May, 2012

• 14 May

  Handout for Encoding for Flash, Mobile, and HTML5 Workshop

  Here’s the description: Learn the technological fundamentals behind encoding for both H.264 and WebM formats. You’ll learn how to encode H.264 for HTML5 distribution and streaming to iOS and other mobile devices, as well as how to encode it for Flash, including live, on-demand, and RTMP, as well as HTTP-based adaptive streaming. For WebM, you’ll learn the basics of on-demand …

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• 10 May

  There’s Nothing Pro about Final Cut Pro X

  Steve Jobs was the greatest product innovator in the last couple of centuries, and his passing saddened me significantly. My appreciation goes back to his storied commencement address at Stanford University, which revealed him to be a deep and though

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• 10 May

  Elemental Server Review: The One to Beat

  Like old-time alchemists who turned base metals into gold, Elemental Technologies, Inc. converts industry-standard CPUs and GPUs into the hottest H.264 on-demand encoding box I’ve tested, with incomparable speed and quality that matches the bes

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April, 2012

• 22 April

  Live From J Street, Part 3: Monitoring Webcast Audio

  In this final segment of this series on the JStreet Making History convention webcast, we'll examine one aspect of webcast production that too often gets ignored: monitoring and controlling audio volume, which becomes a complex issue as speakers chan

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• 17 April

  H.264 in a Mobile World: Adios to the Main and High Profiles?

  Now that mobile devices are such an important target for most producers, does it make sense to start encoding all H.264 footage using the Baseline profile? From the tests that I performed this week, encoding all footage using this profile might save encoding and storage resources with minimal loss in quality. Gosh, it’s hard to remember a time when we …

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• 14 April

  Two Years In: Are We Really Better Off Without Flash on Our iPads?

  Love it, hate it, however you look at it, two years after its initial introduction, iPad owners still don’t get the same experience as Flash-based desktops. So Bubba Watson was in a playoff at the Masters with Louis Oosthuizen. Fate conspired against me, and I was pulled away from the TV on the second playoff hole. I returned to see …

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• 12 April

  Adobe Premiere Pro CS6: An Essential Upgrade

  So, Adobe announced that it will showcase Production Premium Creative Suite 6 at NAB prior to its official release sometime in the first half of 2012. What’s in it for you and me? Well, I worked on my first job with the beta and received a brie

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• 12 April

  Livestream: No Computer Required

  While most live streaming service providers offer software encoders that integrate tightly with their service, Livestream is the first to offer a standalone H.264 hardware encoder that operates without a computer connection and can transmit via 3G/4G

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• 4 April

  Live from J Street, Part 2: Framing Tips for Conference Shooters and Webcasters

  Jan Ozer passes on several key tips on framing panels and applying the rule of thirds (and when to break it) gleaned from his recent gig webcasting the national J Street conference on Israeli-Palestinian relations.

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March, 2012

• 30 March

  Blackmagic H.264 Pro Recorder: High Quality, Frustrating Limits

  Blackmagic Design's H.264 Pro Recorder ($499) performs a small set of functions reasonably well, including archiving footage to H.264 format at its native resolution and producing H.264 files for Apple TV, the iPad/iPhone 4, and uploading to YouTube

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