Video Transcoding

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The HTML5 Video Transcoder enables videos of any format to be uploaded to Telligent Community Server and to be made playable directly within the browser without using plugins. The Transcoder automatically converts uploaded videos to HTML5 formats, supporting all modern browsers with a Flash-based fallback for older browsers. The Transcoder also enables previewing uploaded videos via a screenshot automatically taken from the source.

Installation

Preparation

1. Always back up your web files, database, and filestorage before installing new components.
2. Unblock the zip package by right-clicking it and going to Properties. If there is an Unblock button at the bottom of the Properties window, click it to unblock the zip package. If not, the zip package is already unblocked.
3. Ensure the database user for the Community Server instance has proper ddladmin permissions on the database, because the Video Transcoder plugin installs a new table.

Install the Web files

1. In the installation package, locate the Web folder.
2. Copy the contents of the Web folder into your Community Server site, merging existing folders. For example, if your website is located at c:/Web, it would end up containing c:/Web/bin/Telligent.Evolution.VideoTranscoding.dll.

Install the Job Service files

1. Stop the Job Service.
2. In the installation package, locate the Tasks folder.
3. Copy the contents of the Tasks folder to the root of your Job Service installation. For example, if your Job Service root was c:/Tasks, it would end up containing c:/Tasks/ffmpeg and c:/Tasks/Telligent.Evolution.VideoTranscoding.dll.

Configuration

1. Log into your Community Server site as an administrator and navigate to Control Panel > System Administration > Site Administration > Site Configuration > Manage Plugins. Locate the Video Transcoding plugin, HTML5 Video Transcoding.
2. Click Configure and set the properties on all three tabs according to the following table.
   
   

   Option	Description
   Maximum width	The maximum width (in pixels) at which the video will be transcoded from its source. If the source video is wider, it will be scaled down retaining its original aspect ratio. If the source video is narrower, it will not be up-scaled. This does not influence the playback size, which is still governed by the theme. default: 1024
   Maxiumum height	The maximum height (in pixels) at which the video will be transcoded from its source. If the source video is taller, it will be scaled down retaining its original aspect ratio. If the source video is shorter, it will not be up-scaled. This does not influence the playback size, which is still governed by the theme. default: 768
   Video bitrate	The maximum video bitrate (in kbps) at which the source video will be transcoded. default: 768
   Audio bitrate	The maximum audio bitrate (for both channels combined, in kbps) at which the source video's audio will be transcoded. default: 128
   Stereo	Determines whether the transcoded video will retain both audio channels (if it has two) or just one. default: checked
   Poster second	The point in the video's playback (at that second) where it takes a screenshot for displaying as the video's preview and thumbnail. default: 5
   Show Basic Viewer while Queued	When selected, videos that have been uploaded and scheduled to transcode but have not yet begun to transcode will render via the classic default video file viewer included with Social. This is useful when a large backlog of videos is expected. default: false
   Encoding timeout	The timeout (in seconds) at which the video transcoder should quit if it has not completed transcoding a given video. default: 1800
   Connection Type (Connection Tab)	This value determines whether transcoding will use a connection string defined in plugin configuration (see Database Connection String below) or a connection string in the connectionStrings.config file with a specific name (see Connection String Name below). The default value is Connection String Name.
   Connection String Name (Connection Tab)	This is the name of a connection string defined by the platforms available connections. Typically, you should use SiteSqlServer when in this configuration. This field is required and only visible when the Connection Type is Connection String Name.
   Database Connection String (Connection Tab)	This defines the connection to the database where you ran the SQL scripts previously. It is traditionally your Community Server database. Here is an example connection string: server=SQLSERVER-INSTANCE-NAME;uid=some-user-account;pwd=some-password;Trusted_Connection=no;database=my-database-name This field is required and only visible when the Connection Type is Connection String.

    

3. Save the configuration.
4. Select the check box next to the HTML5 Video Transcoding plugin to enable it, then click Save at the bottom of the plugin page. Please see the note below under 'Uninstallation' regarding being careful about disabling the plugin.
5. You can now start your Telligent Job Service and installation is complete.

To enable the Transcoding job:

1. Log into your Community Server site as an administrator and navigate to Control Panel > System Administration > Site Administration > Site Configuration > Manage Plugins. Locate the Video Transcoding plugin, HTML5 Video Transcoding Job.
2. Select the check box next to the HTML5 Video Transcoding Job plugin to enable it, then click Save at the bottom of the plugin page. 
3. By default, the job will run every 2 minutes.  If you wish to change this, click the Configure button next to  HTML5 Video Transcoding Job plugin.

Uninstallation

1. First disable the plugin by unchecking the check box next to the HTML5 Video Transcoding and  HTML5 Video Transcoding Job plugins in plugin management. This will effectively uninstall the plugin as well as delete all previously transcoded videos and remove the database table containing records of transcoded videos.
   Careful: Only disable the plugin if you are sure you want to also delete all transcoded formats of videos. Disabling (and uninstalling) the transcoder will not delete the original source videos but it will remove all transcoded formats. Re-enabling will requeue videos for transcoding as if they were being viewed for the first time.
2. Remove the ffmpeg directory and Telligent.Evolution.VideoTranscoding.dll from your Job Service's directory.
3. Remove Telligent.Evolution.VideoTranscoding.dll from your Web/bin directory.
4. Restart the Job Service.

Upgrading

These steps apply only to upgrading to version 1.2 of the transcoder from version 1.0 or earlier(which would be a Telligent Evolution 6.X site).

1. Follow the same installation steps identified above.
2. Remove the /vt/ directory from Web, which was part of the previous version of the encoder.
3. Remove the no-longer-necessary Telligent.Evolution.VideoTranscoding.FileViewer override, webm MimeTypes override, and videotranscoding CentralizedFileStorage override from Web/communityserver_override.config.
4. Remove the no-longer-necessary videotranscoding CentralizedFileStorage override from Web/communityserver_override.config.