When choosing a preset for VOD transcoding, it almost always makes sense to use the highest-quality preset, because any increase in encoding costs will typically be recouped via bandwidth savings delivered by the more efficient encoding. I covered that analysis in detail here. Note that this conclusion assumes that you deliver at a certain quality level and will boost the …

Cloud-based editing is increasingly shaping the future of post-production, enabling creative teams to work from different locations while utilizing a variety of tools and resources. I recently interviewed Simon Green, CEO of Edit Cloud, a cloud-based editing platform that allows production teams to collaborate remotely using various editing software while providing access to accredited talent and integrated storage solutions. During …

I was reminded of this recently as I prepared for a talk on AV1 readiness at the upcoming United Cloud Tech Talk. Though quality is only a single factor, I wanted to nail the quality comparisons for the talk, but didn’t have time to produce all the iterations myself. It’s been a while since I benchmarked H.264, HEVC, AV1, and …