Articles

alt

What is AV1?

Scheduled to be the first codec released by the Alliance for Open Media, AV1 is positioned to replace VP9 and compete with HEVC. While we don’t know many details yet, the backing of the Alliance should give AV1 a significant competitive advantage. The AV1 codec will be the first codec released by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM), and it’s …

Read More »

Fine-Tuning Your Adaptive Encoding Groups With Objective Quality Metrics

Click below to download the presentation or to view the conference video. Here’s the description.  Choosing the number of streams in an adaptive group and configuring them is usually a subjective, touchy-feely exercise, with no way to really gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of the streams. However, by measuring stream quality via metrics such as PSNR, SSIM, and VQM, you …

Read More »

Streaming Media East Presentation: Status of HEVC and Other UHD Codecs

[Author’s note: Video from the session is available below, as is the presentation.] The two biggest pricing mistakes you can make is to assume that the market has no alternative, and that you don’t have to get it right the first time. HEVC Advance in particular, and the HEVC IP ownership group in general, who still haven’t come together with …

Read More »

Handout for Codecs and Packaging 2016

Click below to download the handout. Here’s the description. As video resolutions increase and target playback platforms multiply, video producers must leave their H.264/HLS/HDS comfort zone and expand into HEVC, VP9, and MPEG-DASH. This workshop is divided into multiple segments by target platform to teach you the applicable standards and best strategies for delivering live and VOD adaptive video to …

Read More »

Eventstream Review: Profit From Paid Live Online Video Events

The combination of Eventstream, Eventbrite, and YouTube Live lets anyone charge for a live webinar, generating leads they can use to grow their business. While a strong contender, the help system could be a lot more helpful. Ustream, Livestream, YouTube Live, and other live streaming services are affordable and work well, but lack two key features. First, you can’t collect …

Read More »

Conference Research Tests Adaptive Video and Quality Benchmarks

The Society for Imaging Science and Technology hosts the annual International Symposium on Electronic Imaging, held this year in San Francisco, California, from February 14 to 18. The Symposium has eight tracks across a range of disciplines, where re

Read More »

Buyer’s Guide to Enterprise YouTube Platforms 2016

Enterprise YouTube platforms enable businesses to share videos with employees, partners, and other viewers; interested parties can then preserve and share the valuable institutional knowledge accumulated in these videos. Most systems function the way

Read More »

Buyer’s Guide to Webcasting Platforms 2016

Viewed from a distance, most webcast providers look pretty similar; they all let you create a registration page, collect contact info for your registrants, and serve attendees a diet of PowerPoint and talking-head video, spiced with quizzes, surveys,

Read More »

Technical Brief: Switch from CBR to VBR to Improve Overall Quality and Avoid Transient Quality Issues

This article explores the differences between constant bitrate encoding (CBR) and variable bitrate encoding (VBR) and recommends that producers still using CBR should switch to 110% constrained VBR to improve overall quality and avoid transient quali

Read More »

The State of Video Codecs 2016

015 was a tumultuous year for codecs. HEVC seemed like a sure thing in January, looked to be in trouble in July, but was happily resuscitated in December, albeit with some missing productive months from its useful life. Open source codecs began the y

Read More »