Streaming Learning Center

We review your streaming production and encoding workflow to ensure that you’re efficiently producing the highest possible video quality at the optimal resolution and data rate.

See our Testimonials.

To produce the best possible streaming video quality, you have to know:

• Which camera settings to use
• Which sequence settings to use during editing
• Which codec to use
• Which encoding tool produces the best quality for that codec
• Which output settings to use (resolution, frame rate, audio and video bitrates)
• Which encoding parameters (VBR vs. CBR, profile and level, entropy encoding technique, key frame interval, B-frame interval)

Very few companies have experience in all these areas, and finding one resource knowledable in all these areas is challenging. We can look at all these variables and tell you where you can improve quality and/or streamline your production workflow.

Thanks in no small part to Jan’s assistance, our online courses generate a tremendous amount of positive feedback from CPA clients, Jill Hoven, Director of Communications, Vern Hoven Tax Seminars

For this client, a contrast/ saturation adjustment made a huge difference in compressed quality. This sample was provided to illustrate the benefit adjusting contrast and saturation could provide, and we sent a custom screencam detailing how to perform these adjustments in the client's editor.

How it works:

• We meet and greet by phone. You provide an overview of your workflow (camera, camera settings, editor, sequence settings, encoder, encoder settings, target audience, distribution method).

• Things vary from project to project, but in most, you send a representative pre-encoded source file, an encoded file produced using your current settings and the preset used by your encoding tool.

• We take these materials and:
  • Compare your current stream configuration to relevant sites and suggest new parameters if appropriate. If your video is too small, or your data rate too high, we'll tell you.
  • Review your current encoding parameters to make sure that they’re producing optimal quality. We look at things like key frame settings, H.264 encoding parameters, compressed audio settings and deinterlacing technique to let you know if you’re missing anything quality-wise. 
  • Compare the output of your encoder with at least one other encoding tool. If you’re currently using Sorenson Squeeze, we try Episode Pro, or another encoding tool.
• We send you a report detailing:
  • Which other sites we compared your streams to and how you stacked up.
  • Whether your current encoding settings are appropriate, and if not, how they should change.
  • Whether a different encoding tool could produce better quality.
  • Any recommended changes in your editing or encoding workflow.
• We send you all presets, settings and comparative encoded files for your review. If necessary, we can coach you through certain program operations, even create a custom screencam to show you how.

What you get:

• A comprehensive review of your streaming production workflow, so you know that you’re producing an optimally configured stream, at the highest possible quality using the most efficient workflow.

For this client streaming to the iPhone, a bigger frame at a slower frame rate improved quality dramatically.These are the comparison frames sent to the client to illustrate the potential benefits of the change, plus the encoded files and encoding presets.

What it costs:

• Services are performed by Jan Ozer, who charges $150/hour, with a two hour minimum.

How to get started:

• Give Jan a call at 276-238-9135, or send an email at jozer@mindspring.com.

Who the heck is Jan Ozer?

• Glad you asked. Jan has produced and encoded video since the CD-ROM days (1992) and is the owner of www.streaminglearningcenter.com. If you found materials on the site useful, chances are that he wrote it.

• Instructor:  Jan has taught courses in video and streaming production since 1994, most recently for the MCA-I and at Streaming Media Seminars in New York, San Jose and London, and for private organizations like Cisco, Lockheed and Johns Hopkins University.

• Author: Jan has written many authoritative articles on streaming technologies for outlets like StreamingMedia.com, Digital Content Producer, and EventDV, and has written or co-authored 14 books on digital video related topics, including the Hands-On Guide to Flash Video: Web Video and Flash Media Server, with Stefan Richter. Because of his writing, Jan has access to and knows how to use a very broad range of editing and encoding tools, from Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and Sony Vegas to pretty much any current encoding tool you’ve ever heard of.

• Producer: Jan also shoots, edits and produces DVDs and streaming media for concerts, ballets and other events, produces training videos for local artisans, and screencam presentations for multiple organizations, including Roxio, ProDad, EventDV and ViewCast.