Video Replay of Encoding Video for the Web - ReelSEO’s Webinar

Thanks again to everyone who joined us a few weeks back on May 5th for the very first Reel SEO webinar event on  titled, “Video Encoding for the Web.” As I previously mentioned, the webinar was very well received with 263 attendees from all over the world. A big thanks to my co-presenter Robert Reinhardt, the @flashfreaker, who shared some fantastic tips on how to compress video using x264, the free library for encoding H264/AVC video streams. An enormous thanks as well to Mark Robertson who not only moderated the session, but did an amazing job working numerous hours with Robert and me to pull together the program. Mark also spent a considerable amount of time editing the video from the webinar to make it available for those who may have missed it or want to review it. An additional thanks to Ian Sneed and the team at vzaar video platform for sponsoring the free webinar. You can see the previous posts with our bios here and the slides here.



Look for more Reel SEO webinar events in the future. Thanks again to everyone for your continued support and interest. We greatly appreciate it!

Encoding Video for the Web - Webinar Slides from ReelSEO.com

Thanks to everyone who attended our webinar yesterday on, Video Encoding for the Web! We had 263 attendees from all over the world who stayed with us for the scheduled hour, and 140 or so stayed on for the additional half hour of Q&A. Many thanks as well to my co-presenter, the amazing Robert Reinhardt AKA @flashfreaker who dropped major video encoding science and our moderator and organizer extraordinaire, Mark Robertson who did a fantastic job pulling it all together and managing the flow of the session and 100+ questions that came in from attendees. Also, a big thanks to Ian Sneed and the folks at vzaar video platform for sponsoring the webinar.

Mark will be posting the video in the next few days, and we encourage anyone who didn't get their questions answered to post a comment on Reel SEO or contact any of us. In the meantime, here are the webinar slides which were featured today on the Slideshare homepage.

Encoding Video for the Web - Webinar from ReelSEO.com

View more presentations from Mark Robertson.

Join us Tomorrow for Free Video Encoding Webinar, May 5th at 11 AM PST

Please join us tomorrow for a free Reel SEO webinar on May 5th at11AM Pacific Time to learn about online video encoding for the web. If you're a producer wondering what you need to know about video compression, then this is the webinar for you. You will have a chance to ask questions about the various video formats, codecs, bit rates, containers, formats and more. You get tips on best encoding practices so your online videos look the best that they can. You'll hear about H.264 and watch how to simply and easily apply high quality H.264 encoding to your video.

Our webinar moderator and host Mark Robertson just posted a similar reminder on Reel SEO and had this to say:

"You’ve likely been reading all the hype about Apple vs. Flash. With that hype, it appears that there is a good deal of confusion out there when it comes to video codecs, video formats, platforms, etc…. And, even though it is my belief that leading blogs shouldn’t write about things they don't understand, I completely understand the confusion (read my post -Video File Container Formats, Compression & Codecs – Oh My!)"

Register for this FREE webinar

Mark is spot on when he says that there is a great deal of confusion about codecs and formats. With all the Steve Jobs Flash bashing and talk of Google open sourcing VP8 for HTML5 video (one of the codecs it acquired from its purchase of video compression company On2) along with Microsoft getting behind H.264 and not open source video codec Theora – it's no wonder that people get all misconstrued. The news has been filled with posturing on all sides of the issue when it comes to a "standard" for web and mobile video. Dan Rayburn has been taking a lot of heat from his blog posts on the subject from rabid Apple fans who have threatened him with bodily harm, but his most recent post, H.264 Is A Codec, Flash Is A Platform: One Can't Kill Off The Other, really cuts through the misconceptions surrounding the area of video encoding.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow for this FREE webinar which will focus on some fundamental knowledge about video encoding, file containers, formats and profiles – and strategies for producing better web videos.


Our topics include:

• What is video compression?
• What is bit rate?
• Video codecs vs. container formats
• Shooting tips for web video
• Tools and resources for encoding
• How to create high quality H.264 encoding settings

Tutorial: Encoded in 15 Minutes

Robert Reinhardt, creator of videoRx.com, will show you how you can use the best H.264 compression tool, x264, to produce high quality web and device-ready video, all without spending money on commercial encoding products. All you need is a tool that leverage x264 and some elbow grease. In this webinar, Robert will demonstrate x264 with the popular cross-platform open-source tool Handbrake and go under the hood with x264Encoder, a free plug-in for the Mac version of QuickTime Player Pro.

About our Presenters

Robert Reinhardt,creator of the online video service videoRx.com and VP of the multimedia consulting company [the MAKERS], is internationally regarded as an expert on multimedia application development and online video deployment,particularly in Adobe Flash and H.264. Selling over 200,000 copies worldwide in over 13 languages, Robert’s books include the first seven editions of the Flash Bible series (Wiley), as well as Video with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional StudioTechniques (Adobe Press). He has developed and delivered multimedia training to higher education and Fortune 100 companies, and is an Adobe Certified Instructor for Flash courses at esynctraining.com and Portland State University. Robert has been a featured speaker at the FlashForward, FITC, Flashbelt,Flash on the Beach, SIGGRAPH, and Adobe MAX conferences. Robert is also an instructor at DesignProVideo.com.


Larry Kless (hey, that's me!) is President and Founder of OnlineVideo Publishing [dot] com a new media resource firm for sharing strategies and best practices for online video publishers. Larry is a 20year veteran of the enterprise video space and award-winning producer of corporate and educational videos. His background is in fine arts and he’s a long-time member of Canyon Cinema, Inc. and Filmmakers’ Coop. He writes a personal blog and is a contributor on ReelSEO, Vator.tv and other online video blogs focusing on streaming media, online video, startups, gadgets, social media, advertising and marketing, videoconferencing and collaboration. Larry is a frequent speaker and moderator at industry events and webinars and was Co-Chair of the recent Online Video Platform Summit. He was named a 2009 Streaming Media All-Star by StreamingMedia.com , an annual team of the most innovative, influential,and important players in the online video arena.


About our Moderator
Mark Robertson is the Founder and Creator of Reelseo.com. Previously, Mark was Director of Search at Freedom Communications and he has had extensive experience in online marketing, particularly in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Local Search, Video Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You can follow Mark on Twitter @markrrobertson or ReelSEO at @reelseo


About our Sponsor
Special thanks to our sponsor for this event –Vzaar. Vzaar is a professional quality online video hosting platform for business. They serve media companies, marketing agencies, corporate communications, e-commerce, web applications and non-profit organizations. You can learn more about Vzaar and sign up for a free trial here.

Encoding Video For The Web: Free Webinar on May 5th

Please join us for a free Reel SEO webinar on May 5th at 11AM Pacific Time to learn about online video encoding for the web. If you're a producer wondering what you need to know about video compression, then this is the webinar for you. You will have a chance to ask questions about the various video formats, codecs, bit-rates and more. You get tips on best encoding practices so your online videos look the best that they can. You'll hear what the pros have to say about H.264 and watch how to simply and easily apply high quality H.264 encoding to your video.

You can register to attend this free webinar here!

Sponsored by:

Presenters:

Robert Reinhardt

Creator/Engineer

FlashSupport.com

videoRx.com

Larry Kless

Founder

OnlinevideoPublishing.com

Mark Robertson

Founder

ReelSEO.com

Some of the topics we'll cover include:

• What is video compression? 
• What is bit rate? 
• Video codecs vs. container formats?
• Format considerations 
• Shooting tips for web video
• Why H.264?
• How to create high quality H.264 encoding settings

Did I mention that it's free? What are you waiting for? Register now!

Flash Encoding Resources: Bit Rate Calculator and Optimal Aspect Ratios

These two Adobe resources surfaced a few weeks ago were recently highlighted on Fresh DV and other sources. ReelSEO Creator and publisher Mark Robertson, who wrote, "For those of you that are unaware, there is an excellent FLV bitrate calculator tool from Adobe that does an excellent job of helping you determine the optimal bitrate at which to encode your Flash video files."

Optimal Bitrate Calculator for Flash Video Encoding
Click on the image below or click here to go to the calculator.

FreshDV.com published a table of the optimal frame sizes to use when converting to FLV (Link via Andy Dickinson.) FreshDV's Matthew Jeppsen wrote, "Encoding gurus have long known that to get optimal results from a codec it is best to choose a frame size that divisible by at least 4 or 8. This is because codecs often use use 4×4, 8×8 and sometimes 16×16 “blocks” to form an image. If your image dimensions are evenly divisible, no extra blocks are wasted and the codec can be most efficient with respect to image quality. In the case of On2 VP6 and Sorenson Spark codecs, both use 16×16 blocks."

Optimal Frame Dimensions for Flash Video Encoding
Regarding the table below Reel SEO's Robertson added, "For the best image quality and playback, you should always use width and height dimensions that use a multiple of 4 (good), 8 (better), or 16 (best). The following table from Adobe provides guidance as to the best frame dimensions (both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios) for FLV encoded files."

Flash expert Robert Reinhardt who created both the Bit rate caculator and table emphasized,
"In fact, I would recommend that you refrain from using 4 or 8 multiples unless absolutely necessary, unless you can verify with cross-platform tests that quality or playback haven't been compromised."


These tables complement the Flash video bitrate calculator by Robert Reinhardt.

Related:

• Optimal Frame Dimensions for Flash Video
• Adobe - Flash application: Flash video (FLV) bitrate calculator
• Robert Reinhardt