COVE Webinar II Preparing for COVE Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Overview Walkthrough of the key components a station should have in place to prepare to implement the Local/National Video Player powered by COVE. –Encode video to COVE specification –Obtain video hosting solution –Generate metadata and media assets –Develop content strategy –Q & A

Preparing Video - Encoding Jasmine Bulin Digital Video Producer Video Content, General Audience

The Web Delivery Video Spec Audio Stream Codec: AAC Audio Stream BitRate: 48 Kbps Audio Stream BitRate Mode: CBR Number of Audio Channels: 1 (Mono) Audio Channel's Positions: C Sampling Rate: 44.1 KHz Bit Depth: 16 bits General File Format: MPEG-4 (.mp4) Total Stream BitRate: 448 Kbps Video Stream Codec: AVC (H.264) Frame Size 16/9: 512 x 288 Frame Size 4/3: 480 x 360 Frame Rate: 15 fps Video Standard: NTSC Scan Type: Progressive Video Stream BitRate: 400 Kbps Video Stream BitRate Mode: VBR

Why H.264 Industry Use Flexibility –Multi-platform Codec –Encoding Options –Future implementations Number of users on flash and higher Compression ratios

Encoding Suggestions Watch out for Cropping and letterboxing Color and saturation Levels/contrast/gamma Artifacting/blocking Interlacing Synch Issues Test Different software applications use different encoding profiles Set up multiple templates

Video Hosting COVE uses two types of delivery – streaming and HTTP Implementing a COVE video player requires the ability to host Flash video content National content and Local content Sources of streaming service –“In-house” server –Hosted streaming solution –Content Delivery Network (CDN) PBS/Limelight Deal for Stations (contact:

Video Hosting Rob Vincent Internet Development Manager Oregon Public Broadcasting

OPB’s Online Video Process

Digitizing and Metadata Pipeline –Standard Definition, single channel –Remote control from dedicated Mac mini –Outputs to IMX 50 Mbit Transcoding –ffmpeg converts from IMX to MPEG-4, H.264 Metadata and Images

COVE and Video Server Metadata on thePlatform –Includes reference to video hosted on video.opb.org video.opb.org –Wowza streaming server –Apache serves thumbnails and some management tools

Bandwidth and Traffic OPB’s ISP is Nero with no cap on outgoing traffic, but cost is based on peaks. Outoing peak is usually 40Mbit/s, in December 2008 it was near 100Mbit/s. From November 2008 and March 2009, Electric Car Drag Racing was served 1 Million times. In March 2009 OPB served 33k video views.

Cost and Resources Network bandwidth –Monthly cost for 7Mbit connection is about $21,000 Staff –Master Control Operators 80 hours of video takes about 100 hours –Coding and Graphics About one hour for a 30 minute program (3 segments)

Cost and Resources Telestream Pipeline –video capture device = $1950 Server Hardware –Apple XServe with 1 TB = $4500 Streaming Server –Wowza Pro Unlimited = $995

Metadata and Media Assets Metadata – Required, Optional and Chapters Worksheet and Publishing Tool Media Assets –Images Thumbnails Episode Cards Program Background Images Logos –Customization CSS File Masthead –Text files Transcripts Closed-Captioning (SAMI)

Metadata and Media Assets Angee Simmons Executive Producer, Promotions & New Media KCPT – Kansas City, Missouri

Preparing Metadata Use the Metadata worksheet - It’s your Friend. Who’s going to get me all this content? Identifying Providers –Program Producers –Web Producers –Public Information/Communications –Traffic –Graphic Designers - create templates Working with the Admin Tool - You Don’t Have to Do it All! –It’s easier than it sounds! –Conduct a training with content providers Workflow

Metadata Worksheet

Admin Tool

Logo (454x90) Background Image (950 x 356) Stack Images (454 x 255)Title Card (454 x 255) Static Images & Sizes

Developing a Video Content Strategy A good video strategy... –Is the first step to delivering video –Distinguishes what content to distribute online –Identifies the appropriate audience(s) –Determines how content will be “programmed” –Coordinates inter-departmental personnel and resources –Maximizes unique opportunities to cross-promote platforms and content

Developing a Video Content Strategy Two of the most important questions: 1.How do we want to syndicate our content? 2.What kind of video experience do we want to create?

Developing a Video Content Strategy How do we want to syndicate our content? –Syndication = Sharing content with COVE stations –Your Audience is Anywhere –“Cover” stories without producing content –The power of COVE is in syndication –Station hosts content wherever it plays

Developing a Video Content Strategy What kind of video experience do we want to create? –Full Player Experience – a completely customized portal with local, national and syndicated content from entire COVE system –Single clip – Uses single clips of video to embed in program web sites, blogs or video aggregation pages –Fully-branded national portal – National content only, full local branding; complement existing local video section –Syndicated Content Player – Content syndicated from other stations in COVE is programmed into unique collections that address the community’s needs

Developing a Video Content Strategy Tim Bischoff Director of Marketing KET – Kentucky Educational Television

Online Content Strategy What are our strengths? What are our challenges? What do our audiences expect?

Online Content Strategy What are our goals? Embrace online video as a co-primary distribution platform – in addition to broadcast, rather than to only support or promote broadcast – that provides an experience that is easily navigated and engages users in aggregated local, national, local-to-local and educational content. Use online video to increase the overall viewership and impact of our programs and services.

Online Content Strategy Where to begin? More than 4,600 episodes of video available now on-line. Each year, we produce more than 1,200 hours of local programming for both on-air and online distribution.

Online Content Strategy What are our audiences watching on-air and online? –Examined Nielsen’s and our current online video viewership analytics PBS Local Education

Online Content Strategy Content at launch Homepage “Featured Video” Area Portal experience: local/national Need link to “old” video…. all the video that is not in COVE Series-based pop-up for One to One

Online Content Strategy Level of Content Available by end of CY09 Series-based pop-ups for all weekly, local series »With “cross linking” between series Embedded video »in our blogs »Social Bookmarking/everywhere Micro-player for K-12 Educational series “News Quiz”

Online Content Strategy Aspirational Goal: All rights-clear content available in a unified video experience.

COVE Webinar II – Preparing for COVE Thank You For more information, contact