I've done video transcoding in the past. While I wasn't an expert on the legal/patent issues, I know that the product we used (helix mobile producer, from Real) indemnified us such that we could then use ffmpeg as long as it was on the same machine.
If you use this service, you might want to inquire into patent issues, and if you are covered.
Here's ffmpeg's take: http://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html Here's Zencoder's take: http://zencoder.com/docs/codecs-and-formats/#licensing
You could say that about any blog post about any piece of software. Just because there's been a lot of (rather emotionally driven) press recently about video patents doesn't make it any different.
Do you know any resources for "current" recommended encoding settings (with regard to US-based ISP speeds & typical consumer home networks - dsl, cable, fios, cellular, 802.11g/n etc.)?
I know Flash Media Server will stream .mp4 h.264 video to Flash 9 and greater. iPhone/Ipod Touch requires a maximum encoding setting of Baseline, Level 3.0, iPad Level 3.1.
I really want to know what bitrates at which speeds and resolutions.
Depending on the user's connection, how many different bitrates would the video be encoded for (iPad over 3G, ipad over 802.11g, ipad over 802.11n, with cable, dsl, or fios)?