Retiring Streaming Videos in Sorenson 360

One of the features I love in Sorenson 360, Sorenson Media's tool for content delivery, is the ability to easily retire streaming videos when you no longer want your video content on-line. This is great if you have Sorenson 360 videos posted on your blog or on your website and you no longer want the content available for viewers.

To retire a video first select the video from within your Live videos.

On the bottom of the next window that displays, click the Retire button. Now that your videos are retired they will no longer be available wherever you posted your embed code.

Sorenson Spark Video Decoder Licensed for Transactional Video Transcoding Solutions

Sorenson Media announced that RipCode, the leader in transactional video transcoding, has licensed the Sorenson Spark Software Developers Kit (SDK) to integrate and distribute the Sorenson Spark video decoder in its suite of industry-leading video transcoding solutions. With the addition of Sorenson Spark, RipCode customers will be able to seamlessly transcode and deliver the largest installed base of online video across multiple platforms, including mobile devices, the Web and Internet television.

Sorenson Spark is the industry’s most ubiquitous video codec and was the first codec used in Macromedia Flash, now Adobe Flash. The decoder exclusively enables the playback of hundreds of millions of videos on the Internet, including those on YouTube, the single largest online video destination site today. The Sorenson Spark SDK allows developers to integrate the Sorenson Spark decoder into a wide array of programmable chipsets, semiconductors and server-based transcoding solutions.

An appliance-based, infrastructure solution, RipCode simplifies the complexity of video delivery and enables customers to extend delivery of video content across multiple channels, without requiring specialized handset applications or video players, and without the need to pre-transcode content for each device. Built to address the high-availability needs of today’s new media market, RipCode’s On-Demand and Real-Time Stream Transcoding solutions enable the cross-marketing of content over a variety of channels including mobile video, Internet video and IPTV – for the greatest flexibility in expanding video delivery and increasing revenue opportunities.

“Sorenson Spark is important to our customer base, and particularly for customers who want to take advantage of our on-demand transcode capability – which allows large libraries of legacy content to be made available rapidly and cost effectively to mobile and Web devices,” said Neal Hartsell, vice president of marketing at Ripcode.

“RipCode has established itself as a leader in the video transcoding industry, and our new partnership underscores Sorenson Spark’s unique value of providing access to the complete world of Internet video,” said Peter Csathy, president and CEO of Sorenson Media. “Whether on the Web, TV or a mobile device, consumers want to view all online video content and cannot do it without the Sorenson Spark codec.”

Desktop Presenter Helps Provide Live Streaming with PowerPoint

Many might not know it but Telestream's Desktop Presenter helps provide Live Streaming video with PowerPoint. The tool works with the popular Wirecast Live Encoding tool from Telestream. Wirecast is available for both PC and Mac users. With Desktop Presenter you can display screen activity, powerpoints and .PDFs from your desktop So, if you need to show a PowerPoint Presentation during your live streaming event, install Desktop Presenter on the workstation that you will be presenting from. If the workstation is on the same network as your Wirecast Live Encoder you can pull the Desktop Presenter application up from the computer it's running on. It will have an IP Address assigned to the Desktop Presenter. Once you see the Desktop Presenter application running inside you Wirecast Live Encoder, you can put the source in preview and call it up as a source. You can then switch back and forth from your Powerpoint to the Presenter giving the presentation.

Telestream Unveils ScreenFlow V2.0

Telestream announced version 2.0 of its award-winning ScreenFlow screen recording software for the Mac. Customers will now have the ability to easily upload and directly publish screencasts to YouTube. ScreenFlow Version 2.0 also adds advanced editing capabilities and elegant transitions across clips. In addition, V2.0 customers will receive free Flip4Mac WMV Studio, providing Windows Media export directly from within ScreenFlow. Named “Best Screencasting Application” at Macworld 2009, ScreenFlow is a cost-effective software toolkit that makes it easy for software developers, trainers, educators, and bloggers to capture, edit and deliver professional-quality screen recordings and video tutorials for the Web. ScreenFlow enables users to easily create training and promotional videos that enhance learning experiences, presentations and product demonstrations.

“ScreenFlow has been the recipient of four prestigious innovation awards to date. There’s no doubt that we changed the game in video screen capture when we released this product over a year ago,” said Barbara DeHart, VP of Marketing at Telestream. “We are committed to continuing the innovation that products such as ScreenFlow and Flip4Mac bring to millions of Mac enthusiasts worldwide. We think they will be as excited as we are with the YouTube and advanced editing capabilities, plus even more format support.”

Using a unique screen capture system, ScreenFlow records the contents of a user’s desktop while simultaneously capturing video and audio in real time. Powerful features allow users to highlight areas of the screen, add effects, show keystrokes and combine existing media into their screencasts. An easy-to-use timeline interface provides powerful post-production editing capabilities, allowing users to easily enhance their video productions.

Version 2.0 adds advanced editing capabilities that allow users to adjust the speed of clips during the recording and editing process. A full range of elegant new 2D and 3D transitions include page-curl, ripple, flash, swipe, cross-dissolve, dip to black or white, and more. Usability enhancements make it easier to access, move and manage stored project files in document packages, giving users more control over their media pieces. Productivity enhancements such as new keyboard shortcuts for resizing the timeline make editing even faster. In addition to all the new features, ScreenFlow V2.0 customers will receive Flip4Mac WMV Studio (value $49) through the end of 2009 to enable export of Windows Media content directly from within the ScreenFlow application.

The recipient of two Apple Design Awards in 2008, ScreenFlow continues to take advantage of the latest Apple technology, including Snow Leopard developments, to optimize ScreenFlow quality, performance and usability on the Mac OS X platform. ScreenFlow also received the Best Mac OS X Leopard Application and Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application Design Awards from Apple in 2008.

Chips&Media Licenses Sorenson Spark Video Decoder

Sorenson Media announced that Chips&Media has licensed the Sorenson Spark Software Developers Kit (SDK) to include the Sorenson Spark video decoder in Chips&Media's optimized video IP. Chips&Media video technology provides multi-standard video codec support for consumer multimedia devices, including mobile phones.

Sorenson Spark is the industry's most ubiquitous video codec and was the first codec used in Macromedia Flash, now Adobe Flash. The decoder exclusively enables the playback of hundreds of millions of videos on the Internet, including those on YouTube, the single largest online video destination site today. The Sorenson Spark SDK allows developers to integrate the Sorenson Spark decoder into a wide array of programmable chipsets and semiconductors. The kit is designed to provide Sorenson Spark decoding on any platform, including custom silicon.

The optimized Sorenson Spark decoder will be bundled with Chips&Media's video IP that will be designed into Chips&Media’s customer chipsets to deliver high performance video applications on low power consumer multimedia devices. Some of the industry’s largest semiconductor and mobile device manufacturers rely on Chips&Media technology to efficiently playback video content.

"We are thrilled to be able to include the Sorenson Spark decoder in our video technology offering," said Steve Kim, president and CEO at Chips&Media. "Our end customers have been asking us for a hardware optimized implementation of the Sorenson Spark video decoder. We are now positioned to offer this to our customers who will have access to the millions of videos on the Internet that can only be played back using the Sorenson Spark decoder."

"Our Sorenson Spark decoder is the ideal addition to Chips&Media's optimized silicon IP offering," said Peter Csathy, president and CEO of Sorenson Media. "This partnership is the latest in a series of licensees who see the Sorenson Spark decoder as a necessary part of mobile phones and other multimedia devices. With Chips&Media’s large customer base of semi-conductor manufacturers, even more consumers will have access to the widest and deepest base of online video content."

ViewCast Supports Streaming to Adobe Flash

ViewCast Corporation (OTCBB: VCST), a developer of industry-leading solutions for the transformation, management and delivery of digital media over IP and mobile networks, today unveiled the Niagara® 2120, a low-cost, easy to use streaming media appliance that supports H.264 streaming via the Adobe® Flash® platform. The compact and portable Niagara 2120 provides professional-quality performance and reliability for organizations in corporate, government, education, worship and athletic settings seeking a plug-and-play platform for streaming video content across enterprise networks or over the Internet.

“The Niagara 2120 delivers exceptional value and powerful capabilities that enable customers of all levels of technical expertise to quickly and easily stream high quality live and on-demand video,” said ViewCast President and CEO Dave Stoner. “With seamless support for H.264 streaming, the Niagara 2120 expands ViewCast’s leadership in the streaming media appliance market and equips customers to leverage ViewCast’s industry-renowned capabilities on the Adobe Flash Platform.”

“ViewCast solutions based on the Adobe Flash Platform enable the delivery of rich, real-time media experiences to an ever-growing audience of consumers that rely on Adobe Flash technology for high quality video over the Web,” said Bill Rusitzky, senior director of global media alliances for Adobe. “The Niagara 2120 is the latest example of ViewCast’s continued technological innovation and commitment to providing high-performance video streaming solutions based on Adobe Flash technologies.”

The Niagara 2120 shares many of the same advanced features found in ViewCast’s other professional-grade streaming media encoders, and is optimized for simplified set-up and operation. Featuring a built-in Web interface to enable streamlined management from anywhere on the network, the compact, self-contained unit is ideal for location streaming applications and also fits easily into any production control room. Users simply set the desired streaming parameters via the intuitive Web interface, then initiate one or more streams simultaneously from the front panel “Stream” button.

The Niagara 2120 enables organizations of all sizes, and those with limited budgets, to stream live and on-demand sports, educational and training content, corporate events and more to an expansive Web-based audience, which in turn creates marketing and sponsorship opportunities that can increase revenue streams. With support for H.264 streaming to the Adobe Flash Platform, customers are afforded high-performance streaming capabilities across a broad range of bandwidths to elevate the quality and impact of their Internet video programming.

The Niagara 2120 comes standard with ViewCast SimulStream® technology, which enables a single video source to generate several video streams simultaneously – in multiple resolutions and bit rates - with each stream configured differently for laptops, cell phones, or mobile devices. ViewCast’s Niagara SCX® streaming media management software is also included with the Niagara 2120, enabling centralized set-up, monitoring and control over multiple systems positioned anywhere on the network – all from a single desktop.

Like all Niagara appliances, the Niagara 2120 features image scaling, cropping, de-interlacing, inverse telecine and closed caption rendering capabilities. The Niagara 2120 provides flexible connectivity options including component, Y/C (S-Video), and composite video inputs, as well as balanced and unbalanced stereo audio.

ViewCast at IBC 2009ViewCast will be demonstrating the Niagara 2120 at IBC 2009 in Amsterdam, September 11 - 15. The company will also be demonstrating its Niagara 7500, a powerful, feature-rich streamingappliance for Web-based delivery of high-definition video, specifically designed to simplify the most demanding professional broadcasting applications. Visit ViewCast at IBC #IP323.

In an effort to offer more choices for live video streaming, Telestream announced release of Wirecast™ 3.5.3 webcast software. Wirecast is a live video production tool that allows users to easily create real-time and on-demand broadcasts for the web. Version 3.5.3 adds Flash® media streaming through Akamai, a leading content distribution network (CDN).

“Customer response has been overwhelming to the recent support in Wirecast for Flash streaming,” said Barbara DeHart, VP of Marketing at Telestream. “We are pleased to extend this support to include Flash streaming through Akamai, giving users more choices for streaming their video broadcasts to audiences located anywhere in the world.”

HSN (hsn.com), the leading interactive lifestyle network and retail destination, announces the launch of a dynamic new application (“app”) for the Apple® iPhone™ and iPod® touch®. The 45 million subscribers to the devices who download the HSN Shop App now have the ability to view HSN programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, throughout the US. The launch creates the e-commerce industry’s first live-video “3-screen experience,” enabling consumers to browse and shop the network’s 35,000-plus array of products from home or on the go.

All the engaging highlights that HSN and hsn.com users enjoy are packed into the clever app, available for download at both the iTunes App Store and hsn.com. Live, ‘round-the-clock HSN TV (along with a library of original videos), the HSN Today’s Special, Items Recently Aired, and the many hosts, featured designers and their tens of thousands of products are among the familiar and favorite hallmarks of HSN programming that will be available through the mobile experience. Additionally, the HSN Shop App brings with it a set of new features, including the interactive shake2shop, which, with a simple shake of the device, generates random product recommendations as well as deals and promotions targeted at HSN’s mobile customers.

“Our customer is fashionable and discerning, and thrives on information, ideas and discovery,” says HSNi CEO, Mindy Grossman. “HSN strives to be the true multichannel experience, and this new iPhone app now allows our customer to take HSN with her, anytime, anywhere, and be that reliable, ‘on-the-go’ resource for lifestyle information she craves.”

The HSN Shop App also makes for a seamless transactional experience, allowing the user to call HSN directly or use the device’s browser to purchase an item. Items can also be saved for later purchase, or emailed to a friend.

While the HSN Shop App is supremely navigable and user-friendly,hsn.com will soon feature a tutorial that walks all new users through the app’s various fundamentals and features. To insure the optimal experience, the app will also evolve based on customer feedback.

“HSN truly leads the way in total convergence of its media technologies,” says Brian Bradley, EVP/ GM, HSN Online & Advanced Services. “The loyalty of our customer base has been predicated in large part on a unique ability to engage them in all aspects of their lives, and the addition of a mobile ‘third screen’ opens up an entirely new dimension for interaction.”

Inlet Technologies’ SpinnakerTM live streaming appliance provides the encoding backbone for the HSN Shop App’s streaming video. Spinnaker fully supports Apple’s HTTP adaptive streaming, which reduces buffering and other interruptions to create an exceptional viewing experience and diminish latency, helping HSN customers move through the purchasing process quickly. Inlet, the leader in advanced encoding solutions for new media, has been a HSN web streaming partner since 2008.

At launch, the HSN Shop App will be marketed via on-air promos run throughout HSN TV programming. Other promotional efforts will follow.

The HSN Shop App arrives amidst HSN’s ongoing multichannel convergence effort, which includes expansion of its Shop-by-Remote service and complete transition to high-definition (HD) format.

Astream wins Best Streaming for the 3nd year running

ISPA judges select Astream as Best Streaming Host for 2007 & 2008 & 2009. Astream, the Streaming Solutions Provider founded in 1999 has for the 3rd year in a row, won the coveted award for ‘Best Streaming Host’ at the 11th Annual UK Internet Industry Awards, held at the Marriot, Grosvenor Square, London.

The ‘Internet Event of the Year’ is attended by senior members of the industry as well as members of the government. Judges from organisations including: NetSumo, thinkbroadband.com, Computeractive, Web User and Ovum voted Astream’s customer service and server delivery as the best. ISPA said, “Competition for finalists’ places was particularly fierce this year with a record amount ofentries from companies across the Internet sector. The announcement of the finalists followsthree months of rigorous testing of entrants by ISPA’s technical testing partners, Epitiro”.

As well as customer service, support, value for money, product variety and distribution capabilities, the testing process included network measurements of video availability and performance, including stream connection time, rebuffering time, average stream bandwidth, packet loss, packet out of order and non-cached download speed.

Astream’s Managing Director Alex Wolfe said, “We are delighted to have maintained our position as number one in the industry and have strived to release new additions to our offering including online transcoding, a leading edge statistics and reporting portal, as well as a new eshop. We intend to continue to exceed customer expectations moving forward”.

Making Video Adjustments Encoding with MPEG Streamclip

Making video adjustments encoding with MPEG Streamclip is a huge benefit if you need to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation or volume. The is an invaluable benefit if you have audio that was recorded low during the video recording process and you need to increase the volume. Imagine being able to fix the audio on 50 to 100 video clips while converting to QuickTime, Windows Media or iPod video. Well, that's what MPEG Streamclip can do.

Using the Batch List you can include all of your desired videos to convert and apply your desired video adustments to all output video clips.

Akamai And Turner Sports Bring Live Streaming

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leader in powering video, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, announced today it will serve as the exclusive live video streaming provider to Turner Sports for the official PGA Championship App available on the App Store. The 91st PGA Championship will be held August 13-16 with 18 hours of television coverage on TNT complemented by four video streams of live coverage exclusively on PGA.com.

The PGA Championship iPhone App for the iPhone and iPod touch supports Turner Sports’ integrated broadcast strategy of combining traditional television coverage with online and mobile components to provide fans with a multiplatform experience. "Turner Sports is known for its innovation in presenting content across multiple platforms, and this is another example of that strategy," said Tim Napoleon, Chief Strategist for Digital Media at Akamai. "Organizations like Turner Sports are leading the charge with live streaming and taking the fan experience to a whole new level to mobile devices. Streaming the PGA Championship live to the iPhone and iPod touch brings a personalized and high-quality experience to even more golf fans, no matter where they are. With increasingly better connectivity over WiFi, we've reached the point where high definition experiences are no longer limited to the PC."

Variable bit rate streaming benefits the consumer by enabling a high fidelity viewing experience at any bitrate - critical for mobile video as viewing conditions vary dramatically between carrier edge networks to 3G to WIFI. Using Akamai HTTP Streaming for iPhone and Inlet Technologies SpinnakerTM solution to deliver live and on-demand content, content owners can enable higher-quality video experiences at near HD bitrates over WiFi and 3G.

"Inlet works closely with Akamai to ensure our live encoding service for mobile applications works seamlessly across the Akamai network to provide for the optimal live video experience," said John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Inlet Technologies. "Working with Akamai we are able to provide a smooth end to end process for content providers to make it easier to deliver next generation video experiences – such as variable bit rate streaming."

Selecting Codecs and Quality Settings Exporting QuickTime Videos

Choosing Your QuickTime Video Codec

Here are some tips for selecting codecs and quality settings exporting QuickTime Videos.



If you need to export your videos out of Final Cut Pro, MPEG Streamclip, QuickTime Pro, on any QuickTime based application then here are a few codecs that you can choose from. Using DV/DVCPro, DVCPro50 and Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 codecs can work out well for you. Here are some scenarios when you would use each of the codecs.

When you're finished with your video project many times you have to delivery content in a web based format, on DVD, on Mobile Devices or some other type of delivery. Having a video file that be stored or used in a compression application is important. Using the DV/DVCPro codec to export a video will allow you to keep your file size down. When space for storing all of your videos is an issue the DV/DVCPro codec is a good option.

Now if you want to double the quality of your video output for storage and encoding later in your favorite compression application, using DVCPro50 is a excellent choice. You can use DVCPro50 when you still have limited storage but can handle the ability to store a little larger file. You can double your quality if you edit your project using the DV/DVCPro codec then output using the DVCPro50 codec. DVCPro50 is twice the file size and quality of DV/DVCPro.

If file size is no issue then you can use the Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 codec which will produce a very large file but you'll end up with excellent quality. Remember if you are going to later encode your content you want to make sure you have a high quality video file and using the Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 Codec will give you far superior quality then that of DVCPro50.

Setting Your Quality Setting



If you're producing an output file using a QuickTime Codec for storage or for compression later then usually there's not a really good reason not to use the highest Quality setting of Best. With the Best Quality setting your video will take longer to export. However, having the higher quality video file that is produced is worth the wait. If you want your video to finish exporting quicker and are willing to take a quality hit then you can choose the High Quality setting.

On2 Technologies, Inc. and Google Inc. jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire On2, a leading developer of video compression technology. Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of On2 common stock will be converted into $0.60 worth of Google class A common stock in a stock-for-stock transaction. The transaction is valued at approximately $106.5 million.

"Today video is an essential part of the web experience, and we believe high-quality video compression technology should be a part of the web platform," said Sundar Pichai, Vice President, Product Management, Google. "We are committed to innovation in video quality on the web, and we believe that On2's team and technology will help us further that goal."

"We're thrilled that On2 is joining one of the world's most innovative companies," said Matt Frost, interim CEO of On2. "After intensive review of On2 products, Google confirmed our long-held beliefs as to the quality of our video technologies. This transaction is a testament to the hard work of every On2 employee and the strongest possible endorsement of our products and people. On2 will continue to improve, support and sell our products throughout the transition. We believe that Google shares our ambitions and know that our products and expertise, combined with Google's globally recognized brand, ingenuity and resources, will create an incredible team."

MPEG Streamclip Great Tool for Converting MOD files

If you're in need for a tool to help you with the conversion of .MOD files on Mac. MPEG Streamclip is a tool that you should consider. If you're using SDHC Memory Cards when you connect your camera on the Mac you can locate all of your video files by opening the Memory Card and navigating to the .MOD files. The .MOD files are basically MPEG-2 Program Stream files with the .MOD extension.

Recently I had two encoding projects where about 300-400 .MOD files needed to be converted for encoding in iMovie for Summer Art Camp students in Ohio and for Windows Movie maker for Summer Leadership Academy students in Florida.

Here were some benefits that I saw using MPEG Streamclip for the conversions:

• Batch encoding of 200 .MOD files to .MOV or .WMV could be done easily
• Telestream's Flip4Mac Plug-in is available from within MPEG Streamclip
• You can watch a video preview of the videos being converted
• Adjustments to Audio, Brightness, Contrast and Saturation can made during batch encoding
• The tool is Free
• Conversions happen quickly

Here's a look at the Batch List for encoding numerous files



Here's a look at the main interface where .MOD files can be converted to DV/DVCPro-NTSC .MOV.

Inlet Technologies Powers HD Premium Television

Inlet Technologies, the leader in advanced encoding solutions for new media, announced today that its SpinnakerTM family of award-winning streaming appliances now powers Norway’s TV 2 premium online television service. TV 2 is Norway’s largest commercial broadcaster and recently launched its premium services in high definition (HD) with both broadcast and online components. The premium HD service will support major sports events, such as the Tour de France, but also enable the delivery of blockbuster movies and shows to the web user.

Thanks to Inlet Technologies’live streaming SpinnakerTM 7000 encoders and Microsoft® Smooth Streaming technology, web viewers will be able to enjoy the live HD streams and benefit from DVR capabilities (such as pause and rewind), with no stuttering, buffering or other interruptions to their viewing experience. Smooth Streaming uses the standard downloading of HTTP files for easy connection to video streams, even through firewalls, as if they were just another Web page.

“We are delighted with this successful launch of simulcast HD services to our Norwegian customers”, says Helge Høybråten, Manager, TV 2 SUMO. “Inlet Technologies has been an important partner for this successful launch and the straightforward use of their products was a key factor to enabling this success. Additionally, we are most impressed with the Spinnaker’s’ video quality, which are presently streaming HD content at multiple bit rates of up to 6 Mb/s.”

John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development at Inlet Technologies, echoed Høybråten’s comments. “We are pleased to team with TV 2 - one of the many innovative broadcasters in Europe, so that we can provide viewers at home with a new way of experiencing their favorite entertainment or sporting events. Our products are powering the changing face of the online viewing experience, redefining traditional broadcasting to encompass a more interactive and personalized online event.”

As the first encoding solutions provider to announce Smooth Streaming support for live and on-demand applications, Inlet develops solutions for a wide variety of media companies wanting to stream a range of high quality content, including sports, news, and special events. Spinnaker supports all of the major formats, including H.264, VC-1, Silverlight and Flash VP6, and allows content creators to stream multiple formats simultaneously from one source. Spinnaker is ideal for live sports and entertainment events as it can create real-time highlights without the need for additional file preparation. Users can also switch between multiple views or camera angles during a single event. URLs or captions, such as scores and statistics, can also be inserted directly into the live stream.