In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to convert a video file into Windows Media Video (wmv) to allow you to play back the video through Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center and through the Media Library and Media Center Extender on your Xbox 360.
It is possible to install something called a Codec on your PC to allow Windows Media Player to play file formats that it was not originally designed to play, but no such Codec package exist that you can install on your Xbox 360 – this usually means in order to play the same video file on different devices like your PC and Xbox 360, the only option available was to have the video file duplicated in two or more different formats so you can watch it on the device of your choosing.
This tutorial aims to eradicate that task and provide you with one simple file in the Windows Media Video format so you can watch that video on either your PC through Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center, or through your Xbox 360 using the Video Library folder or with the Media Center Extender. This process will inevitably save you a great deal of disk space as anyone who works with video files will know, even a relatively short video clip can consume tens if not hundreds of megabytes of disk space.
By the end of this tutorial you will know how to do the following:
- Convert almost any video format into the Windows Media Video (wmv) format.
- Add Titles to your video
- Upload your video to YouTube
- Configure the correct Properties for the video once you have uploaded it to YouTube
Convert Your Video File to Windows Media Video (WMV)
To convert your current video format into Windows Media Video you will need a piece of software called an Encoder – what this software will do is take your current video file and according to the settings that you tell it, it will then create a duplicate file in the Windows Media Video format which you can use on the devices I mentioned earlier. When the encoding process has finished and you are happy with the result, you can safely delete your original file to free up valuable disk space.
There are a number of Encoder programs available to do this job, either as a free download or as software to buy; in this tutorial I will show you one of each. The free encoder is a little known programme published by Microsoft, although it hasn’t been updated since version 9 in 2003 it still does exactly what you want it to do and if you’re on a tight budget, it’s hard to compete with free.
The Encoder to buy is published by Adobe and is usually shipped with their Creative Suite software package, I’m using Adobe Media Encoder as part of Adobe CS4 but I should warn you, this software is not cheap.
For details about each piece of software please visit the following websites
Windows Media Encoder
>www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx
Adobe Media Encoder
There are subtle differences between the free and the paid for software, the main point to note is with Windows Media Encoder you can only encode one file at a time but with Adobe Media Encoder you can add as many files to the Encoding Queue as you want and the software will encode each file individually and then move on to the next, this is much easier if you have a large number of files to encode and you just want to leave your PC to do the work, overnight for example.
How to encode a single file with Windows Media Encoder
1. Start Windows Media Encoder
2. On the New Session screen select ‘Convert a file’ and click OK
3. On the File Selection screen Browse to the source file that you want to convert and then browse to the Output Folder where you want to save the converted file. Make sure that the extension wmv is selected as the output format and click Next to Continue.
4. On the Content Distribution screen select File Download (computer playback) from the list and click Next to continue.
5. On the Encoding Options screen under Video select ‘High definition quality video (5 Mbps VBR)’ and under Audio select ‘High definition quality audio (VBR)’. Leave the Bit Rate setting as it is and select Next to Continue.
6. On the Display Information screen enter the Title and Author and click Next to Continue.
7. On the Settings Review screen make sure the box for ‘Begin converting when I click Finish’ is ticked and select Finish to start the encoding process.
The time it takes to encode each video will depend on the length of the original video as it will play back the video in real time as it encodes.
Encode multiple files simultaneously with Adobe Media Encoder
1. Start Adobe Media Encoder
2. Click the Add button to the right of the panel and navigate to the file or files you want to encode. If you are selecting more than one file you can hover your mouse pointer over a single file and then hold down the Shift key and hover your mouse over the remaining files (you will see each selected file highlighted) When you have all the files selected click the Open button to bring those files into the encoding window. This can take a minute or so depending on the number of files selected.
3. Click the Source Name of the file at the top of the list, hold down the Shift key and click the Source Name of the file at the bottom of the list to select all the files.
4. In the Format column for the file at the top of the list click the down arrow and select Windows Media (it’s the very bottom choice in the list).
5. Do the same for the Preset button by selecting the down arrow in the file at the top of the list and select ‘PAL Widescreen Source to High Quality Download’ or whichever format you prefer. You may want to play around with these settings using a short 15-30 second clip and compare the results before you commit to encoding large lengthy video files.
6. Click the Output File link for the top most file and navigate to a folder where you would like to save the finished encoded files to. You will need to do this for each individual file.
7. Finally click on the Start Queue button at the bottom right side of the encoding window. Your video files will now automatically begin encoding one by one, as each file completes a small green tick will show at the end of the file name to illustrate that file has finished. Wait until all files are done and then close Adobe Media Encoder and move the files to the folder on your hard drive already configured to play your video media files on the Xbox 360
Adding Titles to individual video files with Windows Live Movie Maker (Windows 7)
1. Open Windows Live Movie Maker
2. Click the arrow in the top left corner of the screen and select Open Project
3. Navigate to the folder where you previously saved your title sequence and open the file into Windows Live Movie Maker.
4. Right-Click the first segment of the included video file and select Remove
5. On the ribbon click the button marked ‘Add videos and photos’
6. Navigate to the folder where your files are stored and select the next video to include the title sequence
7. If necessary move the titles so they are positioned where you want them to be
8. Click the down arrow in the top left corner and select Save Movie > Widescreen (480p)
9. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the file, enter the correct File Name and click Save
10. The file will take a few minutes to complete
11. Once the file has completed, locate that file and right-click > Properties – Select the Details tab and enter the Artist and Song Title in the Title box if it is not already there (this is important because the file will not display on the Xbox 360 if the Title Box is empty)
12. Move the file to the correct directory that you use for watching videos on the Xbox 360 and then through the Xbox 360 play the file both through the Video Library and through Windows Media Center to confirm the file works as expected
13. Upload Video to YouTube through Windows Live Movie Maker
14. Click the YouTube logo in the Sharing box inside Windows Live Movie Maker
15. Enter your YouTube Username and Password
16. Enter the Title and Artist information along with Tags, and Category information
17. Click Publish to start the process of publishing your video to YouTube
Upload Multiple Videos to YouTube
1. Login to your YouTube Account
2. Click the Upload link on the home page
3. Select the first video file to upload and make sure the correct Artist and Song Title information is shown
4. Click to upload another video and continue this process (up to a maximum of 10 video uploads at any one time)
5. Set the Properties for each video uploaded to YouTube
6. Login to your YouTube Account
7. Click the down arrow next to your username in the top right of the screen
8. Select My Videos
9. Locate the video that you uploaded and click the Edit button
10. Complete the following information under the Video Information heading: Artist – Song Title, Description: Artist – Song Title, Tags: “Music Video”, Category: Music
11. Complete the following information under the Broadcasting and Sharing Options heading: Privacy: Share your video with the world (Recommended). Comments: Allow comments automatically. Comment Voting: Yes, allow users to vote on comments. Video Responses: Yes, allow video responses to be added automatically. Ratings: Yes, allow this video to be rated by others. Embedding: Yes, external sites may embed and play this video. Syndication: Yes, make this video available on mobile phones and TV
12. Click the Save Changes button to save these properties
13. Repeat this process for each video you upload
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