Expression Encoder Forum

Encoder SDK Deployment

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:42:33 Z

Hi

How can i deploy the Encode SDK DLLs? So i have to physically install Encoder on the server for it to work?

cheers

Tim

Constant 404 when publishing Smooth Streaming

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:13:02 Z

When trying to publish a IIS Smooth Streaming job via WebDAV I constantly get this error:

"A WebDav publishing error occurred: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found"

I get this error when the publish of the .ismv file starts. Is this a network connection issue that the publish times out?

Expression Encoder 3: Green artifacts after encoding

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:54:36 Z

Some of the videos I encode using the Expression Encoder 3.0 have green lines at the bottom. Since I have no prior experience with encoding, I have no clue about why this is happening. Though I think it might have something to do with the format of the videos I am encoding. I am using some very basic code:

DirectoryInfo dInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"E:\temp\wmv");

Job job = new Job();
job.JobId = "TESTING";
foreach (FileInfo fInfo in dInfo.GetFiles())
{
    Console.WriteLine("Adding file ---> {0}",fInfo.FullName);
    MediaItem mediaItem = new MediaItem(fInfo.FullName);
    mediaItem.OutputFileName = fInfo.Name;                   
    mediaItem.ApplyPreset(Presets.VC1BroadbandVBR);

    mediaItem.OutputFormat.AudioProfile = new WmaAudioProfile();

    job.MediaItems.Add(mediaItem);
}               


job.OutputDirectory = @"E:\temp\wmv";
job.CreateSubfolder = true;

job.EncodeProgress += new EventHandler<EncodeProgressEventArgs>(job_EncodeProgress);
job.Encode();

shake

New to Encoder 3

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:14:44 Z

Hi all,

I am very new to Encoder. I recently started a new job with a company as a videographer. My boss installed Expression and asked me to learn how to encode streaming media. Any advice or suggestions as to where I should start would be helpful. Thanks in advance for you help.

Quicktime, Encoder 3 & Win7

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:32:49 Z

Is necessary install quicktime player for mp4 etc..?

HTTP streaming?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:07:53 Z

With Flash Media Server it's possible to stream video using a HTTP compatible protocol. With Windows Media HTTP is not available(?) and the streaming protocol used is often blocked by web proxy servers.

Will Expression/Silverlight allow HTTP video streaming similar to Flash Media?

Thanks

Captions & Subtitles in Expression Encoder 3

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:59:00 Z

I have looked at a training video & read through the software help that says you can do captions and subtitles in LIVE encoding using the script command option. While I have followed the directions in both to the letter I can't get it to work. Is there a solution for EE3 that gives me that function that is simple? :-) I am not a developer so some of the terms I don't know. Thank you for any help!!!

Expression Encoder is always crashing - Invalid value for audio bitrate

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:01:30 Z

Hi,

I can't encode movies because Encoder is always crashing. It occurs when I import a movie using the button "import". I've tried to find out the source of this problem with VS debugger:

"Invalid value for audio bitrate. at line 16, position 14"

It is the same error using Encoder 3 Screen Capture:
http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/encoder/thread/44ea68b9-d107-4922-bcf7-186a862a0474

Encoder 3 SDK questions

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:23:54 Z

Hi,

I am creating a test application to publish stream from webcam/camera to a publishingpoint on WMS. However I can't change the output format like quality/codec/bitrate of the stream. The properties that I want to use are readonly. Or am I doing something wrong?

For example this:

outputFormat.VideoProfile.Codec = VideoCodec.VC1;

gives the error

Error 1 Property or indexer 'Microsoft.Expression.Encoder.Profiles.VideoProfile.Codec' cannot be assigned to -- it is read only

But outputFormat.VideoProfile.Codec should be get/set enabled.

Also how can I use outputFormat.VideoProfile.Bitrate to assign a bitrate and can I assign a overlay image like when encoding a file? I also tried to use Presets but those also gives me error that they are read only. For the record I am using WindowsMediaPublishingPointOutputFormat().

Encoding LESS then 5.1 audio tracks to WMA Pro 5.1

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:09:58 Z

I have a few sources with 5 channel, 4 channel, and etc. audio, and when I go to encode them EE3 gives me an error. What can I do to keep what I can? Or am I going to have to use stereo?

Free Expression Encoder 3 EXTREMELY slow - SOLVED

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:14:26 Z

SEE ORIGINAL PROBLEM BELOW. I found the solution. I purchased the full version of Expressions Encoder 3 (turns out you can buy just the Encoder for $49), and voila, I'm back to full speed. Turns out there are features (I don't honestly know what they are) on the licensed version that are not on the free version which make encoding happen dramatically faster. I'm back to encoding an HD 1080p file, at 8GB, at 2 and a half hours.

ORIGINAL PROBLEM:
I originally had the 60-day trial version of Expression Encoder 3. Absolutely loved it. I could encode a 1080p movie into a .wmv file in about 2.5 hours. Now, two thinkg have changed. 1) I went from the 60-day trial version to the free version of Expression Encoder and 2) I upgraded from Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit to Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. Now that I've done these two things, my encoding time on the exact same movie has increased from 2.5 hours to about 9 hours. What is causing this, Encoder or the OS upgrade? Is the free version of Encoder different than the trial version, "dumbed down" to where it would cause longer encoding? To get the faster encoding, do I need to buy the "full" version of Encoder? I want to know something definite before I go spending $149 (which looks like the cheapest way to get Encoder). Please advise, and thank you for your time.

Animation artifacts

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:26:17 Z

I encoded a cartoon to WMV and I'm getting some weird black lines when stuff is moving. Is this because of the framerate or something? It isn't horrible but it is noticable.

pushing C#

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:37:32 Z

I am using C# in VS 2008 SP2 with Expression Encoder 3

using the Live example I have came up with this code:

                 LiveDevice Video = null; // This is connected to a comboBox so the user can select the device
                 LiveDevice Audio = null;// same for this...
                 LiveJob job = new LiveJob();

WindowsMediaPublishingPointOutputFormat push = new WindowsMediaPublishingPointOutputFormat();

                push.UserName = "XXXXXXXXX";
                push.Password = getString(); // This gets a Security String
                push.VideoProfile.FrameRate = 3.5; // Set low for testing
                push.VideoProfile.AutoFit = true;
                push.VideoProfile.Complexity = VideoComplexity.Fastest;
                push.PublishingPoint = new Uri("http://yoda:8050/MyPush"); // Used Media Encoder 9 and have connected to it.
                job.OutputFormat = push;

                job.ActivateSource(job.AddDeviceSource(Video, Audio));

                job.StartEncoding();

                while (play)
                {

                }

                job.StopEncoding();

This video and audio start up but it does not connect to the server or throw an error. (yoda is the server!)
I have also tried using the servers IP but still the same thing.....

Please tell me I am missing a line of code some where :)

Thanks
ExpressionNoob

EE3 sees VOBs as a shorter time then they are

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:49:05 Z

When I import a 23 minute VOB, EE3 is seeing it as 12 minutes long...any ideas?

capture a streaming signal

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:35:47 Z

Hi everybody,

is now possible, using expression Encoder 3 SDK, to capture and manipulate a streaming signal (for example from some decoder)?

I'm working on a big business application and have to develop some procedure that swithces from a file source to streaming signal source......Is it now possible?

thank you

Capturing picture

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:36:09 Z

Could we produce still photos from .mov and.wmv files in Expression Encoder 3? If yes, please provide some guidance.

Playlist visual weirdo

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:03:38 Z

Hi,

Look at this little video I did http://gearworld.dyndns.org:8082/?VIDEO=1&PL=4 showing the playlist having some kind of visual problem.
Any idea how I can work around this ?

There's 4 videos in the playlist and at first we just see the 2 first ones and then if I scroll down I start seeing the third one and if I scroll down even more, I can barely see the 4th one but the 4th one never stays but the 3th did stay after scrolling...

How to start playing a video on ExpressionMediaPlayer.ExpressionPlayer by C# code

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:42:05 Z

I've been struggling on how I can start playing a video automaticly. Here's the code I actually have in the Loaded event :

ep.GoToPlaylistItem(3); // There's really 3 videos in the play list...
ep.Play();

What it does is simply start the player with a Trianble in the middle and when I click on it it's the first video that plays.

Plase where do I have to put this code make sure I can automaticly start a videon on the play list.
Thank you

Expression Encoder 3 Screen Capture

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:46:28 Z

This application is always showing a window with the following text:

"Invalid value for audio bitrate. at line 16, position 14"

I've already tried to change the audio bitrate, but it doesn't seem a good idea.

Subtitles, are they supported and how?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:12:22 Z

I'm encoding mt2s files with integrated subtitles, but I don't see any way to include them in Expression +IIS. Also, would i be able to add more common subtitle formats as SRTs?

Thanks in advance.

Just to be sure...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:44:10 Z

...Expression Encodre 3 is the upgrade from Expression Media 2? If so I do not see the "Stream Configuration" under the encoding tab that will allow me to enable Script Stream.

in-stream video ads using script commands

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:31:18 Z

I am using expression encoder 2 to live stream our events. We are now getting advertisers that want to run video ads during our broadcast. They want these ads to be tracked by impressions...so I will need to pull these video ads from servers (links) where they are stored. Can I do this by using the script command option? from my research, it looks like this is the way...but I need some help. When I use captions in the script command option it works fine. But I'm not sure what "type" and "command" to use to switch streams in the middle of a broadcast. If this makes since, please point me in the right direction...Thank you very much!

Low volume when encoding AC3 5.1 soundtracks.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:19:43 Z

Hi there,

I'm fairly new to Expression. Working with m2ts files with AC3 5.1 audio tracks, converting them to the IIS H.264 CBR preset. Even if I use another preset, the converted file's volume is extremely low. The preset is for 192kbps stereo, but the audio turns out to be less than half its original. Is there something I'm not aware of?

Thanks in advance.

Encoder 3 Crashes / SDK gives error

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:20:38 Z

hello
i tried to use live encoding to stream from a usb webcam to windows media services running on ws2003. when i try to preconnect or start encoding the encoder crashes.
i tried to use the sdk. using the live sample, i changed to use the cam instead of a file and to push to a server instead of broadcasting. when i run it i get the following error on the line job.StartEncoding();

   bei System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)
   bei System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(Int32 errorCode)
   bei ThrowHRESULT(Int32 hr)
   bei MS.Internal.Expression.Encoder.Live.LiveEncode.StartEncoding(String strOutputFileName, ProfileWrapper profile, IDictionary`2 metadata, Int64 nBufferWindowInMillis)
   bei Microsoft.Expression.Encoder.Live.LiveJob.StartEncoding()
   bei Live.Program.Main(String[] args) in C:\Programme\Microsoft Expression\Encoder 3\SDK\Samples\Live\Program.cs:Zeile 68.
   bei System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)
   bei System.AppDomain.ExecuteAssembly(String assemblyFile, Evidence assemblySecurity, String[] args)
   bei Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly()
   bei System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
   bei System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   bei System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

any ideas?

thanks in advance.

Framerate conversion problems

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:18:33 Z

Hi all,

Being in the UK, I prefer to have all my vidoe files encoded at 25fps PAL to avoid the horrible jerkiness seen on films/vidoes when the scene is panning across the screen. Static or action scenes are fine as the framerate difference between 24/25/30fps is not noticable. This is becoming more of an issue over here as more and more people buy into Bluray unaware that they are all at 24fps native whereas DVD's were region locked at 25fps PAL.....
Anyway, my problem is that no matter what settings I chose within media encoder, the framerate always ouptuts as per the source. I have tried this with 24fps MKV's and 30fps avi's with the same result. For info, it also does this with both the 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows Media Encoder as well.
Really annoyed as Expression Encoder is spot on for converting to Xbox 360 wmv's but the lack of working framerate conversion really spoils it for me!

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Mr Underwurlde.

OnProgress seems too loop through 100% multiple times

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:20:49 Z

Using EE3 SDK to convert WMV files to Silverlight Smooth Streaming. When monitoring the progress via an OnProgress event handler it seems to go from 0 to 100 2-3 times before actually completing. What is the EncodeProgressEventArgs.Progress Property actually reporting?

Crop there isn't on Encode --> Video

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:29:25 Z

Hi at all
I have Encoder 3
Now i'm learning how to crop a video
The guide say, go on Encode panel and then go on Video profile and click crop
But i don't see crop, where is crop inside encode panel ?

Encoding Memory Stream

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:49:37 Z

I need to be able to encode a memory stream as a live source and feed it to silverlight. Basically, I am capturing RTP traffic and would like to play this with silverlight live. I can already work with the audio and encode/decode it in a number of different formats and can play it with desktop application. What I would like to be able to do is play this over the web, live using silverlight.

Is there any way to do this currently? Looking through the API it looks like you can only work with devices and files.... It would be great if you could describe the format that your input stream is (aac/mp3/wav/etc, samplerate, etc) and then pass it memorystream/byte chunks and have this be encoded.

Is this possible? If not, are there any plans of allowing this type of functionality in a future release?

Thanks.

Expression Encoder SDK Live Source Problems

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:57:45 Z

We have a WME9 SDK application that I want to move to EESDK.

I see an update to EE3 Was released, is there any update to the ability to select the source pin of the video capture card yet,   as this really limits the ability to change to EE.

My Application runs as a service so all settings are read from a config file,   I tired just setting up a Profile in EE3 (xel) but it seems the input source is not stored in that file.

Does this look like it may be in an updated version?

the PC has multiple Capture devices ( SDI Card, and an osprey card with Composite and Svideo Inputs) and we need to select PAL or NTSC sources.

I can’t find much documentation on this. I would be happy if i could pre-configure a number of XEL's and then   just select those with livejob.load.

I have managed to select the different Live sources (different audio and video sources) but without the extra selections there is not much we can do with EESDK for live.

Anyone had any luck with this?   The app is in VB.NET and I am using VS2008

Many Thanks

Richard

Reduce size of outputted mp4

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:46:26 Z

I took the default settings to output to H.264 iPhone in Expression Encoder 3 and found that my .mp4 was around 140Mb (420x340) from a source screen (1024x768). How can I reduce the overall file size of the file? What settings should I be changing?

SharePoint Solution Architect, Perth Australia - MCTS WSS Dev, WSS Adm, MOSS Dev, MOSS Adm - Readify - http://wss.made4the.net/- http://www.sharepointdevwiki.com/

Expression Encoder 3 full version

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:44:24 Z

My understanding is Expression Web 3 includes Expression Encoder3 without IIS Smooth Streaming (free version). If one needs full version that is with IIS Smooth Streaming has to buy separately. Am I correct?

Help automating EE3 like WME9

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:06:41 Z

I have been using WMecoder 9 with the sample scheduler within the SDK samples. The content has been live classroom captures using an Osprey video capture card. I am having dificluty figuring out EE3 and it's SDK. I am not a programmer.

I have been able to use the task schedule to start an EE3 Live profile with the desired settings, but can't start the encoding. I would appreciate help automating the starting a profile with a duration.

Don

Can I let the users upload a video on my site and encode them with .NET and the Encoder SDK 3.0?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:35:56 Z

Hi.

I'm planning a website that will include Silverlight Smoth Streaming.

I want the users of the site to be able to upload any video in the site (let's say like youtube) and my site to encode the uploaded videos in the Smooth Streaming format. (like Microsoft Expression Encoder would do, but web)

Is is possible using the Encoder SDK?

Thanks in advance.

PnP

Video output shorter than source

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:19:01 Z

Hi All,

I'm trying to encode a GIF into a WMV file using the Encoder 3 SDK. My GIF has a duration of 0.0.1.740 (1 second and 740 milliseconds). The video resulting from the encoding is only 1 second and 560 milliseconds so a few frames are missing.

Below is the slightly simplified snippet of my code doing the encoding. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Jim

MediaItem item = new MediaItem("thegif.gif");
Job job = new Job();
job.MediaItems.Add(item);
item.OutputFormat = new WindowsMediaOutputFormat();
Size orgSize = item.OriginalVideoSize;
item.OutputFormat.VideoProfile = new AdvancedVC1VideoProfile()
{
Size = new Size(orgSize.Width, orgSize.Height),
Bitrate = new ConstantBitrate(1000)
};

job.OutputDirectory = @"C:\whereto";
job.CreateSubfolder = false;
job.Encode();

An update to Expression Encoder V3 is now available

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:55:23 Z

Installed Expression Encoder 3 October QFE update. The update causes a Data Exectuion Prevention Error when opening a recent project. Also, when opeing a new project and importing a wmv.

Uninstalling the updates seems to have resolved the problem

The Following errors in the event log:
1.
System

- Provider
   [ Name] Application Error
- EventID 1000
   [ Qualifiers] 0
   Level 2
   Task 100
   Keywords 0x80000000000000
- TimeCreated
   [ SystemTime] 2009-11-16T18:34:38.000Z
   EventRecordID 5624
   Channel Application
   Computer xxxxxxxxxxxx
   Security
- EventData
   EncoderUI.exe
   3.0.1332.0
   4a5d30d0
   ntdll.dll
   6.0.6002.18005
   49e03821
   c0000005
   0006653f
   1158
   01ca66eb40351a75

2.
- System
- Provider
   [ Name] Application Error
- EventID 1000
   [ Qualifiers] 0
   Level 2
   Task 100
   Keywords 0x80000000000000
- TimeCreated
   [ SystemTime] 2009-11-16T18:34:14.000Z
   EventRecordID 5623
   Channel Application
   Computer xxxxxxxxxx
    Security
- EventData
   EncoderUI.exe
   3.0.1332.0
   4a5d30d0
   nvSCPAPI.dll
   7.16.11.9062
   4a891469
   c0000005
   00017d20
   1158
   01ca66eb40351a75

Missing AC3 Codec in Expression Encoder 3

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:33:22 Z

I've got Expression Encoder 3 + IIS Smooth Streaming installed on my Win7 RTM machine (I downloaded both Win7 and Expression as part of my MSDN membership).

When I import a wtv file recorded with Windows Media Center into Expression, it gives me an error:

Error: Cannot find audio codec: Unknown Value 46adbd28-6fd0-4796-93b2-155c51dc048d

This seems to only happen on files that have Dolby Digital/AC3. Back when my machine was running Vista and Expression 2.0, I remember having problems with wtv files in Expression because of Dolby Digital AC3, which I was able to solve by installing AC3Filter.

However, I was under the impression that Expression Encoder 3 added support for Dolby Digital/AC3, thus making AC3Filter (or other such solutions) un-necessary.

Redistributable files

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:40:17 Z

I installed Microsoft Expression Encoder 3 but don't see any Redist.* file in the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Expression\Encoder 3" folder. I also have the full version of Encoder 3 from MSDN on a 64-bit OS, but likewise, there is no Redist.* in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Expression\Encoder 3".

It seems like the intent is that DLLs in the SDK folder are meant to be redistributed, but I'd like to verify. I'd also like to know whether the recommended destination for these files is the GAC.

Video lagging

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:37:58 Z

Hello,

I have been trying to live stream a webcam through expression encoder and display it in silverlight. I first ran the encoding through Expression Encoder 3 with success. I was able to encode and broadcast, then pick up the footage in silverlight using a MediaElement. I next tried to create my own console app to do the encoding using the Expression Encoder 3 SDK. This is where the problems begin. I can start streaming the video, then open my silverlight application and view the stream. as you start to get about 5-10 seconds into watching, the video starts to get slower which it continues to do until it freeze ( about 30-40 seconds in). I know it is not a problem with the silverlight application as it is the same application that was running the media being streamed from Expression Encoder.

The code for my console app is similar to that found here http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/encoder/thread/eddc4651-e4f8-447e-9fb2-98f9c6a1957f.

Anyone know whats wrong or have any suggestion to fix this?

Cheers,

Gabe Young

Help - Moving from Encoder 9 to Expression Encoder 3: Multi Publishing Points.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:55:18 Z

I'm trying to update my code for the new Expressions 3, and I can't seem to get the same functionality out of 3 as i did with 9.

I'm not able to get the SDK to Push to a publishing point on a remote server, and broadcast at the same time. I have one feed, that i'd like to push to a remote server and broadcast. This is possible in WME 9, but not that i can see in EE3.

If anyone can shine some light on the matter, that would be much appreciated.

I just use the IWMEncBroadcast to broadcast out, and set everything up and call PrepareToEncode on my encoder object, and that will open up port 8080 on the encoder so i can open windows media player and go directly to the encoder object ("http://servername:8080") and see the feed, while the same feed is being pushed out to the remote server...

Is there a way to do that in EE3?

This is possible to do in the Windows Media Encoder 9 User Interface. In WME9, it allows you to check both Broadcast and Publish. However, in Expression Encoder 3, it has a ratio box that only allows you to choose Broadcast OR Publish, but not both.

Thanks!

Dim _EncBroadcast As IWMEncBroadcast

_EncBroadcast.PortNumber(WMENC_BROADCAST_PROTOCOL.WMENC_PROTOCOL_HTTP) = _BroadcastPort

_Encoder.PrepareToEncode

How to enumerate live capture devices in EE3 SDK C#?

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:08:02 Z

I love the EE3 live streaming capability! I ran several hours of tests with customized presets on 8 core Xeon server and the encoding quality beats that of WME at the same bandwidth. EE3 makes better use of the available CPU's and allows me to tweak the VC-1 Advanced encoding parameters to get better live streaming results on the same hardware compared to WME. Thanks to the EE3 team for the fantastic work on the live streaming part!
Now I need to automate the live encoding, but unfortunately the live encoding example in the SDK does not show how to capture audio and video from a “LiveDevice” source. It only shows how to live stream from a “FileSource”. I need to capture from a Ospray 700HD HD-SDI source and would also like to capture from USB webcam and FireWire DVCAM.

How do I enumerate the live capture devices?
How do I select the LiveDevice source in code?

LiveDevice videoDevice = ???; // what goes here?
LiveDevice audioDevice = ???; // and here?
LiveDeviceSource liveSource = job.AddDeviceSource(videoDevice, audioDevice);

PS: A complete live streaming PS script or C# example that captures from devices should be part of the SDK. Does anybody know if the codeplex project that was promised on the EE3 team blog is already on the way?

Thanks for your help!

Philipp