Streaming Learning Center

07/24/2025

Announcing Free Course on Controlling the AMD MA35D with FFmpeg:

I’m excited to introduce MA35D & FFmpeg Quick Start: Essential Skills and Expert Tips! This free course takes you through the essentials of configuring the AMD MA35D with FFmpeg, from basic operations to advanced techniques.

What you’ll learn:
• Accessing MA35D’s hardware for high-throughput decoding, encoding, and scaling
• Balancing quality and throughput with optimized bitrate control, frame management, and presets
• Advanced techniques like Picture-in-Picture, tiling, and low-latency streaming

If you work with video and want to save time while optimizing performance, this course is for you!

👉 Sign up here: https://lttr.ai/AgwbQ

07/18/2025

Simplify Your Video Research with yt-dlp

For those involved in video encoding research, having a reliable tool to download and analyze video files is crucial. I recently explored yt-dlp, a powerful command-line tool derived from youtube-dl. Unlike many commercial products that may come with malware, yt-dlp is open-source, highly customizable, and malware-free.

In this article, I cover:
• What yt-dlp is and its key features
• Where to find and download yt-dlp
• How to install yt-dlp on Windows
• Basic commands for downloading single files, viewing all available formats, and downloading all variants

If you're looking for a dependable video downloader for your research, this article provides all the information you need to start with yt-dlp.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/Agnb4

I'm updating my book, Video Encoding by the Numbers, which means lots of research into what other encoding professionals are doing. One source of knowledge I appreciate is downloading files from different websites to analyze these files. I used to use YouTube-dl, but it is not as reliable as before,...

07/15/2025

M3-CVC: Pushing AI-Based Video Compression Forward

A new AI-driven codec called M3-CVC has shown an 18% efficiency gain over VVC, according to a December 2024 white paper from Fudan University. It uses large multimodal models for semantic understanding and conditional diffusion models for reconstruction, making it especially strong at preserving meaning under ultra-low-bitrate conditions.

However, while encoding speeds on an NVIDIA RTX 3090 GPU look promising, decoding times remain high, limiting short-term practical use. For a deeper look at M3-CVC’s methodology and its impressive yet hardware-intensive results, check out the full summary.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AgcU6

A new AI-based codec proved 18% more efficient than VVC but substantial decoding requirements will limit short-term commercial application. Here's a summary of the white paper. In December 2024, researchers from Fudan University introduced M3-CVC, an AI-based video compression framework that combine...

07/14/2025

DCVC-B: A Glimpse Into AI-Driven B-Frame Compression

Have you heard of DCVC-B? It’s a new deep-learning codec that focuses on optimizing B-frame compression, and early tests show it can outperform traditional codecs like H.265/HEVC on certain datasets.

The catch? It requires robust GPU power (think NVIDIA 3090) for encoding and decoding, which limits practicality. Still, the concept of using bi-directional temporal contexts and hierarchical quality structures offers a compelling glimpse into how AI might shape future video encoding standards.

Curious about how it stacks up against H.266/VVC or other neural codecs? Read my latest blog post for a deeper dive.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/Agasu

07/11/2025

Maybe First-Party Data Is Safe to Use in Oz—But Check Your Local Privacy Laws

Many articles promote first-party data as a clean, compliant alternative to third-party cookies. Maybe it is in theory. In practice, using first-party data still requires consent, and the rules surrounding consent vary significantly by country and even state.

In the U.S., you can often rely on implied consent, as long as users are informed and can opt out. That’s how Amazon and CNN do it. In the EU, that won’t fly. You need opt-in, clear, specific consent. And other countries, like Canada and Australia, are moving closer to the EU model.

This article doesn’t offer a magic fix. Just a reminder that even your most “privacy-friendly” data might not be usable if you haven’t handled consent correctly.

As you build your marketing strategy for tomorrow, it's good to have a clear-eyed view of the potential role of first-party data. That's what this article provides.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AgV61

As third-party cookies fade into digital history, first-party data has risen to the top of every marketer’s wish list. Touted as the ultimate solution for targeting, personalization, and measurement in a privacy-centric era, first-party data is often positioned as the “panacea” for the challen...

07/11/2025

Y, U, and V: Why Channel Weighting Matters in VQ Metric Calculations

When computing metrics like SSIM, VMAF, or PSNR, deciding whether to use just the Y channel or all three (Y, U, and V) isn’t trivial. In my new blog post, I explain how color weighting can make or break your alignment with human opinion.

I share insights from a white paper by Moscow State University showing how configurations like 6:1:1 or 8:1:1 can boost the accuracy of metrics like VMAF, while poor setups can drop correlation by up to 10.5%.

If you’re serious about video quality and want to ensure your metrics match reality, read the full post here.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AgUo1

So there I was, having dinner on a Saturday night date night with my wife... And in comes a text: “Hi Jan, I was wondering when you compute SSIM, do you use a single channel or multi-channel? And if multi-channel, then anything different than averaging the three?” (And yes, anyone with children,...

07/07/2025

What the Cookie Phase-Out Means for Video Ad Targeting

With third-party cookies on the way out, advertisers are exploring new methods for reaching their audiences. Seedtag is using AI to identify content relevant to the advertised product or service, allowing brands to target consumers based on the context of the video they're engaging with—without relying on cookies. This method opens new doors for precise ad targeting while maintaining user privacy.

I recently spoke with Brian Danzis, CEO of Seedtag North America, about their AI-powered approach and its potential in the post-cookie world. You can watch the full interview on YouTube or read the summary in my latest article.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AgJcC

07/02/2025

ew Lessons on Video Monetization Now Available in Streaming Media 101

The Streaming Learning Center is excited to announce four new lessons added to our flagship course, Streaming Media 101: Technical Onboarding for Streaming Media Professionals. New lessons are:

Introduction to Monetization: Details revenue models like SVOD, TVOD, FAST, and vMVPDs, and how to optimize encoding for each to ensure compatibility and quality.

Ad Insertion Techniques: Explores client-side, server-side, and dynamic ad insertion methods to maximize revenue while maintaining viewer satisfaction.

Ad Insertion Standards and Protocols: Introduces standards like VAST, VMAP, and the transition to OMID and SIMID, vital for effective ad delivery and measurement.

SCTE 35: Details this essential standard for ad signaling and content replacement, crucial for integrating ads seamlessly in streaming workflows.

These lessons are available now to all subscribers.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AfEew

The Streaming Learning Center is pleased to announce the addition of four new lessons on video monetization to Streaming Media 101: Technical Onboarding for Streaming Media Professionals. These new lessons provide essential knowledge for all encoding professionals and cover crucial aspects of moneti...

07/01/2025

HEVC Licensing: Misunderstood, Maligned, and Surprisingly Successful

Was HEVC’s licensing structure really broken—or just unfamiliar? I’ve spent the last few weeks digging into the idea that HEVC failed because of licensing complexity. To check my assumptions, I compared responses from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

The results were surprising—not because they agreed or disagreed, but because they showed how AI reflects the same biases we’ve been repeating for a decade. If you’ve ever wondered whether HEVC got a fair shake, this one’s worth reading.

▸ https://lttr.ai/Af7s2

06/30/2025

Think WPP Makes x265 Faster? Not So Fast.

Wavefront Parallel Processing (WPP) can cut x265 encode time by over 7x for a single file, with just a tiny quality hit. Sounds like a win, right? Until you run 16 encodes in parallel and realize WPP is crushing your throughput.

I tested WPP on a 32-core system under real production loads. Disabling it delivered better performance and slightly better quality.

Fast during one-off testing doesn’t mean efficient at scale. Test under load.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/Af47q

06/27/2025

The Cookie Phase-Out: What It Means for Video Ad Targeting

After checking out a product on Amazon, I kept seeing ads for it everywhere—sound familiar? This type of tracking is common in today’s advertising, but things are changing. With third-party cookies on the way out, video ad targeting is about to look very different.

Want to know how this shift will affect the ads you see online? My latest article has the answers.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AfEev

06/26/2025

Apps Every Video Pro Should Consider for Mac Workstations

Looking to optimize your Mac for video workflows? Here’s a quick list of essential tools, from free utilities to pro-grade analyzers:

Free or Low-Cost Tools:

• MediaInfo ($0.99): Must-have for checking file formats, bitrates, and codecs
• MP4 Bitrate Viewer ($6.99): Quick bitrate visualization for macOS
• FFmpeg (Free): The Swiss Army knife for transcoding and format conversion
• HandBrake (Free): User-friendly video transcoder with device presets
• Compressor ($49.99): Apple’s go-to for Final Cut Pro users needing ABR control

Advanced Paid Tools:

• Telestream Switch Pro ($1,059): Pro-grade QC with frame-accurate playback and metadata inspection
• MSU VQMT ($999): Objective video quality metrics (VMAF, PSNR, SSIM)
• Zond 265 ($1,390): In-depth codec analysis for HEVC, AV1, and more
• Elecard StreamEye (Contact for Pricing): Comprehensive stream analysis and compliance verification

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AfEeX

Though I work primarily on Windows computers, I also have several Macs. Here are the Mac video Apps I use on them and other Mac tools you should consider. Free or Almost Free MediaInfo ($0.99) Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux Description: MediaInfo is an essential tool that displays technical and tag d...