Articles

This article defines open and closed GOPs, identifies why closed GOPs are better, and details how to produce closed GOPs in FFmpeg with x264 and x265. The level of testing and analysis detailed here is consistent with the instruction in my book, Learn to Produce Videos with FFmpeg In 30 Minutes or Less ($34.95), and my course, FFmpeg for Adaptive …

Most streaming producers adopted HLS and DASH without any concern about intellectual property issues. Though MPEG LA formed a DASH Pool in 2015 it seemed to have died a quiet death in August 2019. Now one of the pool members, Helios Digital, is suing Crackle, Vudu, and Showtime Digital for infringing their DASH patents. As I state in my article …

We’ve been following the story of DASH royalties since MPEG LA first announced the pool back in 2015. Recently, the pool stopped offering licenses, which seemed to cease any assertions of royalties. But as I just wrote about in Streaming Media magazine, one of the pool members, Helios Streaming along with Ideahub, sued Showtime, Vudu, and Crackle. Here’s the rough …

On August 12, 2019, I reported in Streaming Media Magazine that the hugely unpopular MPEG LA DASH Pool might be shutting down. I shared what was purported to be a draft letter from MPEG LA President Larry Horn to pool members which stated the following: “Regrettably, with more than one year’s experience marketing the DASH License according to its revised …

Here’s the description; download handout here. T103. A Survey Of Per-Title Encoding Technologies Tuesday, May 7: 1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Per-title encoding techniques customize the encoding ladder to match the encoding complexity of the source, saving bandwidth on easy-to-compress videos and ensuring the quality of more complex footage. Codec specialist Jan Ozer compares the efficiency, implementation issues, and costs of …

 I just waded through another NAB’s worth of press releases. With depressing frequency, the first few graphs are filled with so much ancillary gobblygook that I often have no idea what the new product or service does after reading them. This invariably brings to mind the classic line from a bar scene in the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, …

The video below shows two tools that I’ve installed on every computer that will run them; MediaInfo on all Windows, Linux, and Mac workstations, and Bitrate Viewer, which is Windows only. If you don’t know about these tools, you’ll find the seven-minute video very, very useful. As a preview, MediaInfo provides information about my H.264, HEVC, VP9, and AV1-encoded files …

I gave a recent talk on royalties at the Streaming Forum, entitled HEVC, H.264 and MPEG-DASH Royalty Update. Here’s the description. Ten years ago, to stream video, you needed to know how to encode to H.264 and configure Flash. Now you have to be a patent lawyer. The end of 2016 was brutal from a royalty perspective. MPEG LA did …

Below is the handout from my presentation at the Streaming Forum entitled, HEVC: Rating the Contenders Operators adding HEVC to their delivery pipeline will have plenty of codec options, but who has the time to evaluate their features, output quality, and performance? No worries – codec specialist Jan Ozer has done the work for you, evaluating leading contenders like x265 …

How are organizations such as PBS and TechCrunch using Facebook Live to reach and grow their audiences? The platform has been with us for a year now, so it’s time to check in. We’ve all known for a while that you can stream live video to Facebook Pages. While the technical side is interesting, the big questions on our minds …