Re: [playogg-discuss] Which tool to encode web video or audio?

[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

On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 10:33 AM, George Chriss <address@hidden> wrote:

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)

On Mon, August 24, 2009 11:22, Holmes Wilson wrote:
> 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
>
> Jaime Alberto Silva wrote:
>> 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
>
>