Streaming Learning Center

Streaming producers don’t work in a vacuum, and one of the best ways to understand the best practices of other publishers on the web is to download and analyze the streaming files that they produce. I capture streaming videos a lot, exclusively to analyze the video files for research purposes. I use two primary tools to accomplish this, DownloadHelper (www.downloadhelper.net), which is available exclusively as a FireFox plug-in, and RealPlayer (www.RealPlayer.com), which works with any browser.This short article discusses these tools and features.

Here's a 45 minute video on improving streaming video quality from a presentation given by Jan Ozer at Streaming Media East in May, 2009. The video covers common mistakes made by producers in pre-production, encoding and distribution. You can download a PDF file containing the presentation by clicking the "Full Story" link below to visit the web page that contains the video.

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Streaming Media East, where I gave two presentations. The first was a 3 hour session on producing H.264 video, here's the agenda.


In particular, note the comparisons of H.264 codecs, which you'll find helpful if trying to find the best H.264 encoding tool, and the settings for common H.264 encoders, which may help you navigate through your selected program. I also addressed how to set common encoding parameters like Profiles, Levels, Entropy Encoding (CABAC/CAVLC), B-Frame intervals, reference frames and the like.

The second is, a 76 slide, 45-minute look at common mistakes made by video producers, and the agenda is below. This one was actually filmed; I'll add the link to the streaming video file once it becomes available. Note that the encoding section includes lots of useful statistics about the current streaming configurations used by broadcast and corporate sites. Have a look.

I hope you find the presentations useful. Enjoy!

Streaminglearningcenter.com is pleased to offer for free download a streaming media primer written by Jan Ozer.

The primer starts by defining commonly used streaming terms like bandwidth, streaming and data rate, and then explains universal encoding parameters like VBR and I, B and P-frames. Then it introduces readers to the big three codecs, H.264, VP6 and VC-1, and briefly compares and contrasts Flash and Silverlight. The primer finishes with a section on how to choose common encoding parameters like data rate and resolution.

The primer is an amalgam of materials already available on streaminglearningcenter.com, along with new content, in a compact, more convenient form for downloading, printing and sharing. The primer is freely downloadable and fully printable.

Enjoy!

If you edit on both Mac and Windows workstations using Final Cut Pro and Adobe CS4, running ProRes on Windows can be a great capability. Read all about it here.