Articles

This is a video from a session at Streaming Media West. In addition to the production/pre-processing and encoding tips, it’s a unique opportunity to see me – Jan Ozer – as a blonde, which I was for roughly 6 weeks last year (a Halloween thing). Here’s the agenda for the video to give you a rough idea of what I …

Last Friday, I produced a concert for old time band Allegheny Blue to test out the NewTek TriCaster TCXD300.  I uploaded a 720p file to YouTube to present to the band, and when I went to view the file, I noticed that the Google subsidiary had subtly changed the playback interface. Specifically, as you can see on the bottom right …

If you want fast or slow motion in your video (like slowing this spinning ballerino), you have two choices: you can adjust the speed in your editor, which can produce interpolation artifacts, or you can adjust the frames per second captured by your camcorder, which should deliver higher quality. If you choose the latter approach, there are three components to …

A Windows 7 upgrade can cost more than $300 for the software alone — is it worth it if you’re a streaming producer looking to shave encoding times? Well, that’s what I detail in this article. By way of background, I had a great testbed for this – a dual processor, quad core 3.33 Ghz Xeon (Nehalem-based) computer from custom …

As with video, it’s hard to capture audio perfectly. Fortunately, Apple Soundtrack Pro makes it easy to correct many common problems. In this article, I’ll detail how to remove pops and clicks from your audio file, boost volume via normalization, and remove background noise. Note that although Final Cut Pro allows you to perform some of these functions on the timeline, I recommend working …

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 …