Start your day with Streaming Media magazine as we celebrate the winners of our 8th annual Readers’ Choice Awards.

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Matt will demo how Skype is being used in the media industry and showcase the integration of high-quality Skype calls into live broadcasting events for news, TV and film and social media events.

For two decades, Matt has been driving innovation of new formats and utilization of new technologies in the broadcast, media, & event space. Since 2005, Matt has worked for Skype where he has worked to enable technical solutions that evolve the way that news, entertainment, & live events are communicated in a digital age. Most recently, Matt has lead development of new media that blends both user generated content and social media with traditional broadcast or online content formats for increased engagement & brand loyalty.

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.

With over one billion unique monthly users, six billion hours of video watched each month, and over 100 hours worth of video uploaded each minute the dominant player in the online video space continues to blanket the web at an impressive scale. In this presentation, Brendan Gahan provides exclusive tactics on to implement to acquire and build engaged audiences on YouTube for brands.

Video is growing as a medium for communication across all areas of the enterprise, but how do you take advantage of the benefits of video without creating a new silo of information in your organization? In this session, learn how native integration of video into existing CMS “platforms of record” like SharePoint can ensure that your videos can be effectively and efficiently found and shared.

Attend this session for your chance to win: iPad Mini ($250 value)

Learn how multi-encoders let you encode your content with multiple bitrates, resolutions, and picture-in-picture modes locally rather than paying for cloud transcoding. Unlock the benefits of low-bandwidth, low-cost streaming while simultaneously encoding and recording high-resolution, high-bitrate versions of the same content to become a streaming/recording master.

Attend this session for your chance to win: Epiphan DVI2USB 3.0 ($700 value). Epiphan’s DVI2USB 3.0™ is a versatile, high performance video grabber device that performs uncompressed capture of HD video (1920×1200/1920×1080) from HDMI, DVI, or VGA at 60 frames per second over USB 3.0.

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.

This session discusses how brands and content creators can go beyond YouTube to reach their audiences directly, wherever they are, across multiple platforms and devices. Join us for a conversation about the growth and evolution of multiscreen viewing and how to devise a business strategy that makes sense for your content/brand while overcoming technology challenges so you can monetize your content. Learn how to leverage multi-platform content distribution options for new brand-building and revenue opportunities.

Streaming technology has reached the point where it can be used as an cost-effective substitute for fiber runs at the enterprise level and replace satellite links for global communications. This session will present the trade-offs and benefits of deploying streaming technology for point-to-point video links and discuss some current implementations.

How nice would it be to watch an HD video on a wireless device with no stuttering or stopping? 71% of all internet traffic passes through a Wi-Fi or mobile network on its way to a wireless device. What impact does this “wireless last hop” have on end-to-end streaming performance, and how is this affecting overall customer satisfaction?

Attend this session for your chance to win: AppleTV ($100 value)

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.

This presentation will explore how the second screen is driving an enhanced experience with interactive content, first screen control, social experiences, and the creation of an overall ecosystem. Learn about stats on second screen usage, types of engagement, how to drive new content discovery, streaming to second screens, casting to the first screen, and the use of companion applications.

Nearly all major cable television networks have done online television syndication deals, bringing episodes of iconic series to the web. In this session, learn how the business and technical leads from some cable television networks joined forces to leverage video metadata to create unique and deeply immersive viewer experiences. The session discusses how these broadcasters created an enhanced viewer experience using video transcription, in-video search, and related content and how they drive monetization through the use of pre-roll ads and context-sensitive calls to action to their ecommerce partners.