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A Streaming Media Primer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? Pre-processing your video Pre-processing sometimes called optimizing removes non-essential information from your video and audio information that is difficult to encode and/or does not substantively add to the quality of the streamed media. So pre-processing prior to encoding reduces the burden on the compressor, potentially saving time and CPU capacity. It also allows you to make some of the decisions about what information will be included in the encoded media, rather than relying solely on your compression software to make all the determinations. SOME TYPICAL PRE-PROCESSING TASKS FOR STREAMING MEDIA GETTING THE PROPER IMAGE PARAMETERS: Cropping your video Removing 5% from the frame edges is a good starting point to get rid of edge artifacts you might not even be able to see without zooming in very tightly, such as tearing or black bands around any of the frame edges. These anomalies can occur during capture and create unnecessary pixels that would waste precious bandwidth. Pay attention to the aspect ratio when you crop, either maintaining the original and/or keeping the dimensions to multiples of four. Compression algorithms often divide images into blocks of 4×4 or 16×16 pixels. Keeping the dimensions to multiples of four assures that your aspect ratio won t be reconfigured during encoding to fit the inherent constraints of the compression software. If you need to scale the image to a particular window frame, make sure you maintain that aspect ratio 4:3, for example, for a 160×120 window. To crop your footage in Adobe Premiere, drag and drop the Crop filter from the Video Effects palette to the Timeline. Then, in the Effect Controls palette, adjust the crop setup to reduce the picture by 5% on each side, or to whatever amount you choose. You can also crop your movie globally by using the Special Processing functions in the Export Movie Settings when you output. Image size Video is typically captured at a larger frame size than you are likely to output for streaming. If your audience is comprised only of broadband users and want large frames, you can compress your video at capture size. But, if you are streaming to users with slower connection speeds and/or you want to improve image quality and/or achieve higher frame rates, you may want to scale your video to a smaller size. The Cleaner 5 module of Adobe Premiere offers convenient scaling options. The pull- down the Scaling Quality option in Media Cleaner EZ 5 allows you to choose Fast, Normal or Accurate scaling. Unless you re under time constraints, use the Accurate function to anti-alias and to reduce jagged edges. Deinterlacing Traditional video systems paint images on the screen in alternating lines, in a process called interlacing. Computer monitors do not use interlacing to display video and it should be removed from video clips that will ultimately be viewed on the computer. You can deinterlace in Adobe Premiere by selecting a clip in the Timeline, pulling down the Clip menu and choosing Video Options, then Field Options, and checking the Always Deinterlace box. Or you can deinterlace a project globally by choosing the Deinterlace option in the Special Processing area of the Export Movie Settings. Inverse telecine When film (shot at 24 fps) is converted to video (at 25 fps for PAL; 29.97 fps for NTSC), additional frames are added, in a process called telecine. You can use inverse telecine to discard those extra frames that would just burden your encoder. You ll find information on how to do this with Adobe Premiere, in the Support Knowledgebase at www.adobe.com. Two-dimensional filtering Low-pass, bandpass, and high-pass filters use mathematical functions to adjust the pixels of which images are comprised, in order to alter image qualities. By using these filters to selectively or uniformly blur images or sharpen edges, you can effect the differences, from frame-to-frame, that the compression software will have to deal with. Cleaner 5 offers three such filtering options: Blur, Unsharp Mask and Adaptive Noise Reduction, each with a variety of different settings for a wide range of flexibility. ADJUSTING COLOR AND BRIGHTNESS: Brightness, contrast, hue, saturation These are often subjective settings. Any adjustments needed depend on the source material and how it was captured. Experimentation is the key to finding the right settings for each project. Gamma correction Applies a non-linear function to the amplitude values of the pixels, helping to create more whites without brightening the entire range or more darks without affecting the bright areas. Black and white restore This is an option in Cleaner 5 that lets you adjust only the very white or very black portions of images, forcing values to pure black or pure white. The Amount slider determines what values will be affected by the operation, while the Smoothness slider adjusts values near the transition points. A typical use of Black and White restore is reducing noise in flat areas such as black backgrounds behind titles. AUDIO PRE-PROCESSING: Noise removal Extraneous noise makes the audio signal more difficult to encode and uses up precious bits. When encoded for streaming, the effects of noise are usually amplified, and can result in an unintelligible soundtrack. Enhancing the signal Depending on how well your audio was recorded, you may need to uniformly or selectively boost or cut the signal to arrive at the best level to encode for the Web. You can also enhance the signal using a variety of effects, or filters, that alter different qualities of the audio, such as reverb or echo. Adobe Premiere 6.0 includes a sound studio- style Audio Mixer and 20 audio filters that make it easy for you to pre-process your audio. The Media Cleaner EZ 5 module built into Adobe Premiere 6.0 also provides tools for optimizing your audio. Adobe Dynamic Media

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A Streaming Media Primer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? SOME CAPTURE POINTERS FOR STREAMING MEDIA Use AV hard drives SCSI or RAID Research your video capture card Test it, if possible, before making a final decision. Conserve CPU power Disable all anti-virus programs, screen savers, and extensions during the capture process. Optimize your hard drive Defragment your hard drive before capturing. Capture high quality Capture your source material (both video and audio) at the highest quality settings your system can handle 30 fps is recommended for video; 16-bit for audio. Avoid dropped frames Test and improve your system until you reach a zero-dropped-frames standard. Compared to the final files you would output for other mediums, such as DVD-ROM or VHS tape, the final files you ll output for the Web will be small a smaller frame size, a lower frame rate, and more heavily compressed. However, it is recommended that you capture your source material (both video and audio) at the highest quality settings your system can handle 30 fps is recommended for video; 16-bit for audio. You ll be using up lots of hard-disk space, but it s better to start with high quality (i.e., more data) and, therefore, have more choices about what information to discard when you reach the encoding stage, than to start with low quality (less data) and potentially regret having fewer options down the road. Window size (resolution) 640 x 480 Frames per second (fps) 30 Color depth (bits) 24 Data rate per second 27.65 MB 640 x 480 15 24 13.83 MB320 x 240 15 24 3.46 MB160 x 120 15 24 865 KB Capture mono audio Unless you really, truly Make sure your system has adequate capacity. A 3.46 MB-per-second data need stereo output. rate is standard for DV. In terms of disk space, you ll probably want at least Keep an archive of your raw video file For a 30 GB hard drive. The larger your resolution (video window size), the future use, and because accidents happen. more colors, and the higher the frame rate captured the bigger your captured file will be. Dropped frames, during capture, are something you want to avoid. You can t recover dropped frames after capture, so you ll want to test and improve your system until you reach a zero-dropped-frames standard. If you are using Adobe Premiere to control capture, make sure to select the Report Dropped Frames option, so you ll know when frames are dropped. You can also set Adobe Premiere to automatically abort capture when frames are dropped. Dropped frames are usually the result of a configuration problem, or are caused by trying to capture video that exceeds the capture rate for your system. DV requires a hard disk capable of sustaining a 3.6 MB per second data rate. Capturecards for streaming You ll find there are capture cards designed specifically for streaming media. Your decisions will depend on your needs and your budget. But the industry is now mature enough that there is, indeed, something that s right for every requirement. The most basic capture cards are for input only. Some popular, inexpensive ones (under $200) let you hook up a variety of sources at once (although only one of those devices can be used at a time) including S-video and full-duplex audio input. Such cards provide basic capture software. But in order to stream, you ll need a solid video editing package, such as Adobe Premiere, and streaming software like Real Producer Plus, to refine and process the video before broadcasting from a site, reports Joel Strauch in his article for Streaming Media.com, Video Capture on a Shoestring. 34 More expensive capture cards may have input and output capabilities, and may perform a variety of ancillary tasks such as scaling (resizing), color conversion, de-interlacing, closed captioning and more. One popular capture card priced under $2,500 has such on-board pre-processing capabilities, leaving the bulk of your CPU power for creating higher quality video streams. These specialized streaming cards enable real-time (live) streaming from a DV source, with the ability to transfer the digital video directly to the host. Adobe Dynamic Media 41 Video Capture on a Shoestring, by Joel Strauch, Streaming Media.com, http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=6794

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Adobe Dynamic Media A Streaming Media P rimer: SOME GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING OR SHOOTING GOOD STREAMING VIDEO Minimize movement The less subject movement, the better. Avoid scenes with lots of activity or motion. Use a tripod The less camera movement the better. If you really need to pan, a tripod with a fluid head will reduce motion to just one dimension. Keep the background simple Within a small frame, subjects moving on a simple background are easier to distinguish than subjects on a complex or moving background. Avoid complex textures and stripes Patterned clothing or scenic elements can cause distortion effects. Avoid trees or foliage with moving leaves Very small details in continuous motion compress horribly, even at high data rates. Avoid hot colors Bright whites, blues, reds and yellows glare under video lights, and will look even worse on the Web than they do on NTSC tape; darker colors and earthtones will work better. If you can control what the subject is wearing, recommend dark, solid colors. Avoid harsh contrast Typically, video that is well-lit and does not have a lot of contrast will compress better for streaming. Brightly lit subjects shot at a constant exposure will help keep the foreground detail crisp. Tight shots are best Streaming video is seen on a miniature screen. To your Web audience, a telescopic shot of a cast of thousands storming a hill will look like chaos on an anthill. Close-ups work best, allowing Web viewers to recognize faces and expressions, or to distinguish objects and their details. People engaged in conversation should be positioned very close together, and be prompted to remain that way. Keep your subjects within the frame Be sure your subjects or actors understand the boundaries within which they can move and still remain within the frame. Create plenty of background space for titles The small image size means you ll need a larger percentage of the frame as a background for readable titles than you would for a production with a larger image size. Stick to hard cuts Pans and zooms add movement that will not compress well. Slow your shutter speed A slow shutter speed causes moving objects to blur, but leaves still objects in focus, making your video easier to compress. Try using a shutter speed that s about half your frame rate: shoot 24 fps film at 1/48 second; shoot 30 fps video at 1/60 second. Don t neglect the audio Don t rely on a built-in microphone use wireless remote mics or boom mics. Pre-test audio levels. Get a sound expert, if possible. Test whenever possible Shoot some test video, encode it, and stream it across the system you plan to employ. If you have had trouble managing expectations, showing an early test can convince clients that compromises or concessions may need to be made. HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? Sometimes a word is worth a thousand pictures You will be forgiven for bad video but you will be abandoned for bad audio. While those reasonably priced DV camcorders do yield fine imagery for streaming, remember that consumer cameras have consumer microphones built-in. Poor quality mics tend to pick up lots of background noise, which can be virtually impossible to filter out later. Don t use a mic intended for rock and roll. Do use a remote lapel, handheld, or boom microphone with either a strong proximity effect or a directional pick-up pattern. If you are shooting DV, record 16-bit (not 12-bit) audio the more information you start with, the better result you are likely to get when you encode your audio. Keep the audio level as loud as possible without driving the meter into the red with DV, too much level can result in distortion. Be sure to test your audio levels prior to recording. Better yet, get an experienced audio engineer to help. If feasible, record as much audio as possible in post-production, rather than live. A voice-over recorded in a studio will always produce much better audio than sound recorded on location. Shooting for live Webcasting The operative word here is live. Make sure your subjects, and the audience if there is one, know that your are Webcasting live. Because what your cameras see and what your microphones pick up is exactly what is being sent to the audience at large on your corporate intranet or on the Internet. POST-PRODUCTION In the digital video workflow, post-production includes everything from capturing through outputting. However, for the purposes of this primer, we will address only capturing through editing in this Post-Production section, in order to cover the critical topic of outputting more thoroughly in a section of its own. Capturing video for streaming Once you ve shot or otherwise collected your video clips, you need to get them into your computer, in digital format, so that you can edit and/or encode your streaming production. Adobe Premiere software, with native DV support for dozens of DV devices, as well as support for most analog capture cards, is an excellent choice for controlling and automating the capture process. If you are planning to use Adobe Premiere or other non-linear video editing software to craft your production for VOD (video-on-demand), you ll follow the same basic capture procedures that you would for any type of digital video project. You ll find a description of how to configure your system and what capturing your clips entails, in the Adobe Digital Video Primer.33 If you shot DV, it s as easy as plug n play just connect your DV camcorder to your computer via an IEEE 1394 connection and you re ready to edit. Adobe Digital Video Primer 33 Adobe Digital Video Primer, PDF available for download at http://www.adobe.com/motion/main.html

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A Streaming Media P rimer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? If possible, shoot exclusively for streaming Adobe Dynamic Media Video in essence is about light, and no matter what quality-level you re shooting for, you need to consider how you light your subject. If you re shooting beaches in the Greek islands under the world s most stunning natural light, you have few worries a little sunscreen won t cure. But if you shoot a talking head in a flourescent-lit office, or a band on a stage rigged with a panoply of different colors and levels of lamps, you re going to spend thought and effort getting good footage. Tim Tully Streaming Media.com30 remember that the detrimental effects of strong colors and complex patterns will be even more severe than those same effects on tape. Logan Kelsey and Jim Feeley DV Web Video Magazine31 you ll always get the best results if you start with a clear, clean audio recording, preferably using a separate microphone that isn t mounted on the camera. Keep the audio level as loud as possible without driving the meter into the red this is especially critical in DV, where too much level can result in some particularly nasty distortion. Steve Cunningham Streaming Media.com32 In many situations, video will be shot for a wide variety of uses, and intended for output to several different mediums. But the keep it simple rule that works so well for a short streaming media project, might yield footage that would translate into a very boring production for a longer, larger format production. Conversely, if streaming media is not the primary objective of the shoot, you might not end up with any footage at all that will stream well. So, if you are shooting an event or other production with the intention of creating multiple versions for a variety of uses, and if you have enough budget and peoplepower to do it, you should consider shooting concurrently with multiple cameras and/or crews. Have one camera or crew shoot for the best streaming media footage possible, while the other camera or crew shoots the wider angles, pans and zooms, and gets more of the action you ll want for the videotape or DVD version. This is not such an unrealistic notion when you consider that adequate-quality DV camcorders are so well-suited to capturing footage for streaming, and that they are so reasonably priced for either purchase or rental. Keep the lighting as even as possible While lighting effects such as complex shadows or lens flare may add interest to the composition of many of the movies you admire, streaming is not the place to experiment with your tricky lighting repertoire. Those complex shadows, hotspots, and other forms of contrast just make the footage more difficult to compress, leaving unwanted artifacts rather than added interest. The more even the light is, the better it will compress. Use bounce cards to minimize hard shadows outdoors; indoors, keep your lighting soft. Avoid camera-mounted lights they generate hotspots unless heavily diffused. A standard 3-point lighting kit that can be rigged with umbrellas, bounce cards, and/or diffusion is a worthwhile investment that will handle most any situation you ll encounter when shooting tight subjects for streaming media. Action! (just don t move around very much) The whole point of putting video on the Web, rather than just still images, is the added dimension that action brings to the experience. But, when compressed, more action in your video whether that action is due to subject movement, camera movement, or to complex transitions equates to a higher data rate in the file you want to stream. So, in order to successfully stream action-packed video, you would need an audience you re sure will be connected at a high bandwidth, and/or you would need to make the size of your image frame smaller. Unfortunately, the current limitations of the Internet mean that streaming a video of an athlete s talking head to endorse your footwear product will work much better than streaming a video of the team in-action on the playing field. Video with relatively stationary subjects will produce better streaming media than video with lots of motion or rapid scene changes. Consider using bluescreen If you have the equipment and the expertise, bluescreen can be an excellent technique for achieving quality streaming video. According to Kelsey and Feeley, By shooting on bluescreen [or greenscreen] dropping the background and compositing your subject on top of a digital still image you ll have a background that will be noise-free and rock- steady. 33 A background that does not change from frame to frame is easier to compress, and leaves more bits available for what does change your subject. But Kelsey and Feeley also warn that lighting and shooting good bluescreen takes lots of experience, and the post work required can be time-consuming and/or costly. (Although we d like to note that Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects software provide the tools you need to do it yourself with relative ease). 24 30 Shooting Video for the Web: Equipment, by Tim Tully, Streaming Media.com, http://www.streamingmedia.com/tutorials/view.asp?tutorial_id=35 31 Shooting Video for the Web, by Logan Kelsey and Jim Feeley, DV Web Video Magazine, May 2000 32 Creating Audio for the Web, by Steve Cunningham, Streaming Media.com, http://www.streamingmedia.com/tutorials/view.asp?tutorial_id=38

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A Streaming Media P rimer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? Adobe Dynamic Media Here s the scenario: The opening scene of a nature documentary shows helicopter shots of antelope running across the African landscape. The sun is beginning to rise and the camera swoops over the savanna as clouds of dust trail the stampeding herd. If the production company is preparing to stream this nature video across a 28.8kbps or 56kbps modem, the most important feature to convey to the viewer is: A: The feel of the African savanna at sunrise B: The pounding antelope hooves contrasting the serenity of a rising sun C: You are looking at antelope If you chose C, you are correct. Cinematographers and Directors have a selection of zooms, fades, and fancy camera tricks to choose from streaming media producers do not (especially at low bandwidths). The best streaming media is produced from very simple shots. Attempt to correct problems while shooting video, rather than attempting a resurrection during the edit or encode. Remember, streaming video production should not be approached the same as television or film production. The technology requires producers to meet these challenges with new techniques. Michael Long Streaming Media.com28 As Kelsey and Feeley warn, artsy Blair Witch, MTV, and even VH1 looks are out. You ve got to avoid the stumbling blocks that might lead to poor quality, but you don t want to make everything so static that you bore your audience with dull content. A bit of out-of-the-box thinking can go a long way. For example, Kelsey and Feeley suggest using a short depth of field and a lot of distance between the subject(s) and the background. While the subject stays crisp, the background elements are thrown into soft-focus. The result is recognizable faces or objects, an interesting composition, and video that s not difficult to compress. Streaming media can be forgiving Here s a piece of good news: You re not shooting for a 20-foot high screen filled with a gargantuan close-up of your CEO s face, so the flaws about which he or she might be self-conscious are likely to be miniaturized and compressed right out of existence. What this really means is that you can produce video of high enough quality to make good streaming media without extremely high-end equipment; without an army of makeup artists, hairdressers, and other behind-the-scenes support crew; and without a Hollywood-size budget. While the old, familiar video-production maxim, Garbage in Garbage out is still valid, streaming media can be much more forgiving than film or video destined for larger formats, higher resolutions, and faster frame rates. If possible, keep it digital If you are shooting original footage for your streaming media project, you can use either a DV (digital video) camcorder or, literally, any video camera you can lay your hands on. Today, you can get a good DV camcorder for under $1,500, and these reasonably-priced devices shoot and record video as digital information on DV casettes offering the advantage of the IEEE 1394 connection. IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire or iLink) lets you transfer DV directly onto the hard drive of your computer for editing and encoding, without risking any of the compression-related generation loss or artifacts you might encounter when capturing analog video. You ll find IEEE 1394 built into many newer model computers, or you can connect using an inexpensive IEEE 1394 capture card. If you do shoot with a traditional analog video camera, or you want to incorporate analog video from tapes into your streaming media project, you ll need to capture it translate it from analog to digital form as you transfer it to your computer using an analog-to-digital capture card. These cards are a bit more costly than IEEE 1394 cards, and the conversion process can degrade the quality of the video somewhat, but due to the nature of the streaming process, the differences between analog and DV source material can be minimal. Will a better camera make a difference? Maybe. Some people say it s a waste to shoot for streaming on a high-quality video format. According to experts Logan Kelsey and Jim Feeley, Those people are wrong. Kelsey and Feeley suggest that you do not shoot Hi8, S-VHS, 3/4-inch, or VHS. At a minimum, shoot in DV. Consider shooting in DVCAM, DVCPRO, Digital-S, or Betacam SP. The advantage of these last formats is that you get access to really good cameras The DSP and other advanced features in these cameras help compensate for poor lighting conditions. Cameras with skin-tone filters and the resultant smooth facial detail produce especially easy-to-compress images professional cameras get you access to better lenses. Industrial and broadcast lenses use better glass and give you more control over focus, iris, and zoom But Kelsey and Feeley go on to say, If you work mostly with small camcorders, don t despair definitely shoot in DV, DVCPRO, or DVCAM. And pay extra special attention to lighting and framing. Modern DV camcorders are quite nice, and you can always rent a better camera for key shoots. 29 23 28 How to Shoot Audio and Video for Streaming Over the Internet, by Michael Long, Overdrive Media, Inc., Streaming Media.com, http://www.streamingmedia.com/tutorials/prod_shooting.asp 29 Shooting Video for the Web, by Logan Kelsey and Jim Feeley, DV Web Video Magazine, May 2000

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A Streaming Media P rimer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? Adobe Dynamic Media MANAGING EXPECTATIONS: A TRUESTORY NASA (the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is incorporating streaming media into its communication strategy. With 15 separate centers across the country, reports Streaming Media Magazine, the agency hopes to use streaming media to help weave together the efforts of its far-flung staff, while adhering to the fallout of post-Cold War budget cuts that mandates finding ways to do everything faster, better, cheaper. On January 11, 2001, NASA chief administrator Daniel Goldin and chief engineer Brian Keegan entered the auditorium of the government agency s Washington, D.C. headquarters for a streaming videoconference. After screening a pre-recorded interview segment, the webcast went live, and Goldin and Keegan responded directly to staff questions about a failed Mars mission and a report highlighting NASA s communications problems. Agency engineers encoded the video feed from NASA s Betacams and sent it through the agency s wide area network to more than 300 employees in 13 facilities throughout the United States This was the first time Goldin had used web- casting to discuss a controversial agency- wide report with his staff. It was a test case for NASA s use of streaming media. The Streaming Media Magazine article recounts how NASA Webmaster Charlie Redmond and a NASA computer engineer, Alan Federman, got the agency on-track for streaming. Managing the expectations of the head honcho was a critical part of their planning process. In December, Redmond and Federman showed Goldin streaming video at several different bandwidths. When he spoke on camera about the Mars report, Goldin wanted staff to see his eyes move. Clearly, 56Kbps would not achieve the desired result. When you re talking to someone about a crucial aspect of their job, gestures like frowns and squints are significant, says Redmond. Dan likes meeting small groups of staff in person, face to face, and he wasn t happy with jerky, low-bandwidth video Jason Thomson 2001: A Streaming Odyssey Streaming Media Magazine26 I think we ll definitely be moving to more VOD [video-on-demand], states Paulson. If you think about it, how much of the TV that you watch is live, besides the news? There s a reason for that, and the reason is quality control. [Unless it s] breaking news you want to take time to promote the event, you want to take time to optimize the encoding. That way, when you deliver it, you re delivering the best-quality product, and you can definitely remove some of the uncertainty that goes along with the live Webcast. 25 Manage expectations Perhaps the most important difference in planning for streaming media vs. traditional media productions is in the area of managing expectations. Make sure everyone has the same objective to put a specific video and/or audio production on the Web, for reasons that make sense e.g., the Web is really the best way to distribute the production to your intended audience. Make sure everyone with a vested interest in the success of your streaming media venture knows what to expect in terms of the quality of the finished production, as it is likely to be seen by your intended audience. Know your audience; know your limitations Before you pick up your camcorder to shoot, establish at what data rate your video will be streamed. If you are targeting a broad range of Internet users, the overwhelming majority of whom, in 2001, are still connecting with 56K or 28.8K modems, then you should definitely stick to a very simple video design plan. If your audience is comprised solely of viewers on a corporate intranet, or only those with high bandwidth connections, you can plan to take a little bit more license with motion and transitions. But even high-speed connections sometimes suffer from network congestion, so you should still plan your streaming production to be comprised of just a few, fairly static, shots. PRODUCTION The next phase in the workflow is Creating and Gathering Raw Material. This phase may involve selecting pre-recorded footage to incorporate into your streaming project or shooting original material. Creating or selecting video can be very exciting, but it s extremely important to remember that when it comes to streaming media, not all good video is going to shine temper your enthusiasm and your creative impulses with an understanding of what will and won t work well. It s a balancing act: complexity vs. quality Minimalism is a an artistic style or technique that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity. A minimalist approach most often makes the best streaming media. In other words, keep it simple! One reason is the small size at which most streaming media will appear on the end- user s computer monitor. Lots of busy detail simply won t be seen. The other big reason has, at its core, compression a full discussion of which we ll reserve for a later section. But, in order to understand some of the whys and wherefores of shooting good video for the Web, you need to understand some basic principles of compression. Succinctly worded by Logan Kelsey and Jim Feeley in their article for DV Web Video Magazine, Shooting Video for the Web, the following two statements are all you really need to know about compression in order to shoot good video for streaming: The simpler the information is within an image, and the more each frame in a sequence resembles the frames before and after it, the easier the image and the sequence are to compress and the better the resulting compressed video will look. The more complex the information is within an image and the less each frame in a sequence resembles the frames before and after it, the harder the image and sequence are to compress and the worse the resulting compressed video will look.27 25 Webcasting Live Events, by Kevin Seal, DV Web Video Magazine, November 2000 22 26 2001: A Streaming Odyssey, by Jason Thomson, Streaming Media Magazine, May 14, 2001, http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=7315 27 Shooting Video for the Web, by Logan Kelsey and Jim Feeley, DV Web Video Magazine, May 2000

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A Streaming Media P rimer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? Adobe Dynamic Media IF IT ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAS TO BE STREAMED LIVE If it s really got to be live-live, you ll be capturing video as it s shot, mixing audio, switching input signals from multiple devices, adding titles, pre-processing and encoding, and sending your production out to the host for streaming over a network or the Internet all on the fly. As you might imagine, this can complicate matters somewhat You will probably want to invest in a specialized system or turn to an expert outsource equipped to handle the rigors of live Webcasting. Systems range from the multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art setup CNN uses all the way on down to the turnkey home webcasting system for $99 (add your own computer) described by John Townley for Streaming Media World it s a solution, says Townley, that can give you anything from a lot of fun for yourself, family, and friends to the beginning of a career as a content provider and broadcaster you ll have it up and rolling in no time a hands-on intro to the ins and outs of what video streaming is all about. 24 Such turnkey home webcasting systems, often touted as Webcams, are the perfect solution for cat lovers seeking a remote monitoring system for the litterbox (check out http://cats.about.com/pets/cats/cs/catcams) and maybe even for streaming your kid s birthday party live to the grandparents if you can keep the little tyke close enough to the camera and in the frame for long enough to be recognized. In between the multi-million dollar solution and the family fun pack are enterprise- class solutions, for tens of thousands of dollars, that can capture source media in real time; handle pre-processing, from real-time color correction to digital watermarking; and perform single-pass encoding into multiple formats and bit rates. Or, if you want to go on location and stream a live show, you ll find there s even an all-inclusive system-in-a-suitcase that integrates an entire TV production studio into a rugged, portable package for under $25,000. Outsourcing with an experienced Webcasting firm is generally a safe choice. Choose one with the equipment and the now how to make sure your live Webcast event all goes as planned. One of the first misconceptions about streaming video is that it is just an add-on. By that, I mean that many people think that you can take any video short and just add-on streaming at the end of the process The reality with streaming video is the reality you would find when producing content for any medium. You get out of it what you put into it. Good video doesn t just happen. Good video is designed. The choices you make when planning, shooting, and editing your production will have a profound impact on what happens when you try to make it stream. Tim Kennedy Streaming Media World23 PRE-PRODUCTION Don t skip the planning Production is the actual shooting of video and all the related activities, such as lighting, blocking, and sound recording. It follows, then, that pre-production is everything that should be done before you begin to shoot. In the typical digital video workflow, preproduction includes such activities as generating the concept and, often, selling it; developing an outline and/or a script; budgeting; and planning the shoot. Even if you are shooting a very short bit of video such as a brief message intended for streaming it is important to plan. Plan schedules, transportation, personnel, equipment rentals, etc. Scout locations. Make sure you have a background that will work well for Web compression. Make sure there is enough power to handle your cameras and lights. Make sure everyone knows what to do, and when to do it. Make sure your actors or subjects are fully briefed, know what to wear, and understand how to behave, based on the limitations of the medium. Plan to keep it short Your audience is likely to have a short attention span for media in the limited size and compromised quality you ll be delivering. Unless you are developing streaming media for a controlled environment, such as an intranet, or you know that all of your viewers will have a high-speed connection, we would recommend that you limit your streaming presentations to no more than 3-4 minutes, or even less. Should it stream live or as VOD? Does it have to be live? Why do you think it has to be live? According to an interview in DV Web Video Magazine, these are the first questions Pat Paulson, one of the industry s foremost Webcast experts, asks his clients. Paulson spent years covering live events for television and film, before venturing into Webcasting in 1998. Since then, he has overseen the Webcasting for the American Express concert series and for artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and Ozzy Osborne. Phil Fracassi, interviewed by DV Web Video for the same article, is senior vice president of digital programming and operations for House of Blues Digital, a business unit of the burgeoning media empire founded in 1992 by comedian Dan Akroyd and his cronies. House of Blues expects to Webcast between 800 and 1000 concerts in 2001. These guys know what they re talking about! Most of the events we do are to tape, and then we schedule like any network would. There are a lot of reasons for that, says Fracassi. for a lot of the festivals we ll have a mixture of realtime live and tape delay we prefer just to tape it all, get it back to the office and encode it 23 Streaming Basics: Shooting Video for Streaming, by Tim Kennedy, Streaming Media World, January 12, 2001, http://smw.internet.com/video/tutor/streambasics1 24 Turnkey Home Webcasting, by John Townley, Streaming Media World, January 22, 2001, http://smw.internet.com/video/reviews/spotlife/index.html

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A Streaming Media P rimer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? Shoot THE STREAMING MEDIA WORKFLOW The first stages of the streaming media workflow are, essentially, identical to those used for creating any type of digital video production. To learn more about digital video, check out the Adobe Digital Video Primer that can be found on the Adobe Web site.22 There are some special considerations to bear in mind as you plan, shoot, and edit video specifically Capture for the Web considerations that can mean the difference between Compelling! Classy! and Way cool! versus I wouldn t waste my time watching that. This section covers some of the basics, and provides some tips to enhance the quality of your streaming media productions. Pre-production Production Post-production Integrate Output and Distribute Edit Output to a variety of media: Create/ Composite Motion graphics Visual effects Sophisticated, multi-layered compositions Assemble/ Edit Develop a rough cut Perform non- linear editing (NLE) Author multi- media and Web content Mix audio Capture/ Import Digitize analog video Import DV Plan the Create/Gather Import elements Import audio Project Outline Script Storyboard Budget/Finance Cast Costumes Sets/Props Locations Logistics Raw Material Shoot raw video/stills Procure stock footage Create elements such as 2D/3d animations and titles Record/ procure audio Video Film CD-ROM DVD The Web Output an edit Encode decision list (EDL) The chart above shows the steps in the digital video workflow. These steps are fully detailed in the Adobe Digital Video Primer. In this primer, we will only cover considerations that are critical to creating good quality streaming media. The chart below expands the workflow that happens in the last box in the chart above. It shows greater detail in regard to publishing and serving your streams, integrating your streaming media content into the Web visitor experience, and managing your Web site and your streaming media content, monitoring usage and adjusting accordingly. Serve Manage Monitor Web site traffic Manage content Play Back Publish Post encoded files to media server (if available in- house, or work with hosting outsource) Test streams on minimum system you plan to support Integrate Develop Web navigation and UI support for streams Create inter- active UI ele- ments needed to access and aug- ment streaming content Assemble Web pages incorp- orating inter- activity and links to streaming content Encode For an Internet audience, out- Assess/Plan Pre-process put for multiple formats at multi- ple bit rates For a homogenous intranet audience, output in selected format at optimal bit rate Don t forget to test Assess target audience re: > platform > connection speeds Select parameters including: > target bit rate > balancing audio/ video bit rates > image size > frame rate, > keyframes Pre-process live feeds Perform any pre- processing not completed in post- production get proper image parameters, adjust color and brightness, filter and enhance audio, etc. Test early, test often Output DistributePrepare Manage Adobe Dynamic Media 22 Adobe Digital Video Primer, PDF available for download at http://www.adobe.com/motion/main.html

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A Streaming Media Primer: HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? HOW DO I MAKE (GOOD) STREAMING MEDIA? WHAT AFFECTS STREAMING MEDIA QUALITY? Someday, when you go online, you ll enjoy the same quality and variety of video you now see on cable TV Someday. But not today! As yet, there is no elegant, cost-effective, and entirely satisfactory appliance that integrates TV, phone, and computer. However the goal of integrating and standardizing all media is overwhelmingly guiding hardware and software developers efforts in all three media So don t worry, that someday is coming very soon. Video Software Laboratory21 If you had never tasted ice cream, you would have no idea how to judge the quality of your first cone. Just like early television viewers, who were delighted with black and white, difficult to tune-in, often fuzzy transmissions, your first ice cream might seem truly delectable but your estimation of quality might change dramatically after you had sampled a richer, creamier brand. Before we can address how to achieve the best quality streaming media, we have to consider what kind of quality to expect. Full-screen, broadcast-quality: It s not completely science fiction if you and your organization have the funds and the wherewithal to upgrade your intranet to a fully streaming-enabled network, complete with multicast routers, adequate media server capacity, and enough bandwidth to support your unicast and/or multicast requirements, then you can expect to achieve full-screen, broadcast-quality video on every up-to-date, streaming-optimized desktop in your organization. You can also expect this type of quality if you are streaming very selectively, only to those end-users who will be connected through a reliable, outsourced, streaming-enabled broadband network, and who will be viewing on broadcast-quality-streaming-capable desktops. Chances are, if you are in this category today, you work for a sizeable enterprise that is ready, willing, and able to commit to streaming as a business-critical component of its communications strategy. If you are one of those few, you can pretty much expect the premium, gourmet- quality ice cream experience of your favorite buy-it-by-the-pint brand. Not anywhere near broadcast-quality: The rest of the world is in the Wow!-It s- Web-video!-Right-here-right-now!-So-who-cares-if-it s-kind-of-small-and-choppy category. Don t expect high production values to come across. Expect the satisfaction level of the cheap, off-brand, sundae-in-a-cup you might find in the freezer case of an out-ofthe- way convenience store, on a long, hot, dusty, rural road trip it s really great because that s all there is. At least for now. Of course there is a substantial difference between the quality you can expect when the client is on a powerful PC connected via broadband, vs. the quality you might expect on a slow machine connected via a 28.8 dial-up modem. But, as the world continues to embrace broadband, as more of the Internet becomes native multicast-enabled, and as the instrumentality of the streaming infrastructure becomes more commonplace, your expectations for better quality should rise. Meanwhile, it s worth doing what you can to optimize the experience from every angle, because audiences out there do want streaming media now even though it is not the broadcast-quality experience they know as television yet. Adobe Dynamic Media What affects streaming media quality? Everything! Video content, video quality, the type of compression used, server types and connections, how many people are viewing simultaneously, the Internet, the user connection, and the user platform all these, and others, are factors that will affect the quality of your streams. The fact is, every step in your workflow can affect the quality of your streaming media, from planning the project to how you choose to transmit the data streams across the network, whether over the Internet or your own intranet. There are ways to help compensate for the some of the peculiarities of streaming media. The next several sections discuss the steps in the streaming media workflow, with particular emphasis on how to keep quality as high as possible. It is important to decide what constitutes acceptable delivery standards. If the limit is a delivery platform for narrowband, you will be accepting severe performance limitations. Conversely, if a higher standard is set, such as residential broadband, you will have more flexibility. H. Peter Alesso, e-Video22 19 21 http://www.video-software.com/proj17.htm 22 e-video, Producing Internet Video as Broadband Technologies Converge, by H. Peter Alesso, Addison Wesley, 2000

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A Streaming Media Primer: HOW DOES STREAMING WORK? Unicasting Media Server Best choice for on-demand media Each client gets a different stream, even if they are watching the same movie Heavier load (CPU and bandwidth) on server per client 100Kbps 100Kbps 100Kbps 100Kbps 4 x 100Kbps simultaneous clients requires 400Kbps connection from server Clients Each client can be given individual control over playback of on-demand content Media Server Multicasting 100Kbps Multicast Router Best for live or scheduled media Each client gets the same stream Conserves CPU processing power and bandwidth at server 4 x 100Kbps simultaneous clients requires 100Kbps connection from server Clients All clients playback the same content concurrently, with no end-user control over playback Adobe Dynamic Media Multicasting is an excellent method for delivering the same content to multiple clients at the same time. The server sends only one data stream, whereas using unicast, the server must send a redundant stream for each connected client. So unicast results in a high server CPU load as well as increased network bandwidth demands at the server. Broadcast would solve the problem of duplicated streams, but would end up flooding the entire network, even if only a few end-users wish to receive the content. Multicasting is only possible if both the streaming software and the network support it not all systems do. On the software side, the latest versions of the big three architectures Apple QuickTime, Microsoft Windows Media, and Realmedia do support multicasting. In terms of the network, to multicast over an intranet, routers must be upgraded or replaced with multicast-enabled devices. While this adds yet another expense to streaming implementation, for those organizations looking to reduce the high costs of training and/or other essential enterprise-wide communications, the return on investment may be well worth the expenditure. Furthermore, multicasting can be used for a wide variety of other applications, in addition to streaming media.

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