StreamingMedia.com Releases First Final Cut Studio Training DVD Focused Solely on Streaming Production

New Tool Reveals How to Optimize Quality and Encoding Efficiency in Final Cut Studio

Final Cut Studio and Compressor are fabulous tools for producing streaming video, but the workflow can be confusing. For example, which de-interlacing option triggers Compressor’s vaunted Optical Flow technology (and which doesn’t)? How does editing in a custom Final Cut Pro setting or encoding with a QuickTime Export Component impact your options in Compressor’s Geometry Pane? Beyond workflow issues, does Compressor’s output quality match that of other Mac-encoding tools such as Sorenson Squeeze or Telestream Episode Pro, or could producers improve quality by using these third-party tools?

To help streaming producers answer these questions (and many more) StreamingMedia.com today announced a new training product entitled Critical Skills for Apple Final Cut Studio Streaming Producers, a mixed-media tutorial on DVD. The product costs $99.95 and will ship on July 15. Created by author and trainer Jan Ozer, the DVD is the first (and only) streaming-oriented training product that illustrates the techniques and workflows enabling efficient, high-quality production of H.264, VP-6 and VC-1 production with Final Cut Studio.

Suits Varying Learning Styles

The product’s primary interface is a 312 page PDF file with more than 132 linked video files, including over an hour of screencam-based tutorials detailing Final Cut Pro-specific functions including producing H.264 video or converting 16:9 footage to 4:3 in Compressor. Other videos illustrate technology alternatives like the quality difference between using Compressor’s Best (Optical Flow) and Better de-interlacing Modes or encoding with H.264’s Main or Baseline profiles (and how that impacts playability on low-powered computers).

Commenting on the mixed-media approach, product reviewer Todd Gillespie, a television producer with UC-Berkeley, stated “One of the greatest strengths of this mixed-media tutorial is that it can accommodate different learning styles. Whether you are more visually oriented and get great help in watching the video tutorials, or if you learn better by reading along with the PDF, you will benefit from the information included on this DVD.”

Details Critical Streaming-Related Operations

The DVD is a Final Cut specific subset of Ozer’s initial product, Critical Skills for Streaming Producers, which also included tutorials for Adobe’s Production Premium CS3 ($249). Final Pro specific tutorials in the current DVD include:
Producing a custom preset in Final Cut Pro
Changing a preset in Final Cut Pro
Creating a Compressor preset
Producing a file in Compressor
The Final Cut Pro/Compressor encoding workflow
Understanding the Final Cut Pro to Compressor handoff
Producing H.264 video with Compressor
Converting 16:9 videos to 4:3 output
Producing Flash Video with the Adobe Flash QuickTime Export Component
Producing Flash Video with On2 Flix Exporter
Producing Windows WMV-9/VC-1 Video with the Flip4Mac QuickTime Export Component.
Color Correction in Final Cut Pro
Audio cleanup and noise reduction in SoundTrack Pro.

Addresses Complete Streaming Production Workflow

Since streaming video is the classic Garbage In/Garbage Out medium, Critical Skills also devotes three chapters to set design, lighting and shooting for streaming. Regarding these sections, reviewer Gillespie commented “Ozer really shines with his tutorials on 3-point lighting and camera composition and techniques. These tutorials alone are worth the purchase of the DVD. There are very few resources that give great and helpful lighting and camera-framing information in such an easily understandable form.”

The final chapter compares Compressor’s SD and HD output quality of H.264, VP6 and WMV-9/VC-1 files with video files produced by third-party Mac-encoding products Sorenson Squeeze and Telestream Episode Pro. This lets streaming producers know when they can improve compressed quality using a third-party tools and how the available Macintosh-encoding tools compare.

Overall, Jeff Hanley, manager of multimedia at KLA-Tencor’s Corporate Learning Center, commented “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.”

About StreamingMedia.Com

StreamingMedia.com is the premier online destination for professionals seeking industry news, information, articles, directories and services. The site features thousands of original articles, hundreds of hours of audio/video content, breaking news, research reports, industry directory, and case studies that showcase the latest real-world streaming media implementations With over 107,000 registered users, StreamingMedia.com’s aim is to supply the community and those corporations implementing this technology with unparalleled information online.

To purchase Critical Skills for Apple Final Cut Studio Streaming Media Producers, or to view some free demonstration content, visit http://www.streamingmedia.com/StreamingProductionFCP.

Contacts

StreamingMedia.com
Editorial:
Jan Ozer, 276-238-9135
jozer {at} mindspring(.)com
or
Marketing:
Joe Menendez, 609-654-6266
jmenendez {at} infotoday(.)com