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Using Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 and Fraps

Discussion in 'Video Encoding' started by frapsforum.com, Jan 2, 2012.

  1. frapsforum.com Administrator

    For people who really don't want that many complex steps explained in our other posts, but still want a nice looking video, there is an option available from Microsoft to encode your Fraps videos. Since I don't consider this an ideal solution for people willing to spend a bit more time on things, consider this to be a bare minimum "How to" for getting your fraps videos encoded with Microsoft Expression Encoder 4.

    There is a video of this guide available for viewing on youtube, you should probably view it in fullscreen at 1080p if you can:



    This guide assumes your footage is in 1920x1080 format.

    First, download the application from microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=18974

    Preparing your work environment

    Step 1: Once it is installed, launch the program and you should be greeted with this screen:

    1.PNG

    Step 2: Click the "Transcoding Project" option, which takes you to a screen that looks like this:

    2.PNG

    Adding your videos and configuring the encoding parimeters

    Step 3: In the right menu, click the "Clips" Tab, and drag all the videos you wish to combine into one movie into that area. Each file will have an up an down arrow so that you can re-order the clips if needed.

    3.PNG

    Step 4: At the top right of the application, under the presets tab, type "xbox" in the search box, and select the 1080p option. Click "Apply"

    4.PNG

    Step 6: Encode the video by clicking the code button at the bottom left of the application window.

    Step 7: Go do something else, because encoding with this application is horribly slow.

    5.PNG


    Advanced


    Depending on your footage and how much movement is present in your clips, you may need to up the bitrate of the video slightly using this profile. Under the Encode tab, expand the video menu. You can then set the bitrate accordingly. I recommend increments of 1000 until you find a sweet spot.

    6.PNG
    frapsforum.com, Jan 2, 2012
    #1
    raffriff likes this.

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  3. raffriff Member

    It's very easy to join clips, as you say - that's a definite plus. I tried encoding with VBR quality mode @ 95% which came out at around 8000 kbps. The output looked fine. If the program only had some basic color correction etc.... But if you don't need that stuff, this is a good way to encode Fraps.
    raffriff, Jan 3, 2012
    #2

  4. raffriff Member

    It does have some neat features...
    • Click the pushpins (as shown) to auto-hide the utility tabs and expand your preview window.
      Reset workspace again with Window, Reset Active Workspace.
    expression-autohide-1.jpg expression-autohide-2.jpg
    • Use the mouse wheel to zoom the preview, mouse move to pan.
    • Save your encoder settings as a user preset. In the Presets tab, look for the
      big "+" button to the left of Apply. Check the Profile box, others are optional.
    • Enhance tab features:
      • Video Overlay (titles, captions, logo, etc) with transparency & fade
      • Audio Overlay (music) with volume control & fade
      • Cropping, resizing
    • A/B Compare: see the original and encoded videos side by side.
    raffriff, Jan 3, 2012
    #3

  5. StormHawk New Member

    Thnx for the tutorial.....:)
    StormHawk, Jan 4, 2012
    #4

  6. raffriff Member

    I'm seeing a slight loss of contrast when Video is set to "VC-1 Main". That is, luma range = 32-220, as if
    converted from 0-255 (full range) to 16-235 (TV range), twice. Selecting "VC-1 Advanced" fixes this.

    Be sure to check "Force square pixels" as shown in the tutorial, or you may get a squeezed (half-wide) video.

    The quality is very good though. Only tested a couple scenes so far, but "VC-1 Advanced" @ 95% quality
    seems comparable to x264 at CRF 19 - and at similar file sizes.

    And LOOK OUT...certain files will cause Expression Encoder to hang up forever. Avisynth files are one way to
    do it, even though Avisynth support is mentioned in the Help. Another way is with some H.264 MP4's.
    EDIT - it's probably not hung; it's just generating lots of thumbnails for the timeline...
    raffriff, Jan 5, 2012
    #5

  7. raffriff Member

    MS Expression Encoder includes a screen recorder that is actually pretty good. There's a good overview/tutorial here. It's actually even easier to use than it seems from reading that article or the Help:

    Setup:
    • Press the [≡] (Capture Manager) button
      • Set your preferred capture folder
    • Press the [☼] (Settings) button
      • Screen tab:
        • Frame Rate 30
        • Bitrate: 10000 or 30000
        • Quality: 95 or 100
      • Audio tab:
        • Enable source
    Recording:
    1. Press record
    2. Select a region of the screen, or hit the Full Screen button
    3. Press record again to start
    4. Press record once again to stop
    Drag your recording into MS Expression.
    raffriff, Jan 22, 2012
    #6

  8. frapsforum.com Administrator

    The desktop recorder is limited to 10 minutes with the free version, just making a note of that.

    And yes, it is very easy to use. The above video was made with it.
    frapsforum.com, Jan 22, 2012
    #7

  9. raffriff Member

    This seems to help: go to Tools, Options, Compatibility: disable any unused 3rd party codecs. I disabled Apple's H.264, MainConcept (Adobe's) MPEG-Audio, and all Cyberlink codecs (bundled with optical drive). Import is still bad (solarization) with sources from ffmpeg + x264 without "-pix_fmt yuv420p", but other MP4 sources look good. More importantly, Avisynth works now...
    raffriff, Jan 27, 2012
    #8

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