Today’s online and mobile video consumers demand high-quality video playback regardless of the platform they choose to view your content on; providing challenges to marketers struggling to stay abreast of the latest codecs, containers, formats and more. In addition to third-party offline software tools and the robust integrated capabilities offered by most content management systems (CMS) for transcoding and prepping video, online services based in the Cloud are vying for a spot in the producer’s toolbox.
According to Jeff Malkin of Encoding.com, encoding video in the Cloud allows users to scale infinitely and maximize revenues, while avoiding significant infrastructure costs associated with supporting growing viewer demands.
Video encoding has been the necessary evil component in every video site operator’s workflow, usurping significant in-house compute power and management overhead.
“Video encoding has been the necessary evil component in every video site operator’s workflow, usurping significant in-house compute power and management overhead,” Malkin stated. “Utilizing a transcode solution that maximizes your audience and delivers superior quality is an imperative. Achieving profitability and self-sustainability should be tackled from both directions.”
Offering a flexible video transcoding platform that easily scales to meet your needs, along with a powerful and extensible API, Encoding.com claims to be the only video encoding service integrated into both Amazon Web Services and the Rackspace Cloud. Another handy feature is an Adobe Air desktop software application, in addition to the company’s web-based user interface.
Many other solutions exist — some more specialized than others.
Aviberry (www.aviberry.com) claims 98 percent of all video will be 3D by 2014 — and to that end, automates the 2D to 3D conversion process — delivering HD video that supports polarization glasses, NVIDIA’s shutter technology, and anaglyph 3D glasses. Predefined settings make iPad, YouTube, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and other devices a breeze to target. Need more? It is also available as a WordPress plugin.
According to the company, uEncode (www.uencode.com) is fully-featured video conversion software as a service (SaaS), which allows users to convert hundreds of types of input video formats into many different output formats, with complete control over the conversion process. The service is priced at a flat 70¢ / GB, with no monthly fees or any restrictions on jobs or minutes. No contracts are required and 150+ formats are supported.
According to Zencoder (www.zencoder.com), its Cloud encoding system is tenfold faster than other similar offerings, with faster than real-time encoding of HD video clips, and accelerated file transfers. The service supports outputs for nearly every device on the market, including beautiful iPad and iPhone-ready videos using Apple’s HLS standards.
For budget constrained or technologically strained adult content marketers, or those seeking the most inter-platform compatibility with the least effort, Cloud-based encoding of video content is a game-winning approach.
