For major sporting events, it is no longer enough to produce a traditional broadcast television program alone. Fans want more access to their favorite players, sports, and teams in real time. Through live webcasting, fans now have a VIP pass to almost every aspect of a major sporting event. In this session learn from top sports brands how they are expanding their reach for large- scale sporting events with live streaming. The session covers driving fan awareness of live, sports-related content with shoulder programming, social media integration, distribution of highlights across a variety of platforms, and more.

This session describes what cloud encoding is and how it works for both live and on-demand applications. Learn the types of applications that work well with cloud encoding and the factors to consider when choosing an on-demand and live cloud encoding service. The presentation also includes qualitative and performance results from recent reviews of some of today’s leading cloud based encoding platforms, including Amazon, Encoding.com, Elemental Cloud, and Zencoder.

This session explains the unique challenges enterprises face when deploying mobile video. Panelists share their experiences rolling out mobile initiatives and provide technical recommendations and best practices. Topics include a discussion of mobile streaming trends and business use cases from traditional corporate communications to newer outbound marketing initiatives. The session also covers workflow from content creation to delivery, including how to support multiple devices and bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives, wireless networking (4G vs. Enterprise Wi-Fi), app vs. browser, and content management.

The cameras on iOS devices are getting better and better, and powerful apps like Filmic Pro and Recolive Multicam are available for only a few dollars. This presentation demonstrates how, with the right tools and techniques, you can tap into the power and accessibility of an iPad or iPhone to easily shoot high-quality multi-cam videos. You learn tips and techniques for leveraging this powerful mobile platform for creating and delivering professional-caliber media.

With video rapidly growing as a medium for communication across all areas of the enterprise—marketing, training, collaboration, compliance—how can you take advantage of your existing investments in content management, knowledge management, and search platforms to make video a first-class content asset? This panel discusses and recommends best practices for helping ensure your videos can be found, shared, and watched in the right context and within the platforms already in use today.

This session covers the entire Chromecast application workflow, including registering your app and developing, debugging, and publishing it. Attendees find out how the Chromecast user model works and learn more about the design principles of the platform. Get insights into the sender and receiver technology, which displays the content and metadata, and the mobile device or laptop, which controls the playback. Finally, using HTML5 and JavaScript, attendees see how easy it is to build a simple video player and, using Chromecast SDK, filing the content to receiver.

As HEVC begins to find its stride in the industry, operators are grappling with the challenge of whether and how to begin to swap out MPEG-2 and possibly AVC encoders for HEVC codecs. While HEVC is still many months away from mainstream deployment, it is important for companies to take an ROI-centric look at the technology and evaluate where and when it makes sense to incorporate HEVC into their transcoding and content delivery workflows. This presentation will discuss factors to keep in mind when evaluating HEVC products and while strategically planning future digital media roadmaps.

The Media Source Extensions and Encrypted Media Extensions are the standardized toolsets that enable browsers to deliver adaptive streaming and digital rights management without plug-ins. This session details what these extensions are, how they’re being supported by the different browser and tools vendors, and how soon those delivering premium content will switch over from plug-in-based technologies to these standards. If you’re considering replacing Flash with HTML5 standards-based technologies, this session details how and when you can do it.

The case for H.265, like most new video technologies, is compelling: better compression and faster/cheaper delivery over lower bitrates. For any content distributor seeking to distribute content to mobile devices over congested 3G/4G/LTE networks, these traits are highly desirable. However, the reality of real-world choices can quickly deflate any optimistic plans. In this session, learn if and how H.264 compression and deployment options can be utilized in typical online streaming workflows, and more importantly, if your target audiences can benefit. Examples of x264 and x265 output are compared for bitrate, compression time, and file size.

It is one thing to stream a live event for free but another thing entirely when people have paid to see it or the event is being sponsored. This session explores the technical, operational, and business challenges presented when your live streamed events just cannot falter. This session covers the best technical approaches to take, what operational precautions to put in place, and what contingencies to be prepared for in advance. Learn the best practices from experts who have successfully pulled off live events, and hear some of the things they encountered that they never expected.

Great video experiences are more than simple playback of video— they’re the result of a combination of user experience factors that provide additional information and enhanced metadata to the viewer. Using JW Player as a canvas, you learn how to build a video playback experience that includes everything from poster frames to navigation markers (chapters) to scrub bar thumbnails to playlists and more. We also explore enhanced streaming options provided by Wowza Streaming Engine for adaptive bitrate delivery and live streaming.

There are almost as many ways to stream live video as there are opportunities to do so. Don’t let the seemingly daunting task of deploying the technology dissuade you from streaming sporting events, concerts, news conferences, company meetings, and other real-time content to new and growing audiences. This session explores the benefits and risks of an on-premises streaming solution versus using the cloud, and some of the hybrid options in between.

This session explores the current status of HEVC, identifying options for encoding live and on-demand HEVC and discussing player options in the streaming and OTT markets. Topics include the comparative quality and usability of HEVC encoders—including encoders from Cisco, Elemental, Harmonic, and Telestream— how HEVC quality compares to H.264 and VP9 (if encoders are available), and known trials and deployments of HEVC.

Phone cameras and YouTube have propelled user-generated video into world headlines, but is user-generated video making inroads into the enterprise? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Hear from businesses that have made the decision to deploy a secure video sharing and publishing platform inside their enterprises. Attendees learn what measurable benefits these programs had, how the benefits outweighed the risks, and any unintended consequences that have to be overcome. Learn what questions you should ask when deciding whether to build or buy an internal video-sharing platform as well as some of the best practices for using one.

With the adoption of Media Source Extensions (MSE) into modern browsers, it is now possible to stream video directly to browsers without plug-ins. This session explores how these players can be built and what video formats can be used. It looks at how MSE and Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) work, and how to use them to build modern streaming applications. We also dig into the various formats of content that can be played with an MSE and dive in depth into one such open source project—dash.js, which makes use of the Open Standard MPEG-DASH along with MSE to create a real-world streaming app.

This session discusses the best practices to improve streaming video with faster stream starts and reduced buffering through the application of media optimization. Learn how optimization of encoded files at the network ingest point helps to reduce distribution and storage costs, network peering congestion, and improve user experience for mobile devices while increasing streaming performance across Wi-Fi networks. Hear how to apply media optimization to your video content to gain smoother streaming and cheaper delivery costs, all while maintaining a high- quality user experience.

With all the streaming devices in the market, and the apps that go with them, which platforms deserve your focus? Learn how the top publishers have optimized for ad-based, SVOD and TV Everywhere experiences across devices from Roku, Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung and others. Speakers will discuss how viewing patterns differ, which platforms work best for which kinds of content and how much investment you need to make to reach each additional platform, and to do it with a quality user experience.