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Deliverables: How should I encode my videos for Distrify?

We offer a Premium Encoding service that transcodes whatever videos you upload and ensures they are in the correct format for streaming via the Distrify player. While our premium encoder accepts pretty much any common video codec, we cannot accept Apple ProRes files and a few users have had problems uploading DivX files.

Distrify can play higher than DVD quality videos, but if you don't have the original files and only have the DVD to use as a master, we have some special options for you. See the next topic for instructions on how to upload from DVD.

To make things easier, we have recommendations to prepare your files for Distrify. Just click your source format below to see the recommended maximum quality settings:

High Definition Widescreen (16:9)

Standard Definition Widescreen (16:9)

Classic Academy Ratio (4:3)

You can upload higher quality files, but it will take a lot longer to upload and process. Our current file-size limit is 5GB, but some web browsers have trouble with files larger than 2GB. Since HD feature films are often larger than 2GB, we recommend you use the Chrome browser since it will support larger file uploads.

If you need help exporting video files, there are some useful tutorials on Vimeo for different software packages (we can also transcode videos encoded according to their recommendations). If you don't have professional encoding software, we recommend Handbrake or MPEG StreamClip because they are free, relatively simple and deliver good quality encoding. Handbrake has a useful feature that lets you set quality by "target size" instead of bitrate, ensuring your encode will be the maximum quality that fits under our upload limit. We have preset files available for Handbrake - just click the options above to reveal download links.

How do I upload from a DVD?

Distrify can play higher than DVD quality videos, but if you don't have the original files and only have the DVD, then follow these instructions. These instructions assume your DVD is not encrypted. Please don't use these instructions if your video is letter-boxed, since you will need to crop the video and re-encode it first. Also, don't follow this method if you want to add a subtitle track, since subtitles need to be burned-in while encoding. If your movie is very long (2 hours or more and on a DVD-9), it may be too big for this method. You can only do this if the mpeg file is under 5GB - otherwise follow the instructions above.

1. First, make sure you have downloaded and installed MPEG StreamClip (it's free)
2. Then insert the DVD.
3. Open MPEG StreamClip and go to File -> Open DVD...
4. Navigate to the DVD from your computer's file-system and then press "Select".
5. MPEG StreamClip will open the first track from the DVD. You can preview the selected track in the MPEG StreamClip window and choose a different Video Track from the Video Track menu.
6. If you have some pre-roll that you need to remove, you can use the In and Out points to edit the video.
7. Finally go to File -> Convert to MPEG... and then give the file a name that you can remember. This will make a loss-less copy as an .mpeg file that you can upload to Distrify.
8. Go to your film profile and click "Upload Video". In the File Upload control, select the .mpeg file you just created.
9. Before you upload, click "Show Advanced Options" and choose the correct source DVD format from the menu. You need to know if your DVD is NTSC (North America and Japan) or PAL (most of the rest of the world) and whether it is anamorphic widescreen or 4:3 full-frame. Select the appropriate source based on these options.
10. If your DVD is interlaced, you need to tick the De-Interlace box. If you don't know if your DVD is interlaced, open the video file in quicktime or some other video player and find a scene with lots of motion. Pause the video and if you see lots of small horizontal lines, that means it's interlaced. Do not de-interlace unless you have to, because it will reduce the quality of the file if it is already de-interlaced.
11. If you are in doubt about any of these options, go ask an expert, because you'll waste a lot of time if you upload with the wrong options.
12. Once you're sure you've chosen the correct options, press the Upload button and go make a cup of coffee. It will probably take a few hours to upload, and you'll need to leave your computer switched on and connected to the internet.

How much should I sell my film for?

With Distrify you set your own pricing for your film. You can even set different prices for different territories by using our multiple currency options or combining these with our geo-location tools.

Our advice is to not set your prices too high to put you out of competition and to not set your prices so low that it cheapens the product.

We recommend the following price ranges for new releases:

Format	USD/CAD/AUD	EUR	GBP	MXN
Rental	$4.99	€3.99	£3.99	$55
Download	$19.99	€13.99	£13.99	$200

If the film is older you might consider a lower price. If you are offering extras, you can sell them separately or as part of a "Deluxe Package" or both.

Please note that we have minimum prices set in our Terms and Conditions. These are subject to change, but currently we ask that you do not set your streaming or download prices lower than $2.99 (or the alternate currency equivalent) for feature films (over 40 minutes) or $0.99 for short films. For merchandise, the minimum price is $0.99, but bear in mind that you must include postage in the price.

What currencies can I sell my films in?

We automatically geo-locate users and show pricing in their local currency when available. If the user is from a country with a currency that we do not natively support we show the price in Euros or the first currency you have defined in the pricing options. We highly recommend that you set prices for each of the currencies we support unless you have geo-blocked one of the regions.

Currently we support native transactions in the following currencies:

• U.S. Dollars
• Euros
• British Pounds
• Canadian Dollars
• Australian Dollars
• Mexican Pesos

If you are interested in pricing your film for a particular market, we are always happy to explore possibilities of expanding our payment options. Get in touch and let us know about your plans - we will try to help!

I don't have the online rights to sell my film in every country. Does Distrify have geo-blocking?

In short, yes! We have a simple to use tool that lets you either exclude certain territories or make a list of the only territories your products can be sold in. These options are per product, so you can release different versions/formats of your film in different countries, depending on the rights you have available.

Of course we highly recommend that you negotiate with the other rights-holder to make your film available in all territories. The philosophy behind Distrify is to make it easy for audiences everywhere to buy films and watch them in whatever format they want, whenever they want - from cinema to DVD to online-streaming. With Distrify, it's entirely up to you what formats you want to promote and sell, but the more choices you offer, the more happy customers you'll have buying your film and telling others about it.

What if I'm selling physical goods like DVDs or T-shirts?

Currently you are responsible for fulfilling orders for physical goods from Distrify. If you are selling DVDs or any other merchandise you will receive email notifications every time someone orders from you. You must send the order as soon as possible and update the order on Distrify.com.

For the time-being we are encouraging all our clients to include sales tax, shipping and handling charges in the price listed for the item. This keeps things simple for customers and encourages better conversion rates. Your customers will prefer to buy when the price includes postage and there are no extras added when they get to the checkout page.

Note: We may consider changing these policies in the very near future. Your feedback is welcome.

How do I embed my film on Facebook?

We have created the Distrify Facebook App that lets you embed the Distrify video-player for your film on your Facebook Page.

All you need to do is:

1. Log in to Distrify and then go to the Distrify Page Tab application and click on "Add to my Page". Select which page you want to add the tab to. Show me
2. Then go to your Facebook page and click on the "Watch Now" tab. You will be shown a list of your Distrify films and you just need to click "Link (your film) to page".
3. You can then change your page settings so that the Distrify tab is the default landing tab. Click "Edit Info" at the top of your page and click on the "Manage Permissions" section. Then select "Watch Now" from the Default Landing Tab menu. Show me
4. If you want to change the name of the tab from "Watch Now" to something else, you can go to the Apps section of the Page Editor and click "App settings" under Distrify. Then you can change the tab name. Show me

How do I embed my film on WordPress?

We have a simple, easy-to-use WordPress plugin that makes embedding on WordPress blogs as easy as copying and pasting your Distrify URL. For instructions, go to the Distrify Embed plugin on WordPress or watch the video below.

How do I embed my film on my (or any other) website?

You need to be able to edit the HTML of your website (or have your administrator do this). All you have to do is click the "Embed" icon in your Distrify player and then use the "Copy Code" button. You can click "Customize" to change the player size before copying. Then just paste this code into your website's HTML wherever you want it to appear.

How much does Distrify cost to use?

Have a look at our Pricing page for a full FAQ on pricing.

How does this affiliate scheme work?

Anyone who is logged in to Distrify is automatically included in the revenue-sharing affiliate scheme. Users who buy the film or subscribe to the mailing list are automatically logged in. This means that if they use the sharing tools in the video player, or copy and paste the embed code or URL, it automatically includes a unique code that tracks their sharing. Any sales generated from their sharing qualify for the affiliate revenue-share programme. The affiliate code is tracked in the user's session, so even if they go away and then come back to buy the film, the tracking code is still active.

Affiliate revenue is only tracked one-level deep, so if you share a film with friend A who then shares it with friend B, only friend A will receive the affiliate share if friend B buys.

The minimum revenue-share for an affiliate sale is 10%. Film owners have the right to offer a greater revenue-share to encourage their audience to share the film more. The first 5% of the revenue-share comes out of Distrify's revenue-cut, and the remainder comes out of the film owner's payout.

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