January, 2016

• 6 January

  TN2224 is Dead. Welcome to the New Era of Content-Aware Encoding

  The Netflix blog 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.” In a world where many companies simply deploy Apple’s recommendations from TN2224 without modification, it’s a breath of fresh air. The blog post goes on to detail …

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December, 2015

• 18 December

  HEVC Advance Releases Revised Licensing Terms

  

  When HEVC Advance first proposed royalty rates and policies in July 2015, the terms were almost universally criticised, if not vilified. Recognizing that the proposed structure would slow HEVC adoption rather than promote it, HEVC Advance has issued

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• 10 December

  SSIMWave SQM Review: Frustrating Video Quality Measurement

  The perfect video analysis tool combines a video quality metric that accurately predicts the subjective ratings of real human eyes with the ability to show these quality differences to the operator. While SSIMWave makes a strong case that its SSIMplu

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November, 2015

• 29 November

  Post Streaming Media West Interview on Viblast Blog

  Viblast is the European developer of the Viblast player, an off-the-shelf player that enables the playback of HLS and DASH streams without Flash. A recent winner of a European Streaming Media Reader’s Choice award, Viblast is an up and coming company in a very hot market (transitioning from Flash to HTML5). I’m flattered the Nora Georgieva, Viblast’s Marketing Officer, asked …

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• 17 November

  Live Encoding and Transcoding Techniques

  Here’s the description, click below to download the handouts. Live event transcoding used to be simple: you did it all in-house and you needed capacious outbound bandwidth, all of which cost a fortune. Now there are more live encoding schemas than you can shake a stick at, including live cloud transcoding and packaging from traditional encoding vendors as well as …

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• 17 November

  Handouts from Encoding Live and On-Demand Video Using HEVC

  Here’s the description, click below to download the handouts. Here’s the description, click over to the main article to download the handouts.  HOW TO: Encoding Live and On-Demand Video Using HEVC Location: Grand Ballroom, Salon G This session explores the current status of HEVC, identifying options for encoding live and on-demand video using HEVC and discussing player options in the …

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• 17 November

  Handout from Fine Tuning Your Adaptive Groups with Objective Quality Metrics

  Here’s the description, click below to download the handouts. Fine Tuning Your Adaptive Groups with Objective Quality Metrics Location: Huntington Ballroom 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 like …

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• 16 November

  Transition from Flash to HTML5

  Download the handout from this excellent session, with contributions from Jeff Tapper (Digital Primates), John Luther (JW Player), and Mike Callahan (Elemental).  Transitioning from Flash to HTML5 is a complicated matter involving a change in player and encoding format and, for some, even new DRM, captioning, and advertising insertion technologies. Learn the current status of the Media Source Extensions and …

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• 16 November

  Encoding 2015: Codecs and Packaging for PCs, Mobile and OTT/STB/Smart TVs – Handout

  Here’s the description: Click below to download the handout. 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 …

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• 13 November

  HEVC’s Journey in 2015: Going Downhill and Gaining Speed

  At the start of 2015, the future of HEVC seemed clean and green. There was a single patent pool, and royalties were capped at a reasonable rate. Meanwhile, the open source world was a mess, with multiple codecs from multiple sources, and only a hint

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