I wish I'd had this book six months ago. It would have saved me a lot of hassle, time and stress!

 

As a full-time web developer working with Microsoft .NET technology I tend to buy a LOT of technical books. Some of them even get read! I wish the vast majority of books I've bought were as well-written as this. In the rush to be 'first to market' too many books forget the basics like proof-reading, or making sure the book reads consistently from front to back, or even that the basic subject matter is thoroughly covered. We live in a world where book publishers seem to grab as many "technologists" as possible, claim to 'co-ordinate' them to write a book, and then push out something that has no consistency, no style, no real coherence, and a million and one factual errors and typo's that show how 'rushed to market' the book was.

 

Thankfully, I had no such problems with Andy Beach's book. It's an absolute gem and clearly a labour of love on the part of the author.

 

Truth is I delayed buying the book because I thought it might be a bit .. well... you know ... dull!  How exciting can you make compression be? Who'd want to read a whole book on the subject? Isn't compression something you just get your NLE to do automatically when you hit the 'Render' button?

 

Well, as it turns out... no! That way, as I've discovered to my cost, lies a lot of pain. Andy's book gently points out all the traps and pitfalls, gives you a strong grounding in the basics, and even contains interviews with people whose full-time job is doing video compression.

 

He not only gives you the basics on all the different formats and codecs, but goes the extra mile in comparing different compression software, avoiding any 'religious wars' but pointing out the highlights and possible problem areas of each.

 

And the book's pretty up-to-date too. I was slightly disappointed that Microsoft's Expression Encoder was only covered in its version 1 release (version 2 was in beta as the book went to press, and had significant enhancements made from what I can gather), but pleasantly surprised that Microsoft's Silverlight technology, and the templates available, was given a pretty thorough mention.

 

I was relieved to read that the compression software I'd bought (Sorenson Squeeze) wasn't regarded as too shabby (its biggest strength being its ease of use for beginners - that'll be me then!) whilst also being grateful for having its weaknesses pointed out.

 

All-in-all, this is what I'd regard as an essential read for anybody doing video for the web (There are excellent chapters covering DVD and Blu-Ray, Mobile and Set-Top Boxes too). With discount (from the good folks at www.compman.co.uk ) I got the book for just over £20 - which, frankly, is a bargain. The book clocks in at 320 pages and is printed in full colour on nice glossy paper.

 

I'm quite picky and critical of technical books. I found little to criticise with "Real World Video Compression". In fact I was so impressed I've ordered the companion volume (albeit by a different author) "Real World Digital Audio".

 

Highly recommended for anyone even vaguely involved in video for the web.