Articles

Webcasting live events used to be complicated and expensive, but a range of products and services—some new, others that have been around for a while—have simplified live event streaming and made it much more affordable. In this article, I’ll identify the relevant live marketplaces and outline key companies and technologies to consider in each market. Let me say up front …

Expression Encoder 3 is the encoding component of Microsoft’s Expression Studio, a five-product suite ($599 retail/$399 upgrade), and of Expression Web, a three-product suite that also contains Expression Web and Expression Design ($149/$79). Microsoft is also selling Expression Encoder 3 as a stand-alone product with a list price of $49. Seems like a good decision, because although there were some …

It’s time to look at Microsoft Windows 7, which I’m doing in two phases. First, I’ll upgrade an existing Windows XP installation and detail the experience and my first impression of Windows 7. Then, using a multiboot computer, I’ll test the performance of Windows Vista against Windows 7, and if the stars align, perhaps even Windows XP. Today, I’ll walk you through the process of …

On November 12, YouTube announced that “1080p HD Is Coming to YouTube.” In this article, I’ll describe the type of file you should upload to trigger 1080p encoding, analyze the 1080p files created by YouTube and detail the other files created by YouTube in addition to the 1080p file. My workflow was simple; I uploaded four 1920×1080 files to YouTube, …

While in San Jose, Calif., recently for Streaming Media West, I called Adobe, which has its headquarters in San Jose, to ask I could swing by to discuss the next version of Adobe Creative Suite, or CSNext as it’s been dubbed. Simon Hayhurst, Adobe’s senior director of product management, was kind enough to spend an hour with Tim Siglin and …

When you stream over 18,000 live hockey games a year, you have to learn a bit about what works and what doesn’t. So when I chatted with Marc Ruskin, President of FASTHockey, Inc, the premier online destination for amateur ice hockey games from across North America, I was anxious to get some live production related tips. And he didn’t disappoint. …

My article The Moving Picture: Decoding YouTube Upload Options just posted on www.eventdv.net. It explores the options available when uploading original SD video to YouTube, detailing my conclusions after uploading six files ranging in resolution from 480×270 to 720p. Click over to the main streaminglearningcenter site for links to the test files on YouTube.

Just got off the phone with Jay Simons from Atlassian, an Australian software company specializing in collaboration and development tool like Jira, Confluence and FishEye. Atlassian uses screencam videos to illustrate new features and quick training tips, and produces the screencams with Telestream ScreenFlow. I was chatting about Atlassian’s choice of Episodic as their Online Video Platform (OVP) for an …

My Squeeze 6 quality and performance review just appeared on the Digital Content Producer site. I looked at both Windows Media and H.264 quality, but not VP6 because Squeeze couldn't meet my data rate targets. More on that here. To see the rev

Just back from StreamingMedia West, it was a great, high energy show. I just posted a lengthy article on my reflections from the show on the main site, here.