NAB 2015 was Amazing!

We want to thank everyone who was able to stop by our booth and say hello!  We introduced multiple new products and updates, won awards, gave talks and gave away some amazing prizes.  It is always a pleasure to be able to share our passions with everyone.  If you weren’t able to make it this year, we are already planning for next time around, so see you all next year in Las Vegas at NAB 2016!

Enjoy a video roundup of the highlights of our time at NAB 2015.

John Pallett sits in on “Future of Broadcasting” panel presented by Teradek:

The Perils of 16:10

If you record with ScreenFlow on a MacBook, chances are you will be recording in 16:10 resolution.  I get to use a late 2013, 15 inch retina display MacBook Pro when I make videos with ScreenFlow.  If you haven’t used this machine in particular, it is tons of fun. It is powerful, beautiful and its high pixels per inch make the retina display shine!  The only issue I run into is the native 16:10 resolution.

When creating an HD video, then uploading it to YouTube, you will want it to be 1920:1080, standard HD, which works out to an aspect ratio of 16:9.  While you can change your canvas size in ScreenFlow to be 1920:1080, the recording from your MacBook screen will actually be a bit taller than your canvas.  This unfortunate incompatibility, 16:10 vs. 16:9, means you either have to stretch your recording to fit, or crop off either the top or bottom.  So frustrating!

It’s Convention Season!

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the New Media Expo (NMX) start in just under two weeks at the Las Vegas Convention Center!  We will be at both shows giving presentations, hosting giveaways, and demoing current and future products from April 13th through the 16th.  You can find us in Booth SL3305 at NAB and N8010 at NMX!  Stop by, say hello and enter to win one of our many giveaways!

Another great contribution from our very own Paul Turner!

What is MXF?

It’s hard to work in media without coming across the acronym “MXF” when discussing file formats. Once described (by some) as the solution to all file compatibility issues, it initially seemed to cause more problems than it solved. In some cases, these issues were caused by a lack of definitive language in the spec itself, but the main culprit is a lack of understanding of what MXF is and what problem it’s trying to solve. In this discussion, I’ll attempt to strip away the complexity (MXF is described in over 20 SMPTE documents!!!), and give you a basic understanding of the technology.

Switch Just Keeps Getting Better!

Switch for Windows is here! We have been continually developing and adding new features to make Switch the only professional media player you will need.  Update for free today and get a host of new features to help you work faster and more efficiently. Haven’t heard of Switch? Sign up for our webinar on March 17th to learn more!

What’s new in Switch?

Windows Support – All the features of Switch prized by media and broadcast professional are now available for Windows as well as MAC.

Dynamic Ad Insertion

Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) is a concept that has been discussed in the cable TV industry for years.   The reason is simple–DAI has the potential to create the largest single new revenue opportunity for content owners and cable TV multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) in many years.  Although approaches have been proposed, they have either required significant changes to the hardware infrastructure or required too much manual processing and could not scale. That is all about to change.

On our booth (SL3305) at NAB 2015, we will host our first DAI technology showcase, featuring the newly released Vantage DAI software solution.  This showcase will demonstrate an end-to-end file-based workflow encompassing video, audio and metadata transformation that delivers on the promise of increased ad revenue within a fully automated and scalable software system.

Meet Professor Brent Stockwell of Columbia University.  Professor Stockwell uses ScreenFlow to flip his Biochemistry classroom.  The results have been impressive.  His recipe, having the students prepare for class by watching a ScreenFlow he creates expounding on the new material, followed immediately by a short quiz to assess comprehension, seems particularly effective.  We also really like the polling done in class (Professor Stockwell uses Socrative) that helps ensure students are following along.

Another great post from Telestream’s Paul Turner!

How do you compress video?

In a previous blog, we talked over the techniques for compressing a still image. Now its time to apply that to moving images. There are a couple of techniques that are in common use, each designed for a specific set of use cases. In broad terms, these fall into the camps of “Intraframe compression” and “Interframe compression”. Those 2 terms look and sound similar, but they are quite different in practice. Let’s start with the simplest one – Intraframe compression.

Intraframe Compression

Intraframe compression basically takes the path of greatest simplicity: as you know, video is made up of a sequence of individual frames, each flashed in front of your eyes for a short amount of time. It makes use of the phenomenon of image retention in the human visual system (flashed images remain on your retina for a small amount of time – look very briefly at a very bright object, and then close your eyes – you’ll still see the outline of the bright object).

At some point during your video-making career, you will need to record your own voice over. It’s inevitable. With the high price associated with outsourcing your vocal talent, mixed with the unavoidable “artistic differences” between you and the talent, it may actually be a better idea to keep things in house.

Getting started is a daunting prospect, but once you get the hang of it, recording your own voice over is actually quite fun! There are many things to remember, but these tips should help get you started!

Who What Why & How: Recording your iOS Device

Back in November we released ScreenFlow 5, which included lots of cool new features and refinements, including the ability to record your iOS device right in ScreenFlow.  Once the recording is done, you can use ScreenFlow’s editor to add some eye-catching details, like animated text or Touch Callouts (finger gestures).

Who needs this?

Our initial vision saw app developers being the primary audience for this feature.  Since release, we’re happy to see it’s relevant to a much larger audience. Last November, we were at the MacTech conference and had the opportunity to demo the capability to MacTech’s sophisticated audience.  The MacTech community was very excited to get their hands on the software so they could use this capability in their trainings & tutorials.  In addition.