Post Production Features

There's a couple scenarios with how the slideshow feature works on the Encoding.com platform:

1) The default duration of any slideshow is 3 seconds.  This is regardless of length of the audio file. Add two source images of unspecified duration and you will have a 6 second clip, and so on. The XML below shows a audio file that is 34 seconds long. If that is added to an image file, the result will be a 3 second clip.

POST:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
  <action>AddMedia</action>
  <userid/>
  <userkey/>
  <source>[imagefile]</source>
  <source>[audiofile]</source>
  <notify/>
  <slideshow>1</slideshow>
  <region>us-east-1</region>
  <split_screen/>
  <format>
    <output>mp4</output>
    <destination/>
    <bitrate>2000k</bitrate>
    </format>
</query>

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2) You can control the slideshow duration by setting the attribute of the still image to the desired size.

Example - A 34 second slideshow can be created via these tags / attributes:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
  <action>AddMedia</action>
  <userid/>
  <userkey/>
  <source>[imagefile].jpg?duration=34</source>
  <source>[audiofile]</source>
  <notify/>
  <slideshow>1</slideshow>
  <region>us-east-1</region>
  <split_screen/>
  <format>
    <output>mp4</output>
    <destination/>
    <bitrate>2000k</bitrate>
    </format>
</query>

####

The smallest duration you will be able to set is 1 second. Regardless of audio file length, this will produce a 1 second file:

<source>[imagefile].jpg?duration=1</source>
<source>[audiofile]</source>

 

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Need to perform some minor tweaks to the duration of your encoded file? We offer up a convenient solution to set a duration for your output file.  

Note that you can use any positive number to reflect the start time (in seconds) and duration (in seconds).

via UI:

Start from (sec): Enter value in seconds
Duration (sec): Enter value in seconds

via API:

<format> 

<!-- Format fields --> 
    <start>1.5</start>  
    <duration>7.5</duration>  
    ... 
</format>

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<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 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>

 

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 <?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>    

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.

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 <?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"?> 

 

<?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>

 

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

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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.

4:3 aspect ratio sizes: Best (16) Better (8) Good (4) 640 x 480 608 x 456 624 x 468 576 x 432 544 x 408 592 x 444 512 x 384 480 x 360 560 x 420 448 x 336 416 x 312 528 x 396 384 x 288 352 x 264 496 x 372 320 x 240 288 x 216 464 x 348 256 x 192 224 x 168 432 x 324 192 x 144 160 x 120 400 x 300 128 x 96   368 x 276     336 x 252     304 x 228     272 x 204     240 x 180     208 x 156     176 x 132     144 x 108     112 x 84

16:9 aspect ratio sizes: Best (16) Better (8) Good (4) 1280 x 720 1152 x 648 1216 x 684 1024 x 576 896 x 504 1088 x 612 768 x 432 640 x 360 960 x 540 512 x 288 384 x 216 832 x 468 256 x 144 128 x 72 704 x 396     576 x 324     448 x 252     320 x 180     192 x 108

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To crop, you simple specify how many pixels will be cut from each side (left, top, right, bottom) of the original frame size. Once cropped, the resulting frame size will be resized and centered to fit output size (if necessary), as usual. Example: the source file size is 704x576, and we want to crop 10 pixels from each size. Just set 10 for top, left, right and bottom. So, after cropping the frame size is 684x556. Assume we set the result size to 640x480. Then, the frame will be resized to 590x480 and 25-pixels pads will be added to the left and to the right of the frame. <-- Hide