Streaming media guru
Jan Ozer and Flash expert
Lisa Larson-Kelly are teaming up to present a one-day intensive workshop on “
Streaming Production & Flash Delivery” to be held on March 23, 2010 in New York City. The workshop will feature two tracks, Streaming Production and Flash Delivery, each comprised of two ½ day courses. The workshop courses detail the complete streaming production and delivery workflow, from set design to Flash Media Server setup, from H.264 encoding to Flash Player creation. Jan Ozer, and Lisa Larson-Kelly are both recognized authors, experienced producers and frequent speakers at industry workshops hosted by organizations like
Streamingmedia.com and the
Media Communications Association - International.
In his morning workshop "Streaming for Production", Jan will cover the creative techniques and tools to produce high quality video productions from cameras, lighting and audio. His afternoon session will focus on "
Encoding H.264 Video for Flash, i-Pod/Phone/iPad and Silverlight" with in-depth review of the leading encoding applications, quality settings and workflow. Lisa will cover the technical end of things with a morning session “Flexible Protocols and Custom Player Development” which gets you up to speed on the various delivery methods now available in Flash (including adaptive streaming via HTTP Streaming, P2P via RTMFP) and custom video player development for both the programmer and the non-programmer using Open Source Media Framework. Then in the afternoon Lisa present a “Flash Media Server Crash Course” which will get you going with FMS on how to set up the server, what it can do, and how to do it.
Sign up now before it sells out… this is a one day training session, and there is limited seating!
DETAILS and REGISTRATION: Streaming Production & Flash Delivery Workshop – EventbriteStreaming Production TrackProduction for StreamingYou can’t have high quality streaming video without high quality video – compression is only half the story. Video Production for Streaming is a focused ½ day course that details how to optimize set design, lighting, and other production techniques for streaming quality. The course will help beginners achieve competency at these skills, while helping experienced professionals new to streaming understand the unique issues related to streaming production.
The course will combine lecture with on-site demonstrations of all equipment discussed, from lighting and audio to cameras and microphones. This will take students “beyond the PowerPoint” and enable them to immediate apply the lessons. Students will be given checklists and procedures for most common tasks, and will return to their offices with the skills necessary to setup and shoot high quality for streaming delivery.
Encoding H.264 Video for Flash, i-Pod/Phone/iPad and SilverlightH.264 has become the “it” codec, central to the three-screen strategy, but is confusing to produce, with obscure settings (B-frame pyramid?/CABAC?) and encoding interfaces (and output quality) that varies dramatically by encoding tool, plus a reputation for slow playback on some computers.
This seminar cuts through the confusion by describing the most common H.264 encoding parameters, detailing playback CPU load on a range of computers and delineating encoding requirements for computers and the iPod/iPhone/iPad trilogy. It then compares the output quality produced by tools like the Adobe Media Encoder, Apple Compressor, Sorenson Squeeze and Telestream Episode, and concludes by demonstrating how to encode into H.264 format with these tools.
Overall, students will walk away understanding:
- The performance, quality and compatibility implications of all H.264 encoding parameters,
- How to produce for and deliver to Apple’s iPod/iPhone/iPad,
- How to configure H.264 video for optimum quality/playback smoothness on a range of computers
- Which encoding tools produce the best quality H.264
- How to encode to H.264 format using Apple Compressor, Adobe Media Encoder, Sorenson Squeeze, and Rhozet Carbon Coder.
Flash Delivery TrackFlash Delivery: Flexible Protocols and Custom Player DevelopmentIn this intensive half-day workshop, students will gain the information and tools needed to plan and deploy web video applications. First, they will learn how to deliver optimized, high quality content with the Flash Platform’s flexible delivery protocols. The pros and cons of progressive delivery, RTMP streaming, and the new adaptive streaming solution in Flash Player 10.1 will be covered, helping to choose the best delivery method for specific audiences. File format details, content preparation tools and workflows will be discussed.
Once students have a clear understanding of optimum delivery methods, we will outline the options for building custom media players. We’ll focus on the Open Source Media Framework, with an overview of its structure and ActionScript classes, along with hands-on examples to get started with the framework. Students will walk away with a basic custom player and an understanding of how to use the framework to build both simple no-code players and complex interactive players that leverage analytics, advertising, and social media APIs.
Flash Delivery: Flash Media Server Crash CourseFlash Media Server Flash Media Server Flash Media Live EncoderOver 75% of web video today is delivered on the Flash Platform. Flash Media Server (FMS) is Adobe’s streaming server that is powering this content delivery. The latest version of FMS provides robust, scalable live and on-demand streaming, along with powerful features such as real-time interaction, Dynamic Streaming, DVR functionality, smart buffering and more.
Students in this ½ day course will gain a deeper understanding of how the server works, what it can do, and how to deploy streaming media applications that leverage its features. Students will install the Flash Media Development Server on their laptops, set up their first live broadcast, and even see how easy it is to create a custom 2-person videoconference.
Advanced students will learn how to integrate streaming and interaction into their applications, while beginners will leverage the tools and built-in services that ship with FMS, along with time-saving third-party tools, to learn about the server and how to get started streaming. Students will walk away with real hands-on experience with streaming on the Flash
About the instructors
Jan Ozer has produced and encoded video since the CD-ROM days (1992) and has taught courses in video and streaming production since 1994, most recently for the MCA-I and at Streaming Media Seminars in New York, San Jose and London, and for private organizations like Cisco, Lockheed and Johns Hopkins University.
Jan has written many authoritative articles on streaming technologies for outlets like StreamingMedia.com, Digital Content Producer, and EventDV. In January, 2006, Jan released two white papers through StreamingMedia.com, Choosing and Using the Optimal Video Codec, and Choosing and Using the Optimal Flash Codec. In 2007, he released Critical Skills for Streaming Producers, a mixed media training DVD with a mix of PDF, screencam and streaming video sample files.
Jan has written or co-authored 14 books on digital video related topics, including the Hands-On Guide to Flash Video: Web Video and Flash Media Server, with Stefan Richter. One Amazon reviewer commented “From lighting techniques, to what not to wear, to Flash Media Server, this book has it all. … the chapters on compression and bandwidth are excellent.” Another said “For videographers, this is your bible on how to capture video for Flash. For video editors, this is your bible on how to prepare and compress the files.”
Jan also shoots, edits and produces DVDs and streaming media for concerts, ballets and other events, produces training videos for local artisans, and screencam presentations for multiple organizations, including Roxio, ProDad, EventDV and ViewCast. Jan’s blog is streaminglearningcenter.com.
Lisa Larson-Kelley began her career in print design, but was soon lured to digital media by a little application called Flash 4. In addition to hands-on development projects, she enjoys writing and teaching, with a knack for breaking down complex concepts and making them accessible. She has worked with many video-centric start-ups as well as companies like Adobe, Microsoft and L’Oreal. She has authored whitepapers, tutorials and e-seminars for Adobe, editorials and features for StreamingMedia.com; and co-authored the book
Flash Video for Professionals (Wiley/Sybex, 2007). An Adobe Community Professional, Lisa speaks at numerous industry conferences and user groups around the world, and is a founding member of the
FlashCodersNY study group.
Lisa is currently consulting, teaching, and blogging about Flash video, web development and life (just outside) the big city on her blog,
Flashconnections.com — and along with her husband Tom, is raising a healthy, happy daughter (who has an unnatural affinity for all things digital).
Trying to keep up with latest video workflows, video codecs, algorithms and the variety of delivery methods for multiple screens can be a daunting task for anyone. Even the experts agree that the process and tools for video content creation, management and delivery is constantly changing – and can be a challenge to master, let alone understand. Not only do we have to know about every possible screen size and resolution, device and platform, network bandwidth connections and constantly shifting “standards" to deliver any content, anytime, anywhere and on any device.
