Encode With Windows Media Video 9 Codec

[languagegame]

I was able to get Snapstream 2.0 to use the new Windows Media Video 9 codec. This ends up with smaller file sizes and better quality than the 7 or 8 codecs.

The process involves modifying a snapstream configuration file to point one of the quality profiles to use the new codec. There may be an easier way to do this, but here are the instructions:

1) Open the file PROFILES.DAT using notepad. This is a hidden file, and it is probably located in the following path:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Snapstream\PVS\Profiles.dat

2) This file contains the configuration settings for each of the quality profiles used by Snapstream 2.0, such as "Near VHS". It seems to be a series of key/value pairs separated by a colon, such as "Name: Near VHS"

3) Search for the key "Name: " until you find the profile that you want to upgrade to the Windows Media Video 9 Codec. The profile name will appear immediately after "Name: ".

4) Now that you've isolated the profile, search for the phrase "VideoOutputFourCC: ". This key is followed by a 9 digit number that represents the video codec. For instance, the value "844516695" represents the Windows Media Video 8 Codec. (If you're really interested in the details, you can convert this 9 digit number to HEX, and then convert it to a string, and you get four letters: 2VMW. Go right to left and you get "WMV2", which is the standard FourCC code for the Windows Media Video 8 Codec.)

5) Carefully replace the 9 digit number with the following value:
"861293911". This is the equivalent identifier for the Windows Media Video 9 Codec.

6) Save the file, and Snapstream 2.0 should begin to use the Windows Media 9 Codec for the quality profile. Note that the snapstream web interface will not say that it is, but if you check the properties using Windows Media Player, you'll see that it was encoded with the Codec.

I hear that the next version of Snapstream supports the 9 codecs out-of-the-box, but I thought I'd pass this along for those of you who prefer not to wait.

[KenH]

I tried your suggestion, but the properties in Media Player showed the video is version 7, and the audio is version 9. I thought that was weird, so I checked profiles.dat to make sure I edited it correctly. It had reverted back to the original setting...

So I tried again. I looks like PVS 2.0 reverts it back on startup for some reason. I now have it edited, and will let it record something before restarting. It wouldn't be too handy if you have to reedit the file each time.

Ken

[languagegame]

I have Snapstream successfully encoding video using the Windows Media Video 9 Codec. The only change that I needed to do was to modify the profiles.dat file to set the following key:

VideoOutputFourCC: 861293911

Here are some more notes:

1) Make sure that snapstream is not running when you make the change to the profiles.dat file. The program seems to only read this file at startup. Thus, if you make the change while Snapstream is running, the new codec will not be used.

2) On my machine, Snapstream only resets the video codec back to ISO MPEG-4 when I attempt to modify the profile again using the Snapstream web interface. As long as I don't go into the qualities configuration screen, it keeps using the Windows Media Video 9 Codec.

3) Here's a little trick to lock the profile so that it cannot be edited again using the web interface. In the profiles.dat file, you will see that each quality profile has an associated key called "Protected". If this value is 0, then the profile can be edited via the web. If the value is 1, then it is locked. Thus, for the profile that I've upgraded to Windows Media Video 9 Codec, I also set the following key:

Protected: 1

4) Finally, one more thought. If Snapstream continues to reset the profiles.dat file at startup, try making the file read-only before you start the Snapstream program.

languagegame

[KenH]

Okay, I got it to work and it showed version 9 in properties. I was using the iPAQ High quality setting. The problem is... the quality was terrible, and the video did not play on my PocketPC. The audio played, but not the video. Media Player on the PocketPC is only version 8.5, so that is probably why.