Video: Demystifying Video Delivery Protocols

Let’s face it, there are a lot of streaming protocols out there both for contribution and distribution. Internet ingest in RTMP is being displaced by RIST and SRT, whilst low-latency players such as CMAF and LL-HLS are vying for position as they try to oust HLS and DASH in existing services streaming to the viewer.

This panel, hosted by Jason Thibeault from the Streaming Video Alliance, talks about all these protocols and attempts to put each in context, both in the broadcast chain and in terms of its features. Two of the main contribution technologies are RIST and SRT which are both UDP-based protocols which implement a method of recovering lost packets whereby packets which are lost are re-requested from the sender. This results in a very high resilience to packet loss – ideal for internet deployments.

First, we hear about SRT from Maxim Sharabayko. He lists some of the 350 members of the SRT Alliance, a group of companies who are delivering SRT in their products and collaborating to ensure interoperability. Maxim explains that, based on the UDT protocol, it’s able to do live streaming for contribution as well as optimised file transfer. He also explains that it’s free for commercial use and can be found on github. SRT has been featured a number of times on The Broadcast Knowledge. For a deeper dive into SRT, have a look at videos such as this one, or the ones under the SRT tag.

Next Kieran Kunhya explains that RIST was a response to an industry request to have a vendor-neutral protocol for reliable delivery over the internet or other dedicated links. Not only does vendor-neutrality help remove reticence for users or vendors to adopt the technology, but interoperability is also a key benefit. Kieran calls out hitless switching across multiple ISPs and cellular. bonding as important features of RIST. For a summary of all of RIST’s features, read this article. For videos with a deeper dive, have a look at the RIST tag here on The Broadcast Knowledge.

Demystifying Video Delivery Protocols from Streaming Video Alliance on Vimeo.

Barry Owen represents WebRTC in this webinar, though Wowza deal with many protocols in their products. WebRTC’s big advantage is sub-second delivery which is not possible with either CMAF or LL-HLS. Whilst it’s heavily used for video conferencing, for which it was invented, there are a number of companies in the streaming space using this for delivery to the user because of it’s almost instantaneous delivery speed. Whilst a perfect rendition of the video isn’t guaranteed, unlike CMAF and LL-HLS, for auctions, gambling and interactive services, latency is always king. For contribution, Barry explains, the flexibility of being able to contribute from a browser can be enough to make this a compelling technology although it does bring with it quality/profile/codec restrictions.

Josh Pressnell and Ali C Begen talk about the protocols which are for delivery to the user. Josh explains how smoothstreaming has excited to leave the ground to DASH, CMAF and HLS. They discuss the lack of a true CENC – Common Encryption – mechanism leading to duplication of assets. Similarly, the discussion moves to the fact that many streaming services have to have duplicate assets due to target device support.

Looking ahead, the panel is buoyed by the promise of QUIC. There is concern that QUIC, the Google-invented protocol for HTTP delivery over UDP, is both under standardisation proceedings in the IETF and is also being modified by Google separately and at the same time. But the prospect of a UDP-style mode and the higher efficiency seems to instil hope across all the participants of the panel.

Watch now to hear all the details!
Speakers

Ali C. Begen Ali C. Begen
Technical Consultant, Comcast
Kieran Kunhya Kieran Kunhya
Founder & CEO, Open Broadcast Systems
Director, RIST Forum
Barry Owen Barry Owen
VP, Solutions Engineering
Wowza Media Systems
Joshua Pressnell Josh Pressnell
CTO,
Penthera Technologies
Maxim Sharabayko Maxim Sharabayko
Senior Software Developer,
Haivision
Jason Thibeault Moderator: Jason Thibeault
Executive Director,
Streaming Video Alliance

Webinar: Video Delivery Trends


Date: Thursday February 28th 2019, 10am PT / 1PM ET / 18:00 GMT

Streaming continues to grow, in amount streamed, in people consuming it and in importance within this and other industries. One things which has always been an enabler yet made streaming harder to deploy is its rapid evolution. Whilst this has been a boon for smaller, nimbler companies – both content producers and service providers – the streaming has now arrived at most companies in one way or another and this breadth of use-cases has kept streaming tech moving forward and showing no signs of abatement.

Some aspects are changing. For instance we are seeing the first patent-free MPEG standard proposals (EVC, which has basic patent-free functionality and a better performing patent-controlled profile) on the heels of AV1. We’re seeing low-latency efforts such as CMAF taking hold as an alternative to WebRTC. With CMAF being much closer to the ever popular HLS, this may well beat out WebRTC in deployments at the cost of a slightly higher, but much improved latency.

To bring all of this in to focus for 2019, Jason Thibeault from the Streaming Video Alliance is bringing together a panel of experts to look at the coming trends and to give us an idea of what to look out for, and how to make sense, of 2019’s year of video delivery.

Register now!

Speakers

Guillaume Bichot Guillaume Bichot
Head of Exploration,
Broadpeak
Joshua Pressnell Joshua Pressnell
Chief Technology Officer,
Penthera
Pierre-Louis Theron Pierre-Louis Theron
CEO & Co-founder
Streamroot
Johan Bolin Johan Bolin
Chief Product & Technology Officer,
Edgeware AB
Steve Miller-Jones Steve Miller-Jones
Vice President of Product Strategy
Limelight Networks
Jason Thibeault Moderator:
Jason Thibeault

Executive Director
Streaming Video Alliance

Webinar: Downloading and the Future of Video Consumption


Tuesday September 25th 2018, 18:00 BST / 10AM PT / 1PM ET

Continuing the Streaming Video Alliance’s great webinar series, Jason Thibeault is back to discuss the consumer demand to download video and how to implement it. Joining Jason to share his experience and opinions is Joshua Pressnell, CTO of Penthera.

One thing is clear about consumer behavior when it comes to watching video-on-demand: people want to watch it whenever and wherever they want. Unfortunately, especially as more consumers gravitate towards mobile devices on inconsistent Wi-Fi and cellular networks, achieving a high-quality experience is fraught with difficulties. Enter download-to-go. This functionality, pioneered by Netflix and Amazon, allows consumers to download content to their phones for off-line viewing, ensuring the highest quality viewing experience without having to worry about spotty network coverage. But how do you implement this solution? Is there a way this solution can be applied to connected storage in the home?

In this discussion, you’ll learn about the intricacies involved in implementing download-to-go functionality, how the feature is evolving to potentially make use of in-home storage, and many of the challenges associated with providing this kind of service to subscribers.

Register now

Joshua Pressnell
Chief Technology Officer, Penthera
Joshua Pressnell joined Penthera after a long career as a military contractor developing integrated sensor systems and standards.  Pressnell brought extensive experience in embedded systems, signals intelligence, sensor data fusion, and real-time software to the mobile software development industry, and quickly built a stellar reputation as an independent developer of top-ranked and top-grossing iOS mobile apps. Pressnell joined Penthera in 2011 as the iOS Team Lead, eventually taking on the role of Director of Engineering, and now Chief Technical Officer.
Jason Thibeault
Jason Thibeault
Executive Director of the Streaming Video Alliance
The Streaming Video Alliance is a global consortium of companies working to create best practices to drive the adoption of online video. Prior to this role, Jason spent 8 years at Limelight Networks, a leading CDN, where he acted as principal technical evangelist, content marketing editor-in-chief, and marketing strategist. Jason is the co-author of the marketing thought-leadership book “Recommend This! Delivering Digital Experiences People Want to Share” (Wiley), author of the acclaimed novel “An Ordinary Magic” (Dime Novel Books), and an inventor on a number of technical patents.

Founded in 2014, the Streaming Video Alliance’s charter is to encourage deeper collaboration across the entire online video ecosystem, which will include the development of best practices for an open architecture that operates across the entire online video value chain. The Alliance is currently focused on identifying issues and solutions related to open architecture, quality of experience and interoperability.