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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 13, 2012 4:39 PM
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With the fall of Megaupload, legal VOD sites are quickly gaining back popularity as consumers are eager to watch fresh video contents on all their connected devices. If you are a content owner, a TV channel or a telco, it may be the right time to (re)launch you Multiscreen OTT VOD offer.
This post intends to start from the reference tech choices in this game – Netflix’s ones – explain the major challenges of such type of service and the associated DRM issues, and finally drive you throughout the different market options you have to setup your own service on a close basis (this part will be covered in an upcoming post).
Everything would have been easier if Netflix did sell its solution as a white label platform, but it’s not (yet) the case, so this leaves fun territories to explore !
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 13, 2012 8:56 AM
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We finally get a tool to do what we thought would be possible from FCPX v1.0.0
When Apple released the latest Final Cut Pro X update there was a very important 3rd party utility released right alongside the 10.0.3 update that finally allowed the importing of legacy FCP7 projects into FCPX. It wasn’t entirely surprising that it was Intelligent Assistance releasing 7toX for Final Cut Pro. I say that because they had already created Xto7 (to move projects from FCPX to FCP7) and are arguably the best company for creating high-quality XML workflow tools for the FCP universe. There’s been tons of blog posts about 7toX for Final Cut Pro since its introduction but most of them are nothing more than a here it is here’s the link kind of thing, including one of my own. Many have taken a simple sequence to try this conversion but my thought was to throw everything at 7toX for Final Cut Pro and see how well it did ... or didn’t work.
Of course the most surprising thing is still that Apple didn’t build this capability directly into FCPX from the beginning but it’s better to get it late from a 3rd party rather than never get it at all.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 11, 2012 5:52 PM
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The standards group hammering out the next generation of the MPEG media codec has forged a committee draft of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard in a regular meeting here this week. The spec also known informally as H.265 is expected to provide efficiency boosts in transmitting video for next generation systems and networks using it. The committee draft is seen is an important but not a final milestone in the standard’s progress. The spec faces two more hurdles before it is cast in stone. The group aims to ratify a final standard in January 2013.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 11, 2012 5:51 AM
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DRM will always have a place, but content owners should spend more time creating innovative distribution models like Netflix that are easy-to-use and priced right.
To DRM or not to DRM? That has been a key question for some years now. One of the first articles I wrote for Streaming Media was about DRM, a little way back in 2002. Not a lot has changed in a decade. It is still strapped with a negative perception, not widely adopted, and largely ineffective at all but the early-adopter and innovator end of the market
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 8, 2012 6:38 PM
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Remember when Intel turned your life into a museum exhibition using your Facebook data? Or when Google put your place of birth into Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown video? How about when Take This Lollipop warned you – specifically you – about the dangers of social networking? That’s ‘Perceptive Media’, and it’s coming to a TV near you – eventually.
At last night’s SMC_MCR event in Manchester, UK, Ian Forrester of the BBC’s Research and Development department discussed early-stage experiments that are being conducted into bringing Perceptive Media to our TV sets.
Here’s how it would work – a TV signal would be sent, as normal, to your set-top box or TV. However, the hardware in your living room would be able to modify that signal with information about you, to create a subtly different version of what you were watching, personalised for you.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 7, 2012 4:45 PM
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libdash is a library that simplifies DASH with the intention to make the usage of DASH streams as simple as the usage of a file. The library handles the whole HTTP connection setup, the xml parsing and the bandwidth adaptation process and with its internal buffer it tries to enable a stable stream for the user of the library. Furthermore the library supports a part of the isoffmain profile, the full basic-cm profile and HTTP byte range requests.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 6, 2012 10:51 AM
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Don’t believe everything you read about the new FCPX multicam. It is good, well thought out and it presents a whole new set of tools when dealing with multicam setup that makes it the leader of the pack. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say Apple reinvented multicam editing with this release I would say they rethought it. The truth is there’s really only so many ways to effectively edit multicamera products. Once you’ve gone through what can be a tedious setup process then it’s basically switch the cameras to the angle you want. It makes the most sense to use some kind of split where you can see more than one angle at a time and that’s what FCPX does, what FCP7 does and what Media Composer does. I’m not exactly sure how Adobe Premiere Pro does it but I do know it only works with 4 angles while FCPX can work with 64.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 4, 2012 12:14 PM
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You know the back story, so let’s jump right in. Apple recently released Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3 which offers several new features, most notably multicam, advanced chroma keying, XML 1.1 and a beta version of broadcast monitoring. I don’t have the hardware to test the last new beta feature, so I’ll focus on the first three.
On the other features, the Cliffs Notes version is this: The new multicam feature is fabulous, miles ahead of Final Cut Pro 7 and well ahead of Premiere Pro. Advanced chroma keying has some nice new twists, but I’d trade them all for an 8-point garbage matte effect. And, XML 1.1 looks pretty anemic from where I sit, though this isn’t an important feature for what I do.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 3, 2012 12:45 PM
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A Panasonic insider has revealed images of the recording equipment that will be used to process and record the data heavy format.
Called the P2 Tower, the set up has been designed for Super Hi-Vision recording and playback by Panasonic Pro Video. It allows for two hours of Super Hi-Vision recording with AVC-Intracompression to 17 X 2 P2 cards. This is made possible by AVC-Intra’s ability to maintain high image quality with high compression, and the high reliability of P2 cards.
It will be able to handle a 7680×4320/60P video signal and the 22.2 channel 24 bit Super Hi-Vision sound format.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 1, 2012 10:53 AM
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The International Telecommunication Union has approved eight advanced-advertising technology standards developed and published by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, elevating the suite of SCTE 130 specifications to a worldwide standard.
The SCTE 130 standards collectively describe the communications, control and data structures for inserting digital ads into video streams in an addressable manner. Using equipment that complies with the specs, operators can dynamically deliver advertising in linear broadcast, video-on-demand or other content based on business rules.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 1, 2012 9:12 AM
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The AMWA has ratified the Application Specification, AS-11: MXF for Contribution. The specification constrains MXF standards as a format that a post house can use to deliver HD or SD content to broadcasters as files rather than videotape.
AS-11 supports SD video encoded as D-10, 50Mb/s, and HD as AVC-Intra Class 100. Audio can be PCM, AC-3 or Dolby E. AS-11 allows for program segmentation and supports Descriptive Metadata with a minimal core metadata scheme. AS-11 is compatible with AS-03, MXF for Delivery.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
January 31, 2012 3:36 PM
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Google has released "Duclair," the new version 1.0.0 of its VP8 technology that the company says does a better job encoding video and faster job decoding it.
And it's a good thing, too, because VP8 is taking on not only the incumbent H.264, but also a sequel called High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) from the same group that's well under development.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
January 31, 2012 3:30 PM
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Apple has addressed some of the criticisms leveled by broadcast editors at its Final Cut Pro X with the new release of v10.0.3, a more significant update than would normally be in an incremental .0.3 version, writes David Fox.
The update introduces multicam editing (lost in the move from FCP 7), adds advanced chroma keying, and enhanced XML 1.1 for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins (of which there are many). It also includes beta support for broadcast monitoring via Thunderbolt devices and PCIe cards.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 13, 2012 11:40 AM
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A presentation by Elad Elrom.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 11, 2012 5:57 PM
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Somewhat ironically I had only just returned home from the Content Delivery Networks Asia 2012 conference in Hong Kong – where telco CDN’s were touted as the solution to the great telco versus OTT battle – when I read that Korean market giant KT had decided to cut off access for OTT content for Samsung’s connected TV’s using its broadband network.
KT has initially decided to block OTT content going to Samsung’s connected TV sets and has warned it will take the same action against LG Electronics if the manufacturer does not begin paying carriage costs.
KT has viewed connected TV services as a critical issue ever since the devices began arriving in the market. Back in May 2010 when connected TV’s had a tiny presence in the market KT’s IPTV top brass told me that the looming impact of connected TV’s on their broadband access and IPTV businesses was their number one concern.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 11, 2012 5:48 PM
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IBM-Research Tokyo recently partnered with the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at WGBH to research ways to deliver online audio descriptions via text-to-speech (TTS) methods, rather than using human recordings.
IBM and NCAM explored two approaches which exploit new HTML5 media elements-- video, audio and track-- as well as Javascript: - Writing and time-stamping a description script, then delivering the descriptions as hidden text in real time in such a way that a user's screen reader will read them aloud. The descriptions remain otherwise invisible and inaudible to non-screen-reader users. - Writing and time-stamping descriptions, then recording them using TTS technology. At the time of playback, each description is individually retrieved and played aloud at intervals corresponding to the time-stamped script.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 9, 2012 4:15 PM
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The Harris QuiC software family minimises the workload for video server operators in TV stations, network facilities and new media operations. Customers using QuiC software tools to analyse files ingested into video servers can achieve results faster through automated processes.
QuiC Pro and QuiC Express integrate quickly into any operation or facility, with ready-to-go test templates and an intuitive web-based user interface. A web-service application programming interface (API) enables communication with digital asset management systems and other workflow components.
PRODUCT PAGE : http://bit.ly/zRegaF
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 8, 2012 7:02 AM
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Dominik Homberger has been very busy over the last few months working on porting first, Google’s WebP image format to JS and today launching his WebM video decoder in JavaScript. No, these are not Emscripten compiled versions - these are hand ports directly from the original C++ source code. And yes, both of these ports work in all browsers, not just the latest Chrome and Firefox - all browsers. The WebP port works in IE6+ with a flash fallback for the canvas element, as well as, of course, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera and the mobile browsers on Android and iOS. The WebM video port works in IE9+, as well as all the other browsers mentioned before including the mobile ones. That is seriously impressive!
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 6, 2012 6:34 PM
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This evening, Limelight Networks announced their new managed CDN offering, called Limelight Deploy, aimed at helping telcos, carriers and service providers build and deploy CDN services inside their network. While this is a new product line for Limelight, they aren't new to the carrier space and have already built out networks for Bell Canada, starting in 2009, and Asia's largest telecom provider, Bharti Airtel in 2010. In what I think is related news, I have gotten a lot of calls today asking me about rumors people are hearing about F5 buying Limelight Networks. I have not heard any of those rumors but my guess is that F5 may be working to license Limelight's CDN technology the same way Juniper just licensed CDN technology from BitGravity.
The licensed and managed CDN business has really been heating up over the past few months and is still dominated by EdgeCast who has the most carrier based licensed CDN deployments and re-sellers in the market. But unlike EdgeCast who simply licenses their software to carriers, Limelight's approach it to actually help build and manage the CDN component of the carriers network with their professional services group. In conversations with Limelight, the company said carriers were asking for more hands-on help and Limelight's goal is to help the carrier build and manage the network with the carrier eventually taking over 80% of the operation of the service on their own. This approach also allows network operators to get their CDN up and running much faster since they get to leverage Limelight's expertise of running a network over the past ten years.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 4, 2012 12:18 PM
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It is pretty clear where the major Connected TV vendors are heading this year, adding value to their platforms by integrating companion screen experiences (initially focused on tablet/phone remote control and programme guides) and by making multimedia content sharing around the home easier. Both of these will provide a value-add for consumers beyond the provision of on-demand or even increasing volumes of live TV through the apps. The expansion of tablet ranges means there will be more focus on multi-screen delivery of video content as well, with Sony likely to lead the way there thanks to its Video Unlimited content offer.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 4, 2012 12:11 PM
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The future of CDN-delivered video is cacheable, HTTP streaming, with MPEG DASH ultimately taking over, says Highwinds' Chris Bray.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 2, 2012 4:14 PM
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As we have seen here, here, and here, Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) is a great technology for streaming video contents in lossy networks but it is handicapped by many challenges that are hindering its success and threatening its implementation in mobile networks.
Having spoken to many vendors in the space, here are two techniques that I have seen deployed to try and emulate ABR benefits in mobile networks, while reducing dependencies on some of the obstacles mentioned :
- DBRA (Dynamic Bit Rate Adaptation) - Network-controlled Adaptive Streaming
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 1, 2012 10:35 AM
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What a day yesterday was, the 10.0.3 update for Final Cut Pro X set the Internet alight. We thought we would take a look at the third party announcements that might have been overshadowed by the news from Cupertino. News from AJA, Blackmagic Design, Intelligent Assistance, Marquis, GenArts, Red Giant and more.
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
February 1, 2012 9:05 AM
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Palo Alto-based video encoding start-up EyeIOleft stealth mode Wednesday with the announcement that it has licensed its technology to one of the biggest players in the online video space. Netflix is using eyeIO’s encoding technology to cut down on the bandwidth of its streams, allowing the company to deliver HD video without busting subscribers’ bandwidth caps or overwhelming networks in emerging markets.
EyeIO has been operating stealthily since the end of 2010, and was able to win Netflix as a customer last summer. Netflix hasn’t said where and in which capacity it is exactly using the technology it has been licensing from eyeIO, but the company’s VP of Product Development Greg Peters said in a press release that eyeIO is “an important part of the technology (Netflix uses) to improve video quality and overcome bandwidth challenges presented by Internet infrastructure.”
READ ALSO : http://bit.ly/AdzZdC
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Scooped by
Nicolas Weil
January 31, 2012 3:33 PM
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Marquis Broadcast today announced the launch of X2Pro Audio Convert, its cutting edge conversion application for delivering Final Cut Pro X projects to Avid Pro Tools for audio finishing.
X2Pro uses Marquis’ Media Highway, the core technology employed by Marquis’ media integration products, to integrate Final Cut Pro X into professional audio workflows. X2Pro converts the exported Final Cut Pro X XML into an AAF file, which Avid Pro Tools can open as a session, delivering seamless integration between the two applications.
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