… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1408: A Quick History of HEVC

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

HEVC was designed to create smaller files, with quality equal to H.264.

The HEVC logo.

Topic $TipTopic

I got into a conversation with Birdie about the uses of HEVC, which lead me into doing some more research.

In an earlier article, I wrote that HEVC was invented to decrease the load on cell networks, which was what I was told at the time. However, in reading Wikipedia, the initial development work for HEVC was done by NHK (a Japanese broadcaster) and Mitsubishi Electric (a consumer electronics manufacturer).

The work was started in 2004 to find a way to improve H.264 to support larger frame sizes than 4K and the greater grayscale and color range of HDR. A further goal was to cut files sizes by 50% while maintaining image quality equal to H.264. The tradeoff, though, was a more complex encoding/decoding process.

After several years of research, formal work on a spec began in January, 2010, with a request for proposals. 27 different proposals were submitted.

The standard was formally published by the ITU-T on June 7, 2013. Since then, it has been modified/upgraded five times, the last being version 4 on Dec. 22, 2016.

More than 12,000 patents are involved in this codec, in fact the MPEG LA HEVC patent list is 164 pages long! Making the roll-out more difficult was that several patent holders couldn’t agree on a royalty stream, so manufacturers were required to license from two different patent holding groups, with significantly different pricing, and unit sales requirements.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s a Wikipedia article to learn more.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1409: Does H.264 support HDR?

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

When in doubt, encode H.264 media using the High profile.

The AVC/H.264 logo.

Topic $TipTopic

I’ve said for years that H.264 is a limited codec – it doesn’t support frame sizes beyond 4K nor bit depths greater than 8-bit. But, recently I started wondering whether those statements are still true. So, I went to Wikipedia (linked below) to learn more.

H.264’s official name is AVC (for Advanced Video Codec). It is the most popular format for recording, compression and distribution in the world. (HEVC is #2.)

The H.264 standard can be viewed as a “family of standards” composed of a number of different profiles, although its “High profile” is by far the mostly commonly used format.

H.264 is the most commonly used format for Blu-ray Discs, where it is one of the three mandatory video compression formats.

According to Wikipedia, H.264 supports:

  • Frame sizes up to 8K, depending upon profile.
  • YUV 422 and 4:4:4 color sampling, depending upon profile
  • Stereoscopic 3D video
  • Depth maps
  • HLG HDR, provided the High-10 profile is used.

Color sampling and bit-depth support are determined by the profile used when encoding a file.

  • The High Profile, which is the most commonly used format, supports up to 4K images with 8-bit depth.
  • The High-10 profile supports 10-bit depth media, but not all software offers this option.
  • Only the High 4:4:4 Predictive Profile supports color sampling beyond 4:2:2 and bit-depths greater than 10-bit.

So, the answer to the question: “Does H.264 support HDR?” the answer is:

  • No, if you are using any of the H.264 profiles in Apple Compressor or Handbrake.
  • Yes, but only if you use the High10 profile in Adobe Media Encoder.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the Wikipedia article I used to learn more.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1411: With H.264, the Profile Makes a Big Difference

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

When in doubt, compress using the High profile.

The AVC/H.264 logo.

Topic $TipTopic

Key to compressing a file into the H.264 codec is the Profile. These profiles determine the quality and format of the compressed file.

Apple Compressor, Adobe Media Encoder, Handbrake and other compression programs provide different profile options, which make a surprising amount of difference when you encode your media.

This software provides up to four options when choosing a profile:

  • Baseline
  • Main
  • High
  • High-10

NOTE: The H.264 spec defines 25 different profiles!, most of which require special software to access.

  • Baseline. This profile is principally used for low-bandwidth video conferencing and mobile apps.
  • Main. This profile is used for standard-definition TV. It should NOT be used for HD.
  • High. This profile is particularly designed for HD video, as well as Blu-ray Disc. It should also be used for any media you plan to archive.
  • High-10. This does everything the High profile does, plus adds support for 10-bit 4:2:2 media, which is required for HLG HDR.

Neither Compressor nor Handbrake support High-10. Adobe Media Encoder supports all four of the profiles listed here.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here’s the Wikipedia article I used to learn more.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1393: LTO 9 – Coming Soon!

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

LTO 9: 18 TB storage per tape, coming in the first half of 2021.

The official LTO roadmap. LTO 9 is not yet shipping.

Topic $TipTopic

LTO 9, the latest tape-based archiving standard, should see shipping units arrive in the first half of 2021.

For this generation, the LTO Program has balanced the cost and benefit of new technology by offering an 18 TB tape cartridge to address the current market for storage space. This represents a 50% increase in capacity over LTO–8, but a 1400% increase over LTO–5 technology launched a decade ago.

LTO generation 9 specifications include previously introduced features, such as multi–layer security support via hardware–based encryption, WORM (Write–Once, Read–Many) functionality and support for Linear Tape File System (LTFS). The new LTO generation 9 specifications include full backward read and write compatibility with LTO generation 8 cartridges. These features help LTO tape maintain its unique position of a powerful, scalable, and adaptable open tape storage format that can provide more confidence for safe and secured offline storage, particularly in helping to prevent the impact of increasing cyberattacks.

For media creators with massive media files, hard disks and cloud storage can quickly become very expensive. LTO, by archiving to tape that can last up to 30 years, provides a lower-cost way to preserve assets for the long-term.

Learn more – LTO.org.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1400: Audio Butler: Automatic Audio Mixing

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

AI-driven, automatic audio mixing for Premiere and Resolve.

Alex Audio Butler product logo.

Topic $TipTopic

Alex Audio Butler just released an upgrade to its automatic audio mixing package for Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.

Alex Audio Butler consists of 4 unique plug-ins that, combined, can mix most, if not all, types of video projects. Every audio track in your project (including the Master track) will contain exactly one Alex Audio Butler instance based on the type of audio in the track (Voice, Music, Sound FX, Master). All these instances work together by listening to your audio and sharing their internal analyses to create a series of audio settings that will make your audio sound as good as possible.

Using presets you only need to tell Alex Audio Butler high-level choices that fit your project: you want a Pumping Loud video, or something more Natural. Based on these instruction the plugin suite will tune every setting creating the right volume so you don’t have to think about dBs, Hz, et cetera.

A floating Status Window informs you if Alex Audio Butler has enough information for a correct export so you can be sure you never upload videos with audio mistakes.

Prices range from $89 to $149.

Learn more here.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1401: The Future of Media is Streaming

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The future of media is streaming – but what should broadcasters do?

The Next TV logo.

Topic $TipTopic

This article, written by Alan Wolk, first appeared in NextTV.com. This is a summary.

There are a few ways you can look at NBCUniversal’s decision to shut down its NBC Sports Network channel and distribute NBCSN’s programming to the USA network and Peacock.

On one level, it’s a cost-saving measure and a way to boost USA and Peacock at a time when both could use a little love.

On another, it’s the first of many similar decisions NBCU and other big networks are going to be making as they consolidate their offerings on linear and prepare to migrate the bulk of their business to streaming.

The powers that be at all of the major networks seem to understand that the future belongs to streaming. Their goal is to make the switch-over as painless as possible by gradually reducing their footprint on linear TV while increasing it on streaming. The process of reducing their linear footprint is a lot like one of those peg board games, the ones you find at Cracker Barrel, where the goal is to jump one piece over another and remove the piece you’ve jumped, till you’re left with just a single piece.

At the same time, they’ve got to keep their traditional linear businesses in shape, as that is still (for now) their major source of revenue.

In addition to viewers, networks are going to have to manage advertiser expectations during the switchover, as well. Today’s conventional wisdom is that younger, more affluent audiences are on streaming, while older and less affluent audiences are still on linear.

On the programming end, we’re already seeing how traditional networks are making excellent use of their streaming networks to promote their linear properties, giving them a strategic advantage over tech-only players like Amazon and Apple, especially when it comes to those viewers who are still primarily on linear but thinking of making the switch.

EXTRA CREDIT

The entire article is worth readiing, as is the NextTV website itself.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1371: Introducing intoPIX JPEG XS

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

JPEG XS is specifically targeted at high-end video applications.

The intoPIX JPEG XS logo.

Topic $TipTopic

intoPIX is a technology provider of compression, image processing and security solutions.

One of their newest codecs is JPEG XS. JPEG XS is specifically targeted at high-end video applications, such as broadcasting, broadcast contribution, virtual reality applications, and so on.

As described by Antonin Descampe, co-founder of intoPIX:

“The main difference between JPEG XS and existing codecs from JPEG, MPEG or other standardization Committees is that compression efficiency is not the main target. Whereas other codecs primarily focus on their compression efficiency, disregarding latency or complexity, JPEG XS  addresses the following question: “How can we ultimately replace uncompressed video?”. The goal of JPEG XS is therefore to allow increasing resolutions, frame rates and number of streams, while safeguarding all advantages of an uncompressed stream, i.e. interoperability, visually lossless quality, multi-generation robustness, low power consumption, low latency in coding and decoding, ease of implementation, small size on chip (no additional DDR), and fast software running on general purpose CPU and GPU.

“No other codec fulfills this set of strong requirements simultaneously. It can thus “compete” with ncompressed in every aspect and reduce bandwidth / video data significantly.”

Here’s a link to learn more.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1376: Avoid Image Degradation

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Scaling an image smaller is fine, avoid scaling an image larger than 100%.

Topic $TipTopic

I get questions every day about how to maintain image quality while changing the size of an image (aka “Scaling.”)

The answer is simple, in theory, but tricky in practice: Bitmapped images, which include all digital video, are fixed in resolution. That means that each image is composed of a fixed number of pixels. As well, the projects into which we edit these images/video are also fixed in terms of pixel dimensions.

Assuming focus and exposure are good, the best an image will look is when it is scaled to 100%. You can probably scale an image to 110% without much damage, but beyond that typical audience members will start to see a difference.

When you make an image smaller, you are removing pixels, which, in general reduces the resolution of an image but doesn’t damage the perceived “quality.”

However, when making an image larger, you are duplicating pixels to fill the extra space. Duplicating a pixel means no new data is created. This makes a bitmapped image look fuzzy, soft or blurry.

  • In Final Cut Pro, you can set an image to 100% size by changing Video Inspector > Spatial Conform to None.
  • In Premiere Pro, you can see how much an image is scaled by Control-clicking a clip and enabling “Set to Frame Size.”

Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1380: Quantum Acquires CatDV

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Quantum acquires CatDV to better track all the data we are collecting.

The Quantum logo.

Topic $TipTopic

In December, Quantum announced that it has acquired Square Box Systems Ltd, a specialist in data cataloging, user collaboration, and digital asset management software. The acquisition builds on Quantum’s recently expanded portfolio that classifies, manages, and protects data across its lifecycle by adding technology advancements to further enrich video, digital images and other forms of unstructured data.

Square Box Systems’ flagship product is CatDV, an agile media management and workflow automation software platform that helps organizations with large volumes of media and metadata to organize, communicate and collaborate more effectively. CatDV leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to make it easier for businesses of any size to catalog and analyze digital assets such as video, images, audio files, PDFs, and more; enable advanced search across local and cloud repositories; and provide access control across the full data lifecycle for secure sharing and data governance.

Press Release.


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!

… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1351: Creating 64-bit Media

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Older software can create media files for current gear.

Topic $TipTopic

Al asks:

“I have an older Mac tower running 10.8.5 and have the Adobe CS6 suite. Can I use Adobe Media Encoder to convert my video to 64-bit so it’s usable on the newer Macs? I also have Compressor 3.0.5.”

Larry answers.

Yes. The codec, not the compression software, determines the bit-depth of the media file. As well, not all older media needs to be converted. Most files will work fine as is.

The easiest way to test file compatibility is to compress a file, then send it to a friend running either Catalina or Big Sur. If the media file plays, you’re all set.

64-bit is different from the 8-, 10-, 12-bit depth of the media we shoot. 32- or 64-bit refers to a media file’s compatibility with the CPUs and RAM on your computer. The bit-depth of the media refers to the range of grayscale or color values it can display.

macOS Catalina and Big Sur require 64-bit compatible media. Earlier versions of the macOS support both 32-bit and 64-bit.

64-bit compatible media includes:

  • QuickTime or MPEG-4 containers using:
  • ProRes
  • DNx
  • GoPro Cineform
  • H.264
  • HEVC

Early versions of both Adobe Media Encoder and Apple Compressor can create most, if not all, of these files. However, compressing HEVC on your hardware will take a LLLOOOONNNGGGGGG time!


Please rate the helpfulness of this tip.

Click on a star to rate it!