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What is
NetEncoder ?
NetEncoder is a software tool that
speeds up video compression by dividing
and distributing the encoding task among multiple networked computers. See a
full-size screenshot and detailed description of
the user interface.
NetEncoder is based on
Microsoft® Windows Media® Encoder which is a powerful production
tool for converting prerecorded video into compressed
Download Windows Media Encoder 9
System
requirements:NetEncoder runs on
any PC with Windows Media Encoder 9 installed. For distributed network
encoding a Windows XP/2000 compatible local area network is required.
Why do I need to install Windows Media Encoder 9 ?
NetEncoder uses Windows Media Encoder
9
which is a powerful and programmable encoding engine with remote function capability. Windows
Media Encoder 9 also comes with a number of industry standard codecs
(coder/decoder) which means your encoded media files can be viewed by
millions of Windows users worldwide. For more information, please see the
documentation that is supplied with Windows Media Encoder 9 series.
How does NetEncoder work?
Basically, it
lets you compress videos on your PC or on any local network PC that has
Windows Media Encoder 9 installed. You can also have NetEncoder divide the
work among multiple PC's for faster results.
You can
use NetEncoder in several different ways. In its simplest form, NetEncoder
can run on a single Windows computer and helps you quickly preview and
convert prerecorded video into Windows Media format, using any system or
custom .prx profile.
This is fine,
but you will soon realize that today's video codecs require a lot of
processing power. Start converting a movie on your workstation and the CPU
becomes nearly 100% used up for the next hour or two or maybe longer
depending on the settings.
In this situation NetEncoder can help if you have additional PC's on a
local-area-network. Simply install Windows Media Encoder 9 on a networked
computer and now you can preview videos on your PC, but instead of
performing the time consuming conversion on your own PC, you can have
NetEncoder serve the file to that remote PC for conversion and automatically
retrieve the encoded result when finished. This method nearly completely
frees your CPU during the conversion since all it has to do is to
periodically transfer chunks of data to a remote computer.
If you need to get the work done faster, NetEncoder can simultaneously serve
the prerecorded video to multiple PC's on the network and finish the
conversion in a fraction of the time.
Simply select a source AVI file, select an
encoding profile and click "Go". NetEncoder then goes to work and automatically configures each
encoding computer on the network to process a segment of the
source file based on the Load factor that is specified. When finished, NetEncoder collects the encoded WMV files from
the
client(s) back to the server. Typically a NetEncoder with two clients
finishes the encoding job about two to three times faster.
What is the "Load" factor?
Each encoding machine is given a "Load" which is the percentage of the
entire encoding job that is assigned to that computer. The Load can be from
0 to 100. The sum of all Load factors must add up to 100. You can adjust the
Load factors prior to starting an encoding job by simply typing a number in
the Load text box.
Can I preview my source files?
NetEncoder has a built-in DirectShow compatible player with control
buttons and a slider bar.
Can I trim my source files?
There is a simple
Mark-In and Mark-Out button provided which let you select where to begin and
where to end the encoding process.
Real-time stats:
NetEncoder's user interface shows real-time encoding
stats for all encoding server/client(s). These stats include the
name of the file being encoded, the size of the output file as its being
created on each server/client in real-time, the bit-rate of the output file, the
speed at which each computer is working , the duration of the file and an
overall progress bar for each computer.
Network and hardware stats:
NetEncoder features LED style color indicators for
the server hardware
and the overall network traffic. These indicators let you see how hard your
server CPU, disk drive and network adaptor are working which help find
any bottlenecks that may exist.
What is a Profile?
Profile is the term used by Windows Media Encoder to refer to the
compression settings. A profile specifies the target bit rate, video format,
frame size, interlacing, pixel shape and which codec to use. NetEncoder
supports the standard Windows Media Encoder 9 profiles plus any custom
profiles that you create using the Profile Editor that comes with the
Windows Media Encoder 9.
NetEncoder v0.9 supports two-pass encoding. All custom profiles must be
located in the default Windows Media Encoder directory. C:\Program
Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\Profiles.
What does the client user interface look like?
NetEncoder clients only use the Windows Media Encoder engine and
therefore display the standard or the "predefined" Windows Media Encoder
user interface. The client user interface is displayed for information and
observation only. No user interaction with a NetEncoder client is needed as
the entire encoding operation is controlled by the NetEncoder server.
What happens to the encoded files?
At the end of each encoding job, NetEncoder sends a request to each
client and receives a copy of the encoded result in its default working
directory. Currently, NetEncoder does not assemble the output files back
together into one large WMV file. For example in a case where there is a
server and two clients, you will end up with three WMV files that make up
the entire encoded video. These WMV files can be played back seamlessly
using the Windows Media Player or archived to disk or to DVD.
When will NetEncoder be available?
A pre-release version 0.9 NetEncoder is available now for evaluation and
it is free of charge. You can download the installation file from the main
page of this website. Please try the software and report any issues or
comments to:
support@WinMediaTech.com
A typical new
NetEncoder installation scenario:
In our test lab we have a Dell dual-core 2.8 Ghz. Pentium-D computer
with a SATA drive, 512MB memory. This is where we have most of our
source AVI files. Then we have two older white-box Pentium-4 computers with
2.4 Ghz. CPU, 512MB RAM and Enhanced IDE drives. All three computers have
Windows XP SP2 and WIndows Media Encoder 9 installed and connected together
via a LinkSys router.
We install NetEncoder on the Dell computer which becomes the encoding
server. The other two white-box computers do not require the NetEncoder
installation and they become the encoding clients by having Windows Media
Encoder 9 already installed. Then we log in as an administrator and
create a "new shared folder"
C:\NetEncoder for all three computers. At this point we click on
My Computer and My Network Places and verify the newly created
shared folder is up and accessible. We now set the security settings on all
three computers for Windows Media Encoder and Windows Media Encoder Agent
components as described in the Readme document.
We are now ready to start the NetEncoder. If everything is installed and
configured correctly, the NetEncoder user interface comes up immediately or
in about 1 to 2 seconds. If there is a long delay before the NetEncoder user
interface is displayed, this usually indicates a LAN issue which needs to be
investigated before going on to network encoding.
On the NetEncoder user interface we check the Network list box and all three
computers are listed. The Dell computer is the server and its "computer
name" is displayed on top of the Server frame in blue color text. The other
two computer names also appear on top of the Client 1 and Client 2 frames in
blue color text. At this point we can change the client to computer
assignment by clicking on the combo box that shows the computer name. (These
assignments cannot be changed after encoding and NetEncoder must be
re-started to change the client to computer assignments.)
At this point
NetEncoder is ready for action! By default, NetEncoder supports all of the
system profiles. If you have created any custom profiles that you would like
to use, make sure that your custom profiles are loaded in the default
profile directory of all network computers.
C:\Program Files\Windows Media
Components\Encoder\Profiles
Questions or comments to:
support@WinMediaTech.com
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