Hey guys. I'm working at a company that is about to start having some
internet broadcasting and I'm trying to find a box to hook to my
Inspiron 9300 notebook that will encode in Windows Media and send it
either USB2 or Firewire into my notebook.

I can't find obvious information. Can anyone offer a suggestion?

Thanks,
Bri

<briandmaher@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142316281.107250.23960@p10g2000cwp.googlegro ups.com...
Sorry, but your post makes no sense. If your company
is "Internet Broadcasting" then you should be able to view
the broadcast using your internet browser. If you mean
that you will be creating input for these broadcasts, and
you will be doing this on your laptop/notebook then no box
should be needed. You need to explain this a little better.

Luck;
Ken

briandmaher wrote ...
There are no hardware devices that do Windows Media Video
encoding. It is availble only as a software application which
converts from another file (or stream) type, typically AVI.

If you are saying that you want to do a live webcast in WMV,
have you researched the Microsoft website? Microsoft is the
only source of Windows Media encoding.

<briandmaher@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142316281.107250.23960@p10g2000cwp.googlegro ups.com...
If you want to encode to WMV from an capture device then you need a capture
device which windows media encoder will recognise. Windows Media Encoder
Software can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft Web Site.

For example, we have used WME to encode both Firewire and analogue sources
without any problems.

When you run WME you have the option of encoding for a streaming server - we
use Windows Media Services 9 on Windows 2003 STD.

Not sure if this answers the question!

Dave

Davey Boy 2 wrote:
OK, I'll clarify.
I work at a public access TV station. One of our shows is becoming
fairly popular and we've put the last month's episodes on the web as
WMV and we're getting about 1000 hits/week to watch the show.

We've been shooting the show on miniDV, loading into the editor to make
DVDs and then making a WMVstreaming version for the web. The transfer
to the editor, encode and upload takes about 6 hours. Late next week,
we're going to shoot a live show every morning for 5 days in a row and
we want to get the episodes on the web a lot quicker.

So I was planning to capture the episode into my notebook during taping
so that I can just upload the show when it's finished.

I know that if I can get an external encoder then my 1.6ghz notebook
shouldn't have a problem with the capture. So I'm looking for encoders
that would do this with a firewire or usb2 connection to my computer.

I could get a card for a desktop system, but this way it'd be for my
computer and it'd be a lot more portable.

I looked at Microsoft's web site and saw some hardware vendor
information, but didn't see anything that wasn't a pci card.

Thanks,
Hopes that clarifies what I'm asking about.

Bri

<briandmaher@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142391851.385603.43760@u72g2000cwu.googlegro ups.com...
Try Googling "WMV Recorder"
/Ken

briandmaher wrote ...
Since you didn't mention how long each show is we don't
have a clue whether this is painfully long, or quite speedy?

If this is a 30 (or even 60) minute show, then you are right
that 6 hours for capture encode and upload is ridiculous.
The transfer should be real-time (30 minutes for a 30 minute
show). I've never seen WME (Windows Media Encoder)
take much longer than real-time to encode WMV. Without
sufficient details, we haven't a clue what your "upload"
situation is.

Good idea. You can use something as basic (and FREE) as
DVIO to grab the DV stream through the Firewire port and
write it directly to a DV-AVI file. If you really want to get
fancy (and expensive), you can use "DV Rack", but honestly
you can live without any of those bells and whistles. That
should take no additional time if you do it "live-to-disc".

If your WMV encoding is taking even 2x real-time, something
is terribly wrong somewhere (or you have a old and decrepit
PC.)

I've captured hundreds of hours of DV (via Firewire) on a
computer 1/5th that speed with no problems. DV capture
takes almost no horsepower from the computer.

You could likely buy several new 3.x GHz computers
for what some of those hardware solutions cost. And
it would be a much better investment, also.

Maybe if you more accurately describe your workflow
(including program length, and how long each step is
taking) we can spot where your problem is.

I agree with you that it is taking WAY to long to do all
this, but I can't agree with your proposed "solution".

Then you didn't look very far.
Hint, those big flashy corporate websites that have no prices
listed. You don't even want to know how much that stuff
costs!

Sounds like you have jumped to a solution you can't
afford. And you haven't shared enough details for us
to give any more specific advice. I can't imagine
why this should take any more than 2x real-time.

Not counting your "upload" about which we know
nothing (and which no WMV encoding hardware
will speed up, anyway.)

let me explain what I have done (and this works) and maybe you can pick the
bits out you want.

From time to time I have a need to take MiniDV and put it on a streaming
server. For this example we will assume that the content on the MiniDV Tape
is in it's final form - IE has been editied. If it hasn't then a different
workflow will apply.

I have a DV Deck which is connected to my Laptop via firewire. I also have a
USB hard drive on the same system. May Laptop is a 3ghz P4 with 2gb Ram and
a firewire port.

I have downloaded Windows Media Encoder from the Microsoft Web Site and run
that to capture input from the firewire to a WMV file which is optimised for
streaming. The WMV file is located on the USB hard drive. When running WME
I can see the preferred streaming rates (within limits).

If you need to trim the captured clip you can set in and out markers (which
windows media server recognises) without having to re-encode the clip. This
is done using Windows Media File Editor which s [part of the same download.
AFAIK f you want to remove content from the middle of the stream you will
have to use something else - and a different work flow will apply.

If you are using Windows Media Server then all you need to do is transfer
the clip to a publishing point on the server. Depending on your
configuration you may need to created a playlist file but I am sure you have
all of this under control!

HTH

Dave

What you are talking about is what I've basically been doing. Except I
load in the miniDV into my editor as an avi, because I've got to do
several things with it, data dvd of mpeg2 file, dvd archive, and I've
been converting the 13gig (1 hour) file into the wmv file that I upload
to our streaming server.

I'd like to capture the show live instead of capturing from the MiniDV
as that adds an hour to the process (playing the tape back after the
show is over).

I can't capture the show live via firewire as my firewire output of my
video mixer is feeding the MiniDV tape that I've making (I have to make
a first generation MiniDV tape to send off for broadcast). So I'd like
to find a really nice capture card/box for my notebook so I can get an
analog output from my video mixer into my computer.

My encoding times have been long because I convert the .avi file into
the WMVstreaming file and the two pass encode takes approx 4 hours.

So can I use just any analog capture device that plugs to my notebook
and just select that in my Windows Media Encoder?

Thans,
Bri

Yes!

Dave