I had a recent experience with video files and hope that my story can be of help to you.
WARNING: This post will be long and somewhat rambling…I just want to give you a taste of the long and winding road (did someone say “Twilight Zone”?) I had to take.
It all started out with a simple task…take the 2010 Action Seminar videos and convert them from .flv (flash) to MP4 to make sure that they would play on all devices, upload them to Amazon, and create posts in the premium area where the 2011 Action Seminar videos are currently housed.
Simple, huh? Just download the current flash videos, use a.flv to mp4 converter, upload the resulting MP4 videos and post them.
Guess what? Nothing is simple.
I first tried Camtasia, which I have on my computer. For some reason, Camtasia has a long list of file types that it will accept, but .flv is not one of them. So, I had to find another converter.
SECOND WARNING: Make sure your virus software is up to date before attempting to download free software from the internet…
I searched for a free .flv to mp4 converter, and found there were several available. So far, so good. I downloaded one and found that it was actually the free version of a paid product, and all the videos it produced would have a watermark (the name of the company imprinted in the center of the video). Obviously, this would not work, so I went back and found one that would create videos that I could actually use.
There are 12 videos from the 2010 Action Seminar. All of the .flv videos had to be downloaded from Amazon and then converted to mp4. The download didn’t take long…about 2 hours in all. The conversion took about 30 minutes each, so after about 8 hours (the next day, actually) I had 12 videos to upload. I played a couple of them on Windows Media Player to make sure there was no problem, and uploaded them all.
I found out that uploading takes much longer than downloading. Instead of taking 2 hours to do all 12, it took about 2 hours each. So, another day passed and I finally had all of the videos ready to post. I created the players for the videos and pasted the code into the posts.
Note: We use EZS3 (EZS3.com) to manage the content and create players. It is very easy to use, but that will be left for another post.
I tested one to make sure it played, and got sound but no picture. I then went back to my computer and played the video again. No problem. On a whim, I then opened Camtasia and tried to import the file. Camtasia recognized the MP4 file and allowed me to import it, but when I tried to drag it into the timeline, it said something to the effect that it was an unrecognized filetype.
OK…2 days wasted…and I was back to square zero. Stan went on the Camtasia forum and looked for a converter that was recommended there. He found 2. One was (again) a free version of a paid product, so I couldn’t use that one. The other was a standalone, so I tried it. Same result. So, I went on a private forum to which I belong and had 4 more recommended to me.
One of them required that I download some type of browser bar that would require me to watch advertisements…NOT!
Two of them had the same problem…their output could be imported into Camtasia but would not play.
One of them actually output an MP4 that Camtasia could play…SUCCESS!!
So, I converted the 12 videos again (1 day) and uploaded them again (1 day) and tested one again. I waited…and waited…and waited for it to play. The little circle was revolving…and revolving…and revolving. I gave up after about 5 minutes and sent an email to Stan, detailing my most recent challenge…actually getting the video to play.
I went back to doing other things and forgot about the video that was loading. I went back to it a while later and found that the video was ready to play. I started it and it did play, but it took several minutes to start. Well, that was a small success, but I knew that no one would wait that long for the video to start playing.
Meanwhile, Stan got back to me and said that it appeared that the video didn’t play until it had loaded completely. Since this was not acceptable either, I was back to having no videos.
I tried one last thing. I imported the MP4 videos into Camtasia (more time-consuming because you have to import them one at a time, whereas with the converter you could just load them all at once) and produced MP4 videos. I guess I was using it as an MP4 to MP4 converter(!).
Well, the videos that it produced were actually about half the file size of the originals with apparently the same quality. So, I uploaded them again (2 more days between converting and uploading) and tested them again.
Well, they finally worked. The video played right away.
Actually, that is not the whole story. About halfway through I realized that the original flash videos were not of very good quality. There are DVD’s of the Action Seminar which looked a lot better. So, I found a free DVD ripper that would output the files as MP4, but I had the same problem as before…Camtasia recognized the files but couldn’t play them. So, I was back to the one .flv converter whose output was usable by Camtasia. I ended up ripping the files from the DVD, converting them using the converter, converting them again using Camtasia, then uploading.
So, what is the moral to the story? Well, if you don’t have Camtasia and have to convert .flv’s I guess you are in trouble…at least I can’t help you. But, before I upload any MP4’s again I will be running them through Camtasia.
I found there are actually 3 different MP4 files…one that Camtasia can’t read, one that Camtasia can play but the player we use insists on loading the entire video before starting to play, and one that will start to play immediately.
Don’t ask me what makes the difference…I haven’t a clue. I thought that an MP4 file was an MP4 file was an MP4 file. I guess I was wrong.
Also, don’t ask me why Windows Media Player managed to play all of the videos with no problem.
The free converter that ended up working is Any Video Converter.
All of this, of course, begs the question…
“OK, cheapskate…why don’t you just buy one?”
Well, I did. I don’t want to give the name here because I don’t want to give them any publicity. I purchased one for $29.95. It didn’t work any better than the free one, so I asked for a refund.
And asked again…and again.
I was totally ignored, so I put in a dispute with the credit card. Normally I wouldn’t do it for such a small amount, but they (let’s just say “upset”) me by ignoring my emails, so I did it anyway.
If anyone is about to buy a converter for that price, let me know and I will tell you if that is the some one or not.
I hope this saves someone a lot of time and aggravation.
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