Universal File Ingest For Digital Video

In the media industry, conversations usually center on encoding, streaming, packaging and low latency. Put another way, it is all about delivering superior visual quality and high-fidelity audio with better compression. Amidst all the discussions on digital video workflows, file ingest is often ignored. For example, when is the last time anyone compared different file ingest tools? It is safe to say that file ingest is one of the most undervalued steps in video production workflows today.

Why “Not-compressing” simply doesn’t make sense?

Imagine a sponge or rather thousands of sponges to be transported over several kilometers. It would require several trucks to store and transport them all!

Let’s take all those sponges and squeeze them. If you look closely at the sponge, you will see that it has lots of holes in it, filled with air. When you squeeze it, you remove the air which is useless and the entire sponge takes up less space.

JPEG XS … What does it mean ?

Over the last 20 years, the number of shared images and videos has considerably increased. In terms of resolution, we have moved from SD, HD to 4K – even 8K – and this is not about to stop. Higher frame rates, higher resolutions, more precision and higher dynamic range (HDR) imply a considerable increase in the amount of data to be transported on our networks. Bandwidth and storage are getting cheaper but this does not compensate the drastic increase of data to be transported or stored. Compression is therefore more than ever a fundamental step in distributing your video over the internet.

Understand the concept of bpp and Mbps to define your compressed data rate!

Every color pixel in a digital image is created through some combination of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue. Each primary color is often referred to as a “color channel” or “color component”, and has a range of intensity values specified by its bit depth. The bit depth for each primary color is termed the “number of bits per channel”, typically ranging from 8 to 16bits. The “bits per pixel” (bpp) refers to the sum of the “number of bits per color channel” i.e. the total number of bits required to code the color information of the pixel.
An uncompressed RGB image with a bit depth of 8 bits per color will have 24 bpp or 24 bits per pixels (8 bits for the Red, 8 bits for the Green, 8 bits for the Blue)

Why would you need video compression ?

Technology improves constantly, internet connections get better and faster, but in conjunction, video resolutions get higher and files exponentially bigger! Compression is more than ever a requirement to distribute your video.

Over the last 20 years, resolution and frame rates have moved from SD (@24fps), to HD, then 4K (@60fps), now reaching 8K (@120fps) and will likely keep increasing. Thanks to all these improvements, we are entertained with better images and videos, and machine vision algorithms (AI, Analytics) can make better decisions.

Higher frame rate, higher resolution, more bit per pixel (or precision) and higher dynamic range (HDR) imply a considerable increase in the amount of data to be transported, recorded and processed.

From Aachen to Austin: Digital Video Technology Decoded (And Encoded)

No matter where you are in the modern world, digital video is most likely in every one of your spaces (and if it is not, you are probably carrying it in your pocket by way of a smart phone). What does it take to record, encode, decode, edit and deliver digital video assets and virtual experiences—from live concerts to breaking news stories to sports events as well as surveillance footage and digital medical records? The short answer is a whole lot of talent and technology.

Why Do Things Twice? MainConcept SABET Speeds Processing of Live and VOD Workflows

Encoding an OTT (over-the-top) ladder can be a demanding job. To satisfy the needs of viewers on a variety of screen sizes and resolutions, like 4K TVs and smartphones, you will inevitably end up with an encoding ladder that has many rungs. For every rung, or every step on the ladder, typical encoding scenarios will require an encoding instance.

The Value of Benchmark Testing for Video Codecs

If you’ve ever developed or created something, you likely realized it is rarely sufficient to only test it by yourself. While “in your lab” everything works as you imagined it, when applied to the real world you may quickly find that you missed something—whether it’s because others use your product in a different way than you intended, or that your product was tested on a fast computer and now must perform on a lesser-powered system. For this reason, it is extremely valuable to have reliable partners to assist with independent testing and validation.

DaVinci Resolve Studio Project Rendering Capabilities on Linux and macOS

Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio is a unique NLE (Non-Linear Editing) solution available for all major platforms (Windows, Linux and macOS), including a version that is running on the new Apple M1 chipset. The number of project rendering profiles that are already included in DaVinci Resolve Studio is quite impressive. However, especially on Linux (but also on macOS), there are some limitations. The MainConcept^® Codec Plugin for DaVinci Resolve Studio was designed to bridge this gap and enable software codecs with encoding profiles that are not natively available.

Alma TV: The rapid development of the Internet makes us step up our game

We talked to Alexander Trubin, the director of the Alma TV unified network management center, about results of the switch to satellite and the company’s future plans.

Universal File Ingest For Digital Video