Converting .mpg's to .wmv
 

I heard that .wmv files are smaller in size than .mpg's. If this is true, is there a way to convert .mpg's to .wmv?

Of course it is :)

Or just use windows media encoder, comes standard with every windows install :)

That was too easy. Thanks!

Well, the first was easy. I can't find the media encoder and I've done a search on my 'puter. I have Microsoft Movie Maker. Is it in there somewhere?

I found MicrosoftPlus! Digital Media, but you have to buy it. Not ready for that yet.

This might help http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/02/h...encoder-9.html |goodidea

DOH!!! Windows Movie Maker is what I meant :)

Movie Maker can make the conversion? Kewl, I'll dig into it some more.

I did find a free converter at Google. Downloaded it and so far it's easy to use. A 20 sec .mpg that is 1.44MB got changed to .wmv with a file size of 1.04 MB. Not a big savings but for 6 clips that saves 2.4MB. Not bad.

Anyone know if there is a similar *free* .mpg or .wmv to .swf converter?

I don't think you will find free converter.. check out this one http://www.geovid.com/Video_to_Flash_Converter - it cost 60$ but it's really cool. You can download 10day trial version for testing :)

Let us know if you find smt free :)

Damn, I played around with the .mpg to .wmv converter I downloaded yesterday and there is a place to select more compression, or whatever it's called. I got a 20 sec. clip down from 1.44 MB to 585 KB! Now that's a savings! And the quality looks the same as the original .mpg. Kewl! |bananna|

Nice. But how much savings will there be when your wmvs get hotlinked? :D
|couch|

This is what I keep on thinking while watching this thread.

Isn't that what .htaccess is for?


|couch|

Doesn't work with wmv files. :(

WMP doesn't send referrer right?

That is correct.

To protect wmv files you have to go with some kind of script.

Did you learn nothing from your htaccess thread? |boobies|
.htaccess will typically protect .mpg files, but NOT .wmv files.

Duh, that's why I was hiding behind the couch |boobies| :D

With Windows Movie Maker you can specify the maximum file size that you want the converted file to be.
When you are saving the file check the button marked "to fit file size" and then adjust the number.
I'm not sure if it's the best software for compressing the files with nice looking results, but it's simple, free, and works nicely for me.
Just wanted to throw that bit of info in there.
:)

Thanks, I've been using Movie Maker today but didn't know you could adjust the file size. That's good to know. Thanks.

You could always just mail 8mm movies to your surfers.

Your point? Give them for free what they should pay for?

She was being facetious. Avoid hotlinking by snail-mailing an antiquated film format to your surfers. I got a giggle out of it anyway.

And use an Apple computer too…

Just be careful, apples have worms

I know, I remember grainy 8mm movies when I was a teen. Ahhh, those WEREN'T the days. But I do like to listen to vinyl LP's on a turntable every now and then.

Wow i learned something in this thread... I did not know that wmvs could not be hotlink protected...the russians have been eating my ass the last few days.

The more I search I am not sure you guys are right about this one...

I'm blocking .wmv hotlinking via .htaccess. |bananna|

Give me a URL of a site with .wmv's and I'll try it

http://www.lottoporn.net/big-tit-pat...07/movie10.wmv

It should 404 on you. I posted it on the bottom of the site in my sig and it seems to be working fine from here. There might be a way around it but I think this should stop the majority of it...|headbang|

I tried it and you're right, came up 404. Care to share how you did it? Everyone says it can't be done with .htaccess

Try again. http://www.uselesswarrior.com/hot.html You can block a link, but not the embedding of the .wmv.

Btw, the URL is incorrect. It should be Movie with a capital M.

Shit you're right UW...It was the lack of the cap M that was making it 404! Damn I thought I found something there. You say that you can block the hotlink? How to with .htaccess? Still blocking the hotlink is going to cut down on a lot of loss...

:( I know your pain.

With .htaccess, someone can't link directly to the .wmv and bypass your page. That's why we get your little replacement image when we click a direct link to http://www.lottoporn.net/big-tit-pat...07/Movie10.wmv But since referral info isn't being sent by the embedded player, .htaccess can't stop the .wmv from being pulled onto someone else's page. It's definaltely wise to have .wmv on your anti-hotlink rule so surfers won't post direct-to-movie links on their forums and such. If they want to share your movies with their free loading pals, they'll have to put a link to your gallery. Most surfer forums, I'd imagine, won't enable HTML so that a surfer could embed a movie file within a post. Of course, there are many other cocksuckers out there to worry about.

I'm going to pull your links out of my little test page now. |thumb

You really pissed in my beer! I thought I had the best thing since sliced bread ;-) Anyway I suppose just plugging up the holes of image and wmv hotlinking while redirecting bad referring URLs is about the best that can be done. From my server logs today it is pretty decent and I was actually paid a little bit instead of it costing me in terms of bandwidth usage. I suppose you could go with the mpeg but you would only gain a few percent of Mac users and almost double your file size. It would take alot of smart embedders to overcome the savings from wmv I think plus you have to consider the increased load placed on your server by the larger mpegs. Thanks for bursting my bubble :-)

Macs have always played wmv files but the player from Microsoft was hideous.

These days Flip4Mac, which is free, allows QuickTime to play wmv files so unless you look at the file you don't even know if it is a wmv or something else.

The format that I would really like to use is mpeg-4 (.mp4) but Windows users don't seem to like this format.

[quote=Cleo;326986]Macs have always played wmv files but the player from Microsoft was hideous. QUOTE]


I guess the support just has not been native then. Personally I like QuickTime about as much as RealPlayer. They both like to pop-up at you and live in your tray. I'm not a fan of MS but just very used to it...If it were up to me everything would be open source. With your comments Cleo I can see even less reason to consider using mpegs...

I've heard other Windows users say this as well. On a Mac QuickTime is just another application that doesn't do anything unless you actually use it for something but then Macs don't have a tray or pop messages up.

But QuickTime does get installed as part of iTunes and since the iPod has become such a huge success I'm guessing that these days QuickTime is common on PCs these days.

On the paysites that I manage we use mpeg-1 files since it seems to be the only format that gives us zero problems with members.

Long time lurker, first time poster... :)

Don't know if this is OT or what, but have used MPlayer encoding with some success. At least regarding mpg -> "lighter format" conversions.
http://web.njit.edu/all_topics/Prog_.../encoding.html

Concerning the hot-linking can't you just use a directive like:


SetEnvIfNoCase Referer "[MYDOMAIN\.]" local_ref=1

Order Allow,Deny
Allow from env=local_ref