A recent tutorial posted on Streaming Media Magazine details how to use AWS Elemental’s Auto-ABR feature. Here’s the scintillating intro. Per-title encoding has been around since 2016, delivering significant bandwidth savings, QoE improvements, or both to companies that deploy it (click here for a backgrounder on per-title encoding). Those benefits notwithstanding, a recent Bitmovin survey revealed that only 35% of …

This article compares VVC, EVC, and LCEVC with H.264, HEVC, and AV1. Its’ useful if you’re attempting to understand the goals and capabilities of these codecs. In 2020, MPEG announced three new codecs, Versatile Video Coding (VVC), Essential Video Coding (EVC), and Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC). As of January 2022, all are released and available for testing which I …

OK, I’ll say it. As far as I know, this is the first time any study has compared the quality and performance of codecs representing Essential Video Coding (EVC), Versatile Video Coding (VVC), and Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC), as well as AV1, HEVC, and H.264. It’s not as exhaustive as I would like but the results should help …

I recently had the opportunity to test Roland’s V-02HD MK II video mixer. Though the unit only has two inputs, you can switch between them with optional foot control, making it ideal for simple self-produced productions. Here’s the Roland explainer video.  After working with the unit, I wrote a tutorial on how to use the mixer for a self-produced …

I recently spent a few days studying cloud-based video editors which led to this article published in Streaming Media Magazine. I learned that there are two tiers of cloud editors. The top tier, including Blackbird and Vimond IO, are serious video editors that rival desktop editors in features and performance (particularly Blackbird). These services should appeal to producers who want …

Dr. Dmitriy Vatolin is the Head of the Moscow State University Graphics and Media Lab and one of my favorite colleagues in the streaming quality space. His group produces the Video Quality Measurement Tool (VQMT) that I use almost every day and publishes many codec studies that compare the latest and greatest with comprehensive, and real-world testing. Dr. Vatolin was …

A recent Netflix post trumpets AV1’s suitability for mass-market distribution, but high encoding costs, the lack of HDR support, and nascent support in the living room make AV1 a non-starter for most producers. Most of these issues should be resolved by mid-2023, when mainstream usage should really start to blossom. Netflix: AV1 on (Some) Smart TVs In their November 2021 …

This video discusses how to choose the best cloud-based per-title provider. This was a talk I gave to the Streaming Video Alliance in late November 2021. The 23-minute presentation covers the following agenda with extensive examples. You’ll find the talk useful if you’re comparing per=title encoding features, particularly cloud-based, but also third-party options you can buy/lease and install and run …

Companies attempting to formulate the ideal encoding ladder for specific videos or classes of content should incorporate both the harmonic mean VMAF score for overall quality and the percentile score to minimize transient quality issues.   I’ve spent much of the last few weeks benchmarking H.264 and HEVC cloud-based per-title encoding capabilities like those available from AWS Elemental, Microsoft Azure, Brightcove, …

I’m a big fan of the Video Insiders podcast and have learned a lot from many of the episodes. I’m proud to have joined Dror Gill and Mark Donnigan for episode 70, which you can listen to or download here. Here’s the description: EPISODE SUMMARY The Video Insiders podcast is celebrating 70(!) episodes with a very special guest – Jan …