Encoding

Summary This research-based article details the factors to consider when choosing the segment duration for DASH or HLS. By way of background, when choosing an HLS or DASH segment duration for VOD video, the nature of the server/player connection is critical. For persistent connections, a segment size of two-three seconds produces good quality and optimal system throughput. For non-persistent connections, …

This article is kind of a prequel to my book, Encoding by the Numbers, which I published in 2016. That is, I published this article to get commentary from folks who read it, which I factored back into my book. Unfortunately, I changed content management systems in 2018 and lost the comments.  One of the topics I’m addressing in my …

Figure 1. The four critical aspects to consider before video encoding. Executive Summary: While video quality is always top of mind, consider deliverability, compatibility, and playability before finalizing your video encoding presets. Too often we look at video encoding with a single point of focus; achieving the best possible quality for the lowest possible data rate. However, as I was …

The Netflix blog post entitled Per-Title Encode Optimization boldly declares that “to deliver the best quality video to our members, each title should receive a unique bitrate ladder, tailored to its specific complexity characteristics.”

I recently finished evaluating Beamr Video. The evaluation included analyzing the quality of the resulting clips using objective measures such as PSNR, SSIM and VQM, and conducting extensive viewing of the optimized clips, assessing their subjective quality compared to the original clips. Following this evaluation, I concluded that “for 99.99% of the expert and average viewers, the Beamr-processed clips would …

This article is derived from a lesson in Streaming Media 101: Technical Onboarding for Streaming Media Professionals. If you’re looking for an efficient way to get up to speed on key streaming terms, technologies, workflows, and best practices, check out the course here.  Depending upon your encoding tool, you may have access to a checkbox or number box that controls …

This article discusses what data rate is and why it’s important, and what bits per pixel measures and how to compute it.  What is Data Rate? Data rate (or bit rate) is the amount of data per second of video, usually expressed in kilobits (kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps). When I say that ESPN distributes their video at 800 …