Posted by Derrick on July 2, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression | 
Working with Encoding.com, Amazon S3 and Cloudfront is what I had a chance to do recently. It was nice to work with the Encoding.com encoding service again. This service can make things extremely easy for novices especially if you have someone to set up encoding presets and other items for you. It terms of compression, I generally like to be up close and personal on the desktop with my compression tools but there are some things that I like about the Encoding.com service.
Project Goal: To provide a great viewing experience for 80 minute video lessons with Real-Time Streaming. The videos needed to play without interruption. Also we needed to provide 1-2 minute videos for Progressive Download.
Here are the tools used for the project:
Amazon S3
Amazon Cloudfront
Rackspace Cloud
Encoding.com
JW Player
Because of the project we decided to go with delivering Real-time Streaming of the 80 minute lessons with Amazon Cloudfront and Amazon S3. We also used the Cloudfront and S3 for the Progessive Downloads. What nice is the Amazon Cloudfront uses Adobe Flash Media Servers for Real Time Streaming. For delivery we implemented On-demand Dynamic Streaming for Real-time Streaming and went with a single datarate video for Progressive Download. We used 5 different dates for different types of viewers and the video dynamically switches based on users bandwidth. Rackspace was used for the source file location and JW Player was used for both Real-time and Progressive Download playback of the Flash video content.
Here’s what I liked about Encoding.com:
- Watch Folder Encoding
- FTP or Amazon S3 locations can be specified for Watch Folders
- Videos can be sent to FTP or Amazon S3 locations after encoding
- The ability to view encoding jobs in the Encoding Queue
- Watch Encoding Log
Here’s what I’d like to see improved with Encoding.com:
- The ability to specify naming conventions for Watch Folders
- The ability to apply multiple presets to Watch Folders
- More compression filters available
Tags: Amazon Cloudfront, Amazon S3, Compression, Dynamic Streaming, encoding, encoding service, Encoding.com, flash, JW Player, on-demand, presets, Progressive Download, Real-Time Streaming, Tools, video content, Watch Folder Encoding
Posted by Derrick on June 18, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Brightcove, the leading online video platform, announced that The Football Association (FA), England’s governing body for the game of football, has launched a host of new online video offerings for TheFA.com, as well as a dynamic new iPhone app, using the Brightcove platform. The FA is also leveraging Brightcove to support a variety of video initiatives around the official website for England’s World Cup team, including interviews with players and highlights from previous games and tournaments.
“Football in England today has more spectators, participants, revenues and media interest than any other sport,” said Alistair Robertson, Project Lead at The FA. “We have a tremendous amount of fans visiting our website each day to see the latest news and highlights of the England team, The FA cup and our many National Game initiatives, so it is crucial that we are able to provide the highest quality user experience possible. The breadth of features available in the Brightcove platform enables us to achieve this, as well as expand our video initiatives to popular mobile devices like the iPhone.”
With Brightcove, The FA is able to deliver high quality, interactive online video viewing experiences for football fans worldwide. Brightcove’s range of customization features enable The FA to easily and dynamically integrate video throughout the TheFA.com site, which is crucial in increasing search engine optimization around video and deepening user engagement. Brightcove also makes it easy for The FA to significantly expand the audience reach of its video content through advanced social sharing tools for popular sites like Facebook and Twitter and a wide-range of third party distribution capabilities. Brightcove’s “white-list” status by Facebook gives The FA the ability to embed Brightcove players directly into the England team’s wall, as well as on the FATV section of the team’s Facebook page.
The FA also recently introduced a fan-friendly mobile app using the Brightcove iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) and Brightcove Mobile Experience solution. The app is designed to enable fans to keep in instant touch with the England team through the latest news from the World Cup camp, including exclusive video highlights of great England games, goals and legendary players.
“Online video presents a unique opportunity for organizations like The FA to increase engagement with fans and dramatically expand their online audience,” said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. “We are thrilled to be the online video platform behind The FA’s dynamic new offerings, particularly on the eve of the immense traffic and interest that will be generated from the World Cup this summer.”
To see the Brightcove player in action, go to the official England website at www.TheFA.com/England. The FA plans to roll out additional video programming and capabilities using the Brightcove platform in the near future.
Posted by Derrick on March 16, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Brightcove Inc. announced that EMI Music, one of the world’s largest music companies, will use Brightcove as its online video publishing and syndication platform in North America. EMI Music, which is home to chart-topping recording artists and legendary catalog artists, will use Brightcove’s comprehensive online video platform to publish, distribute and monetize video content across its website properties and to some of EMI Music’s third party syndication partners.
“These new capabilities will be great for our artists and will help us with our mission to bring fans together around high-quality music entertainment programming, while also creating business value wherever music is experienced,” said Samir Housri, Director of Business Development at EMI Music. “The Brightcove platform provides us with the flexibility to effectively monetize, distribute and analyze the performance of our online video content, as well as to extend the reach of our content through Brightcove’s strong partner network.”
With Brightcove, EMI Music has access to the most comprehensive and advanced features for publishing and distributing advertising-supported online video content. Brightcove will give EMI Music greater ability to provide high quality, interactive and engaging user experiences across the Web. The Brightcove platform enables EMI Music to create highly customized viewing experiences, including country and language-specific video experiences for its Web properties. Brightcove also makes it easy for EMI Music to significantly expand the audience reach of its video content through search engine optimization, advanced social sharing tools and a wide-range of third party distribution capabilities. Additionally, Brightcove’s ease of integration with leading advertising servers will enable EMI Music to expand its monetization strategy and open up new revenue streams through online video advertising.
“EMI Music has an amazing catalog of music entertainment video content that is popular with audiences around the world,” said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove chairman and chief executive officer. “We look forward to helping EMI Music extend the reach of its video content through high quality, branded, customized online video experiences that take advantage of third party distribution features and open new sources of revenue for the organization.”
Posted by Derrick on March 8, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression |
DivX, Inc. a leading digital media company, announced the first line of DivX Certified(R) HDTVs from Sony. The new Sony flagship BRAVIA(R) LCD HDTV series enhances consumers’ viewing experience with support for high-quality DivX(R) video.
Available now in Europe and other regions, these already feature-rich BRAVIA EX, BX3/BX4, HX, and NX5 series TVs will be capable of playing back digital video and Hollywood movies in the high-quality DivX format. BRAVIA provides full high definition TV widescreen experience and a variety of line-ups to choose from including stylish TV designs, innovative LCD TV picture technology, ultra slim televisions or the latest Full HD and HD Ready digital TVs.
DivX technology allows digital videos to be compressed to a fraction of their original size while maintaining excellent visual quality. For example, eight full-length standard definition movies in the DivX format can fit on an 8GB USB drive. With the DivX format, full-length movies can be quickly downloaded from the Internet and played on DivX Certified Sony TVs, as well as other consumer electronics devices.
“DivX is clearly a de-facto standard for high quality playback of video content from the Internet in the living room,” said Hiroshi Sakamoto, VP of TV Marketing Sony Europe. “I am pleased to announce that our new BRAVIA(R) line up can now playback DivX videos so that you can enjoy them via USB on the big screen.”
“We are pleased to continue our partnership with Sony to deliver a true cinematic experience to consumers as they watch digital videos and movies on their new BRAVIA TVs,” said Kevin Hell, Chief Executive Officer at DivX. “Through the addition of outstanding products such as the Sony BRAVIA product line, we are expanding the DivX ecosystem and adding value for our partners and consumers worldwide.”
Posted by Derrick on February 8, 2010 under Video Streaming and Compression |
Ooyala Inc., a leading provider of end-to-end video platform applications and services, announced that Telegraph Media Group (TMG), publisher of the UK’s leading newspaper and online news destination site, Telegraph.co.uk, has chosen Ooyala’s market leading online video platform to power its online video. Ooyala and TMG will also partner to develop new technologies to improve the way information is delivered and consumed online.
Ooyala was recently rated as a market-leading video platform provider and the leader in the area of video analytics and monetisation, by Forrester Research. “Ooyala’s end-to-end video platform offers best-in-class video analytics and monetization capabilities” – Bobby Tulsiani, Sr. Analyst at Forrester Research.
TMG reaches over 30 million unique users and delivers over a million hours of online video on a monthly basis. With the Ooyala partnership, TMG aims to set new standards within the industry by delivering a higher quality and more personalized consumer experience, creating greater efficiencies in news content management and providing advertisers with increased consumer insight.
In 2009, TMG saw a dramatic rise in online video consumption. By moving to Ooyala’s platform and leveraging its real-time analytics, TMG will be able to provide its audience with highly targeted video content at a market leading speed.
Ooyala Inc., a U.S based company with offices in London, provides a fully integrated online video platform that enables media companies to manage, deliver, syndicate, analyze and monetise their premium video content. The platform’s real-time analytics engine allows clients to view, in real-time, how their online video and associated advertising is being consumed.
“Ooyala’s innovative video solutions will help us accelerate our overall online video strategy” said Paul Cheesbrough, Chief Information Officer at Telegraph Media Group. “Their online video publishing, analytics, and video monetization services will ensure we are fully able to exploit the value of our online video content in 2010” he added.
In May 2009, Telegraph Media Group was named ‘Best Digital Publisher – Consumer’ at the Association of Online Publishers Awards. On November 30, TMG announced a multi-million pound investment in a new digital business unit, that will be headed by Editor-in-Chief Will Lewis.
“Telegraph Media Group has led its commercial rivals in online news for 15 years. Faced with the challenges of making online video profitable, the company has recognised that the key to successfully monetising content lies in having better consumer insights” said Jay Fulcher, Ooyala’s President and CEO. “We are excited to be partnering with such a forward-thinking company and look forward to building technologies that will enable the news industry to better monetize and expand their global media footprint.”
In 2010 Ooyala is planning to invest heavily to expand its operations into the European markets.
