Best Practice Question: Converting Video
Apr 03, 2014
By
Kevin Dowd
Hello,
I have large .wmv files, about 80,000 KB, that I need to either insert into a SCORM package, or convert to .mp4. I was trying to just insert them directly into Storyline, but after 36 hours the files still are not completely inserted. I used to convert them in Articulate Video Encoder and then insert them in Presenter, and I could go back to that - but that takes a long time as well, just not nearly as long (about an hour or so). I know there are third party converters, but I don't know if they are any better than video encoder. I'm sure there's some way to use Articulate more efficiently, I just don't know what it is.
What process do you use???
Thanks,
Heidi
7 Replies
Size doesn't really matter much here, duration does. You can use a 3rd party converter such as AnyVideoConverter or Xilisoft to convert to various formats. Naturally, it's best to format straight to mp4 or let Storyline handle the conversion.
Hope this helps,
Alex
Hi Heidi,
Do not know if it will be any quicker, but I convert using Freemake Video Converter.
I convert all my .wmv and .mov files to .mp4 using this.
If you install it, (it is free...), make sure that you do not accept any of the other free software it tries to install, but as a tool, it is great, and may be worth a try.
Good luck - let us know how it goes.
Bruce
Thank you guys! This is very helpful information.
Echoing Bruce here and as he says - ENSURE that you uncheck boxes carefully and read the each installation page.
Time for my typical pitch on this collection of tools...
AVS4You
$59 USD for lifetime / $39 yearly and you have access to a whole suite of handy tools.... including Video Convertors, Editors, Recorders, Audio Editing, Audio Batch Convertor, Document Convertors, Photo Editor and much more.
And unlike many stand alone tools, there is actually real user support with dozens of tutorial videos, an online forum/knowledge base, and decent user guides.
There are lots of good tools out there (some mentioned above), but if you want a "Leatherman Multitool" approach to useful software, then AVS4You is a great starting place for many IDs. I still use some of them on a regular basis.
NOTE: No affiliation with the company. Just a satisfied user.
Sorry Heidi,
Got focused on tool reccomendation and missed point of your original question.... what process?
You have ~10Mb video clips. Those aren't too terribly large so guessing thare are already something less than HD resolution and bit rate. If so, then yes just converting them to a compatible format should work.
However, if these clips are of a resolution and bitrate that's not web-friendly, I would go back to the Masters and re-render them into a lower resolution directly.... In other words, skip the double conversion.
One important note here, most people render/covert video clips with FAR FAR more bandwidth (bit rate) than is actually needed. Today's video codecs are pretty amazing and typically do their job with much lower bit rate than you think. Lowering the bitrate makes the files smaller of course, but more importantly it makes them easier to render (less time) and much easier to stream to your user with less lag. Especially true in corporate environments were bandwidth can be an issue for users.
Hope this helps!
What's the recommended resolution and bit rate to be web friendly. Thanks.
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