Creating and Publishing Media Files

Articles

1.	Understanding Video Streaming
2.	Creating and Publishing Media Files

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Video Caster v3.44

Creating and Publishing Media Files

Video Caster’s comprehensive set of tools, enable you to easily publish your videos to a video service and stream them to your family and friends. Advances in computer networking combined with powerful home computers and modern operating systems make streaming media practical and affordable for ordinary consumers. With Video Caster staying in touch is not a problem anymore, as these memories can be shared with close ones and the special moments can be relived.

Video Caster also provides you with tools required to work with Digital Video Camera, Digital Still Cameras and videos already present on your computer.

Getting Started with Media Publishing

Media Publishing is the process of uploading your media files to a streaming server. Once published, you can send links of the media files to your viewers. The viewers in turn can use any standard browser like Internet Explorer to view live streaming of your media files.

Streaming media is becoming increasingly important with the growth of Internet. With streaming, the client browser can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted. Understanding Video Streaming explains in detail the dynamics of Video streaming.

It is a requisite to subscribe to a video hosting service before you start publishing. Video Desk is one such service that allows you to publish video and audio files in the Windows Media streaming format. To subscribe to a free trial account of Video Desk, log on to the website http://videodesk.net/ and click “Free Account”. Fill in the information required to register for the new account.

When signing up for a free account make sure you provide a valid e-mail address. Once you validate your account you are ready to login to your free Video Desk account.

To publish your media files using Video Caster you must know Video Desk’s FTP Login information. After logging into your FTP account, Video Desk displays this information on the left under “FTP Upload”. Note down details like Connect to, User Name and Password.

Publishing your Media Files

Open Video Caster and locate the media file that you want to publish. If the video that you want to publish is present in your Digital Video Camera then use Video Caster’s Capture tool to capture the footage to your computer. To publish images from your Digital Still camera, use Video Caster’s user friendly Auto Slideshow tool to quickly make a slideshow of your images. To publish videos that are not in streaming media format to your Video Desk account, you can use the Conversion tool. These three options for Media Content Creation are discussed later in this article.

To start publishing your file using the Publishing Wizard, launch Video Caster and click the Publish Your Media Files option on the main interface of application. Click Next on the welcome screen of the Media File Publishing Wizard. Click Add to specify the file you want to publish. Click Next to proceed.

You will now need the information you noted down from Video Desk. Specify the Streaming Server information where you want to publish your files:

1.	FTP Address: ftp.videodesk.net
2.	Login Name: Specify the user name that is displayed by Video Desk (a number)
3.	Password: The same password that you use to log into Video Desk
4.	Remote Folder (Optional): Keep blank to publish to the root folder. If you want to publish to a sub-folder that you have created using Video Desk’s Media Manager then specify the name of the folder here.

If you connect to the internet using a proxy server, then click Configure Proxy Server and specify the proxy server’s settings. You may have to contact your system administrator for your proxy settings. The Port is given as 21, by default. The Use Passive Mode for logging in option is checked by default. Click Next.

The Publishing Wizard will now start publishing your media files. After the publishing process is complete, click Finish. You can now login to your Video Desk account and use the Media Manager to view the published file and e-mail its link to your viewers.

Media Content Creation

Though Video Caster is basically a media publishing application, it also avails you with proficient file management and content creation tools. Video Caster’s Content Creation tools include: Capture, Auto Slideshow, and Conversion Tool. Let us first see how to capture using Video Caster.

The Capture Tool

The Capture tool enables you to capture videos from an attached Digital Video Camera or Web Camera. To use this tool, follow the given steps:

1.	Ensure that you have connected the Digital Video or Web Camera to your computer and have configured the camera correctly. Also, make sure that other applications are not using the capture device.
2.	On the main interface of application, click the Capture Video from Your Camera and Publish option under What would you like to do?
3.	The Capture window opens. Make sure that you select the Digital Video Camera or Web Camera as the device from where you want to capture. If the selected device is different, then change the capture device by clicking Change Devices.



4.	Select the folder where you want to save the captured file. The capture tool sequences file names by appending a number if the file with the same name already exists in the selected Capture To folder.
5.	By default, the capture tool captures audio with video. You can choose to turn off audio.
6.	If required, change video, camera and audio settings or formats like video output size, frame rate etc.
7.	The capture tool captures footage in WMV format. You can choose to capture in a streaming profile or a profile for desktop viewing.
8.	On the Capture menu, click Start or click the Start Capture button.
9.	Confirm the capture file name and folder. If required you can choose to change them now by clicking the Browse button.



10.	Capture entire Tape option is disabled for Web Camera and can be enabled only when DV Camera is selected. By default Manually Stop Capture option is selected.
11.	Click Start to start capturing. While capturing, the capture tool displays the number of frames captured and duration captured under Output Options.
12.	To stop capturing, point to the Capture menu and click Stop or click the Stop Capture button.
13.	Once you have finished capturing Video Caster gives you a brief summary for the same. You can also preview the file that you have captured.

The Auto Slideshow Tool

This style-based tool enables you to swiftly create spellbinding slideshows from your Digital Still Photos in ready-to-publish windows streaming format. To use it, follow the given steps:

1.	In Video Caster, on the main interface of the application, click the Create a Video Slideshow from Your Photos and Publish option.
2.	Click Add Photos to add all the images that you want to include in the Slideshow.
3.	Select the Style tab and select a style you like.
4.	Select the Options tab to Add Music, Opening Title and Closing Credits to your slideshow.
5.	To preview the slideshow, click the Preview Slideshow button.
6.	Click Make Slideshow and follow the steps to make the slideshow in Windows Media streaming format.

The Conversion Tool

A streaming service accepts video and audio files in a streaming format only. Video Desk, for example, accepts video and audio files in Windows Media streaming format. You can use Video Caster’s conversion tool to convert video and audio files from almost all popular formats to Windows Media Format. To convert a file:

1.	In Video Caster, on the main interface of the application, click the Convert Your Media Files to Windows Media Streaming Format and Publish option under What would you like to do?
2.	The Search Media Files dialog opens. Click Browse to specify the folder where files to be converted are located. Select File Extensions to search within the folder. Click Next. Click Finish after the files to convert are listed.
3.	The Conversion Wizard opens. The files you had searched for are listed. Click Add to include other files that you want to convert.
4.	Specify the Destination Folder where you want the converted files to saved by clicking Browse. Click Next.
5.	From the Profile Category drop down box, select WMV - For Media Server - Streaming.
6.	Select a video and an audio profile depending on the quality you want.
7.	The available streams would be listed. Check the streams you want to encode for. Click Next to start converting the file.

People make memories of good times, of the loved ones in their lives. Time moves on, and with the routine hustle-bustle it becomes impossible to always stay in touch with friends and family. But now with Video Caster you do not have to lose the people dear to you with passage of time.