Video Rendering Server

Printable View

Show 25 post(s) from this thread on one page

8th July 2010, 12:06 PM
jamesfed

Video Rendering Server

Hi all,

As part of the schools digital media sections of IT the students have to capture and edit video – since the IT Teachers want to stick with XP Movie Maker (which I understand because of its simplicity for the year 7/8/9 students) we are constantly running into problems with video file formats not being supported.

Usually if a student had some video that couldn’t be edited I would stick it into SUPER and re render the video on my desktop PC however with the volume of video this can sometimes take quite a while.

As such I was thinking does anyone know of a way that I could get one of the servers to automatically render the video for me?

The way I see this working (or something similar)-

1. Student finds they can’t use video in movie maker
2. Student cops video file to a network shared folder
3. Every few minutes the server looks at that folder to see if there is anything in there
4. Server converts video and puts it in a ‘rendered videos’ network folder
5. Server s deletes original video from folder (maybe even deletes the rendered video after a specific time period)

What would be even better is if this could also be done with music files to.

I know this is a tall order and I’d be happy to have a go at anything.
If I need to run a separate OS (or even Linux) to do this then that shouldn’t be a problem as we have plenty of RAM in our virtual server.

Thanks,
James
8th July 2010, 12:28 PM
SYNACK

So long as you have all the required codecs to read the files on the server this should not be a problem to implement as you want. A bit of VBS or Batch on a scheduled task along with Expression Encoder and you should be able to do this easily enough.

How Do I: Encode a Video from the Command Line
Command-line operation
http://www.edugeek.net/forums/downlo...coder-4-a.html
8th July 2010, 12:53 PM
jamesfed

Wow thanks thats just the kind of answer I was looking for - video was useful and I've got a bat file setup but don't know what source/target values I should be using to do the contents of a folder?
Thanks again!
8th July 2010, 01:19 PM
SYNACK

You would probably need to do them one by one, your best bet would be to make a VBS script that reads through the file names in that folder one by one and for each of them runs that command line then delets the source file. Something like "encoder.exe /source " & SourceDir & "\" & FileName & " /target f:\encodedvids\" & Filename
pushed into a shell run command.

These should have all the required code in them, just a case of combining it into a script and setting it as a scheduled task to run every hour or so:
List All Files in Folder using VBScript
Run Method (Windows Script Host)
Copy, delete or move a file - Real's WSH VBS How-to
8th July 2010, 02:27 PM
jamesfed

Oooh this is where the uming and errring begins :D
I'll have a look through the docs - thanks again!
8th July 2010, 03:05 PM
plexer

have a look at ffmpeg

Ben
8th July 2010, 03:13 PM
plexer

FFMPEG Automated Video Convert

Basically use a folder monitoring app to check for new files and then invoke ffmpeg on new files.

Ben
8th July 2010, 03:26 PM
jamesfed

Was just looking into FFMPEG too - any suggestions on a folder monitoring application?
8th July 2010, 03:40 PM
plexer

Not used any but have a look here:

7 Free Tools To Monitor Folder Changes

Ben
9th July 2010, 08:08 AM
jamesfed

Wow making serious progress now-
Are using Expression Encoder 2 and Directory Monitor from deventerprise.net (expect a quick how to when I get it working perfectly).
Only one thing is - how do I get the bat file that I have setup to output the original file name with the new .wmv extension?
Another option I was thinking about was using the date/time as the filename and then the .wmv extension.

Any clues? :D
9th July 2010, 08:27 AM
Arthur

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesfed

how do I get the bat file that I have setup to output the original file name with the new .wmv extension?

I use this one for FFmpeg...

MP4toWMV.cmd

Code:

@echo off for %%a in (*.mp4) do ffmpeg -y -i "%%a" -b 900k -vcodec wmv2 -acodec wmav2 -ab 128k -ac 2 -ar 44100 "%%~na.wmv"
9th July 2010, 08:43 AM
Arthur

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesfed

Another option I was thinking about was using the date/time as the filename and then the .wmv extension.

The following batch file will do that...

MP4toWMV_DateAsFilename.cmd

Code:

@echo off & setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS :: Call Functions call :GetTime h n s t call :GetDate y m d :: Convert video for %%a in (*.mp4) do ffmpeg -y -i "%%a" -b 900k -vcodec wmv2 -acodec wmav2 -ab 128k -ac 2 -ar 44100 "%h%-%n%-%s%_%y%-%m%-%d%.wmv" :: Exit goto :EOF ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :GetTime hh nn ss tt :: :: By: Ritchie Lawrence, updated 2007-05-12. Version 1.3 :: :: Func: Loads local system time components into args 1 to 4. :: For NT4/2000/XP/2003 :: :: Args: %1 Var to receive hours, 2 digits, 00 to 23 (by ref) :: %2 Var to receive minutes, 2 digits, 00 to 59 (by ref) :: %3 Var to receive seconds, 2 digits, 00 to 59 (by ref) :: %4 Var to receive centiseconds, 2 digits, 00 to 99 (by ref) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS for /f "tokens=5-8 delims=:,. " %%a in ('echo/^|time') do ( set hh=%%a&set nn=%%b&set ss=%%c&set cs=%%d) if 1%hh% LSS 20 set hh=0%hh% endlocal&set %1=%hh%&set %2=%nn%&set %3=%ss%&set %4=%cs%&goto :EOF ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :GetDate yy mm dd :: :: By: Ritchie Lawrence, 2002-06-15. Version 1.0 :: :: Func: Loads local system date components into args 1 to 3. :: For NT4/2000/XP/2003. :: :: Args: %1 var to receive year, 4 digits (by ref) :: %2 var to receive month, 2 digits, 01 to 12 (by ref) :: %3 Var to receive day of month, 2 digits, 01 to 31 (by ref) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS set t=2&if "%date%z" LSS "A" set t=1 for /f "skip=1 tokens=2-4 delims=(-)" %%a in ('echo/^|date') do ( for /f "tokens=%t%-4 delims=.-/ " %%d in ('date/t') do ( set %%a=%%d&set %%b=%%e&set %%c=%%f)) endlocal&set %1=%yy%&set %2=%mm%&set %3=%dd%&goto :EOF :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
9th July 2010, 08:58 AM
jamesfed

Perfect!!

Code is now-

Code:

@echo off & setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS :: Call Functions call :GetTime h n s t call :GetDate y m d :: Convert video "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Expression\Encoder 2\encoder.exe" /source %1 /target "c:\encode\output\%h%-%n%-%s%_%y%-%m%-%d%.wmv" :: Exit ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :GetTime hh nn ss tt :: :: By: Ritchie Lawrence, updated 2007-05-12. Version 1.3 :: :: Func: Loads local system time components into args 1 to 4. :: For NT4/2000/XP/2003 :: :: Args: %1 Var to receive hours, 2 digits, 00 to 23 (by ref) :: %2 Var to receive minutes, 2 digits, 00 to 59 (by ref) :: %3 Var to receive seconds, 2 digits, 00 to 59 (by ref) :: %4 Var to receive centiseconds, 2 digits, 00 to 99 (by ref) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS for /f "tokens=5-8 delims=:,. " %%a in ('echo/^|time') do ( set hh=%%a&set nn=%%b&set ss=%%c&set cs=%%d) if 1%hh% LSS 20 set hh=0%hh% endlocal&set %1=%hh%&set %2=%nn%&set %3=%ss%&set %4=%cs%&goto :EOF ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :GetDate yy mm dd :: :: By: Ritchie Lawrence, 2002-06-15. Version 1.0 :: :: Func: Loads local system date components into args 1 to 3. :: For NT4/2000/XP/2003. :: :: Args: %1 var to receive year, 4 digits (by ref) :: %2 var to receive month, 2 digits, 01 to 12 (by ref) :: %3 Var to receive day of month, 2 digits, 01 to 31 (by ref) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS set t=2&if "%date%z" LSS "A" set t=1 for /f "skip=1 tokens=2-4 delims=(-)" %%a in ('echo/^|date') do ( for /f "tokens=%t%-4 delims=.-/ " %%d in ('date/t') do ( set %%a=%%d&set %%b=%%e&set %%c=%%f)) endlocal&set %1=%yy%&set %2=%mm%&set %3=%dd%&goto :EOF :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Last thing to do now is to get it to delete the origional file when its done and thats me happy for the day :)
9th July 2010, 09:06 AM
jamesfed

Quote:

Last thing to do now is to get it to delete the origional file when its done and thats me happy for the day :)

Which was indeed just call the del command for %1

Wow this project has worked out better than expected!
Time to do a little testing and then I'll mash together a How to
9th July 2010, 09:08 AM
plexer

How about reading the owner of the original creator of the file then having the server dump the converted movie in the home folder and then delete the original?

Ben

Show 25 post(s) from this thread on one page