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Why H.264 has won (for now)

H.264 is a video codec that is used in a number of different containers, for example, .MP4, .FLV, .MOV.

Courtesy of encoding.com

As of May 2010, the H.264 format has claimed a stake in 66 percent of all videos online, making it the current leader for internet video compression.

One reason is, well, H.264 is an athletic encoder – it looks great and weighs less! Technically, it offers nearly three times greater compression than MPEG-2, at half the file size, and still looks clean and sharp, I like to think of it as the star wrestler of video encoders, the way it squashes data flat.

Another reason for H.264′s dominance, is it’s flexibility. H.264 was created to allow content from your home computer to be delivered to other devices without the time consuming hassle of converting. So, if you happen to have the latest technology in your hands, you can share your H.264 videos from your computer to your iPhone to your iPod to your DVD player, to your TV set-top box with no sweat, no cursing, no mangled, stretched or pixelated video.

And finally, I would guess that YouTube – the Ruling King of Video – has been one of the major forces in pushing H.264 to the top.

In the beginning, YouTube’s favored codec was H.263 Sorenson Spark in an FLV container. And people were astounded at the speed of playback and the ability of H.263 to crunch a fat movie down to an edible size. We were finally watching video in real time, on our home computers, without fits and starts, and the world was forever changed.

Since then, YouTube, whose very existence requires the staff stay on top of evolving video compression standards, started using H.264 in 2007 and three years later, YouTube uses and promotes H.264 FLV. In a recent blog post, YouTube explained that they chose H.264 because they need a format that will work with as many browsers as possible. And for efficiency’s sake, YouTube needs to minimize the number of formats they accept to keep up with their manic upload rate of 24 hours of video every minute (makes me sweat just thinking about it!).

While YouTube gives a nodd to the people-friendly open video format VP8, YouTube says they’re sticking with the Flash Player and H.264 for now, noting Flash’s security features and it’s technical capabilities such as recording from a webcam straight on to YouTube for live chat and broadcasting.

Tags: codec, H.264, video, youtube

Vancouver Social Media Day & Canada Day

This past week has been full of celebrations. If you missed out, here’s a recap for you.

On June 24, Victoria, British Columbia became the first city to proclaim June 30 as Social Media Day. See the signed Social Media Day Proclamation. Vancouver was not far behind as you can see in this photo of Pete Cashmore holding the Vancouver Social Media Day Proclamation.

On June 30, people around the world celebrated Social Media Day, which was initiated by Mashable on June 8. Check out what people did to celebrate on Flickr and on YouTube.

Of course, Social Media wasn’t the only big event that happened this week. Canadians across the country took some time to celebrate Canada Day on July 1. Everyone had their own way of celebrating which were shared through photos and videos.

Through online media, these two celebrations, one in its inaugural year and the other being the 143rd year, allowed people to share, connect and communicate across boundaries, time zones and cultures. The way we celebrate together today is vastly different from what was possible, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, let alone 143 years ago.

The world has changed.

Victor
eMarketing Strategist

Tags: canada day, flickr, online media, social media day, Vancouver, what's cool, youtube

YouTube: 24 Hours of Video Uploaded Per Minute

YouTube just announced that 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Don’t know what’s more astounding, YouTube’s ability to process that much content or people’s ability to generate that much content?

Tags: upload, video, what's cool, youtube

Where Social Media and Snowboarding Collide

Photo Credit: TrailSource

The Magnify team took a trip to Whistler on the first weekend of December to check out the Whistler Film Festival. In addition to watching some great films, I got the opportunity to snowboard for the first time. For those of you who tried snowboarding before or have heard from friends what it is like snowboarding for the first time, you’ll understand my experience.

I crashed and tumbled like there was no tomorrow. In the midst of smashing my head a couple times on the trail (luckily I had a helmet on) and scrapping my body off the floor, I realized there are similarities between learning to snowboard and introducing a small business to social media marketing.

When you first hear about social media, you might be all excited and ready to dive in head first without knowing what to expect. This was exactly what I thought for snowboarding.

But as you stand up on the snowboard (or create your first Twitter account, Facebook Page or YouTube channel), it isn’t long before your feet begin to slide out from underneath you, and you suddenly realize that you are in over your head. The next thing you know, your face is flat against the floor.

Developing a social media presence and effectively engaging your intended audience is not going to happen over night. It takes time, perseverance and practice, just like snowboarding.

A snowboard is just a piece of equipment, and similarly, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are just tools used to engage your audience. You might have the most expensive snowboard, but in the end, it is the person riding on the board that will make it soar in the air, or in my case, stumble around like a klutz.

Falling is a part of the experience. Mistakes will happen. Saying the wrong word, doing the wrong thing, representing yourself the wrong way are all possibilities. The social media community is less likely to abandon you if you handle the situation with an honest and transparent answer that is given in timely manner. After that, you have to pick yourself up and try again.

It is much easier to start and learn with an instructor or guide by your side. When starting from point zero, it is much more efficient to get help to launch your social media or snowboarding endeavors. You’ll gain access to people with expertise that can help you choose the best path (strategy) to reach your destination (goal) and provide you with a rewarding experience (ROI).

Do you agree that learning to snowboard is a lot like trying to get into social media?
Have any snowboarding or social media accidents/adventures to share? Tell us in the comments.

Victor Chan
eMarketing Strategist

Tags: facebook, snowboarding, Social Media, strategy, Twitter, whistler film festival, youtube

The Social Media Revolution

This video has been floating around for a bit, but, a friend sent it to me again this weekend and I’m reminded what a great presentation it is.  Enjoy!

- Moyra

Tags: revolution, Social Media, video, youtube