Diddy433
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Screen Recording Issue: How can I "shrink" my video (AVI)?
I am using CamStudio (free, open source) to do screen recording for a software demonstration. The videos that I get are high quality, however, I would like it if they were smaller so they did not take so long to load.
Does anyone know of a software program that will take a AVI file and "compact" or "shrink" it so that it displays smaller and loads faster in a web page?
On the other hand, does anyone know of a better way to do screen recording?
Does anyone know of a software program that will take a AVI file and "compact" or "shrink" it so that it displays smaller and loads faster in a web page?
On the other hand, does anyone know of a better way to do screen recording?
ASKER
If I convert my AVI file to flash, will it load faster? What would you use to display the video in a web page then? Can you embed a Flash player just like you can Windows Media Player and Quick Time?
I would like to resolve my load time issue without having to record the videos again.
I would like to resolve my load time issue without having to record the videos again.
>If I convert my AVI file to flash, will it load faster?
Well, there are many factors to consider, not the least of which is the filesizes of your videos, the context in which you're using them, and the type of server you're using. But generally speaking, yes. Flash videos play progressively (meaning, the visitor can start watching the video before it finishes downloading). That's not usually the case with AVIs.
> What would you use to display the video in a web page then?
The SWF Producer tool will create an HTML file with the necessary code. You can then edit that HTML file or copy the code into the HTML you're using for your web page. (The relevant portion is the opening and closing OBJECT tags and everything in between.) Within the SWF Producer, you can also tweak the settings for the embedded player.
Note that the current version (CamStudio 2.0) has a bug that causes the SWF Producer to put incorrect values into the HTML code. In that HTML file, the OBJECT tag will have the correct WIDTH and HEIGHT attribute values, but the EMBED tag may have incorrect ones. Edit the latter to reflect the former.
If you'd like more information about embedding SWF files, see this page:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_4150
Well, there are many factors to consider, not the least of which is the filesizes of your videos, the context in which you're using them, and the type of server you're using. But generally speaking, yes. Flash videos play progressively (meaning, the visitor can start watching the video before it finishes downloading). That's not usually the case with AVIs.
> What would you use to display the video in a web page then?
The SWF Producer tool will create an HTML file with the necessary code. You can then edit that HTML file or copy the code into the HTML you're using for your web page. (The relevant portion is the opening and closing OBJECT tags and everything in between.) Within the SWF Producer, you can also tweak the settings for the embedded player.
Note that the current version (CamStudio 2.0) has a bug that causes the SWF Producer to put incorrect values into the HTML code. In that HTML file, the OBJECT tag will have the correct WIDTH and HEIGHT attribute values, but the EMBED tag may have incorrect ones. Edit the latter to reflect the former.
If you'd like more information about embedding SWF files, see this page:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_4150
ASKER
I used the SWF Producer to convert the file. I copied the HTML I needed and pasted it into my web page as shown below. However, nothing happened, a blank page appeared. Is there a limit on the file size? My movie takes up space (1195x974) but it is not very long at all.
It might also be important to note, that after converting the SWF, CamStudio automatically opens the created html page and tries to play the video. Nothing happened here as well. Just a blank white screen.
It might also be important to note, that after converting the SWF, CamStudio automatically opens the created html page and tries to play the video. Nothing happened here as well. Just a blank white screen.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head>
<title>Videos</title>
</head>
<body>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"
WIDTH="1195" HEIGHT="974" id="autorunappsREDO">
<PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="autorunappsREDO.swf">
<PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high>
<PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#FFFFFF>
<EMBED src="video/autorunappsREDO.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF WIDTH="1195" HEIGHT="974" NAME="autorunappsREDO" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>
</body>
</html>
ASKER
Actually...they are working in Internet Explorer but not in Firefox. Any Clues?
Thanks for all the help!
Thanks for all the help!
Yeah, they're too big 1195 x 974 -- Gulp!
YouTube videos are 320 x 240.
The bottom line in comparing flash to wmv is that flash is a little harder to do -- but just about all the punters have the flash player -- especially since the advent of YouTube.
An easy way to encode flash is to firstly get something like Super (don't know what I'd do without it).
Convert the file to a flash flv -- not swf -- use 320 x 240 resolution.
Now you have to get a player and upload it to your site -- most use the JW player -- you just download it -- zip it open and extract the swf player file only. Upload that to your site in the same directory as you put the flv video -- and you're streaming flash just like YouTube.
Or simply stay with wmv -- put the simple one line code on a page and upload your 320 x 240 wmv movie.
I have all the codes for flash and wmv if you need them.
YouTube videos are 320 x 240.
The bottom line in comparing flash to wmv is that flash is a little harder to do -- but just about all the punters have the flash player -- especially since the advent of YouTube.
An easy way to encode flash is to firstly get something like Super (don't know what I'd do without it).
Convert the file to a flash flv -- not swf -- use 320 x 240 resolution.
Now you have to get a player and upload it to your site -- most use the JW player -- you just download it -- zip it open and extract the swf player file only. Upload that to your site in the same directory as you put the flv video -- and you're streaming flash just like YouTube.
Or simply stay with wmv -- put the simple one line code on a page and upload your 320 x 240 wmv movie.
I have all the codes for flash and wmv if you need them.
I see now why "load time" was so much of a concern -- 1195x794 is awfully big for video being put on the web. (Consider this: A standard DVD uses a frame size of 720x480.) Is there a reason you want your videos so large? Generally speaking, you should stick to around 320x240, as fredshovel says, or maybe up to 640x480.
That said, I tried creating a video of those dimensions, ran it through the SWF Producer, and edited the resulting HTML with the correct dimensions -- it opened okay in Firefox 3.0 for me. Did you fix the dimensions before trying Firefox? And do you have the latest Flash plug-in installed?
That said, I tried creating a video of those dimensions, ran it through the SWF Producer, and edited the resulting HTML with the correct dimensions -- it opened okay in Firefox 3.0 for me. Did you fix the dimensions before trying Firefox? And do you have the latest Flash plug-in installed?
ASKER
Yeah that was why my original question was how can I "shrink" these videos. They are screen recordings and obviously I recorded almost my entire screen lol. I really don't want to record these videos again (I had to have someone do voice with me).
fredshovel - So if I use this Super, I can take my existing .avi files and convert them to flv and then resize them? That would be sweet! If that is the case, please provide me with this one line of code you speak of.
strobbe - As for FireFox, I have 2.0 if that means anything but yes I did fix the dimensions (thanks a ton for that tip by the way). I know I have a flash plugin because the site I develop on a lot has flash in it. I just don't know if it is the most recent I guess.
Thanks again for all the help!
fredshovel - So if I use this Super, I can take my existing .avi files and convert them to flv and then resize them? That would be sweet! If that is the case, please provide me with this one line of code you speak of.
strobbe - As for FireFox, I have 2.0 if that means anything but yes I did fix the dimensions (thanks a ton for that tip by the way). I know I have a flash plugin because the site I develop on a lot has flash in it. I just don't know if it is the most recent I guess.
Thanks again for all the help!
Sorry, when I saw "shrink," I thought it was the file size (as in number of bytes) you wanted to change, not necessarily the frame size.
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Forgot to mention -- change the name of the video at the end of the code from "Karuah.flv" to the name of your video. Say -- MyVideo.flv.
Don't forget all code is case sensitive so if you have a name of a directory with a capital like Video make sure it's the same in the code -- same for all names.
Don't forget all code is case sensitive so if you have a name of a directory with a capital like Video make sure it's the same in the code -- same for all names.
You can convert it to those formats which is much smaller in size than AVI or shink the resolution, framerate,etc. You should need a converter tool.
ASKER
thanks!
Just another tip, which works well for me with Flash, is to keep the frame rate (in Super) up to around 30fps.
I read what MP3 Gain says -- they just talk about "gain" (volume) and normalisation (volume at around
0 db). I can't find where it says anything about the EQ (the individual frequencies in the spectrum).
I really don't know any way of altering the EQ in an MP3 other than converting it to a wav file for editing and back again.
0 db). I can't find where it says anything about the EQ (the individual frequencies in the spectrum).
I really don't know any way of altering the EQ in an MP3 other than converting it to a wav file for editing and back again.
Go to Options, then Video Options. The dropdown list there will include all the codecs on your system that are available to CamStudio. (I don't think any of them come with CamStudio, but you will likely have some already installed on your computer. If you plan on editing these files, Lagarith and Huffyuv are good choices. But it really depends on what you plan to do with these files next.
Incidentally, if you're going straight from CamStudio to publishing your files on the web, CamStudio includes a tool called SWF Producer (under the Tools menu). It converts AVI to Flash format, which is optimized for web usage. I haven't used it, so I can't really vouch for SWF Producer's usage or output, but it's worth giving a try.