https://blogs.technet.com/b/mediaservices/archive/2011/04/27/expression-encoder-4-versions-and-features.aspx

This Blog also lists the features available for each Expression Encoder version.

Now the Expression Encoder (3 and 4) installation issues can be segregated into following categories:

1. Unable to activate the product after the installation

2. Unable to install Expression Encoder (Setup exits with the error)

Activation

Activation issues generally appear due to one of the following scenarios:

-      Multiple failed attempts to activate the product.

-      Uninstalling and reinstalling the product several times.

-      Using an invalid license key.

1. If you are having activation issues and need a new key,  follow the steps below based on your scenario:

Steps to get a Key for Expression Encoder 4 Pro:

• If you do not have a CD and are not a Professional customer:
  • Call Microsoft Technical Support 1- (800) 936-5800
  • Provide requested information
• If you are a Support contract with Microsoft or have a MSDN account
  • …and you have a CD  call 1- (800) 642-7676
• If  you ordered the application from the Microsoft Store call The Microsoft Store 1-(877) 696-7786 (Dial 0 to talk to someone immediately)
  • Provide the following info:
  • Order Number
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Current Product Key validation

General Setup Questions

If you have issues related to product setup, usage or developer questions, contact Microsoft Technical Support at 1- (800) 936-5800 to have a case created with Microsoft Technician . 

Note: This service is only available for Microsoft Premier Customers or Partners that have existing support contract with Microsoft.

• There are other options available to contact Microsoft Support, for more information see the links below:

Microsoft Support

https://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support#tab0

Getting Help from Microsoft Product Support Services
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b8akas30(VS.71).aspx

More Information

For more information on Expression Encoder, you can visit the following links:

Expression Encoder home page: https://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/cc507507.aspx

Expression Encoder Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expression_Encoder

Learn Expression Encoder: https://expression.microsoft.com/en-in/cc197144.aspx#ExpressionEncoderQuickStartGuides

Download Expression Encoder with SP1: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5c3c5f97-678c-4c99-a7fc-f84f320c626f

For people who are not familiar with Expression Encoder, it is an Encoder tool available from Microsoft to create, edit and encode media files. It's the successor of Windows Media Encoder which was widely used for number of years. For more information on Expression Encoder, you can visit the following links:

Expression Encoder 4 home page: https://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/cc507507.aspx

Expression Encoder Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expression_Encoder

Learn Expression Encoder: https://expression.microsoft.com/en-in/cc197144.aspx#ExpressionEncoderQuickStartGuides

Download Expression Encoder 4 with SP1: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5c3c5f97-678c-4c99-a7fc-f84f320c626f 

Note: It is recommended that you install the Expression Encoder 4 SP1 update after you have installed the retail version. This SP1 can be used as an update package as well as a complete package installation. This link can be directly used for fresh installation of Expression Encoder 4 free version.

Below is the table that will explain the difference between the versions of Encoders:

As this diagram shows, the following features are only available in fully featured Expression Encoder 4 Pro:

• Running a screen capture for longer than 10 minutes.
• Use of an MPEG-2 source for input.
• Use of AVCHD for input.
• Use of Dolby Digital audio input.
• Attempt to output in H.264 format.
• Attempt to output in AAC-LC format.
• Use of IIS Live Smooth Streaming.

Fully featured Expression Encoder pro is only available for purchase via retail channels.

You can verify which version of Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro you have by selecting Help -->About Microsoft Expression Encoder and checking the title of the program. Non-retail versions of Expression Encoder 4 Pro will display the following title:

To upgrade to a full-featured version of Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro from the Microsoft Store at the following location:

https://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Expression-Encoder-4-Pro/product/0BE96B98?WT.mc_id=expressionsite_EncoderPro4Buy 

The following versions of Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro are examples of non-retail versions. Please note, this list does not contain all possible sources of non-retail versions.

Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro (without codecs)

• Downloads from MSDN
• Volume license versions
• DreamSpark versions

This document provides the steps to setup IIS Live Smooth Streaming using the following components:

IIS Media Services 3.0 \ 4.0 \ 4.5 Beta

Expression Encoder 4.0

IIS Media Services 3.0 x86 : https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=dc4e95b0-e4de-456e-8254-a5047eabcd01

IIS Media Services 3.0 x64 : https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=21C12A04-7E36-4B63-B4EF-EEDB6273CF54

IIS Media Services 4.0 : https://www.iis.net/download/SmoothStreaming

Expression Encoder 4.0 with\without SP1  

Expression Encoder 4.0 : https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=75402be0-c603-4998-a79c-becdd197aa79

Expression Encoder 4.0 SP1 : https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5c3c5f97-678c-4c99-a7fc-f84f320c626f

Creating a Live Smooth Streaming Publishing Point on IIS Server

It is assumed that IIS Media Services is installed on top of IIS Server already:

• 1. In IIS Manager, select the desired Web Site or virtual directory, and then double-click the Live Smooth Streaming Publishing Points icon. Such as

• 2. On the Live Smooth Streaming Publishing Points page, in the Actions pane, click Add. 

• 3. In the Add Publishing Point dialog box, on the Basic Settings tab, enter the following information:

• File name. Enter a name for the Live Smooth Streaming publishing point definition file. In this example and throughout the rest of this walkthrough, we use the file name LiveSmoothStream. If you specify a different file name, be sure to substitute it appropriately as you follow the steps in this walkthrough.

• 4. On the Advanced Settings tab, select the Start publishing point automatically upon first client request check box. This setting allows an encoder to connect to the publishing point when the broadcast starts. Connection errors might occur if you don't enable this setting.

For more information about the additional settings that you can configure on the Advanced Settings tab, see Add/Edit Dialog Box.

• 5. If you want to deliver live streams to Apple® mobile digital devices, on the Mobile Devices tab, select the Enable output to Apple mobile digital devices check box.

Note: This option is only available on IIS Media Services 4.0 and above

Important: For more information about the requirements and publishing point configuration for Apple HTTP Live Smooth Streaming: Apple HTTP Live Streaming with IIS Media Services.

• 6. Click OK. A newly created Live Smooth Streaming publishing point definition file named LiveSmoothStream.isml is added to the Web site root.

• 7. Select and right click on created Live Smooth Streaming Publishing Point

• 8. The publishing point State value changes from Idle to Starting, which means it is waiting for external data (in this case, a live stream pushed to it from an encoder).

• 9. The state of publishing point changes from "Starting" to "Start" once Microsoft Expression Encoder is configure to push data to this publishing point.

Pushing a Stream to the Live Smooth Streaming Publishing Point

Note   Live Smooth Streaming is available only in Microsoft Expression Encoder Pro.

• 1. Start Expression Encoder (click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Expression > Microsoft Expression Encoder 4).

• 2. In the Load a new project dialog box, select Live Broadcasting Project, and then click OK.

• 3. Set up the source to use for your live broadcast. The source could either be File Sources or a Live Sources.

• 4. On the Presets tab, choose any of the preset (depending upon the bitrate requirement) with IIS Smooth Streaming in the preset name, and then click Apply.

NoteClicking the Apply button automatically updates the Output Format, Video, and Audio settings on the Encode tab.

Alternatively, you can specify your own values for the Output Format, Video, and Audio options on the Encode tab.

• 5. On the Output tab, select the Streaming check box to activate streaming.

In the Location box, type the URL of the Live Smooth Smooth Streaming publishing point that you want to publish your live broadcast to.

URL syntax: https://ServerName/SiteName/DirectoryName/PublishingPointDefinitionFileName.isml

For the example Live Smooth Streaming publishing point that we created in the previous section, the URL would be:

https://IISMedia-Server/LiveSmoothStream.isml

Click connect to establish the connection with Publishing point.

• 6. Click Cue to enable your source for broadcasting (a cued file source is shown in the following figure)...

...and then click Start to begin your live broadcast.

As the broadcast runs, you can monitor Statistics and Connections data in the corresponding panels.

Important : If you enabled the publishing point to stream content to Apple devices, such as iPhone® and iPad^TM devices, be sure to review the encoding requirements and settings outlined in Apple HTTP Live Streaming with IIS Media Services.

Note: To be able to play the Live stream, you need to have a Silverlight client player as the media doesn't work with normal WMP client. There are Silverlight client player templates available in Expression Encoder 4 and some more available on the internet for download such as https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9752687 and Codeplex. You can also develop your Silverlight player using Smooth Streaming Client SDK.

Live_Smooth_Streaming.docx

·         Install the Windows Media Load Simulator 9.0 on any Windows XP, Windows 2003 Client.

·         Put a .asf file in the ”%systemdrive%\Wmpub\Wmroot” of the server and rename the file to WMLoad.asf (Note remove the file once the Load Simulator testing is completed or else anyone who has the access to publishing point can run the load test which can result in system unavailability)

·         Change the security settings on the WMLoad.asf file and give everyone read access to the file

·         Keep the default publishing point enabled while running the Load test.

·         Open the  Windows Media Load Simulator 9.0 on the client machine and go to Tools-> Configurations (Advanced)

·         Below screen will appear

·         Enter the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) or the IP address of the server

·         In the New Stream enter the mms://ipaddress(FQDN)/publishing point and add it to stream list

·         Edit the other options as required and enable the logging required under Monitoring options

Following these steps Load Simulator should start capturing the performance test.