So, here I am, just about to launch a course on webinars and live video production (now launched), and I experience the worst two virtual presentations ever. In this blog, I’ll share the gory details and let you know how you (perhaps) can avoid the same fate. All that said, this is more a writer’s self-therapy for me than learning …

I was honored to present a free webinar entitled Video Codecs in 2021 and Beyond with Muvi on April 8, 2021. The slides and recording are below. Here’s the description. There has never been a time where so many video codecs were available (or soon to be available) for video producers. From MPEG, we have AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265), VVC …

Reducing the reference frame setting from 16 to 1 when using x.264’s veryslow preset decreased encoding time by 46% on ten 2-minute test files while dropping the average VMAF score from 96.06 to 95.97, a decrease of less than .001. If you used the Medium preset, at the default setting of 3 reference frames, changing to ref=1 would drop encoding …

As the producer of webinars and virtual training events for Streaming Media Magazine and Streaming Learning Center, I’m always interested in information that helps me produce more effective events. A recent report from Bluejeans, the Verizon-owned video conference provider, provided several interesting data points. By way of background, the report discussed survey data collected by IDG from 200 respondents in a …

The webinar is over; thanks to all who registered and attended. You can watch the recorded version below. The handout is available here. Description: This free webinar teaches streaming media novices how to produce high-quality H.264 output delivered via efficient encoding ladders that optimize quality, compatibility, and bitrate efficiency. The webinar will also introduce the concept of per-title encoding and …

Happy to share two new five-star reviews for Streaming Media 101, the only online training course available for onboarding new streaming media professionals, whether coming from the IT discipline or via engineering. Engineer Chris Joyce commented, As an engineer, I wasn’t sure what to expect and didn’t want to pay for some fluffy sales-type material. Jan’s course didn’t disappoint as he …

This article and the associated Google Sheet present an analytical model for computing breakeven on new codec deployments.  On a LinkedIn post here, Johan Skaneby asked: Technical comparisons and documentation on different codec performance are very interesting and important, but all development of technologies are always closely related to market requirements and business models. My experience is that the challenge …

Bitmovin (https://bitmovin.com/) has partnered with Jan Ozer, a recognized expert in streaming media and encoding, to provide its new engineering and solutions employees with his Streaming Media 101 course (https://courses.streaminglearningcenter.com/). The course–which has been fully integrated into Bitmovin’s internal learning management system–provides industry-specific content that helps new Bitmovin employees quickly and seamlessly ramp up to full productivity in their technical …