Streaming Learning Center

Here's the seminar description:

Click to the article to download the handout.

Here's the description. Click over to the article page to download the handout.

This session will discuss factors to consider when choosing an enterprise video encoding systems from the likes of Digital Rapids, Elemental, Harmonic, Sorenson, and Telestream. Factors incorporated into the analysis will include performance, output quality, quality control options, format support, expansion options, programmability, and other variables. If you're considering buying an enterprise encoder or upgrading your current systems, you'll find this session particularly useful.

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 at either 720p or 1080p. Even in these tasks, however, software limitations may limit overall utility, and if you're looking for a general-purpose hardware H.264 encoder for broader use, the H.264 Pro Recorder isn't it.

There are bundled, desktop, and enterprise offerings. Read on to learn which one is right for your needs.

The ideal streaming encoding tool should provide great quality, blazing performance, a discrete set of critical encoding parameters, and a range of other time-saving automation and input/output options. We all know the names—Adobe Media Encoder, Compressor, Squeeze, Episode (in its many flavors), and Expression Encoder—so how do they stack up against this ideal? Glad you asked, because that’s what we’re going to explore.

Sorenson Media recently released Squeeze 6.

If you click to the full article, you can view a screencam that I created for Millimeter magazine. In a couple of weeks, I'll post a written article comparing encoding quality and performance of Squeeze 6 with previous versions and other products in its class.