Which tool to encode web video or audio?

[Jaime Alberto Silva]

With the advent of HTML5 and Firefox 3.5 now supporting the video and audio
tags I think it would be nice to have a tool to take a video or audio file
and convert it to a ogg file suitable for web transmition.

I mean something with preset values for web forecasting that you can tell
people: "Just pass your video or audio thought this tool and then you can
put in your web page with a video or audio tag" without having to worry
about bit-rates and such.

I think something as simple as that can improve a lot the ogg-vorbis
proliferation.

Is it possible? Is something like that already available (multiplatform or
at least in GNU/Linux)?

I have used VLC and, like in many other tools, there are a lot of options
that many people doesn't know how to tune in order to get a web-usable file.
Don't get me wrong, I know many options is a good think to have (otherwise I
were not using free software) but if you don't know how to use them it can
be intimidating.


Jaime Alberto Silva
Socio / Representante Legal
SG Automatización Ltda.
Pereira \ Risaralda \ Colombia

[Chris Double]

On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 2:57 AM, Jaime Alberto

Post by Jaime Alberto Silva
Is it possible? Is something like that already available (multiplatform or
at least in GNU/Linux)?

ffmpeg2theora is good command line tool:

http://v2v.cc/~j/ffmpeg2theora/

The Firefogg plugin for Firefox can be used to do the conversions
using a web based GUI:

http://firefogg.org/make/index.html

Chris.

[Holmes Wilson]

This project is very interesting: http://firefogg.org/

The website running it can optionally communicate a set of encoding
options (size and bitrate) to the plugin, which then encodes the video
to Theora when users upload it according to these settings.

One especially cool thing is that, with a correctly configured server,
Firefogg can upload as it transcodes, saving tons of time.

-Holmes

Post by Jaime Alberto Silva
With the advent of HTML5 and Firefox 3.5 now supporting the video and
audio tags I think it would be nice to have a tool to take a video or
audio file and convert it to a ogg file suitable for web transmition.
I mean something with preset values for web forecasting that you can
tell people: "Just pass your video or audio thought this tool and then
you can put in your web page with a video or audio tag" without having
to worry about bit-rates and such.
I think something as simple as that can improve a lot the ogg-vorbis
proliferation.
Is it possible? Is something like that already available (multiplatform
or at least in GNU/Linux)?
I have used VLC and, like in many other tools, there are a lot of
options that many people doesn't know how to tune in order to get a
web-usable file. Don't get me wrong, I know many options is a good think
to have (otherwise I were not using free software) but if you don't know
how to use them it can be intimidating.
Jaime Alberto Silva
Socio / Representante Legal
SG Automatización Ltda.
Pereira \ Risaralda \ Colombia

[George Chriss]

A demo is available too:

http://php.scripts.psu.edu/gsc127/blogs/2009/05/firefox-ogg-firefogg-demo.php

Also, a list of Theora encoders is available on the XiphWiki:
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/TheoraSoftwareEncoders

Cheers,
George (GChriss)

Post by Holmes Wilson
This project is very interesting: http://firefogg.org/
The website running it can optionally communicate a set of encoding
options (size and bitrate) to the plugin, which then encodes the video
to Theora when users upload it according to these settings.
One especially cool thing is that, with a correctly configured server,
Firefogg can upload as it transcodes, saving tons of time.
-Holmes

Post by Jaime Alberto Silva
With the advent of HTML5 and Firefox 3.5 now supporting the video and
audio tags I think it would be nice to have a tool to take a video or
audio file and convert it to a ogg file suitable for web transmition.
I mean something with preset values for web forecasting that you can
tell people: "Just pass your video or audio thought this tool and then
you can put in your web page with a video or audio tag" without having
to worry about bit-rates and such.
I think something as simple as that can improve a lot the ogg-vorbis
proliferation.
Is it possible? Is something like that already available (multiplatform
or at least in GNU/Linux)?
I have used VLC and, like in many other tools, there are a lot of
options that many people doesn't know how to tune in order to get a
web-usable file. Don't get me wrong, I know many options is a good think
to have (otherwise I were not using free software) but if you don't know
how to use them it can be intimidating.
Jaime Alberto Silva
Socio / Representante Legal
SG Automatización Ltda.
Pereira \ Risaralda \ Colombia

[Jaime Alberto Silva]

I've tried ffmpeg2theora, VLC and firefogg.

I had a few problems converting videos taken with my Nokia N95 phone until I
noticed that I have to specify the framerate to 30 fps instead of the
bitrate.

I think that the best, easier to use tool for the GUI oriented people is
VLC, just go to the "Media >> Convert/Save..." menu or press Ctrl+R, select
the file and then from the profiles you can choose "Video - Theora + Vorbis
(OGG)", select a destination file and there you go. However, there is a
catch, the mentioned profile has too high video and audio bitrates for the
web and there is no scaling for the video. If VLC had a profile for the web,
something like "Video - Theora + Vorbis (OGG) for web" with a video bitrate
of 400Kbps, video scalling to 400 pixels wide (only if bigger) and audio
bitrate of 56 Kbps then it would be the perfect solution for the average
Joe. There is another catch and is when you must specify fps instead of kbps
like with the N95 videos, but those are just special cases (you can't make
everyone happy).

My tool of choice, however, is ffmpeg2theora since I am a command line
oriented guy. It is really easy to use.

As for Firefogg I think it is a good solution for content upload sites, but
make your users install a plug-in or add-on that only works in one browser
goes against what HTML5 and the <video> tag are for.

It's a shame that the cortado applet won't work with my videos. I have tried
with three different videos so far and it keeps saying that there are no
audio or video in the files so I am gonna have to use Youtube embeds as
fallback for browsers that don't support the video tag.

Those are my conclusions so far, please let us (the list) know about any
appreciations.

Thanks.

Jaime Alberto Silva
Socio / Representante Legal
SG Automatización Ltda.
Pereira \ Risaralda \ Colombia
http://sgautomatizacion.dynalias.com

Post by George Chriss
http://php.scripts.psu.edu/gsc127/blogs/2009/05/firefox-ogg-firefogg-demo.php
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/TheoraSoftwareEncoders
Cheers,
George (GChriss)

Post by Holmes Wilson
This project is very interesting: http://firefogg.org/
The website running it can optionally communicate a set of encoding
options (size and bitrate) to the plugin, which then encodes the video
to Theora when users upload it according to these settings.
One especially cool thing is that, with a correctly configured server,
Firefogg can upload as it transcodes, saving tons of time.
-Holmes

Post by Jaime Alberto Silva
With the advent of HTML5 and Firefox 3.5 now supporting the video and
audio tags I think it would be nice to have a tool to take a video or
audio file and convert it to a ogg file suitable for web transmition.
I mean something with preset values for web forecasting that you can
tell people: "Just pass your video or audio thought this tool and then
you can put in your web page with a video or audio tag" without having
to worry about bit-rates and such.
I think something as simple as that can improve a lot the ogg-vorbis
proliferation.
Is it possible? Is something like that already available (multiplatform
or at least in GNU/Linux)?
I have used VLC and, like in many other tools, there are a lot of
options that many people doesn't know how to tune in order to get a
web-usable file. Don't get me wrong, I know many options is a good think
to have (otherwise I were not using free software) but if you don't know
how to use them it can be intimidating.
Jaime Alberto Silva
Socio / Representante Legal
SG Automatización Ltda.
Pereira \ Risaralda \ Colombia

[Orton AKINCI aka .-_-.]

From: Jeff Shippen <jeff.lists.nov.2006-***@public.gmane.org>
NOTE: VLC requires the output file to be in
".ogg" extension. Once the ogg file is generated, I manually changed
the extension to ".ogv".

as i explained in my previous e-mail, vlc's even latest version (for windows at least) uses an old libtheora... software using latest builds should produce an .ogv file with skeleton for theora video... previous versions produce a file without skeleton and quality is not as good as latest versions... so changing the extension doesn't improve the ecoding quality but just the compatibility with some software... you can use ogginfo to see which version of the encoder is used for the video. it is a command line tool available for all platforms. you can download it from http://www.xiph.org/downloads/ it is a part of vorbis tools.... if you are not familiar with command line, it is easy, just drop the ogginfo file into command window, leave a space and drag and drop the ogg file and hit enter..
.

i would recommend quality based encoding with latest ffmpeg2theora or firefogg to not to waste time to find the optimum quality with various bitrate settings... i made many tests and quality 5 (default setting for ffmoeg2theora) worked best for me to get visibly unblocky image with the minumun fle size... quality mode produces the smallest possible file for the choosen quality parameter.... but this changes form video to video... smaller quality settings may also satify your needs for less complex videos... you can reduce the resolution to get a smaller file with the same visible quality (but this doesn't work very good for subtitles in my experience). if you need a spesific filesize/bitrate then you can use two-pass mode of the latest encoder by using -V command for ffmpeg2 theora. you c
an also use --soft-target command for more flexible bitrate control and --optimize command for quality mode for slower encoding but better quality/file size
optimization. latest builds of ffmpeg2theora for all platforms: http://www.firefogg.org/nightly/ and firefogg for multiplatform gui is out there

.-_-.