WinMedia Technology , Products

NetEncoder BETA is a software solution that speeds up video compression by dividing and distributing the encoding task among multiple networked computers. NetEncoder is based on Microsoft® Windows Media® Encoder which is a powerful production tool for converting prerecorded video into compressed Windows Media files. Uncompressed video content can consume a lot of bandwidth when streaming or create large files. By compressing the content, it can be broadcast over common Internet bandwidths or saved to a Windows Media file of a reasonable size. Converting prerecorded video into Windows Media is time consuming and NetEncoder speeds this process by distributing the work among multiple networked computers resulting in improved productivity. NetEncoder is easy to use. Simply select a source file, select a profile and click "Go". NetEncoder manages the entire process automatically and displays real-time results for all encoding computers.
Screenshot of NetEncoder v0.9 which supports up to 3 networked computers. In this configuration NetEncoder is running on a Dell Dimension 5150 with Intel Pentium-D 2.8 Ghz., 512 MB DDR2 RAM and 160GB SATA drive. In this scenario NetEncoder only has one available network computer named WESTWOOD1 which has a Intel Pentium 4 at 2.4 Ghz., 512 MB DD2 RAM and 80GB enhanced IDE drive. Both computers have Windows XP SP2 and the Windows Media Encoder 9 instaled.
This section lists NetEncoder's commands and describes the user interface components. Source This command button is used to select a source file. Clicking this button brings up the familiar Windows file selection dialog box. NetEncoder supports AVI and ASF files as source for encoding. Once a file is selected, NetEncoder displays information about the file in the Source Frame and starts playing the video in the preview window. Use the control buttons located below the preview window to move forward, backward or stop the playback. Profile The Profile command button activates the Profile selection box. Click on the Profile of your choice and NetEncoder closes the dropdown menu, displays the newly selected Profile in the text field and displays information about the Profile in the Profile Frame. If you do not select a Profile, the default Profile shown in the text field will used for encoding. Go (Stop) Select this command button to start the network encoding process. The caption changes to "Stop" when encoding starts and the button will act as a Stop button which halts all encoding immediately. It is highly recommended to stop the video playback before starting to encode. Server frame The Server Frame has the following components: Title: The NetEncoder server name appears here in blue color. Text Box: Shows the output file name created by this server. By default _NE is added to the name. Size: The size in Kilo Bytes for the output file is displayed here in real-time. Speed: Shows this server's encoding speed relative to 30 frames per second. Status: Displays the current status, the encoding percentage and the final compression results. Bit rate: The current average bit rate of the output file. Load: Specifies the percentage of encoding task assigned to the server. Encode: This command button assigns 100% of the encoding task to the server and starts encoding. Progress bar: Graphically displays the progress of this server's encoding task. Counter: Shows the elapsed encoding time in Hours:Minutes:Seconds. Preview: Select this check box to see the encoded frames in the preview window. No audio is played. Client frame The Client Frame has the following components: Title: The NetEncoder client name appears here in blue color. Text Box: Shows the output file created by this client. By default _NE1 is added to the name. Size: The size in Kilo Bytes for the output file is displayed here in real-time. Speed: Shows this server's encoding speed relative to 30 frames per second. Status: Displays the current status, the encoding percentage and the final compression results. Bit rate: The current average bit rate of the output file. Load: Specifies the percentage of encoding task assigned to the server. Encode: This command button assigns 100% of the encoding task to the server and starts encoding. Progress bar: Graphically displays the progress of this server's encoding task. Counter: Shows the elapsed encoding time in Hours:Minutes:Seconds. ComboBox: Shows the default computer name assigned to this client. Note: There is no preview check box available for the clients. The predefined Windows Media Encoder user interface is displayed on the client's monitor by default during the encoding process. Preview window The Preview window displays the selected video source file and also displays the encoded frames as they are being processed by the server if the Preview check box is selected. Marker displays Shows the Mark In, Mark Out and the Length of the trimmed segment if the user has clicked on the corresponding Marker buttons. Also the color changes from gray to yellow to indicate that the source video is being trimmed. Player controls The video player features the standard VCR type control buttons. The rewind and forward buttons each move the video by 20 seconds in either direction. The slider lets you move the player in any direction by any amount. Marker controls The Markers which are located to the right of the player controls are used to trim the source video file before sending the file to the encoders. You can specify a mark In, mark Out or clear the markers. Start playing the video and click the In button to specify a mark In. The exact time of your selection will be displayed in the mark In display box and the color changes to yellow. Continue playing the video or move the slider to the desired end position and click the mark Out button to complete the simple edit. The Len marker display shows the length of the trimmed video. Player counter Displays the current time of the movie in the Hours:Minutes:Seconds format. Source frame The Source frame contains a text box that displays the title of the currently selected source file. The full path of the file is not shown. A small command button just to the left of the title box has the same function as the main Source command button which lets you select a source file. The "Disk Size" label shows the size of the selected file in Mega Bytes. The "Frame" label shows the width and the height of the video frames in pixels. The "Movie Length" label shows the duration of the movie in the Hours:Minutes:Seconds format. And finally the "Bit rate" label shows the average bit rate of the movie in Kilo Bits per second. Profile frame The Profile frame displays information about the currently selected Profile and allows you to switch to another Profile. The frame's title shows how many Profiles are currently loaded and available for you to choose from. The text field of the combo box shows the currently selected Profile. You can change the Profile by clicking on the main Profile button on top of the screen or by clicking on the down arrow of the combo box. The Profile Frame shows the following information: Codec: The Microsoft codec used for this profile. Frame: Output frame Width and Height in pixels. Fps: Output file playback speed in frames per second. Constant or Variable (1-pass or 2-pass) bit rate & length of the video buffer. Video and Audio: bitrate in kilo bits per second. Server hardware frame This frame contains numerical and LED style displays that show the status of the server CPU, Disk and Network. These indicators are active and show that status of your server even when NetEncoder is idle. It is normal for the CPU to go up to 90% or higher during an encoding session. However, you must start to look for bottlenecks when the Disk and Network indicators max out to 80% or higher. More about this and other optimization techniques later. Network frame The Network frame contains a list box that shows the names of all computers in your local area network. The first name on the list is the computer that is running the NetEncoder which is the server. The following computers in the list are sequentially assigned to Client-1, Client-2, etc. Future releases of NetEncoder will benchmark each computer on the local network and offer recommendations as to the server and client assignments. The "Traffic" label displays the current network activity in Kilo Bytes per second. This indicator is active at all times and shows the network activity even if NetEncoder is idle.