August, 2022

• 1 August

  I’ve Concluded My Projects With Sisvel

  

  Just a quick post to note that I’ve finished my work with Sisvel. It was great meeting and working with the talented folks at Sisvel and learning how patent pools operate from the inside. I greatly appreciate the experience and wish Sisvel and the pool members success as they work to protect and monetize their intellectual property rights. The next …

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July, 2022

• 28 July

  SLC Releases Cloud-Based HEVC and H.264 Per-Title Quality and OPEX Reports

  

  Choosing the wrong per-title encoding service can boost streaming costs by up to 64% and storage costs by 76%. It can also reduce the average video quality delivered to your viewers by up to 9.28 VMAF points. These reports identify the OPEX and quality leaders and save months of testing.  Overview: Per-Title encoding is the most efficient and effective technology …

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• 27 July

  Choosing a Preset for SVT-AV1 (Or Any Codec)

  

  This post explores the economic factors to consider when choosing a preset for the SVT-AV1 codec. It’s adapted from a new lesson added to the course, Encoding with the AV1 Codec. While this analysis uses the SVT-AV1 codec, it’s useful for choosing a preset for any codec.  I’ve always considered codec preset selection a cost and quality-driven decision. You see …

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• 19 July

  SLC Releases Free Course: Introduction to Streaming Media

  

  Announcing a free course entitled Introduction to Streaming Media. As the name suggests, the course introduces students to fundamental concepts of streaming media. The course includes just under 100 minutes of instruction in 16 lessons with twelve quizzes to test retention. Students who complete all lessons and earn a 100 on all quizzes will earn a certificate. The basic concept …

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• 11 July

  How to Compare Per-Title Encoding Systems

  

  I just completed the first of two reports on cloud-based per-title encoding features, culminating 8 months of work. The first report details H.264 output, and the next, scheduled for release by July 18, details HEVC output. This article will detail the procedures used during this analysis which will be helpful to any company seeking to perform their own analysis to …

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June, 2022

• 24 June

  Don’t Sacrifice Usability On the Altar of Design

  I took two pictures of clocks in my kitchen this morning, on the left is the microwave, on the right, the coffee maker. Which time is correct and what’s the key clue? If you guessed microwave because it’s about the time I actually start working in the morning, you’d be half right. The answer? The microwave’s clock is correct, and …

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• 21 June

  SVT-AV1 and Libaom Tune for PSNR by Default

  As of June 22, 2022, libaom-AV1 and SVT-AV1 tune for PSNR by default, and libaom-AV1 doesn’t appear to have a mode that optimizes actual video quality. Be sure to verify and consider this when comparing the codecs to others. Most of the time with codec experimentation, a lapse in attention costs you hours, days, or weeks of re-encoding and re-testing, …

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• 16 June

  Improve Zoom Video Quality for VOD in Premiere Pro

  

  If you’re converting a Zoom or other conference recording for VOD distribution, here’s how to improve Zoom video quality in Premiere Pro before uploading Many of us use conferencing systems like Zoom and others to produce interviews that we broadcast live and later on VOD. Often you can’t control the quality of the video coming in from the remote participant …

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May, 2022

• 12 May

  SVT-AV1 1.0 Shows Great Promise

  

  I’ve been testing SVT-AV1 1.0 for a presentation that I’m giving on open-source AV1 encoding alternatives at Streaming Media East on May 24, 2022. The results have been impressive; two-pass VBR encoding is working well, and the codec offers a great range of presets, with several much faster than real-time. In contrast, FFmpeg’s libaom-AV1 has no presets even close to …

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• 12 May

  Finding the Optimal Top Rung Data Rate

  

  The top rung of your encoding ladder is the most expensive to deliver, and in many regions, it’s also the most frequently viewed. Encode at too high a bit rate and you’re wasting money; encode too low, and you’re potentially reducing viewer quality of experience. This makes choosing the top rung bitrate a key task for all streaming producers. This …

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