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When Will the HEVC Royalty Picture Clear Up: Apparently No Time Soon

Motivated by their perception of being short-changed in H.264 royalty revenues, HEVC/H.265 intellectual property (IP) owners seem to be in no hurry to formulate a cohesive and rational royalty policy, delaying the very royalties that they covet.  I...

Google Starts Pushing VP9; Caution Advised

As you probably know, Googles VP9 is the successor to VP8 in WebM and a competitive technology to HEVC/H.265. I reported here that patent claims from Nokia present a red flag to potential adapters, but Google keeps pressing ahead, and lots of potenti...

VP9 Takes One Step Forward and One Big Step Back

VP9 is the successor to VP8, the video codec that Google open sourced and included in WebM. It's also the only major competitor to H.265/HEVC. In a series of blog posts last week, Google detailed the final release schedule for VP9 and a few other im...

Ozer Book tapped for GMU Engineering Course

Ken Santucci, a professor at George Mason University's Volgenau School of Engineering, teaches Concepts of Multimedia Processing and Transmission, a class so popular, that it has a waiting list each semester. When choosing a textbook for the class,...

The Adobe Creative Suite is Dead

OK, a bit melodramatic, but today at Adobe Max, the company's annual creativity conference, Adobe announced that they were killing the suite to sell the Creative Cloud product which is only available via a periodic license. The primary benefit to the...

How I spent the First Half of 2013

Streaming Learning Center has been quiet for the last few months. Primarily, that relates to getting two large projects done, and making two presentations. The two projects were two books, Producing Streaming Video for Multiple Screen Delivery, an...

Ozer releases new book, Producing Streaming Video for Multiple Screen Delivery

Just a quick note to let you know that my new book, Producing Streaming Video for Multiple Screen Delivery, is now available on Amazon. You can also read more about it and download a detailed table of contents by clicking here.  The book is a 432 pa...

Portland Community College's Multimedia Program Switches to Adobe Creative Suite

There's been a lot of back and forth about how Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) has been accepted in the marketplace. Before its introduction, though Adobe had been making headway against Final Cut Pro 7 (FCP7), it's fair to say that FCP7 had greater mindshare...

Is it just me, or is there nothing more stupid in the world than Linked-in Endorsements?

Is it just me, or is there nothing more stupid in the world than Linked-in Endorsements?I got another this morning, from one of the hundreds of LinkIn connections who I only tangentially know, and who I have never produced work for in the field tha...

HTML5-Compatible Market Share Tops 68%

HTML5 video is all the rage, but if your viewer's browser isn't HTML5-compatible, the video won't play unless you fallback to Flash or similar technology. I'm working on a new book and wanted to determine the percentage of desktop browsers that are H...

How streaming is more efficient than progressive download

I created this short video to illustrate how streaming is more efficient than delivering via progressive download. For illustrating the efficiencies of streaming, I used a file streamed via RTMP, but you can get the same benefit via chunk-based HTTP ...

Tutorial: Removing Video Noise with the Neat Video Plug-in

In this tutorial, I demonstrate how you can use the Neat Video plug-in to remove noise from video, improving output quality for all outputs. ...

Final Cut Pro X 10.0.6 Review at OnlineVideo.net

I review the key features of the update and conclude: So where does this release leave Final Cut Pro X in the great panoply of professional editors? When first released, FCPX had serious deficits that simply prevented many producers from using the pr...

Article on Closed Captioning at Streaming Media Magazine

Here's the intro: Though relatively few websites are required to provide closed captions for their videos, any website with significant video content should consider captioning. Not only does it provide access for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers,...

Jan Ozer Interview at Streaming Media West

OK, so this is definitely a homer interview, but content is content right. Some night where you're having trouble falling asleep, check out this video which reviews the highlights and key takeaways of Streaming Media West 2012. Topics include live s...

Video Tutorial: Maximizing Brightness and Contrast in Premiere Pro CS6

In this tutorial you'll learn how to maximize the brightness and contrast of your video in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 using the Brightness, Contrast, and Gamma Correction controls for effective and balanced adjustments. Click here to read an artic...

Video Tutorial: Maximizing Brightness in FCPX

The histogram and the waveform in Apple Final Cut Pro X are effective, easy-to-master tools that provide the clear input you need to diagnose and fix the contrast issues in your video simply and intelligently. In this video tutorial, you'll learn...

Let's meet in London!

I'll be attending and teaching several workshops and seminars at Streaming Media Europe in London during the week of October 15-17th. If you're interested in attending, you can get a 10% discount by clicking here and entering priority code SME10 for ...

Three Premiere Pro Tips-A Video Tutorial

This video tutorial illustrates three tips that will enhance your workflow and get you out of some editing jams in your Adobe Premiere Pro projects: editing audio without unlinking; Fill Left and Fill Right to create stereo audio; and creating nest...

YouTube uses FFMPEG for encoding

I guess for many producers, the title is akin to "there is no Santa Claus," or "the Republican Party's top priority is reducing taxes for the one-percenters who fund their PACs;" obvious facts, and just not news. On the other hand, for many other pro...

What's wrong with this picture? (Mixing color temperatures)

When you're a streaming producer, you can't help but watch other streaming videos with a critical eye. Here's one from Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development, who teaches professional service providers how to position themselves as “likeable expe...

Transferring a Compressor Setting from Mac to Mac

If you work with Compressor long enough, you'll have to learn to transfer a compression setting from one computer to another. In this short post, I'll describe how. This is the second iteration of this blog post; the first time I showed the hard way,...

Livestream Broadcaster Review up on StreamingMedia.com

Here's how it begins. Livestream Broadcaster is an exceptionally easy to configure and use live encoder that produced very good quality over a range of relevant bandwidths. The only significant negatives are that the unit doesn't work with the olde...

Short Video Shot with Livestream Broadcaster

Livestream was kind enough to supply a review copy of their Livestream Broadcaster box, which I worked with today. The review will appear in Streaming Media Magazine; this short snippet will give you an idea of the quality that the unit produces and ...

Tutorial on Adobe Media Encoder CS6

Adobe Media Encoder CS6 has both interface and performance improvements. See them all in this tutorial from OnlineVideo.net. ...

QuickBook-Related Woes Continue

I normally don’t use this blog to share experiences unrelated to compression, but my recent experience with QuickBooks, which is ongoing, was too poor not to share. I was happily using QuickBook’s 2009, which did everything that I need, when I wa...

Another 5 Star Review for Video Compression For Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5

Another five star review for my book, Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5, from Matt Castrinos, a sales engineer with ViewCast, who manufactures capture cards and encoding devices for producing streaming video. I met Matt this month ...

Watch my Keynote Address at Sonic Foundry's UNLEASH 2012

OK, so it was the second day keynote, but a keynote nonetheless. Here's the description: The mobile craze, fueled by tablets and smart phones, has implications for how we produce and distribute video and rich media content. And the reality of the n...

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 again...

Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5 Released for Kindle

If you've been waiting to pick up my book Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5 until it's available in digital format, wait no more. The book is available for Kindle and you can find it here for $19.99, a savings of about $10.00 over ...

Another great book review

Let me re-iterate that if you are delivering a live event, or videos online, then this book is a must - plain and simple. Another very positive 5-star review of my book, Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5, from Andy Stevenson. After...

Warning: Watch Before Preparing Your PowerPoint

I'm preparing for multiple presentations over the next couple of weeks, and was Googling to find data on the effectiveness of learning aids in viewer retention and comprehension. Came across this video that every presenter should see while preparing ...

HP Updates Workhorse Z Workstation Line

HP's Z workstations are widely used in video production and streaming encoding, and the dual CPU Z800 is a personal favorite. HP just announced updated versions of top 3 systems in the Z line, all capable of using the latest eight-core Intel CPUs. He...

Quickie Review of Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5

So, here I am at 3:38 on a Sunday AM, suffering from tummy rumbling insomnia fueled by massive chocolate over-indulgence at a dinner party last night (hey, I'm human). For some reason I thought vanity surfing would put me to sleep, but ended up findi...

Choosing an Online Video Platform? Here's Your Buyer's Guide

My buyer's guide on online video platforms (OVPs) is up on StreamingMedia.com. Online video platforms (OVPs) encode, publish, and monitor on-demand and live video content. If your publishing needs are straightforward, any OVP will do, and price will ...

Choosing a Live Streaming Service? We Can Help

Two big resources on the Streaming Media web site. First is the Buyer's Guide to Live Streaming Services, which tells you what to look for when choosing a service provider. The intro there says it all: If you can turn on the webcam on your notebook, ...

Buyer's Guide to Software Encoders up on Streaming Media

Is up on the Streaming Media website. Here's the descriptive intro: There are three categories of software encoding tools: bundled, desktop, and enterprise. In this article, I'll walk you through the general buying considerations within each category...

Market Repositioning of Flash Begins

We've heard much doom and gloom about Flash for the last few months, much of it due to Adobe's clumsy handling of their withdrawal from Android. Now Fabio Sonnati, an insightful and well-connected Flash consultant, is seeing some upside for the Flash...

HP Introduces World’s First 27-inch All-in-One Workstation

HP Introduces World’s First 27-inch All-in-One Workstation Category-defining HP Z1 workstation allows design professionals to unleash their creativity LAS VEGAS, Feb. 14, 2012 – HP today unveiled the world’s first all-in-one workstation with a ...

Web Video Workshops to offer one-day workshop for multiple screen delivery

Most web video producers know that effectively serving video to mobile and other platforms like HTML5 and OTT is increasingly important. However, this is easier said than done. To efficiently deliver to multiple screens, you have to encode your files...

I'm Rosie's Dad (on the power of video)

I'm at a conference in Las Vegas visiting with the HP workstation group. Great folks, nice hotel, fun meetings, Cirque de Soleil tonight. So all the workstation VPs make their sweep of the dining room last night, saying hello, getting some face tim...

Final Cut Pro X (10.0.3) gets Multicam

Check out my review in OnlineMedia.net, where I found FCPX's multicam feature "fabulous" and concluded: Looking at the bigger picture, Apple deserves credit for delivering on a promise and doing a largely good job of it. Functionally, Final Cut Pro...

Creating presentation videos with slides and video? Check out Presto!

I recently reviewed Singular Software's Presto for OnlineVideo.net; you can read the review here. As the lead states: Capturing and producing presentation videos typically involves multiple options, all of them bad. For example, you can frame wide an...

FFmpeg Encoding Resources at Sonnati Blog

One of the brightest stars in the encoding universe is Fabio Sonnati, who blogs at Flash Video Technology and Optimizations. I was researching H.264 encoding parameters and revisited his site, noting that his presentation from Adobe MAX2011 entitled ...

Cool Flash Widget at the Economist (How far behind is Mitt Romney?)

Sometimes I get so caught up in Flash video that I forget that Flash does many other things, from serving as the environment for the WeVideo editor to enabling sites like the Economist to present interactive data relating to the upcoming presidential...

HP EliteBook 8760w: A Notebook for Demanding Video Producers

Few things in life are more fun than playing with the latest, greatest notebook computer. For the last few months, I've had the pleasure of working with HP's EliteBook 8760w, which is the most powerful notebook I've ever tested. It's a highly potent ...

Interested in online video editing? Check out my review of WeVideo

Here's the introduction. The referenced video on YouTube details the 28 hours I spent in Manhattan with my girlies last September, including our visit to the Empire State Building, Times Square and the Today Show, plus a clip of my daughter subway su...

MPEG Ratifies Draft Standard for DASH

DASH stands for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, and it's MPEG spec that was unanimously ratified on December 2, 2011. What is DASH? As I open in my article What is MPEG DASH for Streaming Media Magazine: MPEG DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming ov...

ESPN Chooses Elemental for On-Demand Streaming

I don't spend a lot of time in the big-iron encoding space, but I was pleasantly surprised a few weeks ago when I saw Elemental Technologies, who sells GPU-based hardware encoders, written about in BusinessWeek. So when the company approached Streami...

Apple to Adobe & Microsoft: With friends like you, who needs enemies?

In the desktop/mobile streaming marketplace, most producers provide two sets of streams; HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for Apple iOS devices and Android devices and either Flash or Silverlight for the desktop. A number of content and technology companies...

Living on the Flash/HTML5 Roller Coaster

Wow, what a roller coaster. Just last week, Adobe announced their decision to stop developing the Flash Player for mobile devices, a decision that looks predestined in retrospect. Faced with the expense of supporting a diverse and growing range of An...

Two New Reviews for Video Compression for Flash (Both 5 Star!)

Two new Amazon reviews for my book, Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5, both 5 star, though the UK review was kind of ... mixed, shall we say. In the States, John Talbert was pretty positive, stating "This book is very technical and...

Best Explanation of Adobe Withdrawing Flash from Mobile Markets

My colleague Tim Siglin wrote an insightful analysis of Adobe's decision to cease development of the mobile Flash Player that you can read here. To his credit, Siglin actually predicted that Adobe might withdraw Flash from mobile markets in his Augus...

Ozer Interview on Adobe Withdrawing Flash from Mobile Market

As discussed here, Adobe is withdrawing Flash from the mobile market. Here's a video interview that Larry Kless shot of me at Streaming Media West in LA. ...

Adobe to Discontinue Flash for Mobile

In a surprise move, Adobe has announced that they will stop the future development of Flash on mobile platforms. Here's a quote from their official blog post. "HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. T...

Best Product Video Ever from Intel

Doing some research for an upcoming presentation and stumbled upon this i5 advertisment from Intel. It's one of the coolest videos that I've ever seen, weaving through real-life and cyberspace at a frantic pace. With over 2.7 million YouTube views, I...

Enough About HTML5 Video Already!

My latest column at Streaming Media Magazine. Here's the teaser: HTML5 video appeals to "tree-hugging, sandal-wearing standards lovers," says Jan Ozer, and he's sick of hearing about it. Here's the lead: I was speaking recently with a new consulting ...

New Review Calls Ozer Book a Home Run

Or, to be precise, the reviewer, Sundiata Cowels, say that I "hit the ball out of the park" (which won't fit in a headline). Here's the opening paragraph: The passing of Hurricane Irene (and the resultant power loss for five days) gave me ample time ...

Introduction to Live Streaming Webinar Now Available Online

It's free, of course. Here's the description from the event: Live event streaming is one of those value-added functions that looks harder than it actually is. As such, event streaming represents a great opportunity to add a high profit-margin, ea...

Lessons from Summer Vacation and Emptying the Dishwasher

I don't expect folks to come to this blog for career advice, but some lessons learned watching two of my kids avoid chores over their summer break fostered some thoughts worth sharing. I don't know about your kids, but when it comes to mine and chore...

Free Webinar - Introduction to Live Event Streaming

Tuesday, October 4, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST I know it's late, but if you're free, check out this seminar that I'm producing with the MCA-I. Here's the description: This seminar will introduce attendees to live event streaming. It will start by discussing...

Free Videos: Overview of the Adobe Media Encoder Workflow

I just released a 3 hour workshop entitled Producing Great Video with the Adobe Media Encoder CS 5.5. It was produced by Video2Brain, and you can view course details here. I produced three short videos to answer questions you may have about the works...

Ozer Book Selected as Compression Textbook by Portland Community College

Just a quick note that Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5 has been adapted for Seth Bloombaum's streaming course at Portland (Oregon) Community College. (MM236 in the Multimedia Program.) In his note to me letting me know, Seth...

Power to the Patent Trolls

In April 2011, the Department of Justice began investigating the MPEG Licensing Association (MPEG LA) to learn whether or not the group is unfairly trying to damage Google's competitive prospects with the WebM video format. But maybe MPEG LA would be...

Potential Patent Claims Mount Against Google's WebM

In a story for Streaming Media Magazine, I asked patent licensing authority MPEG-LA whether any claims had emerged against the VP8 video codec used Google's WebM. As you recall, MPEG-LA announced a call for patents "essential" to VP8 in March 2011. A...

Epub Version of Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5 now UNavailable

UPDATE I just got this notice from Lulu. Upon closer inspection of your work, our Quality Review specialists found that your book does not meet the eBook Retail Distribution Guidelines. REASON: Your ebook has been rejected for formatting issues. ...

Secure streaming, digital watermarking and Content ID

It's frustrating when you get an email from a reader that you don't know the answer to. Here's one from an overseas streamer who is releasing very topical videos on their site, and despite using RTMPE+ token authorization, suffered massive piracy. He...

FCPX vs. Premiere Pro CS5.5 for Final Cut Pro 7 Editors

Though Final Cut Pro X is billed as an upgrade, it's really a totally new program in most respects. New interface to learn, new plug-ins, new project files, no looking back for Apple. So if you're a Final Cut Pro 7 editor, you have to choose a new ed...

MediaPlatform WebCaster Rich Media Conferencing Systems

I reviewed MediaPlatform's WebCaster product for Streaming Media Magazine and loved it. Here's the intro; check out the full review here. Webcasts are a great tool for acquiring and retaining customers. They’re also great for training and communic...

Converting DVD-based content for Adaptive Streaming

Just finished a four-part series on converting DVD-based content for H.264-based adaptive streaming, and you can read all four parts on OnlineVideo.net. Technical issues that I covered included: The best technique for ripping the video from the DVDs ...

Creating Queue Points in HTML5 and Ogg Theora

There’s been lots of sizzle around HTML5, but to my mind, very little steak. Last week I chatted with a developer from the Annenberg Space for Photography, who has created a pretty beefy site that works in Flash and may soon work in HTML5. I guess ...

Free H.264 Encoders Plus Apple Compressor 4

I compare four H.264 encoders in this article on OnlineVideo.net. Here's the gripping introduction: OK, so you’re cheap and in a hurry and you just want the answer to a single question, “What’s the best free H.264 encoder?” Well, you’re in...

48 kHz Audio Can Cause Loss of Synch with Flash Playback

Most camcorders capture audio at 48 kHz, so there's a natural tendency to produce your streaming files at that sample rate. There's just one problem; it can cause loss of audio/video synch during playback on the Flash Player. Andy Stevenson of the Un...

A Final Cutter tries Premiere Pro

Creative Cow just published a thorough and thoughtful story about switching from Final Cut Pro to Premiere Pro, written by Helmut Kobler, and entitled A Final Cutter Tries Out Premiere Pro. Kobler starts by noting that he had been considering moving ...

Apple Final Cut Pro X Reviewed: Not Ready for Professionals

OnlineVideo.net published my review of Apple's Final Cut Pro X here. At about 3500 words, it's one of the longest reviews I've written in awhile, with 16 screen shots. My conclusion? While not fully rendered, my project is done, and this review almo...

Final Cut Pro X - Killed by the Suite

By now you've probably heard that Final Cut Pro X lacks many features that professionals need, including the ability to load Final Cut Pro 7 projects, multicam support, plug-in support, OML or EDL support and tape output. Judging from the noise on bl...

Adobe's Vision for Professional Video

I thought I would share a video that Adobe just posted on their vision for professional video. The speaker is VP Jim Guerard, a thoughtful, impressive guy that I've met several times. Here are some of the statistics Jim discussed (which I cribbed fro...

Flash Rocks on Android Handsets

I have to say that Google's support for Flash on the Android platform always seemed like a case of strange bedfellows to me. After all, Google is the company that paid over $100 million for On2 just to open source the VP8 codec (as WebM), reviving th...

Reviews for Video Compression for Adobe Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5

Some early reviews for my new book, Video Compression for Adobe Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5, have been published, and I wanted to share them here. One of the first was from Douglas Dixon (http://www.manifest-tech.com/blog) which he published both ...

Trim without Reencoding with MPEG Streamclip

Here's a video I produced for OnlineVideo.net that shows how a free tool called MPEG Streamclip, which runs on both the Mac and Windows platforms, can trim and perform other edits and save the result without re-encoding your file. It can be incredibl...

The Essential Key to Producing High Quality Streaming Video

I like making money as much as the next guy, but the last three or four consulting clients all shared a problem so basic that I was almost embarrassed to take their money. Specifically, they came to me concerned about poor video quality, and the ...

Jan Ozer interview about Video Compression for Adobe Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5

I chatted with Peter Cervieri of Scribe Media at Streaming Media East in New York City last month. Peter was kind enough to ask about my new book, Video Compression for Adobe Flash, Apple iDevices and HTML5, which I describe in this excerpt. S...

Webinar on Webcasting is Up (and looks great!)

On Tuesday (5/24), as part of an upcoming review of Sonic Foundry's Mediasite rich media communications program, I participated in a webinar from Madison Wisconsin. Here's the description: Sonic Foundry is proud to host live streaming expert Jan Ozer...

HTTP Live Streaming Gains Momentum

HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) is an adaptive streaming technology created by Apple for streaming to iDevices, and submitted by the company to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for more general use. Over the last two months, both Google and A...

Webinar, Encoding Best Practices for the Enterprise, archive is up

On Tuesday, March 29, I held a webinar entitled, Encoding Best Practices for the Enterprise. The attendees learned: - How their streaming files compared to prominent Media, B2C and B2B sites. This segment presented the results of a survey of the...

Office 2003 Syndrome and Final Cut Pro Next

I usually stay pretty current on software, at least in the editing space, because I review most of the NLEs, and get review copies from the vendors. On the other hand, if I need software that’s mission critical to my day to day working life, or...

Jan Ozer to Host Encoding Webinar on Tuesday, March 29th

Jan Ozer will host a 30-minute webinar on Tuesday, March 29th, at 2:00 PM EST entitled Encoding Best Practices for the Enterprise. In this session, you'll learn:- How your streaming files compare to prominent Media, B2C and B2B sites. This segment...

Annual Choosing a Streaming Encoding Tool Story up on SMC

Every year I review streaming encoding programs for StreamingMedia.com. This year's issue is up, here's the lead. The ideal streaming encoding tool should provide great quality, blazing performance, a discrete set of critical encoding parameters, an...

Less than 1% of Websites Fully HTML5 Compatible

Pretty catchy headline, eh? Well, I wrote it because I’m tired of seeing headlines like this one in CNET - “Mefeedia: HTML5-compatible video is on the rise.” Kind of makes you think that websites are adapting HTML5 en mass, doesn’t it? Well, ...

Innovations in Live Event Streaming

If you produce live events, there are two relatively recent innovations you should know about. The first relates to supporting multiple playback formats, like Flash, Apple iOS devices, Silverlight and others. In the past, to support multiple outp...

Choosing a UGC Site to host your videos

I use UGC site Vimeo to host the videos on StreamingLearningCenter.com, because it's inexpensive and does a great job with my screencam-based tutorials and my videos play on computers and Apple devices. Using a UGC site to host the videos on your sit...

Learn how to create stories in DVD Studio Pro

I know it's a bit far afield for many streaming-oriented readers, but if you're a DVD Studio Pro producer, and don't know what stories are, or why or how to use them, you may want to check out this pair of articles on Digital Content Producer. Workin...

Adobe ships Flash Player 10.2 - Way more efficient than WebM

Adobe shipped Flash Player 10.2 earlier this month, and I ran some tests for StreamingMedia.com. Depending upon the browser and platform, it delivers some pretty substantial performance gains, and makes Flash even faster than WebM.  Here's an exampl...

Live Streaming from a Notebook

If you're interested in portable event streaming from a notebook, check out this article that just posted on StreamingMedia.com. Here's the enticing intro. "Live event streaming on a notebook can be the best of all worlds, with several programs avai...

Flash does NOT over-consume power on Android handsets

Colleague Tim Siglin released an extensive white paper today that assessed the affect of the Adobe Flash Player on the battery life of six Android powered devices and found that: Flash Player 10.1 , in our initial tests, has negligible battery drain ...

Squeeze 7 Now Available, Details at StreamingMedia.com

I've been working with Sorenson Squeeze 7 for awhile now, and wanted to share my thoughts and experiences today, the day the software is officially released. If you have Squeeze 6.5 or earlier, the big question is whether you should upgrade or not,...

How to Encode To WebM

This is an excerpt from an article I wrote for StreamingMedia. Even if you don't believe all the hype about HTML5, sooner or later, you'll need to start encoding some video to WebM format. Maybe for internal experimentation, for a pay-per-view or ...

Google Removes H.264 Codec From Chrome

This is an excerpt from my commentary, "Welcome to the Two-Codec World," which you can read at StreamingMedia.com. Back when Google closed on the On2 acquisition, I wrote a blog post entitled Google Closes On2 Acquisition - Better check your Wallet....

New article on Producing for Adaptive Streaming at StreamingMedia.com

An article that I wrote on producing for adaptive streaming just posted at StreamingMedia.com. The article focuses on nitty gritty encoding details, like data rates, key frame intervals and the like. To write the article, I spoke with multiple produ...

Vimeo and YouTube Enable iPad-compatible HTML5 Embedding

I use Vimeo to host all the videos that I have on this site. Originally, Vimeo used only a Flash-comptible player that wouldn't play on iDevices. Here's an example of that player, which will appear on your computer, but not your iPad or iPhone. N...

SLC Completes Successful Year of Streaming Consulting

US Government Contracts and Streaming Media Conferences Dominate the Lineup During 2010, the Streaming Learning Center produced ten separate training experiences in the US and abroad, showcasing the organization's ability to produce custom trai...

SLC Instructs on Streaming at NASA's Glenn Research Center

December 3, 2010 - Title pretty much says it all, along with the picture on the left - just there in the back you can see a hanger with the Glenn Research Center sign. The actual client was not NASA - it was Wyle Information Systems, who performs vid...

Adobe Revs Premiere Pro CS5 - Notebook Editors Rejoice!

This one is short and sweet - here's the email I just got from Adobe. If you have a notebook computer, or either of the newly supported graphics cards, check it out. Adobe released an update to Premiere Pro CS5, version 5.0.3, which extends the pow...

A Quick Shout Out to the Apple Genius Bar

So there I was, the start of a four day training gig at a major government facility in the midwest. It's a big job, with sessions on Final Cut Pro, Compressor, H.264, streaming media, the whole works. Day 1 setting up, the attendees are in the room, ...

Neat Video Filter Reduces Noise for Higher Quality Compression

Two weeks ago, I was in Los Angeles at Streaming Media West. Sorenson Media was introducing a new product, Squeeze Server, and had volunteered to bring a camera and camera operator so that I could interview several Sorenson executives, and their p...

Seminar on HTML5 and Web Video Standards

At StreamingMedia Europe this year I hosted a seminar on HTML5 and web standards. I was the skeptic moderator, and on my panel were four users or HTML5 related service providers. Here's the description, and the video of the session is included below....

Pixel Aspect Ratio - When 720x480 = 853x480

I recently taught a couple of seminars in Los Angeles at StreamingMedia West. You can find links to the presentations at the link in the previous sentance. I just got an email from a student asking: At Streaming Media West you introduced the session ...

Fear and Loathing at StreamingMedia West

Here at StreamingMedia West in Los Angeles this year (November, 2010) - same crowd, different location. I taught one seminar on H.264 Production for Streaming and Progressive Download, you can download the PDF here. You can find a few items of intere...

Adobe Announces HTML5 Player Widget

Here's a copy of the release that you can find here. HTML5 has received a tremendous amount of buzz, much of it driven by the potential for plugin-free video. However, the limited browser support for the HTML5 <video> tag has forced web desi...

Column on Distributing HD Videos over the Internet at EventDV.net

Here's how it starts. So there I was, struggling for an idea for a column, and editor Stephen Nathans-Kelly mentioned that there was growing interest in distributing HD event-based videos to clients over the internet. Fortunately, this dovetailed ...

Producing H.264 with Episode 6 and Squeeze 6.5

Article just posted at Digital Content Producer. I got an early look at Telestream's completely new Episode 6, with a hot new interface, and improved H.264 quality and performance. I also looked at Squeeze 6.5, which didn't really update any H.264-re...

Adobe Ships FMS 4 (HTML5 Falls Even Further Behind)

Today, Adobe announced the immediate availability of Flash Media Server 4. My buddy Tim Siglin did a wonderful job reviewing the new features in this article at StreamingMedia.com, or you can read the press release here.  Here's a partial list of ne...

MPEG-LA Announces No royalties on Free Internet Videos - Ever

This is a story I've been following for awhile. By way of background, MPEG-LA represents the H.264 patent holders and is charged with administering all licenses and collecting all royalties, which are paid by companies who build H.264 encoders, pl...

Interesting Newsletter on Video White Papers

I haven't followed the video white paper market at all, but according to a newsletter from Accela Communications, usage is booming. Here's a blurb. "The rate of adoption for video white papers is definitely increasing, as evidenced in this collecti...

VP8 vs. H.264 - Quality, Encoding time, Playback CPU

StreamingMedia just published my H.264 vs. VP8 comparison - the first to consider both encoding speed (VP8 is slow, but not that slow) and CPU playback (VP8 takes lots more than H.264 on some platforms, but there's a big glimmer of hope). Check ...

Which MPEG-2 Compressor Plug-in is Best?

I'm writing a story for Digital Content Producer on producing MPEG-2 video from HD source in Final Cut Pro/Compressor. Which plug-ins are best? - I'm trying to get Cinema Craft in, but they're not responding to my emails. - I've got a trial version o...

VP6 Encoding Parameters of the Technology Laggards

OK, being somewhat of a jerk here with the headline, but I've been pretty public in my thoughts that it's time to transition from VP6 to H.264. Still, if you're not ready for that move, perhaps you might want to rethink your current VP6 encoding para...

H.264 Encoding Parameters of the Rich and Famous

Whenever I speak in public about streaming production, I try to back up my recommendations with file parameters gathered from prominent media and corporate sites. Here are some file statistics gathered for a series of sessions that I taught this spri...

Why Flash Still Plays "Critical Role" for YouTube

From my general perspective, HTML5 has been lots of smoke with very little fire, in part because it's not yet a complete spec that meets the needs of large scale video publisher. Though Google/YouTube has been an avid HTML5 proponent, a recent blog p...

SLC Helps Navy with Streaming Encoding

June - 2010 - OK, it was just one department of the Navy – the Carderock Division in West Bethesda, Maryland. According to their web site, “Carderock Division is the principal Navy resource, national focal point and international leader in surfac...

SLC Completes Streaming Related Training at the NIH

June 23, 2010 – Just back from a day and 1/2 of streaming related training at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The Agency was transitioning from a Real Networks-based system over to Flash, and wanted a general introduction t...

Google Open Sources VP8 Codec

As expected, Google open sourced the VP8 codec today at their IO conference in San Francisco. You can read my overview article for StreamingMedia.com here, or check out www.webmproject.org, a site that details the announcement. Briefly, as you may re...

Wi-Fi on US Air Flights -

OK, I have a presentation to finalize for at StreamingMedia East, but my US Air flight bound for LaGuardia offered a free trial of inflight Wi-Fi (via Gogo, a service of Aircell), so how could I resist (particularly with the Players Championship comi...

Create an iPad-Compatible Video Site in 30 Seconds or Less

iPad compatibility has been top of mind for the last couple of months or so, and like all web producers, I'd like the ability to deliver video to the million plus iPads that have sold in the first few weeks since launch. Well here's how in thirty sec...

Microsoft Sends Ogg Down for the Count; What's Mozilla to Do?

In a recent blog post, Microsoft stated "We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only."  Though Mozilla currently enjoys (by far) the largest HTML5-compatible installed base of any brows...

Time to Switch from VP6 to H.264

Got an email today from a colleague today that triggered the headline thought (time to switch from VP6 to H.264). His rationale was that now that MPEG-LA has extended the royalty-free period for free H.264 Internet video, it was time to change over t...

New Apple API Enables Flash GPU Acceleration on the Mac

One of the most divisive technology issues in recent times has been Flash performance on the Mac.  Apple fanatics claimed that Flash was buggy, unsecure and a CPU Hog, and Adobe acolytes claimed that performance suffered from Apple's refusal to allo...

Streaming Production Training at the Richmond Federal Reserve

April - 2010 - I (Jan Ozer) just finished a one day training program at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond. The course curriculum focused on streaming production, and was an extended version of the training that I gave in New York in March. Here's ...

Inlet's new Live Ad Insertion for the iPad/iPhone

At NAB, Inlet Technologies introduced live, automated advertising insertion to the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch, Flash-based desktops and several other platforms. It's an interesting technology for any content owner seeking to monetize their videos to mult...

Encoding for the Apple iPad, Part I

I spent the last five days learning how to best encode video for playback on the iPad, and during the day (when my kids didn't claims exclusive use of the device), actually uploaded and played the videos. Based on this rsearch, I've created a two par...

Excellent, Objective Summary of HTML5 vs. Flash in the Economist

I don't agree with all the conclusions, but the Economist's Tech View presents an excellent, objective summary of Apple's true motivations in the Flash vs. HTML5 wars, and the potential results of Google open-sourcing VP8. Great comments, too, amazin...

Review of Premiere Pro CS5

I reviewed Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 for Eventdv.net in a review you can find here. What did I find? Here's a snippet. So what’s the overall verdict on Adobe Production Premium CS5? If you have the computing horsepower, the Mercury Engine and CUDA a...

Webinar: What You Need to Know About Premiere Pro CS5

            I'm presenting a free webinar entitled "What You Need To Know About Adobe Premiere Pro CS5" for NewMediaWebinars.com on May 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM PST to 11:30AM PST. The webinar is designed for anyone considering upgrading to or buy...

Encoding for the iPad

Much of the early buzz about the iPad centered around DVD or higher quality video, and certainly with the ability to play 720p video, the iPad can handle lots of high bandwidth, high quality streams. But what about if you're encoding video to send vi...

HTML5, the iPad, and What You Need to Know by Jan Ozer

HTML5 is the next generation markup language that contains a "video tag" that enables browsers to play videos without plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight or QuickTime. HTML5 has recently surfaced as a hot item because Apple shipped the iPad without F...

Encoding for Adaptive Streaming - an Overview

I've been researching how to encode video for adaptive bitrate streaming, specifically the encoding parameters for the different files streamed in the process. Here's what I found for Adobe's Dynamic Streaming, Apple's HTTP Live Streaming and Microso...

Seawell and the future of Scalable Video Coding

I’ve been tracking Scalable Video Coding (SVC) for the last year or so and there’s been little tangible evidence of adoption. Recently Toronto-based Seawell Networks came out of stealth mode, but only barely, announcing that they are in the H....

Ogg, MPEG-LA and Submarine Patents

A few weeks ago, I published an interview with MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn on the patent group's decision not to charge for free content encoded with H.264. Then I got a note back from a reader who stated: I'm disappointed. The interview seemed to be pr...

If you're encoding in QuickTime/Compressor, you gotta checkout x264

So, I was doing some consulting work for a client who's currently encoding with the x264 codec. Part of the work involved benchmarking their current quality against other encoding tools I have around the office, so I downloaded the x264 QuickTime Cod...

Another Ogg to H.264 comparison

I recently posted an H.264 vs. Ogg comparison, which you can see here. http://www.streaminglearningcenter.com/articles/ogg-vs-h264---round-one.html I got lots of good feedback and am in the process of reworking my tests, primarily (I hope) to use a m...

Google Closes On2 acquision - Better check your wallet

Late last week, Google closed the On2 acquisition that they started in 2009, and now owns the VP4 - VP8 video codecs. At the time, there was much debate about Google's intent, now most analysts assume that Google bought On2 to open source the codec a...

Reclaim disc space from Premiere Pro

I do a lot of production work and testing on my HP Z800 workstation. Though it's got a 250 GB C:\ drive, with a 1 TB video drive where I store all projects and associated video, I started getting messages that I was running out of space on my C:\ dri...

HTML5, Flash, H.264 and Ogg Theora

Ever since the iPad announcement, the inter-relationships between HTML5, Flash, H.264 and Ogg Theora have been intriguing me, so I spent last week trying to figure it all out. The result is The Future of Web Video, Part 1; HTML5? Someday. Ogg? Probab...

H.264 Main or High Profile? Use High says Ben Waggonner

Interesting line of questions on the Advanced Streaming List recently. One producer shared that he was encoding using the following parameters: 768kbps512x288H.264 Main Profile Level 3.1 Microsoft's Ben Waggoner, author of Compression for Great Vide...

An essential gizmo for Mac video producers

This is not an earthshaking post, but I thought I would share it anyway. I've never been a fan of Apple's decision to use FireWire 800 adapters on their most recent lines of computers since it meant that I couldn't connect my camcorders to them with...

What's the right keyframe interval?

Interesting post came from the StreamingMedia Advanced list today: Question:  Anyone have any advise on key frame placement in h264 flash? I felt like I should know the answer to this, so I pulled together the following: Answer: Interesting question...

H.264 Licensing and the X.264 codec

Ever since MPEG-LA announced their policy of not charging royalties for H.264 video distributed free over the Internet, I've been getting a bunch of emails, so I thought I would share them. I'm not inviting more emails on this topic, by they way, unl...

Streaming Production and Flash Delivery Workshop in Manhattan on March 23, 2010

Lisa Larson-Kelly and Jan Ozer will be hosting the Streaming Production and Flash Delivery Workshop on March 23, 2010, at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. The workshop will feature two tracks, Streaming Production and Flash Deliv...

Vimeo, YouTube or Both?

A continuing series of questions from an 'Net acquaintance on whether to post on YouTube or Vimeo.  Question: Incidentally, I heard that Vimeo encoded 720p at higher bitrates than YouTube (or that it had more bandwidth to serve it, or both... can't ...

Optimizing upload quality to YouTube

Got a question from an acquaintance on the best strategy for uploading files to YouTube, and I thought it might have broader interest, so here's the Q & A. Question: I was wondering, since YouTube doesn't appear to be using B-Frames in its encod...

YouTube's new HD format

Last Friday, I produced a concert for old time band Allegheny Blue to test out the NewTek TriCaster TCXD300.  I uploaded a 720p file to YouTube to present to the band, and when I went to view the file, I noticed that the Google subsidiary had subtl...

Windows 7 performance for Premiere Pro and Vegas

If you're a Premiere Pro or Vegas editor, and you're thinking about purchasing a new system with Windows 7, or upgrading to the new Microsoft OS on a current system, you might want to check out an article that I wrote for Millimeter/Digital Content P...

Time to switch from VP6 to H.264? Yes, but .. mind the royalties

Got this question today via email: Found your article in Streaming Media (http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=10969) particularly useful, and wondered if you had any updates on .flv vs H.264 penetration and usage.  We're considering going 1...

Need article sources - iPhone streaming and OVPs

I'm pulling together some streaming-related articles and need some user input.  Specifically, I need:- HTTP Live Streaming to iPhone case studies - companies who have started streaming to iPhones, why, how and how it has worked out. Prefer act...

Uploading SD video to YouTube - exploring the options

My article The Moving Picture: Decoding YouTube Upload Options just posted on www.eventdv.net. It explores the options available when uploading original SD video to YouTube, detailing my conclusions after uploading six files ranging in...

Interesting video on viewing analytics

The type and amount of statistics and analytics provided by an OVP is a critical selection criteria. Veeple is an OVP that features clickable hotspots in the video. Here's a short (under 3 minutes) video of Veeple's viewing analytics that I found use...

Tips on ScreenCam Production

Just got off the phone with Jay Simons from Atlassian, an Australian software company specializing in collaboration and development tool like Jira, Confluence and FishEye. Atlassian uses screencam videos to illustrate new features and quick training ...

Shooting for streaming - top 5 tips

Just because you have a fancy 3CCD camcorder doesn't mean you know how to shoot for streaming, but this article in AV Technology will help you get started. I hope you find it useful. ...

If you're creating any customer testimonials, you need to know about this

Talk about something that totally blindsides you - the FTC has apparently decided to start policing customer testimonials and the like. Here's a snippet from the FTC website. Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and c...

Upload Videos To Multiple Video Sharing Sites

So, you’ve got some videos made and you want to get them out there as fast and efficiently as possible. That means you probably want some tools to upload them to multiple video sites automatically right? Right! Here’s some of the c...

Reflections from StreamingMedia West

Just back from StreamingMedia West, it was a great, high energy show. I just posted a lengthy article on my reflections from the show on the main site, here. ...

The skinny on Apple's HTTP Live Streaming

Digital Content Producer just published an article that I wrote explaining the basics of Apple's HTTP Live Streaming to the iPhone/iTouch platform, both how the technology works and your implementation options. I think that stream...

Fun, Fun, Fun at StreamingMedia West

At StreamingMedia West in San Jose where I debuted my new blonde 'do to the adoring (OK, skeptical) crowd. That's Tim Siglin on the left, Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen on the right and blondie in the middle. I started the show with a session entitled Pro...

How to demo to the press

Long day of demos at Streaming Media West. All very interesting, some suboptimal from the standpoint of effectiveness, so while I'm waiting for the Tiramisu I had after dinner to function like organic Ambien, I thought that I would write down some ti...