All an editor ever wishes for is software that works and an audience to watch that inspired video. OK, a little praise wouldn't go amiss too. All that's standing in way of ultimate inner harmony is getting your video encoded and actually seen by more people than just your mates. But there's a bewilderingly large amount of options, codecs and 'free' sites that beg you to upload your video and you've got your own website, so why can't you just upload your video there? Well, placing a link to the video is easy enough, but what if you want to stream the video and be almost guaranteed that it will play on any PC. If you've ever tried to stream video, you'll know what a chore this can be. So you may well be interested to know that SWiSH Video2 claims to "convert your video files into streaming Flash files in minutes".
What's a Flash video I hear you ask? Well just like almost every video you've ever seen on your PC, Flash videos are encoded using a codec. In this case it's Macromedia Flash and this gives the very unique opportunity of embedding controls (play, stop, fast forward etc) into the video itself. So there's no need for an external player or lines of code to get your video playing on a website. Just link to the video in almost the same way you'd link to a download or picture. It all sounds amazingly simple and it certainly is, so what's the downside? Although offering a simple, effective way of streaming, the quality isn't quite as good as ultra high compression technologies such as DivX. But I'll let you judge the quality yourself at the end of the article.
SWiSH Video2 has a simple aim of producing streaming video that's easy to publish. So you'd expect the user interface to be equally simple, and SWiSH don't disappoint. It's certainly one of those well designed applications that don't really need a separate manual.
Along the bottom of the window are 5 tabs: Video, Overlay, Audio, Events and Publish
Step 1: Importing your video
Step 1 is obviously the start point of creating your streaming video in SWiSH Video2 and as with any encoding application, I suggest you use the highest quality source file (as they say, garbage in, garbage out!). SWiSH video supports virtually every imaginable video codec: if it plays on your machine, it's a fairly safe bet that SWiSH Video2 will be able to convert it! Once loaded your video will play in the preview window, but unfortunately this is fixed at a 4:3 aspect ratio and importing 16:9 results in a squished up video in the incorrect aspect ratio. You have complete control over setting the bitrate and framesize of your video, or you can choose a template from 6 available. It's certainly good to have the option of using manual settings, but it's easier and certainly more beginner friendly to use the templates.
If your video within the preview window has an incorrect aspect ratio so will your exported Flash video. Got a 16:9 widescreen video? Then use the manual settings to change the frame size and stretch the pixels back out. For a 16:9 video I unlocked the width and height and set the height as 202 with the width kept as 360. This results in an exported video as it should be. You can also crop the video within this first tab.
Step 2: Adding an overlay
If you don't want anyone to take credit for your video masterpiece SWiSH Video2 gives the option of adding a watermark. Simply browse to the image and then select a position. Simple, but remember to use a transparent image for best results!
Step 3: Encoding Audio
SWiSH Video2 uses the much acclaimed LAME encoding engine to encode the audio to MP3. You won't need to play around with the settings here as the preset chosen in step 1 will chose the appropriate settings.
Step 4: Adding Events
Now I won't even start to pretend to know what this section is all about. Needless to say those who enjoy reading manuals and getting their hands dirty will love finding out how to use this function to add events. From my rudimentary understanding I believe you can use this function to add chapter points (amongst other events!)
Step 5: Get yourself published!
The fifth and final step to getting published is aptly named 'Publish'. This is where you get to chose your controls, but unfortunately although there's quite a few controls to chose from, there's no preview. So you can only pick and hope that the template is appropriately named. Luckily it only takes a few seconds to re-encode your video with another control template. If you're an arty type and adept at flash, you can even create and import your own custom controls. Once the video is encoded, you have the option of previewing your video and SWiSH Video2 creates an HTML page for you to copy the code to your page for the whole world to enjoy!
Although not offering the best in terms of quality, SWiSH Video2 is a great way of getting your video published on the internet. The lack of an automated widescreen option may confuse some and it would have been useful to have a preview of the controls, but this is a minor negative point. A recommended piece of software for anyone that wants a quick and easy way of publishing video.
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