Create Streaming Windows Media

These pages discuss the Windows Media Encoder used to create Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video. There are a number of products out there that will create Windows Media content, but we will only focus on the Windows Media Encoder here.

Creating Windows Media Audio - Using Windows Media Encoder and your soundcard

Creating Windows Media Video - Basics of video production

Creating streaming presentations - Using Microsoft Producer for Powerpoint

Creating Windows Media Audio

Creating audio content can be a simple process. All that is required is a soundcard and a microphone connected to it. You will also need to install Windows Media Encoder to convert and edit the audio signal. Windows Media Encoder is also capable of converted existing audio files, whether they are .wav, .mp3, or .au to Windows Media Audio. Please note, users will need to use Windows Media Player to playback Windows Media Audio files. This is not a big problem for Windows users since the Windows Media Player is included with all newer versions of Microsoft Windows.

Recording Voice Tracks (Narrations)

You need a microphone plugged into your soundcard's mike input (usually red, or labelled with a mike). Any standard computer mike will work, but you can get much better quality with professional mikes. It is extremely important to shut out as much background noise as possible, e.g. cover your PC with a blanket for the duration of the recording and turn off all fans.

Recording Existing Soundtracks

Make sure you have copyright clearance for materials that you wish to encode! There are three possible situations:

existing sound is already in .wav, .mp3, or .au (Mac) format
soundtrack is on audio CD
soundtrack is on cassette or LP

The conversion/recording steps:

1. Just launch Windows Media Encoder, start a new session and choose Convert a file then click Ok . Browse for the Source file and specify a location and name for the converted output file. Hit Next. Now select the bandwidth template(s) you wish to use, click Next. Select a Bit rate that fits your audience's needs, click Finish and in a matter of seconds the file has been converted.

2. You can choose between two methods here:
-> Either capture the CD audio to .wav or .mp3 format using CD-audio extraction software or MP3 players such as WinAMP. Then follow the above steps.
-> Or record directly from your CD-Rom to Windows Media audio format: when launching a new session in Windows Media Encoder , choose to record from a media device, and to capture only audio through your soundcard.

3. The steps here are the same as those for recording with a microphone. Just make sure to select Line In as your recording source in the soundcard's mixer applet instead of microphone. Then plug a cable with a mini-stereo plug into your soundcard's Line In connector (usually blue, or labelled with an arrow entering two parentheses) and plug the other end into your tape recorder, VCR, amplifier, walkman, or whatever. You cannot directly plug a record player into a soundcard!

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Creating Windows Media Video

Any camcorder can be used to create the original footage, but there are many things to keep in mind when videotaping. We recommend an appointment at the ITL to discuss your plans and needs and to get valuable production tips before wasting time and nerves. A videocamera can also be borrowed from the ITL for a few days.

Windows Media Video can then be created with the free Windows Media Encoder, either by recording directly from videotape or camcorder (needs a capture card), or by converting a pre-existing digital video file in Quicktime (.mov) or Video for Windows (.avi) format. To get digital video, one needs to first capture the video (i.e. convert it to digital format) via a quality video capture card (as available at the ITL). This latter method is required if you need to edit the clip before the conversion to streaming format.

Quality vs. Bandwidth

The number one issue in streaming video is the quality tradeoff enforced by bandwidth limitations. The encoder needs to sacrifice part of the image data to transmit video files through a narrow pipe.

Unacceptable over modems: even at the smallest standard size of 160x120 pixels, video at modem speeds is unacceptably jerky and diffuse. The only tolerable application is a very still talking head, but even there a good image with narration works better.

DSL or cable modem allow reasonable quality: at bandwidths of 220 or 150kbps, a cable modem and dsl allows quite good video.

High quality demands switched ethernet: high quality video can be achieved at bandwidths of 300kbps (kilobit per second) and above. This performance is only sustainable on switched ethernet though (typically departments use shared ethernet). It also puts high processing demands on the playback computer as well as the encoder. The good news is that ethernet switches have come down in price considerably, so if your department will use streaming video or videoconferencing a lot, consider purchasing one (contact networks@uic.edu).

Capturing Video

First off you will need a capture card/device. We recommend the Dazzle DVC 80, it has a very reasonable price and works well with Windows Media Encoder.

1. Launch Windows Media Encoder, start a new session and select Capture audio and video then hit OK.

2. Next you will be asked to choose a capture device, so make sure you have your video capture card/device properly selected. Along with that, make sure to choose your audio source. Once you have those set, hit Next to advance to the next step.

3. Now you will be asked to give the output file a name. Browse to where you want to save the file and label the output file. When you are done click Next.

4. The next dialog window will ask you to make a choice as to how you want to distribute your file. Since we are streaming the video file in the end, select Windows Media server (note, you will be using our Helix Streaming Server which can also stream Windows Media files). Click Next.

5. Depending on your audience’s connection, the rate at which video is streamed will be an issue. Make sure you know what types of connections are available to your audience, we don’t recommend streaming to users with dial-up connections -- the video is just terrible. Therefore, we recommend 148 Kbps and up. Make your bit rate selections and click Next.

6. Finally give the video a title and any other information you want to tag onto the video file. Once you are done filling in the information click Finish.

7. When you are ready to start recording click the Start Encoding button. Once you are done capturing click Stop. When the process finishes you are ready to upload your video clip.

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Creating MS Producer Presentations

Slide presentations can be converted to streaming format in a variety of ways:

video with sound (low quality, fuzzy image, high bandwidth needed)
images with sound — narration and/or music (lowest bandwidth)
images with sound and speaker-video (high bandwidth need, but good slide-quality)
interactive slideshows in Flash format (low bandwidth, good quality, more work to create)

Microsoft Producer

This tool allows audio narration of MS Powerpoint presentations and inclusion of a live video capture of the speaker for higher bandwidth target audiences. MS Producer can synchronize narrations with video, still images, and HTML files. It comes with a variety of presentation templates that give you the flexibility to tailor your presentation to your audience's needs. Microsoft Producer for Powerpoint is a free download from the Microsoft site.

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