The State of Video Codecs 2024

It's been 3-plus years since the MPEG codec explosion that brought us VVC, LCEVC, and EVC. Rather than breathlessly trumpet every single-digit quality improvement or design win, I'll quickly get you up-to-speed on quality, playability, and usage of the most commonly utilised video codecs and then explore new codec-related advancements in business and technology.

Review: NETINT Quadra T1U Video Processing Unit

This review will highlight the NETINT Quadra T1U and explore its capabilities as a video processing unit (VPU) for high-volume encoding and transcoding of single files, encoding ladders, and live streams.

Instant Replay: Streaming Media Connect November 2023

Streaming Media presented its 12th Connect virtual conference November 13 - 16, with media industry cartographer Evan Shapiro as host and MC. Shapiro kicked off the event with a dynamic keynote, digging deep into the Q3 earnings call data to hold the spin doctors accountable and giving an unvarnished view of the industry. Other highlights included The Future of Streaming with Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Director of Engineering at Google TV, and several panels covering topics such as Cloud Workflows for Streaming and CTV, Optimizing Live Streams at Scale, How Codec Patent Pools Will Impact Streaming in 2024, Making Live Streaming and VOD More Accessible, Live Streaming Technology Trends, and more.

Glass-to-Glass Report: Comparing Low-Latency Streaming Providers

In this article, I examine low-latency services provided by streaming CDNs, removing actual vendor names and making conclusions based on delivery method. I'll start with a discussion of the basics of latency before moving on to the testing results and analysis.

The Future of CDN Technology: Unlocking the Next Frontier in Video Streaming

The video streaming market is booming, and as video streaming consumption continues to soar, content delivery network (CDN) technology needs to evolve rapidly to keep up. Damien Sterkers of Broadpeak discusses the current challenges with streaming and what measures to take to face them.

Review: Ant Media Server (Enterprise Edition)

This review will highlight Ant Media Server and many of the features supported with the streaming server. Viewers will also learn how to configure the WebRTC streaming server on Amazon Web Services and how to get up and running with delivering live streams and video-on-demand streams.

Practical Approaches to Sustainable Streaming

In this article I'll expand on prior sustainability approaches, detail reasons to consider additional areas of power-consumption optimisation, and invite diverse stakeholders across streaming workflows to engage with Streaming Media magazine, GoS, and like-minded stakeholders in a mid- to late-2023 initiative around the LESS Accord, with an overall goal of readers recommending measurable best practices for consideration by September 2023.

The 2023 Streaming Media Innovation Award Winners

The 15th annual Streaming Media Europe Innovation Awards competition—formerly known as the Readers' Choice Awards—returns with 13 categories. With nearly 10,000 votes, who are the finalists? And who are this year's winners?

Review: Magewell USB Fusion

The USB Fusion is a device that can be used in a production environment for local content feeds/sources. It can be used to input various sources such as HDMI devices, webcams, USB microphones, videos, images, screenshares, and other items. The USB Fusion is touted as a tool to make your online lectures and virtual events more engaging and to easily combine numerous sources into attractive live presentations for remote education, webinars, live streaming, and video conferencing.

The State of VVC Adoption and Implementation

If you're a video publisher who doesn't rank high in the VVC patent list, it's likely that you won't consider VVC until 2026 or later. If you're looking to augment your H.264 encodes with a more efficient codec before then, your most likely choices are HEVC and AV1, with LCEVC also an option. However, if you're a product or service provider in the streaming media ecosystem, it's long past the time to start considering where and when VVC is going to fit in for you and your target customers.

Review: ViCueSoft CodecWar

CodecWar is an analysis service created by ViCueSoft, the developer of codec analy­sis tools VQ Analyzer, VQ DVK, and VQ Probe. As currently configured, the site's ideal users are researchers who are looking for a convenient way to compare codecs using relevant datasets and codec developers who are looking for a structured way to benchmark their codecs against others. In contrast, it's not a particularly convenient way for streaming producers to run experiments to optimise their encoding parameters, although it could grow into this.

Big Tech's Dirty Underbelly: Sharethrough's Frank Maguire Discusses Innovative New Approaches to Greener Streaming

Big Tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. But how feasible is this goal, and where is the money spent towards it really going? Frank Maguire of Sharethrough discusses how Big Tech's digital ad deliveries contribute heavily to CO2 emissions and what these companies can do to lessen that impact and achieve their green commitments.

Streaming Media’s Trendsetting Products and Services of 2023

A detailed guide to Streaming Media's Trendsetting Products and Services of 2023.

The State of Video Codecs 2023

Welcome to your codec update for 2023. I'm here to help you decide whether it's time to go all in on AV1, VVC, LCEVC, or EVC or whether it's better to stick with H.264, VP9, and HEVC. Along the way, I'll include 2022-2023 updates to identify significant changes that have occurred since last year.

Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Media Mergers & Acquisitions of 2022

A look at the streaming industry's most notable mergers and acquisitions of 2022, from WarnerBros-Discovery to Microsoft/Activision to Limelight/Edgecast to Dolby/Millicast to Telestream/Encoding.com and more

How to Script for FFmpeg Using PowerShell and BASH

FFmpeg was designed as a cross-platform solution for video and audio recording, conversion, and streaming using simple static command lines. Using variables and "for loops" in a command string simplifies the reuse of existing scripts and helps automate their operation. While you can't use these scripts in the Windows Command window, you can use Microsoft PowerShell in Windows and Bash on Linux and the Mac. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create and run such scripts with PowerShell and Bash.

Buyers’ Guide: Cellular Bonding Solutions

Thanks to bonding and some of the other technologies discussed in this guide, the days of sending glitchy, buffering video to viewers should be behind us. Read on to learn about the many options available, at a wide variety of price points, to ensure that streaming professionals can deliver the best video possible.

The 2023 Streaming Media Europe 51

Our annual list of the most cutting-edge, influential, and dynamic technology companies in the European online video market.

Review: Videon EdgeCaster EZ (w/ LiveEdge Core 8.5)

This review will highlight Videon's EdgeCaster video encoding appliance and explore its unique LiveEdge Compute technology for encoding and delivery, as well as how it works with popular video streaming platforms. I'll also discuss why many video production and remote production teams will likely move to a tool such as this in the future for streaming delivery.

Review: Blackmagic Design ATEM SDI Extreme ISO and ATEM Mini Extreme ISO

Blackmagic has set a new standard for an affordable and professional all-in-one HD video switcher, and the biggest consideration is which model fits your workflows.