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Video Caster
v3.44
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Creating and Publishing Media
Files |
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Video
Caster’s comprehensive set of tools, enable you to easily publish your
videos to a video service and stream them to your family and friends. Advances
in computer networking combined with powerful home computers and modern
operating systems make streaming media practical and affordable for ordinary
consumers. With
Video Caster
staying in touch is not
a problem anymore, as
these memories can be shared with close ones and the special moments can be
relived. |
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Video Caster also provides you with tools required
to work with Digital Video Camera, Digital Still Cameras and videos already
present on your computer. |
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Getting Started with Media Publishing |
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Media Publishing is the process of uploading your
media files to a streaming server. Once published, you can send links of the
media files to your viewers. The viewers in turn can use any standard browser
like Internet Explorer to view live streaming of your media files. |
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Streaming media is becoming increasingly important with the
growth of Internet. With streaming, the client browser can
start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted.
Understanding Video Streaming explains in detail the dynamics of
Video streaming.
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It is a requisite to
subscribe to a video
hosting service
before you start publishing.
Video Desk is one such service that allows you to
publish video and audio files in the Windows Media streaming format.
To subscribe to a free
trial account of Video
Desk, log on to the
website
http://videodesk.net/
and click “Free
Account”.
Fill in the information required to register for the new account. |
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When signing up for a
free account make sure
you provide a valid
e-mail address. Once you validate your account you are ready to
login to your free Video Desk account. |
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To publish your media
files using Video Caster you must know Video Desk’s FTP Login information. After logging into your FTP account, Video Desk displays this information on
the left under “FTP
Upload”. Note down details like
Connect to, User
Name and Password. |
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Publishing your Media Files |
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Open Video Caster and locate the media file that you
want to publish.
If the video that you
want to publish is
present in your Digital
Video Camera then use
Video Caster’s
Capture
tool to
capture the footage to
your computer.
To publish images from your Digital Still camera, use Video Caster’s user
friendly
Auto
Slideshow
tool to quickly make a slideshow of your images.
To publish videos that are not in streaming
media format to your Video Desk
account, you can use the
Conversion
tool.
These three options for Media
Content Creation are discussed later in
this article. |
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To start publishing your
file using the
Publishing Wizard,
launch Video Caster and
click
the
Publish
Your
Media
Files
option
on the main interface of
application.
Click
Next
on the
welcome
screen
of the
Media
File
Publishing
Wizard.
Click
Add
to
specify
the file
you want
to
publish. Click
Next
to proceed. |
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You will now need the information you noted down
from Video Desk. Specify the Streaming Server information where you want to
publish your files: |
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1. |
FTP Address: ftp.videodesk.net |
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Login Name: Specify the user name that is displayed by Video Desk (a number) |
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Password: The same password that you use to log into Video Desk |
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4. |
Remote Folder
(Optional): Keep blank to publish to the root folder. If you want to
publish to a sub-folder that you have created using Video Desk’s Media
Manager then specify the name of the folder here. |
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If you connect to the internet using a proxy server,
then click
Configure
Proxy Server
and specify the proxy server’s settings. You may have to contact your
system administrator for your proxy settings. The Port is given
as 21, by default. The
Use Passive Mode for
logging in option is
checked by default. Click
Next. |
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The Publishing Wizard will now start publishing your
media files. After the publishing process is complete,
click Finish. You can
now login to your Video Desk account and use the Media Manager to view the published file and
e-mail its link to your viewers. |
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Media
Content Creation |
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Though Video Caster is basically a media publishing
application, it also avails you with proficient file management and content
creation tools.
Video Caster’s Content
Creation tools include:
Capture, Auto Slideshow,
and Conversion Tool. Let us first see how to capture using Video Caster. |
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The Capture Tool |
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The Capture tool enables
you to capture videos
from an attached Digital
Video Camera or Web
Camera. To use
this tool, follow the
given steps: |
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1. |
Ensure that you have connected the Digital Video or Web Camera to your computer
and have configured the camera correctly. Also, make sure that other
applications are not using the capture device. |
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On the
main
interface
of
application,
click
the
Capture
Video
from
Your
Camera
and
Publish
option
under
What
would
you like
to do? |
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The
Capture
window
opens. Make sure that you select the Digital Video Camera or Web Camera as the device
from where you want to capture. If the selected device is different, then
change the capture device
by
clicking
Change
Devices. |
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4. |
Select the folder where you want to save the captured file. The capture tool
sequences file names by appending a number if the file with the same name
already exists in the selected Capture To folder. |
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By default, the capture tool captures audio with video. You can choose to turn
off audio. |
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If required, change video, camera and audio settings or formats like video
output size, frame rate etc. |
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The capture tool captures footage in WMV
format.
You can
choose
to
capture
in a
streaming
profile
or a
profile
for
desktop
viewing. |
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8. |
On the
Capture
menu, click
Start
or click the
Start
Capture
button. |
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Confirm
the
capture
file
name and
folder. If
required
you can
choose
to
change
them now
by
clicking
the
Browse
button. |
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10. |
Capture
entire
Tape
option is disabled for Web Camera and can be enabled only when DV Camera is
selected. By default
Manually
Stop
Capture
option is selected. |
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11. |
Click
Start
to start capturing. While capturing, the capture tool displays the number of
frames captured and duration captured under Output Options. |
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To stop capturing, point to the
Capture
menu and click
Stop
or click the
Stop
Capture
button. |
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Once you have finished capturing Video Caster gives you a brief summary for the
same. You can also preview the file that you have captured. |
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The Auto Slideshow Tool
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This style-based tool
enables you to swiftly
create spellbinding
slideshows from your
Digital Still Photos in
ready-to-publish windows
streaming format.
To use it, follow the
given steps: |
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1. |
In Video
Caster,
on the
main
interface
of the
application,
click
the
Create a
Video
Slideshow
from
Your
Photos
and
Publish
option. |
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2. |
Click
Add
Photos
to add all the images that you want to include in the Slideshow. |
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3. |
Select the
Style
tab and select a style you like. |
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Select the
Options
tab to
Add Music,
Opening
Title
and
Closing
Credits
to your slideshow. |
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To preview the slideshow, click
the
Preview
Slideshow
button. |
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Click
Make
Slideshow
and follow the steps to make the slideshow in Windows Media streaming format. |
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The Conversion Tool |
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A streaming service accepts video and audio files in
a streaming format only. Video Desk, for example, accepts video and audio files
in Windows Media streaming format. You can use Video Caster’s conversion
tool to convert video and audio files from almost all popular formats to Windows Media
Format. To convert a file:
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1. |
In Video
Caster,
on the
main
interface
of the
application,
click
the
Convert
Your
Media
Files to
Windows
Media
Streaming
Format
and
Publish
option
under
What
would
you like
to do? |
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2. |
The
Search
Media
Files
dialog
opens. Click
Browse
to
specify
the
folder
where
files to
be
converted
are
located.
Select
File
Extensions
to
search
within
the
folder. Click
Next. Click
Finish
after
the
files to
convert
are
listed. |
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3. |
The
Conversion
Wizard
opens. The
files
you had
searched
for are
listed. Click
Add
to
include
other files that you want to convert. |
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Specify the
Destination
Folder
where you want the
converted files
to saved
by
clicking
Browse. Click
Next. |
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From the
Profile Category drop down box, select
WMV
- For
Media
Server - Streaming.
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Select a video and an audio profile depending on the quality you want. |
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The
available
streams
would be
listed. Check
the
streams
you want
to
encode
for.
Click
Next
to start converting the file. |
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People make memories of
good times, of the loved
ones in their lives. Time moves on, and with
the routine
hustle-bustle it becomes
impossible to always
stay in touch with
friends and family. But
now with Video Caster
you do not have to lose
the people dear to you
with passage of time. |
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