Jan Ozer

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I help streaming and video technology companies solve complex technical and market-facing problems in practical business terms. Engagements range from fixed-scope audits and codec strategy reviews to product testing and technical content that helps customers, prospects, and internal teams connect technical performance to business outcomes. I am a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine, writing about codecs and encoding tools. I have written multiple authoritative books on video encoding, including Video Encoding by the Numbers: Eliminate the Guesswork from your Streaming Video (https://amzn.to/3kV6R1j) and Learn to Produce Video with FFmpeg: In Thirty Minutes or Less (https://amzn.to/3ZJih7e). I have multiple courses relating to streaming media production, all available at https://bit.ly/slc_courses.

Choosing a UGC Site to host your videos

I use UGC site Vimeo to host the videos on StreamingLearningCenter.com, because it’s inexpensive and does a great job with my screencam-based tutorials and my videos play on computers and Apple devices. Using a UGC site to host the videos on your site is a great option for lots of small websites, but which UGC site is best? I explore …

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Adobe ships Flash Player 10.2 – Way more efficient than WebM

Adobe shipped Flash Player 10.2 earlier this month, and I ran some tests for StreamingMedia.com. Depending upon the browser and platform, it delivers some pretty substantial performance gains, and makes Flash even faster than WebM.  Here’s an example for video playing on a MacBook Pro.                      Firefox Beta 4.0b11 Flash Player 10.1 Flash Player 10.2 Difference HTML5/ WebM 38% 28% …

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Creating Online Presentations with Adobe Encore

This is a tutorial that I produced for OnlineVideo.net that shows how to create a Flash online presentation in Adobe Encore, the DVD authoring component of the Adobe Creative Suite. If you’re already producing DVDs with Encore, you can create an identical presentation for the web in just a couple of clicks. If you’re looking for  a simple way to …

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Flash does NOT over-consume power on Android handsets

Colleague Tim Siglin released an extensive white paper today that assessed the affect of the Adobe Flash Player on the battery life of six Android powered devices and found that: Flash Player 10.1 , in our initial tests, has negligible battery drain impact. Wi-Fi based use of Flash Player 10.1 in the native browser, with no other applications running, appears …

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Encoding for Upload to UGC Sites

This is a very basic video tutorial for newbies that details how to encode for upload to UGC sites like YouTube or Vimeo. It’s published on OnlineVideo.net, and I’ve embedded their player below. Again, it’s very basic, but if you’ve been looking for help getting started in streaming video, you might find it useful. It’s produced at 1280×720, so it …

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Squeeze 7 Now Available, Details at StreamingMedia.com

I’ve been working with Sorenson Squeeze 7 for awhile now, and wanted to share my thoughts and experiences today, the day the software is officially released. If you have Squeeze 6.5 or earlier, the big question is whether you should upgrade or not, so I’ll address that first: The answer is a clear and concise “it depends.” If you’re looking …

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WebM Encoding Tools: Five Popular Encoders Compared

This is a video that I produced for OnlineVideo.net on the subject. Here’s the description. In this video evaluation, Jan Ozer looks at and evaluates five popular WebM encoders: Miro Video Encoder Firefogg Wildfrom Flix WebM Telestream Episode Pro Sorenson Squeeze 7 You’ll learn why some are quite good and others aren’t worth your time. Ozer shows video samples of each …

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Posting Videos that Play on an iPad

Here’s a video that I produced for OnlineVideo.net on the subject.  Note that it looks absolutely fabulous in full screen (if I do say so myself) so give that a shot. Enjoy!

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Choosing a Premiere Pro Preset; HD Vs. SD

I shoot pretty much exclusively in HD now, but often render to SD DVDs. When it comes to choosing a sequence preset for Premiere Pro, I have two options, native HDV, which is the format that I typically shoot in, or 720×480 widescreen to match my DVD output. Which is better? Well, the quality difference isn’t significant, but it is …

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Manual vs Automatic Camera Operation

Whenever I shoot a live performance, I have an internal debate about which functions to perform manually and which to let the camera perform. Obviously, the panning and zooming is my job; the question is whether I also take on focus and/or exposure. I shot my fifth Nutcracker season just before Christmas, which adds up to about 20 shows total, …

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