Real World Video Compression

Real World Video Compression

Released April 2008
Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
ISBN: 9780321550019

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Book description

Video is the Internet these days and as the growing trend toward viewing video on mobile devices increases too, the attention is turning toward creating a good user experience for downloading and viewing that video. One of the keys to this is delivering video in the correct format with the proper compression for that delivery. Real World Video Compression is one of the first books on this topic to demystify the various approaches to compression. It begins by describing the basic concepts of video compression, explains why you might choose a particular compression tool over another, and covers important workflow practices. After the groundwork is laid, readers will learn how to compress their video according to the specific requirements of their projects and will learn some best practices by following the author's own tips and recipes. Experts in the field lend their own solutions in several sidebars throughout the book, making this a valuable learning tool for anyone learning to encode video, whether they are bloggers, DVD authors, video editors, or students.

Contents at a Glance
Chapter One: Understanding Video and Audio.
Chapter Two: The Language of Compression
Chapter Three: Best Practices
Chapter Four: Preprocessing
Interview with a Compressionist: John Howell
Chapter Five: Compression Tools
Interview with a Compressionist: Nico Puertollano
Chapter Six: Compressing for DVDs
Interview with a Compressionist: Ben Waggoner
Chapter Seven: Compressing for the Web
Interview with a Compressionist: Jim Rohner
Chapter Eight: Compressing for Mobile
Interview with a Compressionist: Ryanne Hodson
Chapter Nine: Compressing for Set-Top Boxes
Interview with a Compressionist: Andy Beach

"In the highly accessible REAL WORLD VIDEO COMPRESSION, Andy Beach 
illuminates the dark-art of encoding and provides candid insight from 
working professionals. Andy's fluid style and easy prose decode this 
often misunderstood and often misinformed world...he is the Carl Sagan 
of compression."

Brian Gary
Filmmaker, Compressionist
Author of the COMPRESSOR 3 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
    1. Dedication
  2. Preface
    1. What This Book Is Not
    2. So, What Is the Book About, Then?
    3. Who Should Read This
    4. Companion Web Site
  3. About the Author
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. One. Understanding Video and Audio
    1. Elements of Video
      1. Frames and Fields
      2. Benefits of Interlacing
      3. Problems Caused by Interlacing
      4. Progressive Scan Video
      5. Resolutions
      6. Aspect Ratio
      7. Analog vs. Digital
    2. How Compression Works
      1. Lossless and Lossy Compression
      2. Spatial (DCT) and Wavelet Compression
      3. Quantization
      4. Interframe and Intraframe Compression
    3. Audio Compression
    4. Evaluating Video for Compression
      1. How Was the Video Shot?
      2. How Was It Edited?
      3. Who Is the Intended Audience?
    5. Conclusion
  6. Two. The Language of Compression
    1. Players
      1. QuickTime Player
        1. Functionality: QuickTime Player vs. iTunes
        2. QuickTime Pro
        3. QuickTime Components
      2. Windows Media Player
        1. Silverlight
      3. Adobe Flash Player
        1. Adobe Media Player
      4. RealPlayer
      5. Other Video Players
        1. MPlayer
        2. VLC
    2. Wrappers
    3. Codecs
      1. Descriptions of the Commonly Used Codecs
        1. Current Popular Codecs
        2. The Rest of the Pack
      2. A Time and a Place for Everything
      3. Delivery Codecs
      4. Authoring Codecs
      5. Legacy Codecs
    4. Compression Parameters
      1. Data Rates
      2. VBR and CBR
      3. Frame Rates
      4. Frame Types
      5. Aspect Ratios
      6. Square and Nonsquare Pixels
      7. Resolution
      8. Online Delivery: Streaming vs. Download
    5. Conclusion
  7. Three. Best Practices
    1. What Are Your Compression Needs?
      1. Long-Form or Short-Form Content?
      2. What Is Your Final Delivery Target?
      3. How Is Your Content Delivered to You?
      4. How Much Content Are You Compressing?
      5. Is Compression All You’re Doing?
      6. Quality or Timeliness?
      7. Are You a Content Owner or a Cog?
      8. How Knowledgeable Is Your Client?
    2. Equipment and Workflows for Different Scenarios
      1. Encoding as an Editor
      2. Encoding as a Compressionist
      3. Automating the Encoding Process
      4. Enterprise Systems: The Big Leagues
    3. Essential Encoding Equipment
      1. Hardware
        1. Storage
        2. Input/Output
      2. Software
        1. Operating System Agnosticism
        2. Players
        3. Rippers
        4. Compression Tools
        5. Analysis/Quality Control
        6. Aspect Ratio Calculator
        7. Video Storage Calculator
    4. Productivity Tips
      1. Minimizing Quality Loss Without Overdoing It
      2. Stay Organized
      3. File-Naming Conventions
      4. Experimenting Can Be a Good Thing
      5. Make Your Own Recipe Book
      6. Mezzanine, or In-Between, Files
      7. Archiving and Transcoding
    5. Conclusion
  8. Four. Preprocessing
    1. Deinterlacing Video
      1. Blend
      2. Weave
      3. Area-based
      4. Motion Blur
      5. Discard
      6. Bob
      7. Progressive Scan
      8. Motion Compensation
    2. Telecine and Inverse Telecine
    3. Cropping
    4. Scaling
      1. Image Aspect Ratio Correction
      2. Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction
    5. Noise Reduction
    6. Luma Adjustments
      1. Luma Range Expansion
    7. Gamma Correction
      1. Brightness and Contrast
    8. Chroma Adjustment
      1. Saturation
      2. Hue
    9. Audio Preprocessing
      1. Adjusting Volume
        1. Normalization
        2. Compression
      2. Noise Reduction
    10. Conclusion
  9. Interview with a Compressionist
    1. How did you get involved in video compression?
    2. What was your biggest project?
    3. What was your favorite project?
    4. What’s your format of choice?
    5. What does your average workday look like?
    6. What does your encoding hardware look like?
    7. What’s your encoding software of choice?
    8. What role does compression play in your work?
    9. What surprises you most about video compression today?
  10. Five. Compression Tools
    1. Adobe Media Encoder
      1. What Does It Look Like?
      2. How Does It Work?
      3. What Makes It Special?
      4. What Should You Watch Out For?
      5. What Should You Remember?
    2. QuickTime Pro
      1. What Does It Look Like?
      2. How Does It Work?
      3. What Makes It Special?
      4. What Should You Watch Out For?
      5. What Should You Remember?
    3. Compressor
      1. What Does It Look Like?
      2. How Does It Work?
      3. What Makes It Special?
      4. What Should You Watch Out For?
      5. What Should You Remember?
    4. Microsoft Expression Encoder
      1. What Does It Look Like?
      2. How Does It Work?
      3. What Makes It Special?
      4. What Should You Watch Out For?
      5. What Should You Remember?
    5. Squeeze Compression Suite
      1. What Does It Look Like?
      2. How Does It Work?
      3. What Makes It Special?
      4. What Should You Watch Out For?
      5. What Should You Remember?
    6. Episode Pro
      1. What Does It Look Like?
      2. How Does It Work?
      3. What Makes It Special?
      4. What Should You Watch Out For?
      5. What Should You Remember?
    7. Higher- and Lower-End Options
      1. Less-Expensive Solutions
      2. A Note About Enterprise Solutions
    8. Conclusion
  11. Interview with a Compressionist
    1. How did you get involved in video compression?
    2. What was your biggest project?
    3. What was your favorite project?
    4. What’s your format of choice?
    5. What does your average workday look like?
    6. What does your encoding hardware look like?
    7. What’s your encoding software of choice?
    8. What role does compression play in your work?
    9. What surprises you most about video compression today?
  12. Six. Compressing for DVDs
    1. What’s a DVD?
    2. Producing SD DVDs
      1. SD Media
      2. SD Codecs
      3. What the Heck Is a VOB?
    3. What’s a Blu-ray Disc?
    4. Producing Blu-ray Discs
      1. Blu-ray Overview
      2. Recording Blu-ray Discs
    5. DVD Workflows
    6. That Whole Bit Budget Thing
    7. Recipes for Producing SD DVDs
      1. Compression and DVD Studio Pro Markers
      2. Rendering a DVD-Compatible File in Compressor
      3. Creating an SD DVD in DVD Studio Pro
    8. Recipes for Producing Blu-ray Discs
      1. Working in Premiere Pro
      2. Managing the Handoff
      3. Producing an MPEG-2 Blu-ray-Compatible File in Adobe Media Encoder
      4. Producing an H.264 Blu-ray-Compatible File in the Adobe Media Encoder
      5. Creating a Blu-ray DVD in Encore
    9. Conclusion
  13. Interview with a Compressionist
    1. How did you get involved in video compression?
    2. What was your biggest project?
    3. What was your favorite project?
    4. What’s your format of choice?
    5. What does your encoding hardware look like?
    6. What’s your encoding software of choice?
    7. What role does compression play in your work?
    8. What surprises you most about video compression today?
  14. Seven. Compressing for the Web
    1. The Early Days of Web Video
    2. Modern Web Video
      1. The Rise of Short-Form Video
      2. More Broadband Penetration
      3. Better Tools
      4. Audience and Creator Are the Same Thing
      5. Everybody Is a Star
      6. Citizen Journalism
      7. Traditional Media Catches On
      8. Modern Web Tools and Formats
    3. Recipes for Compressing Video for the Web
      1. Encoding for YouTube from Episode Pro
      2. Streaming Windows Media from Compressor
      3. Progressive Download Flash Video
        1. Embedding Flash Video
    4. Conclusion
  15. Interview with a Compressionist
    1. How did you get involved in video compression?
    2. What was your biggest project?
    3. What was your favorite project?
    4. What’s your format of choice?
    5. What does your average workday look like?
    6. What does your encoding hardware look like?
    7. What’s your encoding software of choice?
    8. What role does compression play in your work?
    9. What surprises you most about video compression today?
  16. Eight. Compressing for Mobile
    1. How Little Video Became Big
      1. Live Streaming to Mobile Devices
      2. Download and (Maybe) Sync
        1. iTunes Music Store
        2. Amazon Unbox
        3. Cruxy
    2. Mobile Devices and Their Formats of Choice
      1. Cell Phones
      2. Smart Phones and Pocket PCs
      3. Apple iPhone
      4. Media Players
        1. Apple iPod
        2. Zune
        3. Sony PlayStation Portable
    3. Recipes for Compressing Video for Mobile
      1. 3GP Files for Those Non–Smart Phones
        1. Encoding for Higher-Bandwidth Streaming
      2. Adding Chapter Markers to a Video Podcast
    4. Conclusion
  17. Interview with a Compressionist
    1. How did you get involved in video compression?
    2. What was your biggest project?
    3. What was your favorite project?
    4. What’s your format of choice?
    5. What does your average workday look like?
    6. What does your encoding hardware look like?
    7. What’s your encoding software of choice?
    8. What role does compression play in your work?
    9. What surprises you most about video compression today?
  18. Nine. Compressing for Set-Top Boxes
    1. More Than Just Cable
      1. Digital TV
        1. Formats and Bandwidth
      2. IPTV
    2. IP-Based STBs
      1. Apple TV
        1. Synchronization and Streaming
        2. Content Support
      2. Xbox 360
        1. Multimedia
      3. Vudu
    3. Recipes for Compressing Video for STBs
      1. Ripping a DVD with HandBrake
      2. Standard-Definition Video for Xbox
    4. Conclusion
  19. Interview with a Compressionist
    1. How did you get involved in video compression?
    2. What was your biggest project?
    3. What was your favorite project?
    4. What’s your format of choice?
    5. What does your average workday look like?
    6. What does your encoding hardware look like?
    7. What’s your encoding software of choice?
    8. What role does compression play in your work?
    9. What surprises you most about video compression today?

Product information

  • Title: Real World Video Compression
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2008
  • Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
  • ISBN: 9780321550019