Sponsor
Ted Johnson, owner
12405 Venice Blvd #133
Los Angeles , CA 90066
(310) 737-7233
johnsonted@gmail.com

Description

Youthink.com is an online community site that features forums, journals, user profile pages, quizzes, and more. The site has over 380,000 registered users.

I am interested in a system that will allow site members to upload video files in Windows Media, Quicktime, or FLV formats, and automatically convert the uploaded video file into FLV format at a certain size and bitrate. For example, I may wish to have videos converted to FLV format at 320x240 size and 300kbps. I would like to be able to set the desired size and bitrate with variables.

Students working on this project will gain a thorough understanding of the most popular video encoding methods being used today, the difficulties inherent in uploading very large files over the internet (I believe this will require a creative solution, not just a simple HTTP upload), and the Flash Media Server, which is becoming the standard for video presentation on the web.

With this system in place, members would be able to upload videos to be displayed in a new video section of the site and also on their member pages. This will be similar to what is offered currently on youtube.com.

I have done all the programming for Youthink.com myself, using ASP, DLLs and Microsoft SQL, but this video conversion project is beyond my skill level. I would like the solution to be Windows-based, and it will need to tie into my existing MSSQL database. Software option includes compiled executable files, ASP, ASP.net, and Cold Fusion. Video presentation will be done via the Flash Media Server.

I will be available to personally meet with the students on a regular basis if they choose to take on this challenge