Final Cut Studio, Avid, Adobe, and Video Streaming Training

On2 Technologies Partners With CCTV.com for Beijing Olympics

2008-07-22T19:57:24Z

On2 Technologies, Inc., a leader in video compression technologies, announced that China Central Television’s CCTV.com will use On2 Flix Engine to encode and publish new media video coverage of the Beijing Olympics. CCTV.com, the official internet and mobile phone broadcaster of the 2008 games, will deliver an exclusive video on demand service using On2 VP6-based Adobe Flash video across its network of more than 1000 servers; bringing 24/7 accessibility of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to China’s internet users.

By using On2's Flix Engine, CCTV.com will benefit from the latest encoding tools for the format, which deliver up to a 40% performance improvement over legacy VP6 encoders, and are particularly effective for encoding fast movement sequences characteristic to sports coverage.
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By using On2 technology, CCTV.com is able to reduce the bandwidth needed to deliver high quality web video by as much as 40%. Following this initial collaboration, CCTV intends to expand the use of On2's solutions to deliver video across multiple screens.

"We are pleased to provide CCTV.com with the technologies they need to deliver a high quality VOD service in time for the Olympics," says Eero Kaikkonen, Chief Marketing Officer, On2 Technologies. "We see this as the beginning of a long term partnership that will see our two companies working together to lay the foundation of web TV in China."

Flix Engine is a leading server side platform for encoding and publishing Flash video. The On2 VP6 video compression scheme is used by many of the leading UGC sites, CDNs and content owners including Facebook, Daum, Eurosport, Akamai and Brightcove to encode all genres of video targeted for web delivery in Flash format. Coupling high quality with low datarates and supporting cue points and alpha channel in Adobe Flash, VP6 is proprietary to On2 Technologies, and as such does not bear content royalties like those levied by MPEG-LA.

New Streambox Products at IBC 2008 - Part 2

2008-07-21T21:07:18Z

Streambox File-based Solutions
The integrated Streambox solution for file-based video acquisition provides enhanced management of field-generated video files for on-demand or scheduled play-out of a variety of video formats including raw ACT-L3T and QuickTime wrapped ACT-L3T files. The solution comprises the Streambox Store and Forward Server, The Streambox Store and Forward Client, and the Streambox Media Station. The Store and Forward Server supports multiple simultaneous connections and file transfers while providing meta-data information such as reporter name, location, and file name. It also provides a web interface through which the operator can monitor thumbnails of video files as they are being uploaded by, for example, field reporters. The operator is then able to create video play lists and play-out schedules via the Streambox Media Station. The file-based solution is part of the management layer of the Streambox Platform for broadcast and broadband.
]]> Streambox SBT3-9200 HD Video Transport System
The latest rackmount HD video transport system from Streambox offers significant performance enhancements from the previous release and it provides stunning full-motion, full-frame 1080i/720p HD broadcast video and audio over low data rate IP-based networks. Specifically, the Streambox SBT3-9200 system provides fast transmission and play-out of high quality HD video over data rates ranging from 512 Kbps to 30 Mbps. Recent independent testing of the Streambox system revealed that video compressed at 30 Mbps was virtually indistinguishable from uncompressed video as represented in side-by-side waveform samples. The system features advanced networking capabilities including robust forward error correction.

Streambox SBT3-9500 HD/SD Encoder
Streambox is announcing for release the integrated Streambox SBT3 HD/SD Encoder for newsgathering and broadcast video. The innovative solution enables broadcasters, government agencies, and enterprises to do live and file-based newsgathering, video transport and acquisition in HD and SD. The SBT3-9500 Encoder is integrated into one lightweight and compact chassis making it ideal for live and file-based mobile newsgathering over low latency, low data rate networks. The small form factor HD/SD encoder features 2 1/2 hours of battery life and it is capable of running on a car battery. The encoder works seamlessly with the breadth of Streambox's HD and SD management and play-out systems.

Mac Wireless Networking: Hawking USB Adapter

2008-07-21T19:55:43Z

I recently purchased a Mac Pro without the airport installed from the factory. This was a huge mistake and I recommend that you do not make this mistake. If you want to add it at a later date it is a factory direct part that must be installed at a dealer. Not only expensive but very time consuming! Today I discovered a great solution for your networking solution on the Mac. The Hawking Wireless-G USB Adapter with Removable Antenna is your solution. this adapter will work with all Macintosh laptops and desktops, you will just need to download the drive that is for your system. The external dipole antenna can easily be removed and upgraded to a Hawking Hi-Gain Antenna for extended wireless range. Works with both IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g products, has high-speed transfer data rate - up to 54Mbps', Supports Turbo Mode to enhance the data transfer speed within a specific wireless network. The Hawking adapter has proven to be the fastest network adapter to date.

Akamai Holds First Annual Customer Conference

2008-07-21T05:02:33Z

Akamai Technologies, Inc., the leader in powering rich media, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, announced the agenda and participating speakers for its first-ever Customer Conference taking place August 18-20, 2008 at The Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel, 606 Congress Street, Boston.

Agenda: www.akamai.com/html/customer_conference/agenda.html

Speakers: www.akamai.com/html/customer_conference/speakers.html

As the largest gathering ever of Akamai customers, the conference will feature speakers from over 45 companies addressing topics including:

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The increasing demands for a dynamic, interactive consumer experience

How to package and monetize video assets

Improving video ad effectiveness

Adoption of Web 2.0 and Rich Internet Applications

Achieving PCI compliance

Improving performance of enterprise Web applications

Best practices for global SaaS delivery

Extending your online business in China

The challenges of managing, monitoring and measuring download performance

The event will feature both industry tracks and hands-on technical tracks; keynotes from Akamai President & CEO Paul Sagan, and Akamai Co-Founder and Chief Scientist Tom Leighton; pre-conference technical workshop sessions; a technology fair and partner pavilion; a live, on-site Network Operations Command Center; and an evening, luxury cruise around Boston.

Registered attendees include CEOs, CIOs, eCommerce executives, CTOs, heads of New Media, technical architects, and technology and business strategy executives from some of the world's largest online brands.

"This event is designed for Akamai customers to share best practices, exchange ideas, and debate those industry topics of most importance to their businesses and future growth," said Brad Rinklin, vice president of Global Marketing, Akamai. "It was imperative to develop an agenda in cooperation with industry leaders that is targeted for businesses that have been instrumental to revolutionizing today's global Internet. We're excited to not only host this event, but to continue to learn from our customers about the services and functionality they require for continued success."

Limelight Provides Update on Court Rulings in Patent Trial

2008-07-20T04:39:53Z

Limelight Networks, Inc. announced that the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts today issued certain rulings in the Company's ongoing case against Akamai Technologies.

Among these rulings, which were issued electronically, the Court denied Akamai's motion for a permanent injunction as premature, and denied Akamai's motions for partial summary judgment on certain Limelight Networks' defenses. Additionally, the Court denied Limelight Networks' motions for a new trial, judgment as a matter of law, and obviousness.

The Court did not announce a date for the resolution of Limelight's pending defenses.

New Streambox Products at IBC 2008 - Part 1

2008-07-19T21:02:13Z

Streambox ACT-L3T Software Encoder

Streambox is announcing for IBC the release of a software-only version of the company's award-winning Streambox ACT-L3T Encoder. The Software Encoder has been successfully deployed by leading national and international broadcasters for several years and is now available for general release. Typically used for live and file-based newsgathering and video acquisition over low data rate IP networks, the software provides additional flexibility for Mac or Windows users as they harness the power of Streambox's IP-based platform for broadcast and broadband.

Streambox ACT-L3 Mobile Software Encoder
Making its international debut at the 2008 IBC Show, the Streambox Mobile Software EncoderT is an innovative software solution for streaming of breaking news and events via broadband. The Mobile Software Encoder features Streambox's advanced proprietary compression technologies widely used by news organizations, government agencies, and other organizations and individuals. It extends the newsgathering capabilities of broadcasters, first responders, and citizen reporters, while delivering live breaking news and events to the newsroom faster, smarter, and at a lower cost while at the same time powering video portals and social networking sites.

CANAL+ Adds Envivio Encoders for Live HD Football

2008-07-17T01:57:07Z

Envivio Inc., the leading technology provider of IP video convergence encoding solutions from mobile to HD, announced that after extensive competitive testing its 4Caster HD30 video encoders have been purchased by CANAL+. The systems are to be deployed both in mobile trucks and at the CANAL+ broadcast center in Warsaw, Poland to support contribution of live high definition (HD) football programming over both fiber and microwave links. CANAL+ recently won the rights to televise live football for the next three years.

"Live HD football is one of the most eagerly anticipated items of programming for CANAL+ viewers and we want it to meet their expectations. Video quality and low latency were therefore our top concerns, as these will most directly influence our audience's satisfaction," said Jaroslaw Kordalewski, Technical Director for CANAL+ Poland. "Side-by-side testing showed us that the Envivio HD30 combines excellent video quality with the lowest latency we found for both low and high video bit rates."
]]> The 4Caster HD30 HD encoder enables broadcasters to contribute high quality HD video in the same satellite bandwidth they currently use for SD contribution. This means that for the first time HD news and sports contribution is feasible within almost any sized market. End-to-end latencies as low as 300 milliseconds make the HD30 an excellent choice for bi-directional applications such as studio anchors interviewing reporters in the field. Outstanding video quality at below 8 Mbps combined with advanced DVB-S2 modulation means that broadcasters can cover local sports events in HD for the same per minute price they typically pay for SD feeds encoded using MPEG-2.

A number of additional features were of critical importance to the CANAL+ evaluation team. The HD30 has built-in two way voice intercom capability as a standard feature to provide easy communication between stadium and playout center staff. The system can be easily and completely configured via a web-based interface or from the system's front panel which gives operators access to all features and settings.

Kordalewski continued, "Of course, broadcasting from the field is particularly demanding on equipment. The Envivio HD30 proved to be rugged and reliable—an excellent fit for OB operations."

After Effects 101: Adjustment Layers

2008-07-16T21:41:40Z

I get asked all the time about adjustment layers in After Effects and what their purpose is, well I am hear to tell you there are very powerful and you need to get familiar with them. To put it in very simple terms the adjustment layer allows you to apply an effect to the adjustment layer and it will affect any layer below it. Example: if you have 12 layers and you would like to add a blur effect to the bottom six layers you would simply add an adjustment layer above the sixth layer and apply a blur effect to the adjustment layer. You can can control the blur on that one layer and it will adjust down accordingly. Try the adjustment layer and you will wonder how you ever animated without them!

Final Cut Pro Professional Tutorials

2008-07-14T13:05:56Z

A new site dedicated to Final Cut Pro tutorials has launched. It's called 'The Final Cut Pro'. The site contains many Final Cut Pro tutorials, and the tutorials are free. It also encourages users to write their own tutorials that will be archived on the site.

For example, while surfing the site, I found an excellent Apple Color tutorial on integrating Apple Color within Final Cut Pro.

wall painted animations

2008-07-12T01:14:18Z

I thought I'd mix up things on the GeniusDV blog today. You must take a look at the wall painted animations by Blue. It's one of the strangest creative works that I've seen in a long time. Not sure what software was used to edit this together, but it's worth looking at.

Pay special attention to the camera work and 3D environment. Not sure how they pulled this off. Amazing.

After Effects 101: Shortcut to Hand tool

2008-07-10T16:25:19Z

When you are working in After Effects it sometimes feels that there are almost endless shortcuts to achieve almost every task. Most of them no normal human could ever remember and there are a few that you should always remember. When you are working in your composition window you often need to switch between your selection tool and the hand tool. The shortcut key for the hand tool is H and the shortcut key for the selection tool is V. This is great if you want to change to the hand tool, but a much more effective workflow is to just switch to the hand tool while holding down the spacebar. This give you the movement control of the hand tool while you hold down the space bar and as soon as you release the spacebar you switch back the the selection tool. This may seem like a slight difference, but give it a try and you will see for yourself that this tip is a huge timesaver!

Producing video for the web

2008-07-09T17:30:29Z

Everything seems to be turning towards video. Just take a look at YouTube and the hundreds of thousands of videos on various websites. There is a range of websites offering ‘How-To’ videos that provide video enthusiasts with an opportunity to make money by producing these videos.

There is a need for these companies to produce quality videos in order for them to generate advertising revenue. Research is showing that if you don’t have video on your website you’re losing viewers or clicks. The great thing is, you don’t need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to produce video for the web. Yes, you can create a supplemental income by producing video content for these types of websites. . All that’s needed is a video camera with a microphone, some headphones, and a computer with some type of video editing software.

]]> The next time you're on YouTube, click on ‘Community’ at the top of the page, this will lead you to a video contest page, where company’s like Chrysler, Wachovia, and other major companies have a need for video content.
This idea here is simple. These companies get a bunch of creative ideas, instead of hiring an ad agency. Now, you may not win the contest, but this will help get your creative juices flowing and eventually lead you to creating some great videos.

Take a look at Current.com - “Current is about what's going on in your world’ You won't find this type of content on any other news site or cable TV channel. Current.com is the place to find and share stories and videos that are interesting to you. It connects to Current TV, a global cable and satellite TV network.” On Current.com you will see a wide variety of topics you can produce video for. If you’re lucky, and it makes TV, you get paid. With these viewer created ads you can make some decent money. Doing this kind of video production work may not make you rich, but it will keep your creative juices going.

To supplement your income or to make a good salary, check out sites like Expert Village, or Monkeysee. Creating ‘how-to’ videos can pay up to $500 for a series of 1-3 minute video clips. Demand Media who owns expertvillage.com have also teamed up with Lance Armstrong to create livestrong.com.

Then there is Turnhere.com that includes video content related to travel, business and promotional videos. These videos pay a minimum of $225 a pop. If you produce 2 a day, 5 times a week, you could generate close to a $100,000 a year!

Now, it’s not as easy as it sounds. It takes a special person to be motivated to complete all the work needed for these types of video productions. This requires the ability to produce, write, shoot, and edit in order to produce a great video. You can do it! If you’re looking for a new career or just some extra money GeniusDV is here for you. We are an industry leader for teaching entrepreneurs to harness their skills to produce video content. Our instructors, like Bob Hunt, are all working professionals who can walk you through the steps to success.

Lights, camera, action and good luck.

Sorenson Media Offers Spark Development Kit for Mobile

2008-07-09T00:58:04Z

Sorenson Media, the worldwide leader for video compression solutions, today announced the immediate availability of the Sorenson Spark Software Developers Kit (Sorenson Spark SDK) for embedded chipset companies and digital device manufacturers. The kit enables developers to add the popular Sorenson Spark decoder to nearly any digital device with an embedded programmable processor and allows playback of high-speed Adobe Flash-based video on cell phones and portable media devices. Sorenson Spark is the codec currently used on YouTube.

"Many manufacturers would like to increase the speed of Flash video playback on mobile communication and media devices from a few frames per second to full-speed," said Matt Cupal, president and COO of Sorenson Media. "Sorenson Spark SDK provides the solution to deliver high-speed video playback capability in the most popular Web format to their customers."
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Sorenson Spark SDK already has been licensed to many of the largest companies in the industry, including Sony, Adobe, Ingenient Technologies and others, all of which are now adding support for Sorenson Spark video playback. Sony integrated Sorenson Spark video decoding into the Sony COM-2 mylo communicator device, enabling it to play Flash video at a higher frame rate.

ViewCast Joins Initiative to Deliver Next Generation Media

2008-07-07T20:53:15Z

ViewCast Corporation, a leading global provider of streaming hardware and software solutions, announced it has joined the Microsoft Silverlight Partner Initiative to deliver the next generation of .NET-based media over the Internet.

By utilizing Windows Media/VC-1 format, the ViewCast Niagara SCX encoding platform can deliver streaming video and audio content to users of Silverlight, a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in offering flexibility in Windows, Macintosh, and Linux environments. ViewCast Osprey video capture cards, including the latest PCI Express cards, also support encoding using Microsoft Expression Encoder software, part of the Expression product family.

]]> "ViewCast has been a key part of the Windows Media/VC-1 streaming architecture for many years," said Steve Sklepowich, Group Product Manager at Microsoft. "And its Niagara encoders and Osprey cards fulfill a critical role in the creation of quality media content for delivery to Silverlight-powered user experiences. As a result, ViewCast is a welcome addition to the Silverlight Partner Initiative."

ViewCast President and Chief Operating Officer Dave Stoner commented, "The Silverlight enhancements are expected to not only broaden demand for ViewCast streaming hardware and software, but also add value for current customers and partners."

"Enabling Silverlight-compatible Internet video is a natural evolution of our long-standing VC-1 and Windows Media capabilities," Stoner continued. "With Windows Media/VC-1 capability, our powerful Niagara encoders deliver high quality, high-resolution live streaming plus the newest rich media capabilities that Silverlight offers. For customers using the Expression family of tools to create rich Web applications, our Osprey cards remain the hardware of choice for capturing media content from real-time broadcast sources."

ViewCast's flexible Niagara SCX and Niagara SCX Pro software enable users to set up and control Niagara streaming encoders remotely, throughout an enterprise or over the Internet. Niagara SCX Pro empowers users to remotely and simultaneously encode multiple streams at multiple bitrates in multiple resolutions and formats, including Microsoft Windows Media/VC-1, MPEG-4, Adobe Flash Live and more. Using the Niagara SCX Web Services interface, developers can integrate management and monitoring of all SCX-supported encoding formats through a single, unified interface.

Using Open Playhead Sync to improve workflow

2008-07-04T03:51:59Z

Avoid constantly loading clips into the Viewer. When moving from clip to clip in a sequence, you can avoid having to load every clip into the Viewer. Just set the Playhead Sync to Open, this will cause the Viewer to display whereever the playhead is in the sequence. This can be very helpful when adjusting color correction on a clip by clip basis. When working from the filter or Motion tab, having the Playhead Sync set to open is crucial, because in those tabs it can be hard to tell if you are working on the correct clip
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Another area that using Playhead Sync Open can be useful, is when in the audio tab. Going thru a sequence adjusting audio levels, is much easier with the Playhead Sync set to Open.