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How to deal with the tension on the mobile network – part 2 (VIDEO Interview)

In late July, I reported on the “news” that Verizon was throttling video traffic for some users. As usual, the facts around this seemingly punitive act were not fully understood, which triggered this blog post. At IBC last month (September 2017), I was interviewed by RapidTV where much of the conversation was around the Apple […]

The Need for Speed: x265 & Beamr 5 Epic Face Off

UPDATE 11/15/2017: Be sure to check out part 2 of this post which covers Beamr 5 performance on the new Intel Scalable Platinum processor.   This article offers a comparison between the performance and quality of the Beamr 5 HEVC software encoder, and the open-source x265 software encoder.  There should be no debate over which […]

How to deal with the tension of video on the mobile network – Part 1

Last week, the Internet erupted in furor over Verizon’s alleged “throttling” of video streaming services over their mobile network. With a quick glance at the headlines, and to the uninitiated, this could be perceived as an example of a wireless company taking their market dominance too far. Most commenters were quick to pontificate calling “interference” […]

Comparing HEVC & VP9 Made Easy

Apple recently announced their plans to enable HEVC on up to one billion devices with the release of iOS 11 and High Sierra later this year, causing video services to reevaluate their workflows and the codecs they are using. With video codecs in a constant state of ongoing development, it can be hard to know […]

We Celebrate with Cake!

At Beamr, when we celebrate, we do it with cake! Today’s very special, and oh so yummy cake celebration, was a recognition of the amazing milestone that we reached on May 31, 2017 as the result of Beamr acquiring Vanguard Video on April 1st, 2016. Our vision for buying Vanguard as a firmly entrenched leader in HEVC […]

HEVC Has Arrived Thanks to Apple iOS 11 & High Sierra

For streaming video service operators who have been searching for a more efficient video codec to deliver higher resolution and higher quality video, the announcement by Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2017 (#WWDC2017) that they will be supporting HEVC across their Mac and iOS product families, is huge. Driven by the breathtaking quality of […]

How the Magic of Beamr Beats SSIM and PSNR

Every video encoding professional faces the dilemma of how best to detect artifacts and measure video quality. If you have the luxury of dealing with high bitrate files then this becomes less of an “issue” since for many videos throwing enough bits at the problem means an acceptably high video quality is nearly guaranteed. However, […]

Connecting Virtual Reality with the History of Encoding Technology

Two fun and surprising brain factoids are revealed that connect virtual reality with the history of encoding technology. Bloomberg featured a Charlie Rose interview with Jeremy Bailenson, the founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. Not surprisingly, the lab houses the sharpest minds and insightful datasets in its discipline of focus: Virtual Reality. […]

2016 Paves the Way for a Next-Gen Video Encoding Technology Explosion in 2017

2016 has been a significant year for video compression as 4K, HDR, VR and 360 video picked up steam, paving the road for an EXPLOSION of HEVC adoption in 2017. With HEVC’s ability to reduce bitrate and file sizes up to 50% over H.264, it is no surprise that HEVC has transitioned to be the […]

Before you evaluate x265, read this!

With video consumption rising and consumer preferences shifting to 4K UHD this is contributing to an even faster adoption rate than what we saw with the move to HD TV. Consumer demand for a seamless (buffer-free) video experience is a new expectation, and with the latest announcement from HEVC Advance removing royalty uncertainties in the […]