Making a 720p intermediate

Many customers have been asking for a quick guide to locally crunching their large HDV, XDCAM, ProRes, or DVCPro source. These files can range from 25-100+ Mbps, and may take a long time to move over the internets.

Many VOD customers prefer a H264 intermediate for best quality and filesize:

File Format: MP4 or M4V
Video: 1280x720p H264 @ 5 Mbps or higher
Audio: 44100 Stereo AAC @ 192 Kbps or higher

If you are having audio sync issues, we recommend exporting from Apple apps using MP4 instead of MOV. Often the timescale problems with MOV files are variable framerate or custom chapter markers. Forcing Apple's MacOS core media engine to MP4 output should lock a constant framerate and solve the sync problems.

Option #1 - MPEG Streamclip: With a simple interface similar to Apple's own QT Player, we find MPEG Streamclip to be a great tool for making fast edits and exporting a high-quality mp4 mezzanine. I also really like how all the settings are in one window and can be customized very quickly without having to click thru sub-windows.


Option #2 - Handbrake: Another very popular tool, since it is a 64-bit multicore x264 encoder on both Mac and PC and very fast. Default quality is very good using the "Regular -> Normal" setting for main profile.


Option #3 - Adobe CS6 Media Encoder: If you already have one of the CS6 applications, Adobe's encoder is very good. I generally go with the 720p Vimeo HD setting.

Option #4 - Final Cut Pro 7.x: You can export a sequence directly from FCP 7 using "QuickTime Conversion". This will take about 4x longer than other methods, due to it's legacy 32-bit processing. You will also need to modify many of the settings for framesize, aspect ratio, audio codec, and single-pass. Screenshot details below.

Premiere Pro CS5 vs. Final Cut Pro Shootout

Great shootout posted by David Basulto

Apple has basically neglected Final Cut Pro 7 for years, with very few improvements since version 5. Most notably, it still runs in 32-bit mode and uses less than half the processor cores of the new Macs. Then they released the FCP X shitpile, aka "iMovie Pro", which was obviously designed by someone who hasn't made their living editing video for the past decade.

So, looks like it's time to see what Adobe's got cookin'! I'm gonna be using Premiere CS5 more in day-to-day, and will post a real review next month.

Open Broadcast Encoder

OBE-RT http://ob-encoder.ning.com/
0.1-beta release. This release has been tested on a production IPTV network and is suitable for long-term testing in a lab or production environment.
• HD/SD SDI input with Decklink cards.
• AVC encoding using the x264 encoder
• MP2/AC-3/E-AC3/AAC (AAC is experimental) audio encoding
• VANC support (includes CEA-708 captions and AFD)
• WSS to AFD conversion
• Line blanking (Line 21 for NTSC and Line 23 for PAL)
• 3DTV frame packing
• Full control of the TS mux parameters
• UDP/RTP output with unicast and multicast output support
• Experimental IP-in to IP-out transcoding with audio and PID passthrough

Dark Shikari's technical analysis of VP8

http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/archives/377

TLDR: Overall, VP8 appears to be significantly weaker than H.264 compression-wise. The primary weaknesses mentioned above are the lack of proper adaptive quantization, lack of B-frames, lack of an 8×8 transform, and non-adaptive loop filter. With this in mind, I expect VP8 to be more comparable to VC-1 or H.264 Baseline Profile than with H.264. Of course, this is still significantly better than Theora, and in my tests it beats Dirac quite handily as well.

#6072 Incorrect poster frame

The correct image for poster frame should be http://vidly.s3.amazonaws.com/2s1x2l/link.jpg

Using embed code from http://vid.ly/2s1x2l/ modified to use "link.jpg" as the poster image as follows:

<iframe frameborder="0" width="640" height="360" name="vidly-frame" src="http://vid.ly/embeded.html?link=2s1x2l&autoplay=false"><a target='_blank' href='http://vid.ly/2s1x2l'><img src='http://vidly.s3.amazonaws.com/2s1x2l/link.jpg'/></a></iframe>

Sony F3′s S-Log firmware upgrade

S-Log is a gamma curve that stretches blacks and compresses highlights so that you can manipulate the image extensively in post. It needs a high end codec (10 bit and moderate compression) due to the heavy post manipulation to be done in the grade. More details at http://nofilmschool.com/2011/04/sony-f3-uncompressed-s-log-footage-hits/

Alister explains log curves on his blog at http://www.xdcam-user.com/2011/01/understanding-gamma-cinegamma-hypergamma-and-s-log/

Android models

JW Player embed modes

The JW Embedder currently offers 3 modes:

Flash mode - The original JW Player mode. Uses the Flash Platform to playback streaming and progressive video, images, and sound.

HTML5 mode - HTML5 offers support on the most up-to-date browsers and devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Download mode - Download offers the widest range of compatibility, allowing users with almost any video capable device to view the content.

The player can only run in one mode at a time, and certain features (including plugins, skins, and the JavaScript API) are disabled in download mode.

From
http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/jw-player/jw-player-for-flash-v5/18508/jw-embedder-modes