Administration Guide for Cisco Media Experience Engine 3500 Release 3.3

Profile Enabled

Check the box to enable this profile for job processing.

Audio Enabled

Enables audio output for this task. This is a required setting and cannot be changed.

Video Enabled

Enables video output for this task. This is a required setting and cannot be changed.

Task Mode

This is a required setting and cannot be changed.

Standard: The Cisco MXE 3500 generates an intermediate uncompressed AVI file as the output of the preprocessing step.

User Data

The data entered in this field will appear anywhere $(user-data) occurs in the XML.

An example: If you want to include the title "Nightly News" in the output file name, you would, in the Encoder Profile, set User Data to: Nightly News. Then, in the Output Profile, set the Output Filename to include $(userdata):

As an example, in a Windows Media output, the result is a Nightly News.wmv file.

Sensitivity

This setting controls the sensitivity to changes in the video program that will cause a scene change to be declared. A higher sensitivity setting will generate more scene changes; a lower sensitivity setting will generate fewer scene changes. Acceptable values range from 10 to 200, with 100 as the default. By clicking on the sensitivity number, higher sensitivities (up to 1000) can be entered manually.

At Least Every

Specifies a maximum time interval, in seconds, between scene changes. If a scene change is detected before the end of this interval, the time is reset. The default value is 60 seconds and can be reset using the arrows or entering a time in seconds into the field.

At Most Every

Specifies a minimum time interval, in seconds, between scene changes. If a scene change is detected before the end of this interval, the time is reset. Until the period, measured from the time of the last scene-change, expires, no new scene change will be declared. This period is zero by default, meaning that there is no limit to how quickly scene changes can be declared (every frame).

Note The At Most Every value must be greater than or equal to the At Least Every value.

Image Format

Choose a graphic format for the thumbnail images from the drop-down list. Supported formats are: JPEG, PNG, BMP, TGA, TIFF

Width / Height

These boxes determine the size of the thumbnail images.

The first box specifies the thumbnail width, and the second box specifies the thumbnail height. By default, the setting is 320x240. The entire image from the video is resized to fit the set thumbnail dimensions. The images are taken after preprocessing, so any cropping or color corrections applied in the preprocessor will be evident in the thumbnails.

The images may be stretched or compressed horizontally to fit the requested thumbnail dimensions. Cropping is not available. The graphics formats of the thumbnails assume square pixels, whereas video may not. So, for example, an NTSC video sized 720x480 output with a pixel aspect ratio of 0.9 should be considered a 4:3 image aspect ratio, resulting in a thumbnail with dimensions 160x120.

Thumbnails have a minimum size of 80x60 pixels.

Quality

Sets the image quality for JPEG thumbnails only.

Options are: 1,2,3,4. The higher numbers correspond to higher image quality and require larger file sizes for the thumbnails.

Profile Enabled

Check the box to enable this profile for job processing.

Task Mode

This is a required setting and cannot be changed.

Standard: The Cisco MXE 3500 generates an intermediate uncompressed AVI file as the output of the preprocessing step.

User Data

The data entered in this field will appear anywhere $(user-data) occurs in the XML.

An example: If you want to include the title "Nightly News" in the output file name, you would, in the Encoder Profile, set User Data to: Nightly News. Then, in the Output Profile, set the Output Filename to include $(userdata). As an example, in a Windows Media output, the result is a Nightly News.wmv file.

Use Thumbnail Frequency

Check this box to capture thumbnails within the period entered in the field below. The default period is 10 seconds, meaning that every ten seconds an image is captured. The number of images captured depend on the length of the video clip, and will be approximately (Clip Length)/(Thumbnail Period).

Thumbnail Frequency

When the Use Thumbnail Frequency box is checked, the time in this field determines the spacing between captured images. If the time of a requested thumbnail does not match the time of any video frame, the nearest frame is selected. The time must be greater than zero.

Use Thumbnail Number

Check this box to enable the capture of a fixed number of thumbnails per clip. The fixed number is identified in the Thumbnail Number field. You may use any number except zero. The spacing between thumbnails depends on the length of the video clip, and will be approximately (Clip Length)/(Number of Thumbnails).

Thumbnail Number

When the Use Thumbnail Number box is checked, the number in this field determines the number of thumbnails to be generated during the video clip. The thumbnails are equally spaced across the clip (except for irregularities caused by rounding to the nearest video frame). This may not represent the total number of thumbnails captured if other checkboxes enable other methods of requesting thumbnails. The number must be greater than zero.

To figure out which frames are captured: Divide the length of the video by the number of thumbnails, and multiply by the frame rate. The thumbnail image will be taken at the center of the interval rounded down to the nearest frame.

Example: 5 thumbnails taken from a 60 second video @ 30 fps will result in thumbnails taken at 6 seconds (frame 180), 18 seconds (frame 540), 30 seconds (frame 900), 42 seconds (frame 1260), and 54 seconds (frame 1620).

Generate Single Thumbnail

Check this box to enable the capture of a single thumbnail image at the time specified in the Thumbnail Time box on the File Job Submission page. These submission parameters are intended to be set on a per-submission basis, and are not saved in the profiles. See also: File Job.

Image Format

Choose a graphic format for the thumbnail images from the drop-down list. Supported formats are: JPEG, PNG, BMP, TGA, TIFF

Width / Height

These boxes determine the size of the thumbnail images. The first box specifies the thumbnail width, and the second box specifies the thumbnail height. By default, the setting is 320x240. The entire image from the video is resized to fit the set thumbnail dimensions. The images are taken after preprocessing, so any cropping or color corrections applied in the preprocessor will be evident in the thumbnails.

The images may be stretched or compressed horizontally to fit the requested thumbnail dimensions. There is no cropping to make the thumbnails. The graphics formats of the thumbnails assume square pixels, whereas video may not. So, for example, an NTSC video sized 720x480 output with a pixel aspect ratio of 0.9 should be considered a 4:3 image aspect ratio, resulting in a thumbnail with dimensions 160x120.

Thumbnails have a minimum size of 80x60 pixels.

Quality

Sets the image quality for JPEG thumbnails only.

This field allows four quality settings, labeled 1,2,3,4. The higher numbers correspond to higher image quality and require larger file sizes for the thumbnails.