Video Edit Magic 4.47

Create Movies for Video Desk

You make movies in order to share them with other people.  One of the most powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use ways to share movies is using Video DeskVideo Edit Magic's drag-and-drop interface, along with over 150 special effects and transitions make it the best choice for video editing.  Combine the two and you can create dazzling movies, and share them with anyone from your close friends to the entire world.

This article will help you use Video Edit Magic to create movies that will look good and work well on Video Desk.

Video Desk is an online hosting service that is especially designed to host streaming video, without making you worry about things like server settings or writing your own HTML code.  After reading this, you will be able to stream movies from Video Desk, and show them on your web page, in your blog or LiveJournal, or in email.

Video Desk Formats

While you can upload any kind of file to your Video Desk account, for streaming you should create a Windows Media Video (WMV) file.  This file format has several advantages:
  • It can be streamed over the Internet, which means that play starts shortly after the movie is started.  Your viewers don't have to wait for the entire file to download.
  • When used with a Windows Media Server like Video Desk, the web browser and the server agree on the best possible network connection speed (bandwidth).  This means that your broadband viewers see the video with good quality, while those with slower connections see the movie quickly, but at lower quality, not tying up their computers for a long time waiting for the download.
  • Windows Media (WMV) files are usually very small, taking up less space and downloading quickly.
First, use Video Edit Magic to create your movie.  You'll want to edit your movie, and probably apply video effects, audio effects, and transitions.
When the movie is ready, open the File menu and click Make Movie ...  Select Windows Media Formats (WMV and WMA).  Name your file, and click Next Recommend a New Category

Video Edit Magic - Make WMV

Select WMV - For Windows Media Server - Streaming.  There are many options available for streaming video, and which one to select will depend on your movie.  For instance, a mostly-static movie, like video of a person standing and lecturing, can look fine with a lower bit rate.  High bit rates are required when the video either has a lot of changes (motion) in it, or a very large output frame size, or both.  If you plan to create a high-resolution wide-screen video of a football game, a higher bit rate will be needed.

Output frame size should always be kept as small as will give you acceptable video quality.  Smaller frame sizes let you use lower bit rates, and lower bit rates mean smaller files, which in turn means less storage space taken up on the server, and less bandwidth used.  Remember that a Video Desk account limits the total amount of data you can send to viewers each month.  If you select very high-bandwidth streams, your monthly bandwidth will be used up fast.  Large output frame sizes will generally be needed only for very detailed pictures.  For instance, if you're filming a visit to an art museum, a higher output frame size may well be needed.

A special feature of the Windows Media format (and the Windows Media Server on Video Desk) is that one file you upload can send different video and audio streams to the audience, depending on the speed of the network connection.  The Media Player and the server determine the current connection speed available, and the server sends the best-quality image and sound that will work over that link without delays.  To make this work, you need to select Multiple bit rates video (CBR) profiles.  This means that the necessary data for several streams are all stored in a single file, and the server can pick between them.  The file you get is larger (meaning more storage space is used), but if your audience sometimes has to use a slow connection (like a dial-up modem), this can mean that the low-bandwidth users won't have long delays and pauses while viewing the movie.

If you know that most of your audience uses DSL (about 256 kbps bandwidth) and the rest use dial-up modems (about 56 kbps), you might select video bit rates of 160 kbps and 48 kbps.  That way everyone would see the best possible quality video, without delays.

There are many different profiles you can select between to create Windows Media Video.  They can produce movies with very different video quality, and files that vary tremendously in size.

Similarly, the audio quality you need will depend on the purpose of the movie.  If it's video of a birthday party, the FM quality audio setting is probably good enough.  If you're uploading a music video of your band, you will probably want to use CD quality audio, or even High definition quality audio.

Video Edit Magic has many different WMV Profiles, with different combinations of output frame size and bit rate.  Especially when you're starting out, run Make Movie several times and produce files with different settings, and find one that's both reasonably-sized and good quality.

Click the Next button twice, and Video Edit Magic will create your movie.

If you haven't already, you'll need to create an account at Video Desk.  A free Video Desk account lets you store 5 megabytes of files, and serve 100 megabytes to clients. Once you have logged into your Video Desk account, click on Media Manager.  You'll see the Upload Now button.  Click it to upload your movie to Video Desk.

Video Edit Magic - VideoDesk Screen

Showing Your Video To An Audience

Video Desk provides tools to embed your movie in your own web pages, to create playlists of videos, and to send video email.  You can learn how to do all that from the Video Desk tutorial.

With Video Edit Magic you can create everything from beautiful home movies to music videos to your own shows.   Combine that with Video Desk and you can share your work with your friends, your family ... or the entire world.

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