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What does "optimized" mean in this context?
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13751		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  ChurchCat [ Tue May 24, 2011 5:36 pm ]
Post subject:  What does "optimized" mean in this context?
In this feature

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20065624-17.html

there is the following quote.

"It also reflects the development priorities of content producers and distributors: they optimized their content first for the Apple platforms, with Android a later priority," the company said in its Monetization Report."

How is video on iPhone different from Android? I thought Android being Flash friendly was more optimised for video than iOS.

:?

My feline brain is all confused.

:(
Author:  belchingmatt [ Tue May 24, 2011 5:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
It means the feature was written by a yank.
Author:  paulzolo [ Tue May 24, 2011 7:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
“Optimized” simply means that the videos were prepared for playback on a certain platform. In this case, it seems that video was output in a form that an iOS device could play - which is going to be H.264.
Author:  Linux_User [ Tue May 24, 2011 7:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
80% of video...from where?
Author:  ProfessorF [ Tue May 24, 2011 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
Linux_User wrote:
80% of video...from where?


The report is here - http://www.freewheel.tv/docs/FreeWheelMonetizationReport_Q1_2011.pdf

They're saying:

Quote:
Wireless Video Viewing: Small but on the Rise
In comparison to wired video viewing, consumers viewing video on their mobile devices is small and is currently driven by Apple devices, which make up 80% of all video views between iPhones, iPod Touches and the iPad. This majority reflects the number of these devices in market and their early dominance in the smart- device sector. (Their user base has had these types of devices longest and tends to use them as much for media consumption as for communication, per reports from comScore in 2010.) It also reflects the development priorities of content producers and distributors: they optimized their content first for the Apple platforms, with Android a later priority. Though there are fewer than 20 million iPads in the global market right now (Apple statistics for Q1 2011) and many more iPhones and iPods, iPads currently make up 20% of all wireless video views (see chart 7). These tablets are clearly being used as digital video delivery devices. Just as with all video views, wireless video views can be driven by news: the highest wireless viewing days occurred in March during the Japanese crisis and also spiked on NCAA March Madness live game days.


EDIT: "A Note on the Data
FreeWheel served over 5 billion video ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll) in Q1 2011 and made ad decisions for over 10 billion video views. While the data here is primarily U.S.-based activity on behalf of U.S.-based content producers, a small percentage of the viewing occurs outside the U.S. The data here represents only video that is rights-managed: aggregate monetization data for professional content from FreeWheel’s customers, and does not reflect trends for user-generated content."
Author:  ChurchCat [ Tue May 24, 2011 9:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
paulzolo wrote:
“Optimized” simply means that the videos were prepared for playback on a certain platform. In this case, it seems that video was output in a form that an iOS device could play - which is going to be H.264.


So Android can't play back H.264?

Surely that can't be right?

Am I missing something?
Author:  jonbwfc [ Tue May 24, 2011 10:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
ChurchCat wrote:
paulzolo wrote:
“Optimized” simply means that the videos were prepared for playback on a certain platform. In this case, it seems that video was output in a form that an iOS device could play - which is going to be H.264.


So Android can't play back H.264?
Surely that can't be right?
Am I missing something?

Maybe. It's not just a case of the codec, there are also different H.264 'profiles', some which play better on some devices. Plus obviously there's resolution - the iPhone 4 screen is 960 by 640, which (as far as I know) no Android phone has the same res as - most of them are 800 by 480 or so. So if you make a movie that displays at native res of an iPhone 4 it will have to be scaled on an Android phone, or vice versa. Then there's the bitrate you encode at as well - I don't know what bitrate the iPhone 4 can manage but there's no reason to assume the best it can do is the same as the best everyone else can do and so on.

Basically put - if you 'optimise' your movie for the iPhone 4, you encode it at this res with this profile and this bitrate. That will be the best you can get an iPhone 4 to display. That same file may not be the best an (I dunno) HTC desire HD or a Samsung Galaxy II can display, because they may be able to decode higher bitrates but they'll have to resample the video to 800 by 480 and so on.

Jon
Author:  rustybucket [ Tue May 24, 2011 10:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
ChurchCat wrote:
Am I missing something?

When you optimise data for one particular platform, you choose the format most advantageous to your chosen platform. So, for instance, if you wanted to optimise a video for the iPhone 4, you'd pick a resolution of 960x640.

As for that report, however, it's almost total a*se. Which types of videos are included? They mention rights-managed content but what exactly do they mean by this? Which sources did they choose? What do they mean by "monetized"? Did they include rights-managed content served free-to-air?

Their data may well be accurate but without strict definitions of what their terms mean, an explanation of their method and access to their raw data summaries, that report is meaningless.
Author:  ChurchCat [ Tue May 24, 2011 11:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
rustybucket wrote:
that report is meaningless.


Well it confused me.

I can't make any sense of it at all.

Yes I can see that for whatever reason iOS devices may consume more video. To say that this is due to web content not having been optimised for Android seems to me to be a stretch too far.
Author:  JJW009 [ Wed May 25, 2011 12:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
ChurchCat wrote:
To say that this is due to web content not having been optimised for Android seems to me to be a stretch too far.

I did not read the article as saying that. I read that mobile providers optimise for the more popular platforms as a higher priority.

However, what it doesn't say is that Android devices can play Flash video which has been produced for non-mobile platforms such as Windows 7 desktop computers. I suspect that more video minutes are consumed on desktops than phones, although I might be wrong. My point is, many "normal" websites targeting primarily the desktop market will not bother encoding their video content for non-Flash capable devices. Of course, most of these websites will be of little interest to iPhone users anyway...
Author:  ChurchCat [ Wed May 25, 2011 7:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
JJW009 wrote:
I did not read the article as saying that. I read that mobile providers optimise for the more popular platforms as a higher priority.


I scratched my head over what you meant by this. Are you saying that the sentence "It also reflects the development priorities of content producers and distributors: they optimized their content first for the Apple platforms, with Android a later priority," is a side note?

I suppose it could be the correct reading. Confused me though.


JJW009 wrote:
However, what it doesn't say is that Android devices can play Flash video which has been produced for non-mobile platforms such as Windows 7 desktop computers. I suspect that more video minutes are consumed on desktops than phones, although I might be wrong. My point is, many "normal" websites targeting primarily the desktop market will not bother encoding their video content for non-Flash capable devices. Of course, most of these websites will be of little interest to iPhone users anyway...


I think that iPhone users probably like porn as much as the next guy.

;)
Author:  paulzolo [ Wed May 25, 2011 11:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What does "optimized" mean in this context?
ChurchCat wrote:
paulzolo wrote:
“Optimized” simply means that the videos were prepared for playback on a certain platform. In this case, it seems that video was output in a form that an iOS device could play - which is going to be H.264.


So Android can't play back H.264?

Surely that can't be right?

Am I missing something?


My only concern here is that Chrome - Google’s browser - will be dropping support for H.264 for various “licensing” reasons, instead preferring WebM. My concern is that down the line, this may extend to Android and, I would assume, Chrome OS. That means just one more format to encode for and possibly optimise for various mobile devices.

Also don’t forget that as far as mobile phones go, you will need to optimise movies for playback over WiFi (the best resolution it can display) and one for 3G (bandwidth limited, size limited, possibly very blurry). So for the iPhone, that’s two optimisation targets from the off. Ditto Android (in its various incarnations).
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