Preparation is a core tenet of my consulting / professional services business...it is my hope that the effort I put into preparation provides a significant differentiation in the quality of service I am able to render to my clients...
A new client engagement is in a business domain with which I have little experience to-date: Digital Media, Internet TV, and Internet Broadcasting.
To help myself quickly develop a broad and deep understanding of not only the technical aspects of the new role - and the technical standards that it encompasses (e.g.. HEVC, H.264, etc.) - I also am interested in developing a deep understanding of the business models and the various business constraints and concerns that may come into play in shaping a solution for a given client.
To that end, I have ordered the following books this weekend on Amazon:
Connected Viewing: Selling, Streaming, & Sharing Media in the Digital Age
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415813603/
As patterns of media use become more integrated with mobile technologies and multiple screens, a new mode of viewer engagement has emerged in the form of connected viewing, which allows for an array of new relationships between audiences and media texts in the digital space. This exciting new collection brings together twelve original essays that critically engage with the socially-networked, multi-platform, and cloud-based world of today, examining the connected viewing phenomenon across television, film, video games, and social media.The result is a wide-ranging analysis of shifting business models, policy matters, technological infrastructure, new forms of user engagement, and other key trends affecting screen media in the digital era. Connected Viewing contextualizes the dramatic transformations taking place across both media industries and national contexts, and offers students and scholars alike a diverse set of methods and perspectives for studying this critical moment in media culture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520283252
Distribution Revolution is a collection of interviews with leading film and TV professionals concerning the many ways that digital delivery systems are transforming the entertainment business. These interviews provide lively insider accounts from studio executives, distribution professionals, and creative talent of the tumultuous transformation of film and TV in the digital era. The first section features interviews with top executives at major Hollywood studios, providing a window into the big-picture concerns of media conglomerates with respect to changing business models, revenue streams, and audience behaviors. The second focuses on innovative enterprises that are providing path-breaking models for new modes of content creation, curation, and distribution—creatively meshing the strategies and practices of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. And the final section offers insights from creative talent whose professional practices, compensation, and everyday working conditions have been transformed over the past ten years. Taken together, these interviews demonstrate that virtually every aspect of the film and television businesses is being affected by the digital distribution revolution, a revolution that has likely just begun
Producing Streaming Video for Multiple Screen Delivery
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976259540/Published in 2013, Producing Streaming Video for Multiple Screen Delivery the only compression-related textbook released after 2010, and it incorporates the latest technologies, including DASH and HTML5 and new devices such as 4G transmitters for mobile delivery. This book is written for producers seeking to distribute streaming video to the widest possible audience, including computers, smartphones and tablets, and Over the Top (OTT) devices. Written by Jan Ozer, this book delivers the lessons learned from years of producing and consulting on streaming, and serving as a contributing editor to the industry bible, Streaming Media MagazineThe Business of Media Distribution: Monetizing Film, TV, and Video Content in an Online World
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240824237
Learn how an idea moves from concept to profits and how distribution dominates the bottom line of an industry otherwise grounded in high profile elements (production, creative, law, finance, and marketing).In this updated edition of a bestselling industry staple, experienced media executive Jeff Ulin relates business theory and practice across key global market segments—film, television, video, and online/digital—providing you with an insider’s perspective that can't be found anywhere else. This new edition:
- Includes perspectives from key industry executives at studios, networks and online leaders, including Fox, Paramount, Lucasfilm, USA Network, BSkyB, YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft and many more
- Analyzes online influences throughout the distribution chain and explains the impact made by the growth of apps, tablets, smart-phones, social media, social gaming, and over-the-top delivery
- Discusses the growth of Digital Cinema and the related distribution of 3D movies.
- Explores changes in the home video business and growth of on-demand (VOD) and on-the-go access to content
- Illustrates how online services like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and Hulu are changing the way TV content is distributed and consumed, and why they are producing their own original series
- Breaks down historical film windows, the economic drivers behind them, and how online and digital delivery applications are changing the landscape.
- Features a companion website (www.focalpress.com/9780240824239), which includes additional material demystifying how projects are developed and profits calculated
Digital Video and HD, Second Edition: Algorithms and Interfaces (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0123919266
Digital Video and HD: Algorithms and Interfaces provides a one-stop shop for the theory and engineering of digital video systems. Equally accessible to video engineers and those working in computer graphics, Charles Poynton's revision to his classic text covers emergent compression systems, including H.264 and VP8/WebM, and augments detailed information on JPEG, DVC, and MPEG-2 systems. This edition also introduces the technical aspects of file-based workflows and outlines the emerging domain of metadata, placing it in the context of digital video processing.
Once I have digested this first lot of books, I have identified the following for a possible follow-up order:
High Efficiency Video Coding: Coding Tools and Specification
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3662442752
The video coding standard High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) targets at improved compression performance for video resolutions of HD and beyond, providing Ultra HD video at similar compressed bit rates as for HD video encoded with the well-established video coding standard H.264/AVC. Based on known concepts, new coding structures and improved coding tools have been developed and specified in HEVC. The standard is expected to be taken up easily by established industry as well as new endeavors, answering the needs of todays connected and ever-evolving online world.This book presents the High Efficiency Video Coding standard and explains it in a clear and coherent language. It provides a comprehensive and consistently written description, all of a piece. The book targets at both, newbies to video coding as well as experts in the field. While providing sections with introductory text for the beginner, it suits as a well-arranged reference book for the expert. The book provides a comprehensive reference for the technical details of the employed coding tools; it further outlines the algorithmic advances compared to H.264/AVC. In addition to the technical aspects, the book provides insight to the general concepts of standardization, how specification text is written, and how these concepts apply to the HEVC specification.Video coding standards: AVS China, H.264/MPEG-4 PART 10, HEVC, VP6, DIRAC and VC-1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9400767412
The requirements for multimedia (especially video and audio) communications increase rapidly in the last two decades in broad areas such as television, entertainment, interactive services, telecommunications, conference, medicine, security, business, traffic, defense and banking. Video and audio coding standards play most important roles in multimedia communications. In order to meet these requirements, series of video and audio coding standards have been developed such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-21 for audio and video by ISO/IEC, H.26x for video and G.72x for audio by ITU-T, Video Coder 1 (VC-1) for video by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and RealVideo (RV) 9 for video by Real Networks.AVS China is the abbreviation for Audio Video Coding Standard of China. This new standard includes four main technical areas, which are systems, video, audio and digital copyright management (DRM), and some supporting documents such as consistency verification. The second part of the standard known as AVS1-P2 (Video - Jizhun) was approved as the national standard of China in 2006, and several final drafts of the standard have been completed, including AVS1-P1 (System - Broadcast), AVS1-P2 (Video - Zengqiang), AVS1-P3 (Audio - Double track), AVS1-P3 (Audio - 5.1), AVS1-P7 (Mobile Video), AVS-S-P2 (Video) and AVS-S-P3 (Audio). AVS China provides a technical solution for many applications such as digital broadcasting (SDTV and HDTV), high-density storage media, Internet streaming media, and will be used in the domestic IPTV, satellite and possibly the cable TV market. Comparing with other coding standards such as H.264 AVC, the advantages of AVS video standard include similar performance, lower complexity, lower implementation cost and licensing fees. This standard has attracted great deal of attention from industries related to television, multimedia communications and even chip manufacturing from around the world. Also many well known companies have joined the AVS Group to be Full Members or Observing Members. The 163 members of AVS Group include Texas Instruments (TI) Co., Agilent Technologies Co. Ltd., Envivio Inc., NDS, Philips Research East Asia, Aisino Corporation, LG, Alcatel Shanghai Bell Co. Ltd., Nokia (China) Investment (NCIC) Co. Ltd., Sony (China) Ltd., and Toshiba (China) Co. Ltd. as well as some high level universities in China. Thus there is a pressing need from the instructors, students, and engineers for a book dealing with the topic of AVS China and its performance comparisons with similar standards such as H.264, VC-1 and RV-9.
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC): Algorithms and Architectures (Integrated Circuits and Systems)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3319068946
This book provides developers, engineers, researchers and students with detailed knowledge about the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. HEVC is the successor to the widely successful H.264/AVC video compression standard, and it provides around twice as much compression as H.264/AVC for the same level of quality. The applications for HEVC will not only cover the space of the well-known current uses and capabilities of digital video – they will also include the deployment of new services and the delivery of enhanced video quality, such as ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV) and video with higher dynamic range, wider range of representable color, and greater representation precision than what is typically found today. HEVC is the next major generation of video coding design – a flexible, reliable and robust solution that will support the next decade of video applications and ease the burden of video on world-wide network traffic. This book provides a detailed explanation of the various parts of the standard, insight into how it was developed, and in-depth discussion of algorithms and architectures for its implementation.Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1107075297
The entertainment and media industries, already important sectors of the U.S. economy, continue to grow rapidly in other countries around the world. This ninth edition of Entertainment Industry Economics continues to be the definitive source on the economics of film, music, television, advertising, broadcasting, cable, casino and online wagering, publishing, performing arts and culture, toys and games, sports, and theme parks. It synthesizes a vast amount of data to provide a clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date reference guide on the economics, financing, accounting, production, and marketing of entertainment in the United States and overseas. Completely updated, it includes new sections on price effects, art markets, and Asian gaming. Financial analysts and investors, economists, industry executives, accountants, lawyers, regulators and legislators, and journalists, as well as students preparing to join these professionals, will benefit from this invaluable guide on how the entertainment and media industries operate.
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