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All reviews for Windows Media Encoder
| 6 reviews, Showing 1 to 6 reviews |
We use this to steam live to an external streaming service and we love it. It is very easy to use and streams good quality. Check it out at www.polr.org.
Review by verchern on
Jun 26, 2008 Version: 9
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
The command-line version of Windows Media Encoder produces stellar video and audio quality if you know what you're doing! This encoder makes Windows Media the most underrated codec out there! Most people don't realize that this is the exact same encoding engine used with HD-DVD and Blu-ray releases. And here it is...free for the taking from Microsoft. Take advantage, people! This is the real McCoy for Windows Media encoding if you can't drop the coin on the new Expression Encoder with the nice point-n-click GUI.
Review by kevo777 on
Apr 22, 2008 Version: 9 Advanced Profile Update
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
With a little help from guides it is possible to create very good video from several common sources.
Encode speed for single pass WMV 9 is comparable to TMpeg on Motion Estimate Search for MPEG2 at same resolution input/output and no resizing or filters.
Encode speed for 2 pass is longer (5-6x original movie time on my Athlon 1.33 GHz). However, when compared to TMpeg using resizing and SOME filters, WMV 9 encodes much faster than TMpeg doing MPEG2.
I've observed WMV file sizes 30-50% smaller than MPEG2 at comparable bitrates.
Visual quality of the video is noticeably better than MPEG2, even when using filters and highest quality in TMpeg.
On the downside, if you are familiar with MPEG2 encoding, there is a little bit of a learning curve to go into WMV9, but not too much.
On the downside, WMV 9 encoder defaults to a fairly SOFT image quality. Change this to sharp or sharper settings (75-85 or better) to get better image quality.
One preferential note: not as many processing controls as TMpeg, but these can be done using other apps like VirtualDub, TMpeg etc, prior to encoding. Besides, some people prefer this anyway.
Encode speed for single pass WMV 9 is comparable to TMpeg on Motion Estimate Search for MPEG2 at same resolution input/output and no resizing or filters.
Encode speed for 2 pass is longer (5-6x original movie time on my Athlon 1.33 GHz). However, when compared to TMpeg using resizing and SOME filters, WMV 9 encodes much faster than TMpeg doing MPEG2.
I've observed WMV file sizes 30-50% smaller than MPEG2 at comparable bitrates.
Visual quality of the video is noticeably better than MPEG2, even when using filters and highest quality in TMpeg.
On the downside, if you are familiar with MPEG2 encoding, there is a little bit of a learning curve to go into WMV9, but not too much.
On the downside, WMV 9 encoder defaults to a fairly SOFT image quality. Change this to sharp or sharper settings (75-85 or better) to get better image quality.
One preferential note: not as many processing controls as TMpeg, but these can be done using other apps like VirtualDub, TMpeg etc, prior to encoding. Besides, some people prefer this anyway.
Review by danscudder on
Mar 14, 2005 Version: 9
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
This program encodes perfectly fine for me...there are some faster ones out there, but this isn't a gimp or anything...then again, noting ghostlamp, I'm running an AW =P.
Review by fr0dus on
Jul 26, 2004 Version: 9
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
I give this program a D. It is made for the person with a 4 ghz computer. You cant do any large screen output file conversions without a serious system. Windows recommends a 2ghz Dual processors computer. Most people barely have 2 gig systems. I tried it and was watching as I closed all programs and it still sucked up 100% usage for only a 800kbps convert to 640 size. I played it back and it was choppy. Plus you have to do two passes which will take you twice as long as a trial program.
I used AVS Convert to get a smooth 640 size 2mbps video. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Leave this program to those with an alienware system or equivalent.
I used AVS Convert to get a smooth 640 size 2mbps video. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Leave this program to those with an alienware system or equivalent.
Review by ghostlamp on
Feb 24, 2004 Version: 9
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 6/10
Overall: 6/10
Great results though a rather slow encoder, IMO it's responsible for many of the quality improvements with winmedia 9 - try the 2 pass vbr with version 7.1, 8, or mpg4 and be surprised. Winmedia 9 encoder plugins do not always work the same magic, so I still prefer this free tool from MS.
5.1/6.1 audio works great on systems with XP, downsamples well in other versions or where 2 speakers avail, though multichannel audio is not intuitive to enable - have to select encode from device and file, choose Professional audio codec, then optionally cbr for more bitrate/sample choices.
Needs work: Encoder can be very picky with source avi files, especially in my experience when/if you add a leader (ie: a second or so of black frames) before the video - I *think* the encoder reads initial silence in the audio track as no audio present & crashes.
5.1/6.1 audio works great on systems with XP, downsamples well in other versions or where 2 speakers avail, though multichannel audio is not intuitive to enable - have to select encode from device and file, choose Professional audio codec, then optionally cbr for more bitrate/sample choices.
Needs work: Encoder can be very picky with source avi files, especially in my experience when/if you add a leader (ie: a second or so of black frames) before the video - I *think* the encoder reads initial silence in the audio track as no audio present & crashes.
Review by mikiem on
Jun 14, 2003 Version: 9.00.00.2980
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 7/10
| 6 reviews, Showing 1 to 6 reviews |