Using Expression Encoder For Screencasts

I recently made some screencasts using Camtasia about remixing Flotzam and I then encoded them using Microsoft Expression Encoder using all the default settings.  However, the quality was crap compared to the .wmv emitted from Camtasia and I couldn't figure out why.  My good man Tim Sneath pointed out to me there's a video setting in Expression Encoder called "Screen Encoding" that is optimized for screencasts.  Sure enough I used that setting and had much better results. I then uploaded them to Silverlight Streaming as explained in this post.

A search on the web to find out if anyone else has stumbled on this uncovered this post by Jon Udell, who turns out to be a colleague of mine. Small world.

posted on Jan 21st, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (6)

6 Comments »

  1. Karsten,

    I've been working in the evenings on an article for Code Project on adding tutorial videos to our articles and blog entries.

    Did you know that there is an even better way to link to your Silverlight videos?

    Normally, we place the IFrame tag on the page that links to the video or Sliverlight application. Then when the user views the video, they see a 500x400 video.

    Instead of using the IFrame, you can place an Anchor tag <a href... on the page that links to the same file that the IFrame SRC property links to.

    Then when the user clicks on the link, a new IE window opens up and the Player displays and consumes the full screen space of the browser. WAY cool. As the user resizes the browser, the video also resizes.

    I know that you can also Double Click the video to go full screen, but I also like the resize ability.

    Thanks for a great post here!

    Cheers,

    Karl

    Comment by Karl Shifflett - January 24, 2008 @ 10:33 AM

  2. Karsten,

    I read everything you wrote and all the links you provided. Thank you so much.

    It took a good bit of learning, help and trial and error but I found a way to get good quality 1024x768 Silverlight Streaming videos down below the site requirement of 300KB.

    I have just posted the following article on Code Project, Creating, Encoding and Delivering Silverlight Streaming Screen Capture Videos.

    http://www.codeproject.com/KB/scrapbook/HowToCreateArticleVideos.aspx

    The article provides all the files necessary to encode and deliver Silverlight applications to the streaming service.

    This is an in-depth article on the process of creating screen capture videos for your Code Project articles and for your blog.

    The article covers creating, encoding, packaging, uploading and consuming screen cast tutorial videos.

    The article also provides two high quality tutorial videos on this topic.

    Have a great day!

    Cheers,

    Karl

    Comment by Karl Shifflett - January 25, 2008 @ 11:40 AM

  3. Nice article, Karl! Thanks! BTW, Mole rocks!

    Comment by Karsten Januszewski - January 25, 2008 @ 1:13 PM

  4. Thank you for the encouragment on Mole!

    I think the Visual Studio Team really hit one out of the park with the Visualizer feature. Fantastic architecture.

    Best to you,

    Cheers,

    Karl

    Comment by Karl Shifflett - January 26, 2008 @ 7:30 AM

  5. Karsten,

    Great news!

    I have figured out how to use the encoder profile I made for Camtasia with Microsoft Expression Encoder.

    The profile allows Expression Encoder to encode screen capture videos that meet the requirements of Silverlight Streaming service, max bitrate 300KB, max files size 22MB. Currently, none of the stock profiles can encode a video that meets this tight requirement.

    I have updated my article at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/scrapbook/HowToCreateArticleVideos.aspx and have added video that shows how do do this.

    Hope this helps others who want to make their own screen capture videos and stream them for free with the awesome Silverlight Streaming service.

    Hope to see you at Mix08!

    Cheers,

    Karl

    Comment by Karl Shifflett - January 27, 2008 @ 11:20 AM

  6. Karsten,

    Can you edit my previous post? The URL got fouled up.

    Should be:

    http://www.codeproject.com/KB/scrapbook/HowToCreateArticleVideos.aspx

    Cheers,

    Karl

    Comment by Karl Shifflett - January 27, 2008 @ 11:22 AM

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