Review: Microsoft Expression Encoder 3

Screen Capture and Editing
The final features that I’ll discuss are screen capture and enhanced editing features. As with most screen capture functions, you start by selecting an application or screen area to capture; specify whether you want to capture audio, webcam input, or both; and start capturing away. When you’re finished, you click the stop button and Expression Encoder saves the file in an XESC format that only Expression Encoder can recognize, a major bummer.

A better choice would have been an industry-standard AVI file that producers could load into a regular video editor for video and particularly audio editing. I asked Microsoft about this, and a representative responded, "The screen capture codec is brand new and was developed with Microsoft Research. In scope of the current release, we decided to focus our attentions on the codec performance rather than on making the codec itself accessible outside Expression Encoder."

Again, I disagree with optimizing performance over usability. Though Microsoft did enhance Expression Encoder’s editing functionality by allowing you to combine multiple source files into a single encoded file, it still lacks basics such as titling or even fading from or to black. Most screencam producers also tweak the audio component, removing pops and clicks and normalizing or compressing the signal for better clarity. Basically, unless you’re producing the most basic of screencams or can narrate perfectly and have a perfect recording environment, you’re going to need more editing capabilities than Expression Encoder provides.

To edit further, you’d have to input the captured file into Expression Encoder and output an intermediate file in VC-1 or H.264 format, which takes time and can degrade quality, and then input that file into a normal editor to start working. Interestingly, even Camtasia, the current market leader in the space, lets you output your captured files into either their own proprietary CAMREC format, or an AVI file. Microsoft should consider doing the same. Otherwise, the screencam implementation is certainly usable for a version 1.0 implementation, though it is nothing that will convince Camtasia owners to uninstall. During my testing, I captured and produced a short screencam "first look" of Expression Encoder, which you can view at www.doceo.com/ee3.mp4. For all my whining, the quality was quite good, though I recommend outputting in very high quality H.264 format from Expression Encoder 3 if you’re going to edit further.

Beyond AVI output, features that I would prioritize for the next release include remembering the last captured area rather than setting it fresh each capture; an audio-tuning wizard; and an audio volume meter during capture. I like the pause and resume hot keys, but when you click resume, the utility should reposition the cursor to where it was when you paused; otherwise you get a cursor jump, pretty much ring around the collar for us screencam jockeys. What’s the final verdict? As a homegrown tool, I expected Expression Encoder 3 to produce top VC-1 quality (such as it is), and it did. I was surprised by the quality of the H.264 codec—unless you’re producing audio at lower than 96 kbps, it’s a very solid choice for H.264 as well. Expression Encoder 3 is one of the few software-only tools that can prep files for on-demand Smooth Streaming, making it a natural for that application, and it has the widest variety of Silverlight templates. While I wouldn’t buy Expression Encoder 3 for its screencam capability, as a free add-in, it’s tough to complain. Overall, it’s an impressive release.