“The bottom line is that in the great struggle to find the true signal among the noise, you should ignore the claims of those who create and sell the codec, and prioritize those who actually have to put it to use. But you knew that already, didn’t you?” In a story reported by Streaming Media magazine, Netflix’s David Ronca, manager …

Most seasoned compressionists know that you can’t have high-quality streaming media without quality audio and video. In honor of our production issue, I thought I would list the production techniques that can make or break audio and video quality.  Let’s start with the setup. There are two concepts to keep in mind here: contrast ratio and detail. Cameras have limited …

Recent bad press received by MPEG LA seems to disprove the old adage that all PR is good PR. A few weeks ago, writing for Fox News, Steve Forbes said: One example is MPEG LA—a patent pooling entity and owner of the MPEG-2 standard commonly foun

I know, I know, Flash is dead, the war is over. We’ve all moved on to other battles. Still, I had to laugh the other day when I noticed how YouTube was encoding files for some browsers in HTML5 mode.  Here’s the story. I was writing another Video Doctor article for OnlineVideo.net. I remembered a YouTube video that looked like …

The recent news that YouTube will demonstrate 4K video encoded with VP9 at CES with hardware support from a number of chip and TV vendors has all the earmarks of a made-for-press release event; all froth, no substance. That’s OK; press release

Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve added 16 lectures of Adobe Media Encoder training to my existing course on Udemy, Video Compression for Web, Disc and PC/TV/Console Playback. You can see the modules added below.  I’ve also launched a separate course entitled Mastering the Adobe Media Encoder, which contains only these modules. The new course will cost …

I’m pleased to announce my new course, Mastering the Adobe Media Encoder CC: An Online Course, on Udemy. Why this new course? Well, I use the Adobe Media Encoder every day, and have for many years over multiple versions. I know which presets operate effectively as is, and which require some modifications. I know which controls really do improve quality (always …

My online course, Video Compression for Web, Disc and PC/TV/Console Playback has been live on Udemy for a couple of months. After two quick five-star reviews, a third has finally come in from Daniel Suarez, as shown below. Thanks, Daniel! Interesting that you should ask about this, as I’ll be adding Adobe Media Encoder-specific modules to the main course and launching a …

Last week, at my session Producing a Webcast from Soup to Nuts at Streaming Media East, Lowel Light Inc. was kind enough to loan me a Lowel TRIO light kit. I was looking for a light kit that I could setup in minutes, with focusable lights that I could use to demonstrate a number of different shooting scenarios. I’m happy to …

Last week at Streaming Media East, I held 2 three-hour sessions (parts 1 & 2) on Producing a Webcast from Soup to Nuts. The descriptions are below, as are the handouts for downloading.  SM2: Producing A Webcast From Soup To Nuts: Part One Part one of this workshop will discuss factors to consider when choosing a camera, audio system, lighting …