WMV to FLV and resolution trouble...

[Ronelle Coburn]

Hi! I keep trying to figure everything out the hard way (i.e. by myself) and am very tired! So glad to find this forum.

I have 1024 x 768 WMV files (screen shot video from web conference) that I need to convert to FLV so I can make them available to students via an FLV plugin on a Wordpress site (this part works just fine).

When I convert from WMV > FLV the converters I've tried scale down the resolution, which means that on playback, when I go to full screen, the video is stretched out and blurry and useless. None of the converters I've downloaded (both free and low-cost) allow me to covert to anything so large as 1024 x 768 resolution.

Is this not possible? Am I missing something I just don't know about/understand? Or do I just need the right converter? I'm on Mac/Snow Leopard (also can run Windows) and would love a converter that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (since this is the only converting I need to do like this).

Have wasted two weeks trying to get help with this. No one seems to be interested in a one-hour consult with a small fry like me. Will be literally tearfully grateful to anyone who can point me in the right direction!

Thank you for your time and expertise!

[Seth Bloombaum]

Hi from Portland!

You need to maintain the original resolution, no ifs, ands or buts. This is key in scree-capture presentations, nothing else will do. Another issue is that free encoders give you the Spark Flash Video codec - it's free but horrible. Some of the free encoders also give you h.264 in an flv container - this is what you want to test next,

h.264/flv is good enough encoding for the task (at the capture resolution), but, is more processor load for the end-user's machine to decode. And, 1024x768 is pretty big...

So, I think you're looking for either a new encoding tool, or, lacking that, someone to do the encode for you.

My favorite freeware flv encoder is Super-C. My favorite low-cost encoder is On2 Flix Standard. I've got my hands full at this moment, but, you can download Super-C and/or a demo of Flix.

You've not mentioned bitrate... that's a whole 'nother thing. And, 1024x768 is so huge, really - can the original capture be redone at lower rez and still have everything needed? Can the existing cap be cropped?

PS. Where are you teaching? I'm (part-time) at PCC, teaching, among other things, streaming.

[Ronelle Coburn]

Thank you so much for your reply. I half understand it, half don't. I'm totally new to this. I teach life purpose hand analysis via web/teleconference to students in five countries using Webex and decided to use the integrated audio (rather than a separate free teleconference line) when they offered me a package of minutes. Well, that meant I was forced onto their recording system (instead of using the oh-so-excellent Zoom H2 audio recorder plugged into my phone line) and when I hit the little red Record button I had no idea that screen shot video came with it (and that they have their own proprietary media format that has to be converted out of). Talk about a big kick in the pants. I usually deliver audios to the students within 24 hours of class for study and all of a sudden I couldn't deliver anything. This was a month ago.

I know nothing about bit rates and recapture of something that already happened is not possible. I've been stumbling around in the dark. I'm a "semi-techie" who is willing to hit my head on the tech wall until I figure things out that I need to do, but have been utterly defeated this time. Of course, it's an entire area of endeavor that people go to school for!

Understand you're busy, but any chance you might be free enough to do a (paid, of course) consult in the not-so-far-off future or do you know of someone who might be able and willing? I have eight of these files to deal with every month and need to know what to do in my situation so I can simply do it. At least I have figured out how to get MP3s off files for students for now.

In the meantime I will check out the converters you recommend and tinker some more, just in case I can hit it.

Sending you just HUGE thanks from over here in Westmoreland. This whole thing has been waking me up in the night.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Ronelle, I'd be glad to work with you, though this forum is not really the place for marketing my services. I think Chris, the operator/owner, will let us know if we're over the line here. You can contact me directly by clicking on my name.

On the other hand, if audio-only is what you really want to distribute, that makes things so much easier. If I (and other forum contributors) can help you get from a wmv to your desired audio format via this forum, that's fine too!

You'd need to tell us a bit more about what webex is giving you, what you're doing to it, and what you really want to have to distribute to your students/clients.