Streaming producers need tools to explore different encoding options and verify their work. Here are two free Windows tools that I couldn’t live without. MediaInfo MediaInfo is a video analysis tool that displays the most significant data points regarding a video file, including resolution, data rate, codec, bit depth, frame rate, duration, etc. It’s available for download here, and there …

To a great degree, video codec adoption is driven by the simple break-even formula presented above. You put your costs on top, your savings per hour on the bottom, and come up with the number of hours of video you have to distribute to recoup your costs and start hitting the plus column. If you’re in a TL/DR frame of …

Premiere Pro is an application that I use almost every day for course production and consulting. I’ve written books about it, created courses, and know every nook and cranny inside and out. After packing all the features one could possibly want into the program, Adobe is “reimagining” the interface to simplify operation for newbies. As I conclude in this article …

This article on the Wowza website provides a quick overview of the VP9 codec: what it is, how it performs, what it costs, and what it’s good for. It concludes with a section on where you should consider deploying VP9 and what you need to know to effectively deploy the codec. The article is the second in a five-part series …

This article on the Wowza website provides a quick overview of the H.264 codec: what it is, how it performs, what it costs, and what it’s good for. It concludes with a section on what you need to know to effectively deploy the H.264 codec, particularly within the Wowza Streaming Engine software and the Wowza Streaming Cloud service. The article …

We have been huge proponents of per-title encoding since its inception in 2015. Boy, has it come a long way. In this Streaming Media article, I recount the history of per-title encoding and trace its advancement from single file optimizations that could adjust only file data rate to AI-driven adjustments that can change resolution, data rate, frame rate, codec, color …

This article is about a video lesson that computes the bandwidths savings afforded by the FFmpeg-based implementations of VP9 (libvpx-VP9), H.264 (x264), HEVC (x265), and AV1 (libaom-AV1). The lesson uses the Netflix convex hull analysis to build unique encoding ladders for each test clip and codec and shows why BD-Rate figures don’t accurately predict real-world savings. Towards the end, it …

I’m pleased to announce the availability of our new course, Live Streaming Bootcamp, which costs $99.95 but is available at a 50% discount through September 30, 2021. See details below. Let’s face it, many of us have been placed in front of or behind a camera or webcam over the last year or so and left to sink or swim …

The State of Streaming, Spring 2021 Report, was sponsored by Harmonic, Inc, and details the radical changes that have occurred in streaming production and consumption during the second half of the pandemic. This interview explores key findings from the report with the authors Michelle-Fore Siglin and Tim Siglin, including which job skills and technologies have become more important over the …

We’ve added several new lessons to our E-learning course, Getting Up and Running with Wowza Streaming Engine. The advanced new modules include Deploying DRM with the Wowza and BuyDRM’s KeyOS Platform and Configuring a Wowza Origin with Amazon CloudFront Edge Servers. New lessons include: • KeyOS MultiPack Wowza Module Set-up and Configuration • Testing Encryption with A Sample Streaming URL …