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First Look: Apple Compressor 4.1

Apple introduced Compressor 4.1 in mid-December. I just spent four days with the tool, and I can’t synthesize the results. All I can offer is a series of observations that will transfer the knowledge that I’ve acquired, and hopefully, all

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In Defense of Blu-ray

My wife owns a ballet company, which explains the frequent use of ballet sequences in my test clips and other content. Over the years, it’s been a great source of learning and training for me, though not really a business. I shoot because I have the best gear in town, which produces a great archive of my daughter’s progress and …

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Review: Brightcove Video Cloud Live

Real-time cloud transcoding is the future of live event streaming, and it’s here now from several companies, including Brightcove subsidiary Zencoder, which was among the first to announce a live transcoding product. In this review, I’ll

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How to Produce High-Quality H.264 Video Files

H.264 is the only compression technology that plays on all computers, mobile devices, and OTT players. This makes producing high-quality H.264 files compatible with your target playback devices an essential skill. Helping you acquire and/ or polish t

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Choosing an Enterprise Encoder

Here’s the description; click below to download the handout. This session discusses factors to consider when choosing on- demand enterprise video encoding systems from the likes of Digital Rapids, Elemental, Harmonic, Sorenson, and Telestream. Factors incorporated into the analysis include performance, output quality, quality control options, format support, expansion options, programmability, and other variables. If you’re considering buying an enterprise …

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Video Encoding for Producers

This presentation was for Streaming Media Producer Live. Here’s the description.  To maximize reach and revenue, online video producers need to deliver video that plays effectively on multiple computer and mobile platforms. To accomplish this, you need to know some fundamentals about the H.264 codec, as well as the playback requirements and limitations of all target platforms. You also need …

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Choosing a Cloud Encoder

Here’s the seminar description. The presentation video is below the description, and you can download the handout below the video. The session starts by describing what cloud encoding is and how it works for both live and on-demand applications. Then it details the types of applications that work well with cloud encoding, using mini-case studies of actual users. Next, it …

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New VLC Player Release Incorporates HEVC and VC9 Playback

Last week, VideoLAN released VLC 2.1.1, which incorporates HEVC and VCP9 playback on many of the multiple platforms supported by the player, which includes Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, FreeBSD, Solaris, Ubuntu, Mint, and multiple flavors of Linux.

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Understanding the Significance of HEVC/H.265

Here’s the seminar description, and the video is immediately below. Click below the video to download the handout. The most recent video compression standard, HEVC/H.265, was placed into final draft for ratification earlier this year and is expected to become the video standard of choice during the next decade. As with each generation of video compression technology before it, H.265 …

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Elemental Cloud: Streaming Media’s Comprehensive Hands-On Review

Let’s save us both a lot of time. If you’re looking for the cheapest cloud encoding service for low-volume production quantities, skip to the next article; Elemental Cloud isn’t for you. On the other hand, if you’re a high-vol

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