Sersha.com Frequently Asked Questions

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Converting your videos with Riva FLV Encoder

Note, that we do not support third party software and we do not follow their changes.

Download FREE Riva FLV Encoder from the manufacturer's site and install it on your Windows computer.

The process of video conversion is very simple:

Start the Riva FLV Encoder

Click the 'Browse' button next to the 'Input Video' field and select your video.

Check the Output Directory field. Make sure that you will be able to find the converted video ;).

Select '640x480' as the Movie Size (an option at the right side of the application).

Select '1000' as the Bitrate.

Click on the 'Encode' button (bottom center side of the window).

Note, that we do not support third party software and we do not follow their changes.

Windows Movie Maker should be included in your Windows XP or Vista Operating System. It is a powerful package that will allow you to get creative, as well as reduce the size of your videos. We recommend to review the Help available for the Windows Movie Maker (hit F1 after starting the software).

The process of video conversion is very simple:

Start the Windows Movie Maker

Drag and drop your video to the Content Panel (center of the screen)

Drag your video from the Content Panel and drop it on the Story Board (bottom of the screen)

Click on the 'This Computer' link (at the left side of the screen, just below the 'Publish to' line)

Type the name of the converted video and select the folder for the video.

Click on the 'Next' button.

When the 'Choose the settings for your movie' screen displays, click on the 'More settings' radio button and select the 'Windows Media Portable Device (1Mbps) option.

Click on the publish button.

Your video will be ready to upload to the sersha.com within minutes. Read More ...

Converting your videos with Any Video Converter

Note, that we do not support third party software and we do not follow their changes.

Many of us do however use this software ourselves on our home systems and find it to be powerful, yet easy to use.

You can download Any Video Converter from the manufacturer's site and install it on your Windows computer.

The process of video conversion is very simple:

Start the Any Video Converter

Click the 'Add Video' button to add video clips.

Select the 'Flash Video Movie' option from the combobox located at the top right area of the application's window.

Select '640x480' as the Video Size (an option at the right side of the application).

Select '1000' as the Video Bit Rate.

Click on the 'Convert' button (top left area of the window)

When the conversion finishes, right click on the video's name in the center section, and select the 'Open Destination File Location' option.

Here we go! Your video clip is ready for the upload.

Maybe your file is named in a manner that our site cannot understand. Here are some conventions to be aware of:

Entire file name cannot exceed 48 characters.
Format of the name should be <file name>.<extension> or <file name>
Characters that can be used are a,b,...,z, A,B,...,Z, 1,2,..0, -, _ and space.

Help: How can I convert my videos?

Many older digital cameras and lower end camcorders create huge video files due to ineffcient algorithms of compression. High Definition cameras create huge video files in order to allow the highest quality and resolution of clips.

Although it is possible to upload even very large files, the upload will take less time if the the video clip is compressed to a smaller size.

Sersha.com stores videos compressed to Flash format with resolution of 640x480 and bit rate of 1MB/s. We recommend to compress your videos using Flash or MPEG4 codec and bit rate close to 1MB/s before starting the upload.

There are multiple packages to do video conversion available on the market. Some very simple, others complex and powerful. Some free, other commercial. We do not offer support for the 3rd party packages, and leave it to the users to pick their package.

Any Video Converter

A free and simple software package. Very simple and easy to use. Click to see how.

Riva FLV Encoder

A free software. All it does it converts videos to the Flash format. This is all we need! Click to see how.

Windows Movie Maker

A part of Windows XP and Windows Vista. A simple but still powerful package that allows conversion videos to the WMV format as well as movie editing merging and much more. Click to see how.

How can upload videos faster?

Your upload can take time depending on the size of the video clip and the speed of your Internet connection.

If your Internet connection is very slow, you may consider not browsing the Internet, not using Voice Over IP applications and/or not using P2P sharing applications.

It may be a good idea to upgrade your Internet connection or upload the files from a computer connected to a faster line.

Last but definitely not least, you may want to convert the video to a smaller size.

What happens to my video after upload?

After a video is uploaded, it will be converted to the format used by Sersha.com. This will take some time, depending on how busy the servers are and how large the video is. The video will then be placed on the site.

Note that the original videos uploaded by you will be deleted. The videos left on the web site will use Flash Video Format (FLV), 1000kb/s bitrate and a resolution of 640x480. We find that this makes a high-quality yet Internet friendly solution.

The time required to upload your files depends on the speed of your Internet connection as well as the size of the files.

It may take as little as a few minutes for the upload. It may take as long as an hour or even more if you are uploading uncompressed or high definition content. The good news is that after finishing the first upload, you will have a good estimate for the time in the future.

What video formats can I use?

Sersha.com accepts most of formats available on the market. Although there may be some formats unsupported, most likely it will not happen to you.

The following formats are currently supported:

Name Encoding ADTS AAC audio X ASF X AVI X AVM2 (Flash 9) X Creative VOC X DV X FLV X GXF X id RoQ X Matroska X MOV/QuickTime X MPEG audio X MPEG-1 systems X MPEG-2 PS X MPEG-4 X MXF X NUT X raw AC-3 X raw CRI ADX audio X raw MJPEG X raw MPEG video X raw MPEG-4 video X raw PCM 8/16/32 bits, 32/64-bit floating point, mu-law/A-law X RealMedia X SUN AU format X WAV X Windows Media Format X Read More ...

Do you have any uploading tips?

Sersha.com allows you to upload very large videos. Note, that the time of the upload will largely depend on the size of the file and the speed of your Internet connection.

If you want to upload large files obtained from high quality camcorders or inexpensive digital cameras, you may consider using software like Windows Movie Maker, Apple QuickTime, Any Video Converter or Mpeg Streamclip to encode your videos at the bitrate close to 1Mb/s.

How much video can I store?

Premium users can upload up to 30 minutes of videos.

Premium Elite users can store up to 60 minutes.

Platinum users can upload up to unbelievable 300 minutes of the videos.

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