Tag Archives: Encoding your video

Every compressed file involves dozens of configuration-related decisions, including resolution, data rate, H.264 profile, VBR or CBR, entropy coding technique, x.264 preset, b-frames, reference frames—the list goes on and on. Most encoding prof

Executive Summary: In October 2015, Apple released a  document entitled HLS Authoring Specifications for Apple TV (HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming, the adaptive bit rate technology used to deliver video to Apple TV and other iOS devices). If you’re producing for Apple TV, and aren’t aware of these specs, you should review them immediately. In a broader sense, Apple …

The Society for Imaging Science and Technology hosts the annual International Symposium on Electronic Imaging, held this year in San Francisco, California, from February 14 to 18. The Symposium has eight tracks across a range of disciplines, where re

Executive Summary: Now might be the time to consider phasing out the lowest quality streams in your encoding ladder to reduce encoding and storage costs. Check your server logs to determine consumption of these streams before doing so.  Overview and Discussion: All streams in your adaptive group cost money to encode, store, and administrate, even low-quality streams. A recent discussion …

Executive Summary: B-frames increase compression efficiency, particularly at lower bitrates. However, not all video encoders deliver the requested number of B-frames when encoding using default parameters. Telestream Switch is a software program that identifies B-frames in encoded streams, and computes the overall B-frame percentage. Compressionists seeking the most efficient streams should acquire Switch and test their streams. If B-frames are …

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.”

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

I'm big into quality control and objective video measurement, and the latest tool that I've tested, SSIMWaves SQM (link to tool here) , offers a couple of unique elements, including a scoring system that attempts to correspond to actual human subject

Author’s notes: 1. VMAF is now my metric of choice.  2. Since the first publication, I converted SSIM to decibel form using this formula from the Video Codec Testing and Quality Measurement : -10 * log10 (1 – SSIM) As it turns out, the results are the same (no comparisons in red) but now they should be correct.  Objective video …

Bitmovin is an Austrian company that supplies both a cloud encoder (bitcodin) and an HTML5 player (Bitdash). It offers an all-in-one service to companies seeking to encode and distribute files via HTML5 to computers and mobile devices. I reviewed the