo offset from top left 
<logo_y>210</logo_y>  –– vertical logo offset from top left
<logo_mode>0</logo_mode>  –– zero value for "blend" translucent mode, one for opaque
<logo_threshold>808080</logo_threshold>  –– sets color gray to transparent mask
</logo>
</format>

In some cases you may need to encode a video with strictly defined width or height, while preserving the source video aspect ratio. We usually handle this automatically, with the keep aspect ratio option via our web UI or flagging it in XML

<keep_aspect_ratio>yes</keep_aspect_ratio>

If you turn it off, it will stretch the video image to fill whatever output framesize you have chosen. With it on, if source and output framesizes have different dimensions, it will letterbox or pillarbox the output. Apple has an excellent article that explains this at  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2320

Floating Output Framesize

Let's say you know you want your video to exactly match your source aspect ratio but wish to lock the vertical resolution to 320 pixels. You can use a zero value to float the horizontal, using a value of 0x360 for the output size. The same can be done in reverse. If you used a value of 640x0, it would lock the width to 640 pixels wide and float the height of the output video.

<size>0x320</size><!--locking height to 320-->
<size>640x0</size><!--locking width to 640-->

Manual Override For Output Aspect Ratio

Setting correct aspect ratio is a big deal, since many broadcast formats use proprietary aspect ratio flags which often are not recognized by third-party systems. QuickTime flags like PAR (pixel aspect ratio) and DAR (display aspect ratio) have been the primary offenders, since most professional editing systems use various QuickTime codecs as their edit format. This setting allows you to lock the output aspect ratio to achieve the best results. NOTE: You will probably want to turn keep aspect ratio off, so you scale the entire video image.

In the web UI, choose a value for set aspect ratio as follows:

For NTSC Standard Definition, use 4:3 or 1.33
For HD or Widescreen Video, use 16:9 or 1.77

For XML to our API, these are good examples:

<set_aspect_ratio>4:3</set_aspect_ratio>
<set_aspect_ratio>1.33</set_aspect_ratio>
<set_aspect_ratio>16:9</set_aspect_ratio>
<set_aspect_ratio>1.77</set_aspect_ratio>
<keep_aspect_ratio>no</keep_aspect_ratio><!--OPTIONAL to prevent letterboxing-->

For more detailed information regarding aspect ratios, please see wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29

We have sample scripts available in PHP, Cold Fusion, C#, and VBScript.  You can find these scripts by visiting http://www.encoding.com/api/SampleScripts  

You can use encoding.com's cloud storage location as temporary storage for your encoding output. To accomplish this you leave the "Destination" field empty using any integration method Web Interface. Desktop Application, or the API. To retrieve the direct http url of your you can login to the client interface, click Encoding Queue, expand the job ID and click on the "Download" link. If you are using our notification feature the http url will be available in the field of the email or XML notification we send once the job is complete. Encoding.com will store your encoding ouptut temporarily for up to 15 days or 100GB, which ever comes first. If you reach your 100GB limit we will automatically delete the oldest files first.

Please note that this is not available for .m3u8 files, aka Apple iPhone / iPad Streaming HLS files.