Critical Skills for Adobe CS3 Production Premium Streaming Producers
by Jan Ozer

Producing Streaming Video with Adobe CS3 (CS3) Production Premium and need some streaming-specific training? If so, Critical Skills for CS3 Streaming Producers is the training DVD for you.

Delivered on DVD
$99 (USD) plus $6.95 S&H

It’s relatively simple to choose encoding parameters and produce a streaming file in Premiere Pro, but are you choosing the right parameters ? For example, when producing H.264 files, how do you choose the Main profile to leverage the additional quality it offers over the Baseline profile? Can you access VP6-S and VP6-E from the Adobe Media Encoder, and what the heck are VP6-S and VP6-E anyway, and when do you need to use them? Does VC-1 differ from WMV-9 and how do you produce files for the Microsoft Streaming server or Silverlight?

The Mixed-Media Tutorial
Critical Skills for Adobe CS3 Production Premium Streaming Producers is a mixed-media tutorial on DVD that details how to use Adobe CS3 to efficiently produce high-quality Flash (VP6 and H.264), QuickTime and Windows Media video. The primary interface is a 279-page PDF file with more than 130 linked video files, including over an hour of screencams detailing Premiere Pro-specific functions such as producing H.264 video or converting 16:9 footage to 4:3 in Adobe Media Encoder.

Chapter 3: The mixed-media approach lets you read about a procedure and then click a video to see the procedure in action.
(Click this figure to view and download an iPod compatible video.)

Other videos help illustrate technology alternatives such as the quality difference between shooting in interlaced and progressive modes, using H.264’s Main or Baseline profiles, or encoding using variable bit rate (VBR) as opposed to constant bit rate (CBR) encoding. The DVD includes printable PDF checklists for common operations such as setting up three-point lighting, color correcting in Premiere Pro, or for creating an on-location set for testimonials and training videos.

“Jan Ozer uses streaming media technology to teach streaming media. It’s one of the most thorough and up-to-date resources I’ve ever seen. The content goes many layers deep to explain fundamentals, and still explores brand new developments. It is a great training tool that allows users to tailor their “just in time” learning, and to fill in any gaps in their knowledge.”  

Jeff Hanley, Manager, Multimedia
Corporate Learning Center
KLA-Tencor

 The PDF contains extensive bookmarks and is fully searchable and printable within the Adobe Acrobat Player so you can quickly find the information that you need and print it for later use or reuse. This is a key difference between Critical Skills and video-only resources, where information is harder to find and impossible to reuse without a computer.

Contents

After an introductory chapter discussing streaming-related concepts, the DVD is divided into three major areas, Optimizing Production for Streaming, Making Optimum Technology Decisions, and Streamlining Workflow and Maximizing Streaming Quality. Here’s an overview of the chapters in each section.

Optimizing Production for Streaming

Video compression is a garbage in/garbage out medium, and unless you use a compression-friendly set and appropriate lighting, you’ll compromise quality before you start encoding. To determine what is “compression-friendly,” Chapter 2: Designing Your Set, examines dozens of corporate and broadcast sites and details the results of extensive in-house testing. You’ll learn the following:

• How to create an inexpensive, effective set for in-house streaming
• How to create a set for on-location shooting
• How to dress for streaming success

This chapter includes checklists on these topics as well as iPod-formatted videos that you can take with you to the shoot. If you’re creating an in-house set or frequently shoot on-location, you’ll find this chapter invaluable.

Lighting is the single-most-important contributor to video quality, especially when shooting with prosumer camcorders. Chapter 3: Lighting the Set starts by examining more than 40 corporate and broadcast streaming videos to determine the predominant lighting style, finding, for example, that most corporate videos use three-point rather than flat lighting (though by a small margin).

Then, the chapter details how to set up both flat and three point-lighting, and provides checklists and iPod-formatted videos to take with you to the set. The final tutorial, Checking Lighting on the Set, describes how to use your camera’s exposure controls and zebra stripes to ensure proper exposure for your video.

Next is Chapter 4: Streaming-Related Shooting Skills, which starts with basics like rule of thirds positioning and rules for shot framing, again using examples from CNN, HP, and other corporate and broadcast sites, and then details the optimum camera settings for streaming, and how to produce a soft background, a classy effect that looks great and improves compressed quality. All of these are detailed in a PDF worksheet you can download by clicking the Figure.

Chapter 4: The soft background is a classy look that improves compressed quality. Click the figure to download a worksheet that details this and other shooting skills discussed in this chapter.

In the final section, the chapter reveals side-by-side quality tests performed while shooting in progressive and interlaced mode. In both videos and screenshots you can see for yourself if shooting in progressive mode produces better quality than interlaced. (Hint: It does, but only on some types of videos.) If you’re buying a new camcorder for streaming in the near future, these videos can really direct your decision.

The last chapter in this section, Chapter 5: Correcting Audio and Video Problems, details how to fix common video problems such as backlighting, under-exposure, and improper white balancing. If you’re an experienced Premiere Pro editor, you’ll find this old hat. But if you’re just starting out, you’ll learn how to use Premiere Pro’s scopes and color correction tools to improve the contrast, brightness and color accuracy of your videos, like the improvement shown in the Figure, which is from one of the sample files included on the DVD.

Chapter 5: Learning how to use Premiere Pro’s Color Correction Mode is a “critical skill” that will improve the quality of your compressed video.

The chapter also describes how to remove random pops and clicks and background noise from your audio and to normalize and apply audio compression in Adobe Audition. This is critical because while streaming viewers often expect and accept degraded video quality, they expect near-perfect audio quality. With screencam-based tutorials and worksheets for common corrective actions in Premiere Pro and Audition, you’ll be in a great position to exceed your viewer’s expectations on both fronts.

Making the Best Technology Decisions

You’ve probably already chosen a codec, and if you have, you can skip Chapter 6: Choosing a Codec. On the other hand, if you’re interested to see what percentage of broadcast and corporate sites are using the big three codecs (and how that has changed in the last year); or, to understand all the ado about Microsoft Silverlight, they’re both described in this chapter. You also get a fresh look at how VP6 (and the new VP6 announced by On2 in May, 2008), H.264, and WMV compare in quality at both SD and HD resolutions, with comparative screens like that shown below, along with the actual compressed files to compare yourself.

Chapter 6: H.264 looks good compared to both VC-1 and VP6-S (but can your target viewers play back H.264 video?.)

As you can see, H.264 looks great, but the rap against H.264 has always been that it’s hard to decode on low-powered computers. True? False? To find out, we compared the CPU resources required to play back all these files on multiple low-powered Mac and Windows computers with some results you’ll definitely want to see before deploying H.264 video.

Whatever codec you use, Chapter 7: Choosing Target Output Parameters is a definite must read. Most of the supplied data is research-based (as with most chapters), and who would have guessed that the average data rate for broadcast sites has increased from 448 kbps in April 2007 to 623 kbps in May 2008? That’s more than 40%! Has your site kept pace?

You can also learn how video resolutions have increased during the same time period, how many sites produce at 15 vs. 30 fps (and how much bandwidth they save), and how the average corporate and broadcast website allocates the total data rate between audio and video. Beyond these statistical factors, the chapter also delineates subjective factors to consider when choosing your target output parameters, including one research-proven technique for determining when your investment in additional bandwidth starts to produce diminishing returns in terms of viewer satisfaction.

Streamline Workflow and Maximize Quality

You’ve shot and edited your video, and selected the codec and output parameters. Now it’s time to put theory into action and to start the encoding workflow.

If you’re shooting in interlaced mode, how and where you deinterlace can have a huge impact on compressed quality, and this is the initial focus ofChapter 8: Production Workflows.Not only will you learn how Premiere Pro’s de-interlacing quality compares to other tools on the market, you’ll learn how to apply the effect for all rendering modes, which isn’t as simple as it sounds. For example, as seen in the Figure, sometimes when you select the effect, the Adobe Media Encoder doesn’t seem to apply it. This chapter details the Premiere Pro to Adobe Media Encoder handoff, and how the setting used in Premiere Pro determine your de-interlacing options.

Chapter 8: Will the Adobe Media Encoder deinterlace this footage? The preview says no, no, no, but the output says yes, yes, yes.

If you’re shooting in progressive mode, deinterlacing isn’t an issue, but you can simplify and streamline your editing by working in a custom preset that matches your target output parameters. This chapter shows you why and teaches you how to create a custom preset in Premiere Pro.

You’ll also learn how Premiere Pro’s noise reduction filter compares with other tools, and when and how to use it. Finally, if you’re producing in Premiere Pro and encoding elsewhere, you’ll learn which intermediate format to use when encoding in Windows, on the Mac or when producing Flash video with an alpha channel.

Chapter 9: Encoding Basics starts with a look at generic encoding parameters like variable vs. constant bit rate encoding, and what you need to know about I, B and P frames. Then it takes a deep dive into the three primary codecs, VP6, WMV-9/VC-1, and H.264.

VP6 related topics include the difference between VP6-E and VP6-S, when you especially need to use VP6-S, and which tools provide access to both codecs. Regarding WMV-9/VC-1, the chapter details the buffer requirements for producing CBR video for streaming, when and how to produce multiple bitrates video, and the potential benefits from “tweaking” your VC-1 encoding parameters, which will require you to encode on a Windows computer.

The chapter devotes 20 pages to H.264 production, starting with basics like profiles and levels, and extending to advanced parameters like pyramid B-frame encoding and CABAC vs. CAVLC entropy encoding. Also detailed are the H.264 encoding parameters provided in Adobe Media Encoder, and how to produce H.264 video for both Flash and QuickTime. If you’ve been struggling to get your arms around when and how to use H.264, you’ll really benefit from this content.

Encoding Your Video

Enough preliminaries, it’s time to encode, which is the sole focus of Chapter 10: Encoding with the Adobe Media Encoder. The text and screencam tutorials illustrate how to produce H.264, VP6 and VC-1 video with the Adobe Media Encoder. Descriptions are highly detailed, covering virtually all encoding parameters, and incorporating variables like whether the video will be delivered via a streaming server or progressive download.

Chapter 10: Converting 16:9 video to 4:3 output. Looks like we have one critical step to go.

If you’re producing Flash files with an alpha channel, you need to know how to apply Premiere Pro’s Chroma Key effect, which is also covered, as is converting 16:9 source video to 4:3 output.

One of the greatest strengths of this mixed media tutorial is that it can accommodate different learning styles. Whether you are more visually orientated and find it helpful to watch the video tutorials, or if you learn better by reading along with the PDF, you will benefit from the information included on this DVD.

 Critical Skills for Streaming Producers should be the ultimate resource for any producer who is working with video and/or streaming. Not only does this DVD teach critical skills for streaming producers, as the title promises, it teaches skills that all content producers need to know, including videographers of every stripe who either promote or distribute their work online. This DVD will quickly find a home as one of the most referred-to reference materials you have.  

Todd Gillespie
Producer – UC-Santa Barbara
Review in EventDV Magazine

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