It used to be when you converted your videos into a web-ready format, you would use a desktop solution; software that ran on your computer. But these days cloud based solutions have become more popular than desktop apps. Why? Because cloud based solutions free up your computer, save your hard drive from being chewed up , are often much faster and can drop your converted video files wherever you want. So here’s a look at the 3 best, cloud based, video encoding solutions.
I’ll try not to be partial here, but Zencoder is the service I use for all of my own videos. They charge on a per minute basis. For example, if you convert a 10 minute video, they’ll charge you 40 cents, or 4 cents per minute. If you have that video converted to an HD size of 1280×720 or higher, they’ll charge you 8 cents per minute. Why double the cost for HD sizes? Because HD video requires 8 to 10 times the processing power/resources to convert. With Zencoder you can pay only for what you use or you can pay a set monthly fee in exchange for pricing discounts.
Pros: Very fast video encoding. Excellent video quality. Total control over how your videos are converted. Batch convert many videos at once.
Cons: Zencoder is designed for developers to access the system via API. They do offer a basic user interface for single video uploads, but the array of encoding options will confuse novice users.
Encoding.com is the largest and oldest cloud based video encoding service. They charge based on bandwidth used, for both video in and video out. That means if you upload a 500GB file and have it converted to a file that is 80MB, you will have consumed 580GB of bandwidth. They offer both monthly and pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $2.50 per GB of video bandwidth.
Pros: Multiple options for uploading your videos, from API to browser based interface to desktop uploader to WordPress plugins. Lots of output options.
Cons: Even though they provide lots of ways to upload your videos, the user-interfaces for these options can be a bit confusing and the variety of options for converting your videos can confuse people.
I’m including HeyWatch here primarily for the simplicity they offer. Like Encoding.com, they charge based on the bandwidth used and the cost starts at $2.00 per GB. You can upload videos via API or through a browser based interface. And it’s the simplicity of this interface that has landed them in my 3 best. There are no confusing screens or dizzying list of options. You click upload and you click convert. Though there are lots of output options available and you can create your own custom encoding settings if you want.
Pros: Ease of use
Cons: Not as well funded as Zencoder and Encoding.com and may not produce the same high quality, at the same settings, as them either.
I have been a fan of Zencoder since you recommend them to us. We ported our encoding to them from Encoding(dot-com). I am very impressed with Zencoder. They encode video ultra fast, the quality is phenomenal, their uptime is awesome, and the support is heroic!
I’m curious as to why you would not just use Vegas to create the output formats you need. Is it the ease of use (and time) with Zencoder. Is it that the quality is better?
@Jason – No video editing software outputs quality web-ready formats…this is why desktop and cloud-based encoding solutions exist.
I’m using Final Cut Pro for my editing and web videos and I primarily go just to YouTube. Can you cover what settings you would use for this workflow for optimum YouTube quality with Zencoder? This is the first time I’m hearing of cloud based encoders and up to this point just used the editing software. Thank you.
@Matthew – If you’re just uploading your videos to YouTube, you wouldn’t need Zencoder or any other encoding service. These services take the video from your video editing software and transcode them into a web-ready format. When you upload a video to YouTube, YouTube does the same thing; transcodes your video into a web-ready format. Encoding services are designed for those who self-host their videos instead of using sharing sites or video hosting platforms.
I am planning to host a streaming website with exceptionally high quality movie clips. If I want to achieve the quality delivered by http://www.crackle.com or netflix.com:
– What best format should my source files be ?
– What encoders do I use to retain the best quality and reasonable size
– Encoding formats so that I can stream across TV, Gaming Console, IPhone, Ipad
– Name few encoding services that are out there with good quality and reasonable costs
@Martin – I cover these things in my paid training. As far as encoding services, I listed them in this post.
So the workflow is to upload a 500Gb file for encoding …
You must have HUGE bandwidth in the US. (For example) I have 20Mb download / 2Mb upload here in Ireland.
Is it practical in the US to upload this amount of data?
Or am I missing something?
TIA 🙂
Dave, I am working with a new community-based online streaming TV service, doing a two-hour show once a week. I’ve just arranged with management to get copies of the show for uploading to my own website for on-demand viewing. The service can give me files in .mp4, .m4v or .f4v format, Are these formats already “web friendly”? Or should I send them through ZenCoder enroute to my WordPress blog?
If you’re working with a video file under 300mb, sure. But, there is no way to quickly upload multiple gigs of data and wait for it to compress. I would never recommend this workflow to anyone professional or on a timeline
I’d just like to add http://pandastream.com to this list. We’ve been using them at MediaCore for almost a year now and they’re really awesome. Their pricing is a lot cheaper than Zencoder/Encoding.com as they don’t charge by the minute of video encoded, and their API’s were a lot easier to integrate with our app. For anyone looking for an awesome encoding platform with solid support I’d definitely recommend them.
In terms of pricing. Zencoder charges by the minute and Encoding.com by the GBs. Those who have tried both services, wich one of the price charging is better? I did some calculations and it seems that by the GB it would cost more if you upload and encode HQ/HD videos. So doing some basic numbers, Zencoder might be a little more economic than Encoding.com.
What you guys think?
The other service that is cheaper is Panda Stream, but I have read that is slow. I also find this benchmark test that seems to show that Zencoder is the fastest of the Encoding services.
http://blog.cloudharmony.com/2011/10/encoding-performance-comparing-zencoder.html