Introduction to AWS Media Services by Use Case

Streaming video over the internet has become increasingly important, both for companies whose main business is video, and for many other organizations who want to use video to enhance or improve their businesses and services.

The AWS Media Services make cloud-based video workflows feasible and affordable for organizations of all sizes, across a wide range of industries.

But getting started can be challenging—there are many variations in workflows, numerous variables to consider, and new technical skills required.

This course will help you sort this out.

Using real-world representative real-world examples this course introduces the Media Services, explains what they do, and show you which ones would work best for your business needs.

The course points you toward the best next steps. After you have completed this course, we provide resources to help guide you to the next right step in your journey. These resources can help you design and build a system. Or, you can engage with an AWS partner or expert for a turnkey solution.

• Course level: Fundamental

• Duration: 45 minutes

Activities

This course includes self-paced modules

Course objectives

In this course, you will learn to:

• Describe the key stages and the underlying processes involved in cloud-based video workflows.

• Describe the main functions and uses of the AWS Media Services and recognize their key strengths and differentiators.

• List some common variables that can impact workflow design decisions.

• Understand the additional capabilities possible for your video streaming workflows when AWS Media Services are used in combination with other AWS services.

• Evaluate what Media Services options will best fit your target use case.

• Describe the options to get help creating media solutions in the AWS Cloud.

Intended audience

This course is intended for:

• Organizations for whom video is the key part of their business

• Organizations using video to augment or enhance their business
• Companies evaluating AWS Media Services for their video streaming needs

Prerequisites

We recommend that attendees of this course have:

• Familiarity with basic video streaming terminology and concepts found in the AWS Digital Training course Video Compression and Delivery Basics 

Course outline

FUNDAMENTALS

Lesson 1: Welcome and Introduction

• Challenges of video streaming

• What to expect from this course

Lesson 2: First look at customer examples

• Live streaming vs. Video-on-Demand (VOD) streaming

• Customer examples used throughout the course

Lesson 3: Four stages common to most video workflows

• Overview of the four stages

• Components of the stages

Lesson 4: How AWS Services Are Used in the Four Stages

• List of AWS services used in each workflow stage

• Main functions and uses of each service

• Typical applications for each service

Lesson 5: Variables that Affect Design Decisions

• Six common variables

• Trade-offs in design decisions

• Variables as applied to each customer example

CUSTOMER WORKFLOW EXAMPLES

Lesson 6: Basic live streaming

• Customer description and use cases

• How the variables influenced their decisions

• Customers decision process and design choices

• System diagram

Lesson 7: Large Live Example

• Customer description and use cases

• How the variables affected their decisions

• Customer's decision process and design choices

• System diagram

Lesson 8: Basic VOD streaming

• Customer description and use cases

• How the variables affected their decisions

• Customers decision process and design choices

• System diagram

Lesson 8: Customer example: Large-scale VOD streaming

• Customer description and use cases

• How the variables affected their decisions

• Customers decision process and design choices

• System diagram

Lesson 9: Large VOD Example

• Customer description and use cases

• How the variables affected their decisions

• Customer’s decision process and design choices

• System diagram

ADDITIONAL FEATURES TO IMPROVE WORKFLOWS

Lesson 10: Balancing Simplicity and Flexibility

• For major live events, sometimes smaller is better

• How the exercise studio grew and needed more

Lesson 11: Protect your content from Unauthorized access

• How the exercise studio kept their content secure

• How broadcasters of marquee live events protect revenue streams

Lesson 12: Automate your workflow

• How the premium streaming service automated their workflow

Lesson 13: Improve the user experience using analytics and machine learning

• How the public library created a searchable video library

• How video from millions of devices is analyzed and indexed

Lesson 14: Generate revenue with personalized Ad Insertion

• How live events can drive revenue using personalized ads

Lesson 15: Optimize cost and performance with monitoring

• Monitoring can reduce cost and improve performance

NEXT STEPS

Lesson 16: Where to go next

• Options for next steps

• Resources

APPENDIX

Lesson 17: Media Services glossary

• Table of Media Services and their main functions