Media Encoder Templates
The July 07 update of the Encoder didn't make any changes to the encoder itself. It added 14 templates that align with the RC1 (Release Candidate) version of Silverlight, without removing the original set of templates.
When a computer opens its first Silverlight RC1 package, the browser shows 'Get Microsoft Silverlight RC'... click it to install the needed add-on to the browser. After it's installed, the links to Silverlight RC1 packages are functional.
Test it with one of these...
Audio Grey RC for audio only...sample Photo Story 3 clip
Blitz RC Sample Photo Story 3 clip
Classic RC Sample Photo Story 3 clip
Console RC Sample Photo Story 3 clip
Corporate Silver RC Family Boating Fun... opening clip
Corporate White RC Sample Photo Story 3 clip
Executive RC Sample Photo Story 3 clip
Expression RC Manarola in Cinque-Terre
Glassy RC Civil War Reenactment
Minimalist RC Family Boating Fun... opening clip
Pilot RC Video Doodle... playing airplanes
Popup RC Manarola in Cinque-Terre
Silverlight RC Manarola in Cinque-Terre
Thin RC Manarola in Cinque-Terre
PapaJohn's Products and Services
Behind the Scenes (later)
Tips and Tricks
#1 - If you're running other than an English version system, and using version 1.0.2780.0 of the Encoder, there is a bug in finding the templates, and they won't appear in the Job Output field drop-down pick list. Copy the contents of "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Expression\Media Encoder 1.0\Templates\en" to the language sub-folder appropriate for your operating system.
#2 - To embed a Silverlight player in an html website page, using a video file not created by the Expression Media Encoder, here's an extract from an 8/15/07 newsgroup post by Charles Ezzell of Microsoft...
Create your WMV file with your favorite encoder. Doesn't matter which one as long as it's a valid wmv file.
or (for streaming) return ("mediaUrl": "mms://mymediaserver/mywmv.wmv"
(you need to fully qualify the file name for streaming)
Then, copy the template files and wmv to your web server and create a link to it. You're done if you want to be.
Now, to 'embed' in an existing page, you can use iframes as such, pointing to the html file created by EME:
(left pointed bracket)iframe src="test/Default.html" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no">
... and it'll work like this... I substituted a muted video made by Movie Maker. A Photo Story 3 file won't work.
Cinque Terre, Italy...
#3 - Where do the downloaded video files go? How could you get a copy?
The wmv file being viewed is coming down into one of your temporary internet file folders...
On my XP laptop, it's to c:\Documents and Settings\PapaJohn\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\ContentIE5\(some random code)\(filename.wmv)
On my Vista laptop with its enhanced privacy and security measures, I used these steps with Internet Exporer 11: menu bar > Tools > Internet Options > General tab > Browsing history Settings button > View Files > sort by Type > change the sort order to be from Z to A > the Windows Media Audio/Video file type will be up toward the top > select the file and copy it to another less protected folder.
What Can go Wrong
For fixes and work-arounds, see the same item number in the next section....
Fixes and Work-Arounds
Use Expression Media Encoder to 'encode' a short file to a silverlight template that you like, then go in and modify the startplayer.js file within the template output to point to your file (or stream), as such: return { "mediaUrl": "mywmv.wmv"
Note: Streaming doesn't work in the RC version of Silverlight for a file-based system for security reasons - the template files need to be on a webserver so it's a bit more difficult to test before uploading. Also, streaming video in Silverlight is not hardware accelerated as in WMP, so you do need to watch your size. A video with an equivalent frame size & bitrate such as YouTube video should perform as well in Silverlight as in Flash.
This clip is Manarola...