\\n\\n\\n\\n
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe corresponding code will need an OpenGlView object as well as a RtmpCamera object. Let’s go ahead and create those:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nprivate RtmpCamera2 rtmpCamera;\\nprivate OpenGlView openGlView;\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
Those elements also need some values assigned, and we used the onCreate method for that:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nthis.openGlView = findViewById(R.id.surfaceView);\\nthis.rtmpCamera = new RtmpCamera2(openGlView, this);\\nthis.openGlView.getHolder().addCallback(this);\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
As all of the necessary configurations were complete, we just have to start the RTMP stream. To do that, the only thing we need to add to the code below (how to obtain that will be shown later).
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n@Override\\npublic void startStreaming() {\\n runOnUiThread(() -> {\\n if (!rtmpCamera.isStreaming()) {\\n if (rtmpCamera.isRecording()\\n || rtmpCamera.prepareAudio() && rtmpCamera.prepareVideo()) {\\n rtmpCamera.startStream(\\"URL to you live stream\\");\\n setStateStreamIsRunning();\\n } else {\\n this.toastError( \\"Error preparing stream, This device cant do it\\");\\n }\\n } else {\\n rtmpCamera.stopStream();\\n }\\n });\\n}\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
We used a separate thread and a callback for that. That is why there is a runOnUiThread, but if you start the RTMP stream from your activity, you will not need that.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe RTMP URL can be set here rtmpCamera.startStream(\\"URL to you live stream\\");
For our encoder, we used the simple API https://bitmovin.com/docs/encoding/articles/simple-encoding-api-live, so we needed minimal configuration to get the live stream up and running. We used the CDN https://bitmovin.com/docs/encoding/articles/bitmovin-cdn-output output as well because it would work out of the box.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTo get this going, the first thing to set up is the input:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nprivate SimpleEncodingLiveJobResponse setUpLiveStream() {\\n SimpleEncodingLiveJobInput input = new SimpleEncodingLiveJobInput();\\n input.setInputType(SimpleEncodingLiveJobInputType.RTMP);\\n SimpleEncodingLiveJobRequest job = new SimpleEncodingLiveJobRequest();\\n SimpleEncodingLiveJobCdnOutput outputUrl = givenCdnOutputWithFullHDResolution();\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
Next is the output. In the spirit of the hackathon, we used a CND because of the minimal configuration, which you can set up like this:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nprivate SimpleEncodingLiveJobCdnOutput givenCdnOutputWithFullHDResolution() {\\n SimpleEncodingLiveJobCdnOutput output = new SimpleEncodingLiveJobCdnOutput();\\n output.setMaxResolution(SimpleEncodingLiveMaxResolution.FULL_HD);\\n return output;\\n}\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
Now only some minor configurations are left.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\njob.setInput(input);\\n job.addOutputsItem(outputUrl);\\n job.setCloudRegion(SimpleEncodingLiveCloudRegion.EUROPE);\\n job.setName(\\"Android app live stream\\");\\n return bitmovinApi.encoding.simple.jobs.live.create(job);\\n}\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
A live stream takes a bit of time to be ready. in the essence of time, we swiftly did a very ugly “busy waiting” loop to wait until the live stream was done with the setup. To improve this, we have left it as an exercise for the reader.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\npublic boolean setupLiveStreamAndWaitForRunningState(Callback cb) {\\n this.stopped = false;\\n this.encodingId = null;\\n SimpleEncodingLiveJobResponse jobResponse = setUpLiveStream();\\n try {\\n while (!readyForIngestOrFailed(jobResponse) && !stopped) {\\n\\n Thread.sleep(300);\\n jobResponse = bitmovinApi.encoding.simple.jobs.live.get(jobResponse.getId());\\n if (jobResponse.getEncodingId() != null && this.encodingId == null) {\\n this.encodingId = jobResponse.getEncodingId();\\n }\\n cb.reportStatus(jobResponse.getStatus().toString());\\n }\\n } catch (Exception e) {\\n cb.toastError(e.getMessage());\\n }\\n if (this.stopped || this.encodingId == null || this.encodingId.isEmpty())\\n {\\n return false;\\n }\\n cb.startStreaming();\\n this.rtmpUrl = String.format(\\"rtmp://%s/live/%s\\", jobResponse.getEncoderIp(), jobResponse.getStreamKey());\\n return true;\\n}\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
To retrieve the RTMP URL that needs to be inserted into the code, get it by using:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nthis.rtmpUrl = \\nString.format(\\"rtmp://%s/live/%s\\", jobResponse.getEncoderIp(), \\njobResponse.getStreamKey());\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
We had to run this in a separate thread because you cannot have HTTP requests in the UI thread in android, and it would not be a good user experience anyway.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOnce the hard part was done, we spent the second day of the hackathon refining the app and making the UI better and even got some much-appreciated help from one of the Bitmovin UX designers.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs the hackathon drew to a close, the competition was fierce, with great projects submitted by other teams. However, in the end, all of the efforts paid off, as our team won first place!
\\n\\n\\n\\nHere are a couple of images of how the live stream worked on an Android phone:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nVisual of stream interface pre-live
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nVisual of active live stream
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAdditionally, if this project was interesting to you and you’re currently looking to test your streaming application across Android, iOS, or any other platform/device, check out our 30-day free trial where you can test the Bitmovin Live and VOD Encoder, Player or any of our other SaaS solutions completely free with no commitment.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n","description":"It is that time of the quarter again at Bitmovin, Hackathon time. Our Hackathon includes two days of hacking solutions together before presenting the results to the wider business. Every programmer loves it and even more when your team is winning. During this Hackathon, we…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/creating-live-stream-android-bitmovin/","author":"Marco Sussitz","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-12-20T03:27:55.523Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Hackathon-Android-Application-Image-to-Start-Live-Stream.png","type":"photo","width":230,"height":512},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Hackathon-Android-Application-Image-Live-Stream-Started.png","type":"photo","width":230,"height":512}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"2022 End of Year Wrap Up with Stefan Lederer","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/2022-end-of-year-wrap-up-stefan-lederer/","content":"2022 was a pivotal year for the video streaming industry. After a huge boom in demand for online video content in 2020 and 2021, while the world was locked down due to COVID-19, we now see many more services competing for eyeballs with vast content libraries, while demand has not followed that same super speedy trajectory in 2022. Yet, there is still a constant need for streaming video, served by well-known media and entertainment companies as well as eLearning, Faith, Social Media, Health and Fitness, and Gaming brands. This even applies to the corporate world, applications, and many more use cases within every industry that engage users with video.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIt’s estimated that in 2022, the average viewer spent 150 minutes a day watching digital videos. Regarding this, I wouldn’t be surprised if TikTok and other social media platforms make up at least 100 minutes because it’s so easy to fall into a video reel rabbit hole and lose track of time.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSo online video consumption still growing, but what are the trends that will define video streaming in 2023?
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe all know that video streaming is much more than what Netflix and Disney are up to, but it’s undeniable that they are the major players that define industry trends. One of the biggest stories of 2022 was when Netflix announced it would introduce an ad-supported tier to its business model, a significant move for the company that pioneered the SVOD business model. However, Netflix introduced its ad-supported tier at the right time as it faces increased competition and consumers who are currently scrutinizing every cost due to the looming global recession. While current Netflix subscribers are unlikely to switch to the ad-supported tier, this may convince consumers who are on the fence about having a Netflix subscription to sign up. Disney, and many others, have also decided to introduce an ad-supported tier, so we can expect advertising to be a massive trend in 2023, with an increased focus on delivering a high-quality viewing experience for both SVOD, AVOD, and hybrid monetization models. This is backed up by the findings in our latest Video Developer Report that a quarter of respondents see advertising as the area with the most opportunity for innovation over the next 12 months.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nI am also excited to see the growing buzz around live streaming. While live streaming isn’t a new concept, once again, Netflix has brought the topic back into focus when it announced it would deliver its first live stream with Chris Rock’s upcoming comedy special. In addition, our Video Developer Report indicates that live streaming and low latency will be among the top priorities for video streaming companies next year.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWhile increasing top-line revenues and finding more eyeballs is a great way to answer the economic challenges we see in the world right now, companies will also be evaluating their costs closely, especially the ones related to streaming infrastructure, which is clearly shown in our recent report. I foresee there will be more efforts in making video streaming more efficient, using less bandwidth, and minimizing costs by adopting state-of-the-art compression and streaming technologies. Making the streaming infrastructure more efficient not only helps on the cost side but can also be a driver for better customer retention, as startup times, buffering, and stream errors benefit from this as well, which are some of the leading causes of users canceling their subscriptions.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nOn a slightly more technical note, I am excited about the future of AV1 in 2023. Netflix, Google, and Qualcomm announced support for AV1 in 2022, which is pretty huge, and we’re expecting AV1 adoption to double next year. At Bitmovin, we are huge advocates for AV1, which can be seen from our AV1 Hub, and we continue to improve our dedicated encoding support for it, so I am ready for this next-generation codec to finally take off!
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAlong with broadcasters and OTT platforms, we expect consumers to remain willing to pay for eLearning, health and fitness, gaming, and other subscriptions. With the current state of the global economy, more people are staying at home, so they want things to do at home to keep them entertained, healthy or allow them to upskill. This is a huge growth area for us, as our focus is ensuring developers at these companies, which are often smaller, can get their video streams up and running at speed and scale with solutions like Streams.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nI am super excited and optimistic about the video streaming industry in 2023 and what’s in store for Bitmovin. 2022 saw us lay the foundation for our successes in 2023. We returned to in-person events in a big way, including NAB and IBC. We launched our Next-Generation VOD Encoder, Live Event Encoder, Playback, and Streams solutions, with tremendous success, and none of it would be possible without the amazing team of Bitmovers who constantly strive to be bold and innovative.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIn 2023 and beyond, we intend to become synonymous with video streaming infrastructure and the go-to company for innovations in video streaming. It’s a bold ambition, but one we are on track to achieve because we are daring to stream bigger in 2023.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nUntil then, the team will enjoy some well-deserved downtime to recharge, so we are ready to take on 2023!
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nOn behalf of everyone at Bitmovin, I’d like to wish you Happy Holidays and a healthy, prosperous, and happy new year.
\\n","description":"Thinking back while looking forward 2022 was a pivotal year for the video streaming industry. After a huge boom in demand for online video content in 2020 and 2021, while the world was locked down due to COVID-19, we now see many more services competing for eyeballs with vast…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/2022-end-of-year-wrap-up-stefan-lederer/","author":"Stefan Lederer","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-12-20T03:17:16.510Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Introducing Bitmovin’s Streams","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/introducing-bitmovin-streams/","content":"Originally published on 13th October 2022. This blog was updated on 1st, June 2023 with new features for the Streams product.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe built Bitmovin’s Streams solution to make streaming simple for everyone, regardless of their level of video development or streaming knowledge. Driven by seeing how complex live and on-demand video workflows can be, we’ve taken the best parts of our industry-leading standalone solutions for Live and Video Encoding, Player, and Analytics and combined them to make Streams. This enables you to get to market faster and stream in the highest quality to your users globally while gathering important and actionable audience data to ensure the best viewing experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nStreams truly fits into every use case, as its core focus is to cut down the process to get streaming as easily as possible. Facilitating both video on demand (VOD) and live workflows, as mentioned above, Streams can be used within every industry, such as:
\\n\\n\\n\\nDiagram of the Bitmovin Streams workflow
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nFor VOD workflows, Streams enables you to directly upload and host content on the Bitmovin dashboard, where it is then automatically encoded and has an embed code associated with it to be applied where you wish to stream from. This empowers any team to offer their viewers access to their entire video library, as you now have the tools to make content available easily. Additionally, when content is run through the Bitmovin Encoder, meaning it is being prepared in multiple formats to make viewing on different devices and platforms possible, we utilize our Per-Title Encoding capabilities. This allows you to upload video with no need to set any parameters, as our best-of-breed VOD Encoder identifies and applies all of the benefits to your content automatically, saving you on cloud storage and CDN delivery costs and making video content available in the highest quality while cutting the bitrate needed to stream it. Apart from saving money with our Per-Title algorithm, you can also monetize your content through client-side ads that can be set up on the Bitmovin dashboard.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSpecifically for live streaming workflows, you have the ability to use any live production software (OBS, vMIX, etc) or hardware (Videon, Haivision, etc.) on your end to connect your live stream to us. All you have to do is start up your live production tools, create a live stream on the Bitmovin Dashboard and apply the RTMP link and stream key to your system of choice. From then on, all you need to do is take the player embed code from the Bitmovin dashboard and apply it to your platform to make the stream available for your viewers on every device in HLS and DASH. Another benefit for live streaming scenarios, development teams can now save precious time by being able to connect and stream quickly with the same Streams setup that they used for a prior event, meaning they don’t have to change the stream ID or stream key when they need to stream additional events that are not concurrent.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs mentioned above, the Streams solution gives you complete access to the Bitmovin Player and enables you to customize it in multiple ways, providing your users with a unique branded experience. Add your brand logo (watermark) in the styling and stream settings bar to automatically integrate it into the player interface, giving additional exposure and brand visibility to visitors watching your live and on-demand video. Adding unique thumbnails and preview graphics to your content is another option to make the player feel more like your own and give viewers an understanding of what the video is about. To further ensure that the player’s visual identity is consistent with your brand, you can apply unique CSS styles to its features, including controllers, progress bars, buttons, and overlays, as you can see in the image below. Additionally, Streams will be adding more features to the Player functionality to give you more control over the individual player controls, auto start, and other features.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nPlayer customization features with Streams
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nOne of the latest features released was the ability to monetize content with client-side ad support. Ads have become a major part of how platforms are able to make money while streaming, especially ones with advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) focused business models. Client-side advertising can be easily configured within Bitmovin’s Streams for live and on-demand video and does not require advanced technical knowledge. Seamlessly set up your ads by selecting the ad format:
\\n\\n\\n\\nThen select the time interval when the ad should play:
\\n\\n\\n\\nFinally, insert your ad tag URL and save the configuration. This 3 step process enables you to set up as many ads as you’d like to have in your content and is handled automatically by Bitmovin Streams, guaranteeing a smooth viewing experience for users and maximizing revenue.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nStreams also provides robust real-time Analytics, allowing you to gather in-depth, actionable data on every play. You and your development team can capture important metrics and events happening throughout each viewer session, such as play attempts, unique users, concurrent users, plays per country, plays per device, and much more. Through additional data points, you can gain vital insights into their quality of experience (QoE) when streaming content by viewing information around seek events, time of video start, length of video, bitrate, buffering, and more. All of this information helps give you and your team the complete picture, providing valuable insights into how viewers are interacting with the content and helping you identify areas for improvement and optimization.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAre you concerned with how much video-specific developer knowledge may be needed? As in the previous image, the three steps and low code needs keep it simple and let you get going with our streamlined process that provides the best experience out of the box without you having to be an expert.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWant to know more about Streams? Check out Streams on our website and in our Developer Community post, and if you have specific questions regarding Streams capabilities or limitations, check out our growing FAQ!
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIf you want to simplify your existing streaming workflow or launch your video streaming platform, sign up for a free trial to start testing Bitmovin’s Streams today.
\\n","description":"Originally published on 13th October 2022. This blog was updated on 1st, June 2023 with new features for the Streams product. Simplifying video streaming for an easier workflow experience\\n\\nWe built Bitmovin’s Streams solution to make streaming simple for everyone…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/introducing-bitmovin-streams/","author":"Mihael Simic","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-12-07T09:37:00.825Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Streams-Workflow.png","type":"photo","width":908,"height":407},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Bitmovin-Player-Customization-for-Streams-1.jpg","type":"photo","width":2264,"height":1406},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Streams_makes_streaming_easy.png","type":"photo","width":376,"height":372}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Analysis of DRM Ciphers for Samsung Tizen","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/analysis-drm-ciphers-samsung-tizen-tvs/","content":"Digital rights management (DRM) is a complex world with many different rabbit holes to venture into. The good news is we’ve done a lot of heavy lifting by navigating in, out, and around many of these complex situations to provide you with an overview and the knowledge you need to make the best decisions for the security and playback experience of your content.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThis blog post showcases our latest findings on digital rights management for Samsung Tizen TVs. With the Connected TV viewership increasing steadily, we’re excited to share this information with you, and we’re confident that you’ll find it useful. Additionally, if you want to see more devices analyzed, tell us which ones by joining our developer community and starting a discussion.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSo, with no further wait, let’s get into it!
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTo start with, it may be worth having a refresher on the types of DRM and the most common DRM technologies available on the market. In one of our previous blog posts, you can find an in-depth outline of the types of DRM, available DRM offerings, and how they work. To quote a part of it regarding how content is encrypted:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n“Standard content encryption is done according to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), using 128-bit keys and a Cipher Block – usually either Counter Mode (CTR) or Cipher Block Chaining (CBC). These two modes differentiate how a payload is encrypted”.
\\n
DRMs fundamentally apply the AES encryption algorithm, which supports various cipher blocks, with CTR, and CBC being the standard. The ISO standard ISO/IEC 23001-7 defines the four common encryption modes.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTable of common encryption details
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIn the table below, you can see which DRM supports each cipher block.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nDRMs and the ciphers supported
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs you can see, Widevine and PlayReady support CTR, and CBC for specific devices, while Fairplay only supports CBC. In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at the support for MSE/EME stack specifically, as TV DRM & Cipher support can vary between their native player and the MSE/EME player.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWith Bitmovin’s Stream Lab and our work with Samsung, we have detailed all of our findings/results in the matrix below:
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSamsung TVs and the ciphers each MSE/EME supports
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs a rule of thumb, for TVs older than 2019, CBC support is limited. Another rabbit hole worth watching out for in regards to every TV is if it indicates support for CBC, it is worth validating it’s for MSE/EME stack and NOT the native player stack.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nYou will notice from the table above that Widevine + CTR cipher covers a large proportion of the Tizen TVs. You can use the Bitmovin Encoding CENC API encryptionModeCTR
to package video with Widevine + CTR. Check out this tutorial to see how you can set it up.
Looking forward, Tizen TVs for 2022 and beyond look like they are heading in the CBCS-friendly direction. Hopefully, in about 5 years, when 2022 TVs become the standard version, it might be possible to have a single copy for all three DRMs.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOn a related note, if you intend to serve only CBCS devices, Bitmovin Encoding CENC API also allows you to output a single copy for all three DRMs just by specifying encryptionModeCBC
.
Additionally, you may find it helpful to have the following links at your disposal: the Playready CBCS documentation and the Tizen TV DRM specification.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThat wraps up the Samsung DRM cipher analysis. Let us know if you found it useful and if there is more information or guidance we can help you with by starting a discussion on the Bitmovin developer community.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAlso, while you’re there, let us know which additional devices you’d like this analysis done for next, and if you want, you can also test out the Bitmovin Player for yourself with our 30-day free trial.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n","description":"Digital rights management (DRM) is a complex world with many different rabbit holes to venture into. The good news is we’ve done a lot of heavy lifting by navigating in, out, and around many of these complex situations to provide you with an overview and the knowledge you need to…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/analysis-drm-ciphers-samsung-tizen-tvs/","author":"Saravanan Silvarajoo","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-12-05T09:12:57.832Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Different-Encryption-modes.png","type":"photo","width":794,"height":176},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DRM_and_Cipher_Support_Table-1024x367.png","type":"photo","width":1024,"height":367},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DRM-tests-table-run-on-samsung-1-1024x419.png","type":"photo","width":1024,"height":419}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Bitmovin releases dedicated Player SDK for Roku Devices","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-dedicated-player-sdk-roku/","content":"We have built and released a dedicated Player SDK for Roku. This solution is designed to enable developers to be able to work with Roku devices without needing deep technical knowledge of the Roku playback setup and removing the need for heavy lift development efforts in building out functionality for Roku devices.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nRoku has become an essential platform for OTT companies to be on as it’s viewership has grown rapidly, with monthly active users almost doubling from 30.5 million in Q2 2019 to 63 million Q2 2022 (source: Statista, Nov 2022).
\\n\\n\\n\\nHowever, Roku uses its own dedicated technology for playback and this presents a few interesting challenges; we had a number of questions when defining the problem and designing how we planned to address the challenges.
\\n\\n\\n\\nTo start with, “do you have a dedicated in-house resource that specializes in the Roku setup and ecosystem?” Generally speaking, we’ve found that for most, it is a challenge when attempting to transfer over commonalities and the experience from other environments you’re deployed on. In addition to this, some would argue that the Roku ecosystem has its own specific set of difficulties that require a significant level of depth and understanding of the Roku setup. A perfect example of this is their use of their own proprietary coding language called ‘BrightScript’.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThis brings on question number 2, “have you had trouble in finding developers with deep technical expertise and experience with the Roku setup and ecosystem?” As this type of experience is not easily found, what we do know is that any advancements to support Roku developers are always very positively received.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIf you are already utilizing Bitmovin’s Player SDKs, you may already know that you won’t need to learn or create new Bitmovin Player configuration formats for each new device, as you’ll be able to easily migrate and reuse the configs from your existing deployments.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe additional questions we look to answer with our dedicated Roku SDK include the following:
\\n\\n\\n\\nTo sum up the answer to both questions, our Roku SDK extends to the Roku Advertising Framework (RAF) and our Bitmovin Player is able to handle the workload required in making your deployment RAF compliant, leaving your development team with more time to work on other product-defining components. By bundling in additional features like metadata handling and 3rd party SDKs, like Google’s IMA SDK for Dynamic Ad Insertion, we’re saving more developer time and resources who otherwise would have needed to custom-build any required features on top of the native player.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nFor the next iterations of our Roku SDK, the following have been planned:
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe best way to get started today is to jump into the Player Dashboard and sign up for a trial. In the dashboard, you’ll be able to find all of the developer resources, API guides, tutorials and more. If you’re already using one of Bitmovin Player SDKs and looking to expand to utilizing the Bitmovin Roku SDK, you will find the unified developer experience of Bitmovin’s player means developers are not needing to re-learn how to configure the player in a new way for each device and can transfer knowledge and configurations from existing players.
\\n","description":"What have we built? We have built and released a dedicated Player SDK for Roku. This solution is designed to enable developers to be able to work with Roku devices without needing deep technical knowledge of the Roku playback setup and removing the need for heavy lift…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-dedicated-player-sdk-roku/","author":"Jacob Arends","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-12-05T09:05:06.921Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"How live streaming operators can meet the demand for the best viewing experiences with the Bitmovin and Videon solution","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/live-streaming-operators-meet-the-demand-for-the-best-viewing-experiences/","content":"\\n\\n\\n\\nThe growth of live streaming has seen a major uptick in content and viewer numbers, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. The rise clearly extends to the types of live streaming experiences that viewers can access, which led us to ask ourselves three key questions:
\\n\\n\\n\\nThese questions are why we partnered with Videon; our combined expertise in video streaming and hybrid:cloud workflows, utilizing edge computing at the point-of-production,has fuelled an ambition to deliver live streaming experiences that offer a new standard of reliability, quality, ease of use and cost-effectiveness to operators. The result? An easy-to-use hybrid:cloud solution, deploying a Videon Compute Platform on premises that can be quickly configured to send content to the Bitmovin Live Event Encoder for distribution to digital platforms using HLS and DASH.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe’re excited, and you should be too! Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about what we’ve built with Videon. You can also watch a webinar recording hosted by Videon that features our very own Paul Macklin, Senior Product Manager for our Live Encoding Solution.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWhen it comes to live streaming, the immediate challenges include:
\\n\\n\\n\\nOperators are facing the challenge of questionable levels of reliability, complex workflows, processes that do not scale and lack of flexibility not only with the workflow but with the actual physical setup.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTo put it simply, our partnership with Videon makes things easier for you. Our collaboration makes it possible for an end-to-end solution that supports single input or highly resilient dual input and 1+1 architectures for live streaming video operators of almost all levels of experience. You will find our partnership useful if:
\\n\\n\\n\\nIt is abundantly clear to us that there are a variety of use cases and types of companies that can benefit from our joint solution with Videon. For example, suppose you’re working for a large-scale broadcaster/media outlet and companies with 24/7 live distribution of video content, you will see the need for a bank of on-premise devices that bring redundancy options and allow for dual inputs. Using our joint solution with Videon can provide all of that in a cost-effective way. The additional use case is anchored to the type of business that needs a simple, trustworthy, small form factor solution that can be set up and packed down quickly, in addition to being cost-effective.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSo if you’ve made it this far, the chances are that our joint solution is the right one for you, but just in case you need any further convincing, let me reiterate how you will benefit:
\\n\\n\\n\\nIf you would like to connect with a live video expert and learn more about the end-to-end solution, email sales@bitmovin.com. To read more about the partnership, check out the announcement and to find more about Videon, go here.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n","description":"The growth of live streaming has seen a major uptick in content and viewer numbers, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. The rise clearly extends to the types of live streaming experiences that viewers can access, which led us to ask ourselves three key questions: What…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/live-streaming-operators-meet-the-demand-for-the-best-viewing-experiences/","author":"Paul Macklin","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-11-28T06:20:06.765Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bitmovin-and-Videon-Partnership-Workflow-Image-1-1024x403.png","type":"photo","width":1024,"height":403},{"url":"https://fast.wistia.com/embed/medias/oxj708721e/swatch","type":"photo","width":100,"height":56,"blurhash":"LLBpLoE0IUs:00od%MWC%f%2IUW:"}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Bitmovin Launches Support for React Native","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-launches-support-for-react-native/","content":"React Native has become one of the most popular UI frameworks for mobile development and continues to see widescale adoption. Over the past year, we have seen rapidly growing interest from companies looking to stream video in their mobile applications with the Bitmovin Player. This topic has also been trending in the Bitmovin developer Community for months, where community members have even shared their bridging code for the Bitmovin Player for other customers to use. With all this enthusiasm around this framework, we are excited to announce that we have launched an official open-source React Native wrapper for the Bitmovin Player.
\\n\\n\\n\\nFor context, React Native, along with ReactJS, have changed how developers create mobile and web applications, and this latest release means that we now have official support for the pair. Both frameworks are the fastest growing for their use cases because they are easily customizable, allow engineers to deploy on many more devices than they otherwise would, and are JavaScript and TypeScript based. This means developers aren’t required to learn or have previous experience with native mobile platforms to launch an application and can even share code between their web and mobile applications.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nDevice fragmentation is a problem every video streaming service faces when trying to reach wider audiences. React Native’s cross-device compatibility means companies won’t require separate engineering teams for iOS and Android development, empowering smaller teams to support more devices. This enables devs to quickly deploy our industry-leading Player and provide the best viewing experience for users across mobile devices. If development teams use React Native, they can dramatically improve their time-to-value in terms of launch speed, development time, and associated costs. Additionally, research shows that using our Player further cuts down on the dev time required, helping you save over 600+ hours each year on maintenance-related updates for Android and iOS alone (the equivalent of 2 full-time developers!).
\\n\\n\\n\\nWith the React Native wrapper bridging our iOS and Android SDKs, engineers can create applications for more than just mobile devices. Our Player SDKs can also be used for applications on tvOS, AndroidTV, and FireTV, giving React Native developers the option to reach audiences in their living rooms. Using React Native for iOS and Android in combination with ReactJS for web means customers playing video with our Player can use the Player SDKs and expand their service to a vast range of devices, using only JavaScript (or TypeScript).
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWith the need to stream live or on-demand video content, many industries looking to add video streaming capabilities to their workflows now can. Dev teams for companies within eLearning, fitness, eCommerce, and other sectors that may not have extensive streaming knowledge can utilize our Player to fit their use cases. Already, our React Native wrapper contains support for DRM, subtitles, and closed captions, which are crucial for content protection and accessibility requirements. Devs will also be able to take advantage of the Player UI and comprehensive event system for all Player and Playback state changes. For the next update, we’re hoping to release support for client-side advertising to allow our clients to monetize their content however they wish.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs this is an open-source project, we have received and are actively accepting community pull requests, so please feel free to contribute by creating a branch in GitHub with any customizations. Our video experts will review your contribution and integrate it into the library. Also, let us know in our developer community what features we should work on next by creating a new topic in the forum.
Additionally, test out the Bitmovin Player and every feature we offer by signing up for our 30-day free trial. Trial users also get complete access to our other solutions, such as VOD and Live Encoding, Analytics, and Streams.
High-quality content was typically hailed as the top reason consumers would stick with a video streaming service. It’s why major players, such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Netflix, have invested billions of dollars in original programming. However, while it’s undeniable high-quality content is important, our recent research found that the majority of consumers actually view value for money (54% in the US and 57% in the UK) as more important than the availability of their favorite content (48% in the US and UK) when deciding to keep a platform subscription. The ability to stream across all devices was the third biggest reason to keep a service.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nI think it’s incredibly interesting that the ability to stream across all devices has become one of the top three reasons to stick with a service, but I am not entirely surprised! Video streaming technologies have made huge advancements in the last two decades. We’ve come a long way from the days when it was common and accepted to watch lower-quality videos with longer start-up times that were frequently rebuffered. Video streaming is now more sophisticated and so are consumers’ expectations of their online experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nOur research also found that Connected TVs are the most popular choice for video streaming (67% in the US and 68% in the UK), followed by smartphones, tablets, and laptops. It’s clear consumers are using a huge range of devices to stream content, which explains why a video streaming service’s ability to support all these devices is a top priority. It’s an expectation platforms need to meet quickly if they want to attract and retain subscribers. Further confirming this expectation, our annual Video Developer Report showed that the leading streaming services support at least 24 devices across 12 different platforms, and a study done by Parks Associates found that the average household uses more than four different devices at any given moment!
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs more devices enter the mix, streaming services need to find an effective way to test device support or risk a sub-par viewing experience that can result in negative attention, reviews or even a subscriber abandoning the service entirely. It’s no secret that consumers are currently examining every cost, so a seamless and compelling online experience will help minimize churn. The most common ways to tackle device fragmentation is via manual or automated testing of playback on each device. However, both of these methods come at a high cost in terms of time and money, especially manual testing, which requires an in-house team of developers to build out the testing process and administer it regularly. I personally don’t believe this method is a good use of in-house developer teams’ time. There is also the option of automated testing that requires a team of developers to build it from scratch or buy a barebones solution, so they have to add test cases themselves. While this may be more cost-effective in the long term, it still takes significant time to build out the parameters for each test and cover every use case for older and new devices.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIt’s why we created a solution like Stream Lab, which focuses on ensuring a quality viewing experience for users and makes testing, supporting, and managing playback on more devices much easier. It provides developer teams with full control over the testing scenarios (e.g., Device type, DRM) and is pre-populated with use cases. Oh, and it’s 100% automated, which is pretty awesome! It’s this approach to device testing that will address the challenge of device fragmentation to guarantee flawless playback on every device and ensure streaming services can meet consumer demand for the ability to stream their favorite content across all devices.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIt’s clear from our research that while high-quality content is important, it’s not the only deciding factor when someone is deciding whether to keep their video streaming subscription. They’re looking at a subscription’s value for money, which includes the overall viewing experience, and I expect that the services that solve the device fragmentation puzzle first will reap the greatest benefits.
\\n","description":"Today’s increasingly tech-savvy consumers want to access their favorite streaming services across any device, no ifs, no buts, signaling device fragmentation can become a major issue for platforms. High-quality content was typically hailed as the top reason consumers would…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/device-fragmentation-research/","author":"Adam Massaro","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-11-10T09:14:19.352Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Gapless Playback and Video Playlists with Bitmovin’s V3 Mobile Player SDKs","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-v3-mobile-player-sdks/","content":"During the summer, we released V3 of our Player SDKs for Android and iOS, marking a significant milestone in our mission to deliver the best tools to achieve any simple or complex video workflow packaged into a best-in-class developer experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\nIn this blog post, we will dive deeper into the more technical aspects of what V3 includes, going in-depth into the major new features like the Playlist API and other improvements made to each SDK.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nV2 of our Mobile SDKs was designed around the playback of a single source loaded into the Player (e.g., a DASH, HLS, Smooth or Progressive stream). As all of the Player functionality was tied to a single source, it was impossible to load or prepare another source simultaneously. For the Player to playback a different source, the active source needed to be unloaded first, and only then could the new source begin loading.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nV2 allows only single-source workflows.
\\nThe problem with this approach is that there is always some downtime involved when switching sources, during which the viewer will see a black screen until enough data from the new source has buffered. This downtime is a limiting factor when trying to provide an excellent user experience for viewers.
\\n\\n\\n\\nDowntime when transitioning from one source to another.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTo address this issue, we developed and released V3 – a collection of major improvements to our core APIs as well as the addition of new ones.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe first improvement I will go into is our Gapless Playback functionality. V3 represents a shift in our architecture whereby the playback Sources and the Player become more decoupled. This decoupling allows sources to have a life cycle and emit events. In addition, each source can be interacted with even when it is not actively playing, which enables the Player to manage multiple sources concurrently – playing the active source while preparing the other sources for playback.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWith this upgrade, it is now possible to seamlessly playback multiple sources without a single frame of downtime because data from the following source can buffer while the previous one is still playing.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAchieving gapless playback in V3 by loading multiple sources into a player.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWith the promotion of Source
to a top-level entity comes a collection of powerful APIs that were previously only available via the
, acting on a single source. Now you can get duration data, query available audio and video qualities, set a specific subtitle track, and much more with each source without it actively playing back.Player
To enable working with multiple sources in the Player and help facilitate gapless playback, we introduced the Playlist API. It provides the means to dynamically add and remove sources, as well as a way to change the source that is playing.
\\n\\n\\n\\nTogether, the new source and playlist APIs offer the power and flexibility to achieve a wide variety of new video experiences.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nNew Source and Playlist APIs are at the heart of V3.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe’re continuously striving to offer a better developer experience for our users, so it’s only natural that we fully embrace Kotlin, which has become the standard for Android developers worldwide. Our team is a big fan of Kotlin and has been using it internally for a while now, which is why we were adamant about making the full power of Kotlin available for users of our Android SDK. For V3, we developed our APIs looking through a Kotlin lens and will continue to do so for future releases.
\\nThe result is a safe, modern, and ergonomic API surface for developers to utilize. In practice, this means that we use nullability information, default parameter values, sealed class hierarchies, extensions, reified functions, function types, and more awesome Kotlin features that improve the developer experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\nBy embracing Kotlin, we implemented our new EventEmitter
, which improves how to manage event subscriptions, which leads us to our next section.
The latest mobile SDK comes with a complete rework on handling events. We got rid of over 70 lines of boilerplate code, helping make managing event subscriptions easier and usage more intuitive.
\\n\\n\\n\\nIn V2, each event had a separate *Listener class associated with it which had to be used to subscribe to that event. This meant that you first had to find the event you are interested in, then find the associated *Listener
class and create an instance of that class to pass it into the EventHandler
(the Player
in this case).
V3 simplified this workflow. There are no more separate *Listener
classes and the event itself is all you need. If you want to subscribe to an event, you just need to pass that event and an action to the new EventEmitter
(the Player
or Source
, in this case). For Kotlin users, the action argument is just a standard Kotlin lambda. In contrast, for Java users, it’s a simple implementation of a new EventListener
interface, written as a Java lambda.
player.on(PlayerEvent.Ready::class) { println(\\"Ready\\") }\\n\\n// alternatively\\nplayer.on<PlayerEvent.Ready> { println(“Ready”) }\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
All events are now part of a sealed class hierarchy, making it easy to discover and autocomplete all available events in a particular situation. For Kotlin users, we additionally offer reified extension functions that make it even easier to manage event subscriptions by inferring the type of event that an action is associated with.
\\n\\n\\n\\nval onPlayerReady: (PlayerEvent.Ready) -> Unit = { println(“Ready”) }\\n \\nplayer.on(onPlayerReady)\\nplayer.off(onPlayerReady)\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
There’s also a new API available that allows you to subscribe to just the next occurrence of an event. Subscribing an action will automatically unsubscribe the action after the first occurrence without requiring manual cleanup.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nplayer.next<PlayerEvent.Ready> { println(“Ready”) }\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n
Over the years, our public API became loosely spread around different packages, which hurts discoverability. To improve on this, we grouped APIs that belong together into common packages and put all of these common packages into a single api
root package, making it easier to discover API objects and how they interact with each other. At the same time, we converted most of them into abstract types or data classes, which should make it easier to mock the SDK in your tests.
With all of the public APIs in one package, we went a step further and now deliver the source code of this package with the SDK. As a result, it is now easy to click through the API within your development environment and see all of our public API code and documentation exactly how we wrote it. Additionally, making the public API open source means that developers have to consult the external documentation on our website less frequently.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe’ve completely reworked our documentation to provide a much-improved learning experience on our website, including a landing page with general information, search functionality, and a cleaner design (with dark mode!). All of it is available in Kotlin and can be viewed here
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nNew search functionality
\\nBetter discoverability using the new documentation
\\nStarting with V3, we ship the SDK as an XCFramework. Apple introduced this new bundle format with Xcode 11 to support devices and simulators simultaneously. By shipping it as an XCFramework, we were able to add support for Apple’s first-party package manager, the Swift Package Manager.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe distribute the latest version of our SDK through Apple’s proprietary swift package manager (SPM). It is the easiest way to integrate our framework into any iOS/tvOS project, and we are excited to offer this convenience to our users.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nCreating a custom native UI (UIView
) on V2 was pretty tedious. It was necessary to subclass a specific type and use this as a base for the view. We simplified this in V3, and there is no longer the need to subclass any of our types to create a custom view. We achieved this by introducing a public API on the Player
where an AVPlayerLayer
or an AVPlayerViewController
can be registered.
Any custom UIView
subclass with an AVPlayerLayer
(or an AVPlayerViewController
) can now be used and registered with the player:
// Create a subclass of UIView\\nclass CustomView: UIView {\\n init(player: Player, frame: CGRect) {\\n super.init(frame: frame)\\n\\n // register the AVPlayerLayer of this view to the Player\\n player.register(playerLayer)\\n }\\n\\n var playerLayer: AVPlayerLayer {\\n layer as! AVPlayerLayer\\n }\\n\\n override class var layerClass: AnyClass {\\n AVPlayerLayer.self\\n }\\n}\\n
Register the view layer with the Player
by calling player.register(playerLayer:)
. Add the view to your view hierarchy and it will be complete.
V3 brings the iOS SDK closer to the Android SDK when it comes to using the offline playback feature. We deprecated the old API of the OfflineManager
and introduced an OfflineContentManager
that can you can use to manage the download process and the downloaded data for each SourceConfig
independently.
In addition to this newly designed API, we introduced the same listener-based event communication you are already familiar with from the Player
.
View our detailed tutorial about how to use our offline playback feature.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nOur native Player SDKs for Android and iOS represent an evolution of our core APIs packed with new and exciting features. If you are currently using V2 of our SDKs or want to explore how it is to improve your current deployment, check out our Android or iOS Migration Guides. Additionally, if you want to test out our mobile and any other SDKs, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial, where you will have complete access to our getting started guides, such as these for Android and iOS.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n","description":"Table of Contents How V3 came to be\\nGapless playback\\nManaging multiple sources\\nWhat’s new for the Android SDK?\\nEmbracing Kotlin\\nImproving the way of working with events\\nPackage restructuring & open-source API\\nNew documentation in Kotlin\\nWhat’s new for the iOS SDK?\\nXCFramework\\nSwift Package…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-v3-mobile-player-sdks/","author":"David Steinacher, Christian Stoenescu","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-10-27T09:38:29.120Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Video_packets_sshowing_loadtime_between_each_packet-1024x325.jpg","type":"photo","width":794,"height":252},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Issues_with_transitioning_from_one_video_player_source_to_another-1024x330.jpg","type":"photo","width":694,"height":224},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Gapless_Playback_Diagram_Showing_Seamless_transition_from_one_source_to_another-1.jpg","type":"photo","width":425,"height":287},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Playlist_API_for_managing_multiple_sources.jpg","type":"photo","width":524,"height":352},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/bitmovin-love-kotlin-1024x430.jpeg","type":"photo","width":1024,"height":430},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Kotlin_code_example-1024x599.png","type":"photo","width":537,"height":314},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Bitmovin_Documentation_Example-1024x309.png","type":"photo","width":729,"height":220},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Bitmovin_Event_Documentation_Example-913x1024.png","type":"photo","width":389,"height":437}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Research shows almost 70% of video streaming subscribers would rather pay for an ad-free experience","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/ad-free-streaming-experience/","content":"Netflix, the video streaming service that pioneered the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) business model and became a cultural zeitgeist, recently announced it would introduce adverts to its service. From the beginning of November, Netflix will launch an ad-supported tier in 12 countries, allowing its customers to pay for a slightly less expensive subscription plan in exchange for watching around 5 minutes of adverts per hour. But are consumers willing to tolerate adverts and still pay for a subscription?
\\n\\n\\n\\nNobody can deny that Netflix is a powerhouse in video streaming. Still, in recent years, it has faced increased competition from Disney+ and Hulu and smaller regional players in local markets. We recently conducted some original consumer research, which surveyed 3,000 consumers (1,000 in the UK and 2,000 in the US) and found that in the US, over two-thirds of consumers (68%) would purchase a subscription fee to an entertainment streaming service to remove ads. In the UK, it was a similar figure, with the majority, 58% (rising to 67% in those aged 18-35), saying they would rather pay that little bit extra to remove ads. Our survey also found that the services where viewers are happy to tolerate ads are free streaming services. We found that 58% of the consumers in the US and 60% in the UK don’t mind watching adverts for free streaming services; it’s when they are paying for a subscription, no matter the cost, they expect ad-free content.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOur research found that almost two-thirds (57%) of consumers have not canceled a single video streaming subscription. However, the cost of living crisis impacts everyone, so people are naturally assessing their costs, including video streaming services. Currently, most consumers have kept all of their subscriptions, which could be because more people are staying home and, therefore, want entertainment options. However, there will be people who need to reduce their expenditures, so offering a cheaper, ad-supported plan makes Netflix more accessible and could help boost subscriber retention and acquisition.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOf course, Netflix cannot (and probably doesn’t) view its ad-supported tier as the only way to reduce subscriber churn. Quality content is still a huge factor when viewers consider which streaming service to keep. Still, Netflix has enjoyed considerable success recently with Stranger Things; Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and there’s already a massive buzz around the upcoming return of The Crown. Furthermore, a high-quality online experience free from buffering and delays is also essential for viewers.
\\n\\n\\n\\nSo, while it’s not hugely surprising that Netflix is introducing an ad-supported plan, our research shows that most consumers will pay extra for an ad-free experience. Netflix’s decision may keep viewers on the fence about keeping their subscription and even entice new viewers to its service. Overall, Netflix giving its viewers more options about how much they pay for its service is a good thing for the company and its customers and will help ensure its long-term future.
\\n\\n\\n\\nPersonally, while I think it makes sense for Netflix to introduce adverts to its service, I believe combining more flexible plans with high-quality content and a superior viewing experience will be what wins the streaming wars.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n","description":"To ad or not to ad? That is the question. Netflix, the video streaming service that pioneered the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) business model and became a cultural zeitgeist, recently announced it would introduce adverts to its service. From the beginning of November…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/ad-free-streaming-experience/","author":"Stefan Lederer","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-10-27T01:30:00.571Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Google is Deprecating the Widevine DRM CDM","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/google-deprecating-widevine-drm-cdm/","content":"Google recently contacted companies with a heads-up that the current Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM) for browsers will stop working soon as they look to push an update.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe CDM is the secure closed-box environment that handles digital rights management (DRM) restrictions and decryption of the content.
\\n\\n\\n\\nBefore denying access to the current CDM, Google will start rolling out the new version of it, with Google’s Chrome browser leading the way.
\\n\\n\\n\\nHowever, other Chromium-based browsers that include the Widevine CDM for DRM-protected video playback, like Microsoft Edge or Opera, still have to wait a few more weeks before receiving the update from Google.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe result of this means that the old version of the CDM will cease to work over the next month or so after all browsers have the updated version.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe’ve detailed the timeline in our graphic below and added additional context to paint a clear picture of what’s happened already, what’s happening now, and what’s coming over the next few months.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSeptember 29th, 2022
– Google initiated the updated CDM rollout by releasing it on Chrome’s experimental Canary channel
October 25th, 2022
– Chrome 107 will be released in the stable channel and will include the new CDM
November 15th, 2022
– The new CDM will be released on all other Chromium-based browsers like Edge or Opera for M95 and above
December 6th, 2022
– Older CDM versions will be revoked and deactivated and cannot be used any longer
To cut to the chase in giving you the plain and simple answer: viewers will not be able to stream their favorite content on the most widely used browser in the world.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAfter December 6th, your users may come into issues playing any content protected with the Widevine DRM in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers if they have yet to update their browsers.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe good news is that many browsers contain auto-update mechanisms, but it is worth remembering that not all users regularly upgrade if given a choice.
\\n\\n\\n\\nGoogle indicates that this will affect desktop browsers only, with no mentions of Chrome for Android, Android native apps, or other devices like LG WebOS or Samsung Tizen SmartTVs.
\\n\\n\\n\\nIn fact, there have also been hints that this change mainly affects Windows platforms. So this should help you breathe a bit easier.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIt’s our position that we’re all best placed to be aware and prepared.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWe are all in a fortunate position as no code changes within your app or player upgrades are needed.
\\n\\n\\n\\nHowever, depending on your user’s update preferences, you may very well see increased error rates in your playback analytics and possibly more tickets coming into your customer service system than usual.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAn additional recommendation to consider is that you ensure your support team is aware of the upcoming potential issue and has pre-written responses prepared well in advance that they can utilize to respond accordingly and quickly.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAdditionally, it may be in your best interest to notify your users through multiple channels that are available to you (social, email, in-app).
\\n\\n\\n\\nThis way, your audience will be informed of this upcoming change, can make the necessary adjustments if needed, and hopefully won’t feel the need to associate or relate any bad viewing experience to your platform.
\\n\\n\\n\\nUntil the next update or if there are more developments on this topic, happy streaming!
\\n","description":"Here’s the latest on what you need to know regarding Widevine DRM CDM for browsers- Google recently contacted companies with a heads-up that the current Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM) for browsers will stop working soon as they look to push an update.\\n\\nThe CDM is…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/google-deprecating-widevine-drm-cdm/","author":"Daniel Weinberger","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-10-19T08:29:48.861Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/chrome-Widevine-DRM-CDM-update-Timeline-2-1024x169.png","type":"photo","width":1174,"height":194}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Top 5 Player Learnings from IBC and Bitmovin’s Outlook for 2023","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/top-5-player-learnings-from-ibc/","content":"It’s been two very long years since IBC had its last in-person event, which has now come and gone with over 37,000 attendees and over 1,000 exhibitors. It was a great show, but I’m biased since it was my first IBC since entering the streaming world six long years ago. The halls were packed to the brim, especially in hall 5 (we’ll be there again next year), where I got the luxury of attending the show with the Bitmovin team. As a Product Marketing Manager for the Bitmovin Player and other solutions, it was a great time as there was a lot of interest from people in the industry. From those conversations, it was apparent that many had the same items on their minds regarding video players & playback. Additionally, I was able to speak with other companies in the space, which helped confirm the trends we were all hearing.
\\n\\n\\n\\nSo what were the trends showcased at IBC, and how has Bitmovin prepared for them for the rest of 2022 and 2023?
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe biggest item on the list I was hearing from both partners and platforms looking to consolidate their workflows was how they were pushing to have one solution provide the complete package. Of course, this could include multiple partners, but they wanted to have 1 area where they could control each piece without having anything siloed. At every booth, I’m sure one of the significant things you heard from service providers was how they integrated with this company and that product to deliver the whole end-to-end workflow. With this approach, even some of our biggest competitors have become partners.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAt Bitmovin, we’ve been seeing where the market’s headed, which is why for IBC, we launched our Partner Innovation Network to focus on our existing integrations and recently introduced Streams (read the blog), which is our latest solution built to simplify streaming workflows & help platforms get to market quickly. Streams enables platforms to upload, store and encode video content, embed our Player, stream everywhere with our Global CDN partner and optimize and improve the viewer experience through actionable analytic insights.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nMany companies spoke about free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) to give viewers the chance to experience a new platform without needing to pay for another subscription or at a reduced price, which is especially beneficial in today’s economic environment. It was a hot topic and one that will continue to grow, as even Variety said back in July that by 2026 they expect the ad market for FAST to be valued at 6 billion.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs our solutions have grown, we have focused a lot on our services, ads capabilities, and performance tracking. For example, for the Bitmovin Player, we’ve built a dedicated ad module with support for custom ad interactions and integrations with major SSAI ad platform providers (Yospace, Google, etc.). Additionally, to give further accuracy for ads, we’ve even enabled the open measurement SDK to use with our Player.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSome useful links:
\\n\\n\\n\\nWhile still on the subject of ads, SSAI was another hot topic mentioned to monetize workflows, but instead of being about FAST, it was mentioned quite a bit for AVOD workflows. So why not CSAI, you may be asking? Well, that is because the benefits around playback and ads seen for SSAI outweigh the cost and complexity for certain platforms, as SSAI isn’t affected by ad blockers.
\\n\\n\\n\\nRead Next: CSAI vs SSAI: Client-Side Ad Insertion and Server-Side Ad Insertion Explained
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAs a reminder, our robust Ads capabilities include SSAI for a smoother playback experience with ad metadata events and handling to ensure AVOD services provide a great viewing experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nYou can also check out specifics around SSAI and the Bitmovin Player here:
\\n\\n\\n\\nAt many booths, testing was a vital topic everyone was pushing or interested in. Many of the providers on the market today focus primarily on application testing and how applications use on devices. However, few include playback testing on devices, specifically the stream, and instead require deployment in viewer endpoints.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nBack at NAB earlier this year, we launched Stream Lab, our latest player feature that enables companies to test their actual streams in the cloud. It allows companies to experiment with pre-built test cases on real devices and covers over 24 device and platform types, ranging from old to newly released Smart TV (Samsung Tizen, LG WebOS + more), Game Consoles (Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 coming soon), and browsers. This ultimately helps them save on supporting devices before they need to and don’t have to buy real devices as they have access to them through Stream Lab. Read more about it on our Stream Lab Datasheet.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nFrom DRM to watermarking and concurrent device limits, content protection was always relevant and a focus for everyone that attended and wanted to protect their streams. With piracy on the rise and costing providers 11.6 billion in revenue, as reported by Fierce video, it’s no wonder this would be a topic of choice for many platforms as they look to expand their content offerings and locations where they stream.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nBitmovin’s Player provides capabilities for multi-DRM playback across all devices and integrates with the top DRM providers as part of the Innovators Network. Additional content protection measures, including token-based authentication and DRM for offline playback, are fully supported.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThese top 5 Player topics were the most commonly heard on the exhibit floor, and they continue to come up in our conversations in Q4 with an outlook for the coming year. Regarding the Player, Bitmovin is consistently deploying the latest features to stay up to date with the market, which is why IBC 2022 was a success, and we are excited for IBC in 2023. It was great to attend, and I can’t wait to hear about changes in the market and showcase our industry-leading Player next year.
\\nThere is a lot of great work happening at Bitmovin, and if you want to test Bitmovin’s solutions for yourself, sign up for a free 30-day trial.
\\n","description":"It’s been two very long years since IBC had its last in-person event, which has now come and gone with over 37,000 attendees and over 1,000 exhibitors. It was a great show, but I’m biased since it was my first IBC since entering the streaming world six long years ago. The halls…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/top-5-player-learnings-from-ibc/","author":"Adam Massaro","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-10-17T08:47:39.026Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Bitmovin_Player_Meme_Compared_to_Other_Players.png","type":"photo","width":466,"height":275}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"An Engineer’s POV on Developing the Bitmovin Player for PlayStation 5","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/an-engineers-pov-on-developing-the-bitmovin-player-for-playstation-5/","content":"—-
\\n\\n\\n\\nHas PlayStation 5 come up in your engineering & development meetings as a device your streaming service wants to support? Recently, PS5 has taken center stage as Sony pushes more into the media and entertainment space with its dedicated entertainment section on the game console. Along with that, its vast user base of just over 14 million is too big to ignore and has become a necessity for every streaming service to take into account in their roadmaps for device support. However, building an application for PS5, especially one around streaming, isn’t a cakewalk. Our team learned firsthand as they’ve now added PlayStation 5 to the Bitmovin Player’s official coverage – (read more on it in an interview with our Product Manager, Jacob Arends).
\\n\\n\\n\\nFrom the engineer’s point of view (that’s where I come in!), the project was a definite learning experience. To showcase how the process was, I will go into what my team and I had to do when we started developing the Bitmovin Player for PS5, what issues other developers might experience when trying to support playback on it, and why commercial players are most likely your best bet to getting started (hint: they save you from pulling your hair out and save you a ton of time).
\\n\\n\\n\\nI want to start this section by stating that becoming a Sony PlayStation media partner is pretty straightforward, and even though development can be challenging at times, the Sony Partnership team and developers were extremely helpful throughout the development process. When we first started exploring the PlayStation platform, we laid out the items we knew we’d have to focus on and came up with a list of over 40 hard-line items, each having many subtasks. Additionally, we knew many player features that we support on smart TV and game console devices, such as LG, Samsung, Roku, and XBOX, would overlap. To get going with the development, however, we couldn’t just buy a PS5, as to develop for it, you need to become a part of their PlayStation Partners and, once approved, purchase the DevKit that will give you access to dev environments within the PS5 space.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAs that was in the works, we evaluated Sony’s browser engine on the platform, WebKit. It includes the necessary media source extensions (MSE) and encrypted media extensions (EME) for media playback for HLS and DASH streams. Still, in order to get access to them, we needed permission to use Sony’s MediaSDK. Due to this, we knew it would fit our Web SDK feature parameters and work within our existing testing structure that contains over 1000 test cases (with more added every deployment) around timeshifts, adaptive bitrate, subtitles, DRM, and more. The benefit from our perspective here is that these tests run multiple times a day to ensure functional video playback across every platform or device we support, helping us avoid updates that may affect a viewer’s experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWith the initial analysis done, we set out to evaluate the development environment within the PS5 system. Now, I can’t go step by step in the detail as Sony has gated the process to only be available for approved partners, but I’ll try. To make applications or items available within PS5, there is a requirement to obtain access to MediaSDK. As I mentioned above, this was an essential piece we needed to get permission for, as it would then allow us to use the SDK manager, which is Sony’s proprietary library containing all of the packages and tools for player development. After those steps, of course, starting up the DevKit isn’t as easy as just turning on a PS5, and to get into the environment, we needed to:
\\n\\n\\n\\nFrom there, we were able to go into each of the attributes needed for successful video playback on the PS5 device and complete development over the course of 4-5 months, making the Bitmovin Player available for use along with all of its features within the Web SDK parameters.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAs we developed for PS5, we ran into a few issues that we have defined below, as playback may be affected depending on your workflow and your streaming use cases. The issues include:
\\n\\n\\n\\nWe have also created a getting started guide for the PlayStation 5 on our Bitmovin docs, which covers how to get the Bitmovin Player up and running.
\\n\\n\\n\\nI know I might be biased here, as I work for Bitmovin, but hear me out – At the moment, commercial players are a development team’s best friend when it comes to supporting video playback on PlayStation 5. From open source to commercial video players, there are many options on the market. When it comes to streaming video on this device, however, there aren’t many open-source options currently out there; if there are, it will take additional implementation to make them work.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAdditionally, the Bitmovin Player can help save months of development time as we’ve already done the hard work of ensuring everything performs well (read more in our developer community). We focus on ensuring our Player and its features are supported and tested daily on every platform or device with every new release. From a development standpoint, this is a clear no-brainer for any engineer that has a deadline to meet and wants to deploy more features to improve the viewing experience for their audiences.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAll in all, if PlayStation 5 is on your team’s roadmap, check out the Bitmovin Player to start with, as you and your team will save time and vital resources during development. In addition, once deployed, it will give you and your team the time to work on core features for your service and focus on what sets you apart in the market.
\\n","description":"TL;DR – Just the essential bits The Bitmovin Player now officially supports PlayStation 5. Although from an engineer’s perspective, the process wasn’t entirely straightforward and required much attention as there were many moving pieces. \\nFor anyone to develop their…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/an-engineers-pov-on-developing-the-bitmovin-player-for-playstation-5/","author":"Adis Talic","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-10-10T07:34:23.073Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/AdobeStock_524829369_Editorial_Use_Only-edited-1024x576.jpeg","type":"photo","width":708,"height":397},{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ps5-meme.jpg","type":"photo","width":559,"height":391}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"The GAIA Research Project: Creating a Climate-Friendly Video Streaming Platform","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/gaia-research-climate-friendly-video-streaming/","content":"We’re excited to share that Bitmovin and the University of Klagenfurt are collaborating on a new research project with the goal of making video streaming more sustainable. Project ‘GAIA’ is co-funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and will help enable more climate-friendly video streaming solutions by providing better energy awareness and efficiency through the end-to-end video workflow.
\\n\\n\\n\\nDr. Christian Timmerer is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Information Technology (ITEC) at the University of Klagenfurt and one of the co-founders of Bitmovin. We asked him a few questions to learn more about the goals and motivation behind the ‘GAIA’ project.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nChristian: With our research background, we always tried to utilize the latest technology and research results which includes our focus on video codecs. For example, our first FFG-funded project termed “AdvUHD-DASH” aimed at integrating HEVC into our video encoding workflow; later, we were among the first to showcase AV1 live streaming (2017 NAB award); and now we’re already successfully experimenting with VVC (Collaboration with Fraunhofer HHI).
\\n\\n\\n\\nEach new generation of video codec reduces the amount of storage by approximately 50%, which contributes to sustainability goals. Over the past 10+ years, there has been a shift to focus on more efficient usage of the available resources, where in the beginning of video streaming over the internet, much was solved using massive over-provisioning. I think this is no longer the case, and people are starting to think about environmental and climate-friendly video streaming solutions in the industry.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nChristian: The results of the GAIA project will (i) enable complete awareness and accountability of the energy consumption and GHG emissions and (ii) provide efficient strategies from encoding and streaming to playback and analytics that will minimize average energy consumption.
\\n\\n\\n\\nIn the beginning, we will mainly focus on collecting data and benchmarking systems with regard to energy consumption that will hopefully lead to publicly available datasets useful for both industry and academia at large, like a baseline for later improvements. Later we will use those findings to optimize encoding, streaming and playback concerning energy consumption by following and repeating the traditional “design – implement – analyze” work cycles to iteratively devise and improve solutions.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nChristian: We will showcase results at the usual trade shows like NAB and IBC., while scientific results and findings will be published in renowned conferences and journals. We will try to make them publicly available as much as possible to increase the impact and adoption of these technologies within the industry and academia.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nChristian: Environmental-friendliness was always implicitly addressed within the scope of previous research projects; GAIA is unique as it makes this an explicit goal, allowing to address these issues as the top priority.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nYou can read more details about the GAIA research project here
\\n\\n\\n\\nReady to make your own video workflows more eco-friendly with HEVC or AV1 encoding? Sign up for a free Bitmovin trial today!
\\n","description":"We’re excited to share that Bitmovin and the University of Klagenfurt are collaborating on a new research project with the goal of making video streaming more sustainable. Project ‘GAIA’ is co-funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and will help enable more…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/gaia-research-climate-friendly-video-streaming/","author":"Christian Timmerer","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-10-06T11:54:47.631Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Reach Millions of Users with Dedicated PlayStation 5 Player Support","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/dedicated-playstation-5-player-support/","content":"In Q3, we’ve recently had some big news regarding the Bitmovin Player and how we now officially have dedicated PlayStation 5 player support streaming Playback. To go into more detail on what this means and why this is important, we sat down with Jacob Arends, an Associate Product Manager at Bitmovin, and asked him the top 5 questions about it.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAlong with our new React Native SDK and Player Wizard which has simplified the process of deploying/embedding the player into web environments on Smart TVs and other devices, he has put a big effort into making the PlayStation 5 coverage a reality. This is crucial as it will enable some of the major brands in streaming that are looking to utilize Bitmovin’s industry-leading Player in their workflow to take advantage of the millions of eyeballs that are glued to their screens while they use the PS5 each month.
\\n\\n\\n\\nLet’s jump in and get down to the nitty-gritty.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nJacob:
\\n\\n\\n\\nThat’s right, we’re very excited to announce that we now support PlayStation 5 (PS5), considering the importance and growing scale that game consoles continue to bring. They represent a huge amount of reach within the market. In June this year, a reported 20 million PlayStation 5 devices were sold, with 70% of those across AMER & EUR, which means OTT services adding this to their device coverage unlock the potential for millions of new impressions.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nJacob:
\\n\\n\\n\\nWith Bitmovin’s Player having dedicated coverage for PlayStation 5, it gives clients the ability to add the game console to their supported devices and ensure a unified experience for their viewers as they stream with Bitmovin on other devices like SmartTVs and other consoles. With PlayStation 5’s capabilities, companies will be able to stream up to 4K, which has been a capability of our player for quite some time with its ability to stream in 8K.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nJacob:
\\n\\n\\n\\nHaving the ability to stream over PS5 will be a must-have for companies in the coming year as they look to take advantage of its large user base. I see major brands and growing companies in OTT, social media, film and TV studios, and gaming taking the steps to stream their video content over the platform. You could think of it like this: if you’re already running across Smart TVs, then this is an additional device for you to be able to make use of that is highly scalable and If you’re already using our Web SDK, you’re ready to deliver on PS5 devices. Additionally, with Sony’s goal of creating a robust media and entertainment ecosystem on their platform, media services will have a dedicated area to showcase their offerings and our Player can now streamline deployment, helping brands get to market quicker.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nJacob:
\\n\\n\\n\\nSure, the easiest way to get up and running is to have a read of this guide and get familiar with these release notes
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nJacob:
\\n\\n\\n\\nDefinitely! PS5 is one of the next battlegrounds for streaming services to get eyeballs on their content, so time to market will be imperative. Our free trial gives companies access to Bitmovin’s complete Player, especially our unique feature, Stream Lab, that enables companies to test their stream on real devices like game consoles before putting resources towards supporting them.
\\n","description":"In Q3, we’ve recently had some big news regarding the Bitmovin Player and how we now officially have dedicated PlayStation 5 player support streaming Playback. To go into more detail on what this means and why this is important, we sat down with Jacob Arends, an Associate Product…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/dedicated-playstation-5-player-support/","author":"Adam Massaro","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-09-26T06:59:17.723Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Bitmovin Video Encoding is now available in AWS Marketplace!","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-video-encoding-in-aws-marketplace/","content":"\\n\\n\\n\\nLive and on-demand streaming video have become ubiquitous for every use case ranging from Over-the-Top (OTT) video services such as Apple TV+ and HBO Max to eLearning platforms, religious services, music and sporting events, social media, and even internal corporate communications. With their video libraries growing exponentially and most video workflows increasingly adopting cloud-based systems, many search for an easy-to-use, off-the-shelf video encoding solution that they can purchase and deploy in minutes but have trouble finding one. This is where the AWS Marketplace comes in.
\\n\\n\\n\\nTo help open Bitmovin’s solutions to a broader audience, we have made Bitmovin Video Encoding available in AWS Marketplace! We chose to list Bitmovin’s Video Encoding in AWS Marketplace because it gives customers using AWS Marketplace to piece together their workflow a frictionless, self-service procurement option with the added benefit of being billed directly through their AWS account.
\\n\\n\\n\\nBitmovin’s Video Encoding is a fully-managed Software as a Service (SaaS). Powered by massively distributed processing and content-aware encoding, it allows you to deliver stunning viewing experiences at the highest possible visual quality and the lowest bitrates. Unlike other encoding products, Bitmovin Video Encoding supports file-based transcoding, live encoding, and packaging in a single, easy-to-use product.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWith support for industry-standard encryption from more than 15 Digital Rights Management (DRM) vendors, studio-grade forensic watermarking, and video resolutions of up to 8K Ultra-High Definition (UHD), you can cost-effectively and securely deliver video to viewers on any device anywhere in the world.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nBitmovin’s Video Encoding supports over 50 audio and video codecs and file formats to ingest video from nearly any source. Multi-codec outputs, including H.264, HEVC, AV1, VP9, and others, mean that your audience can watch your content on mobile devices, smart TVs, streaming video player devices, set-top-boxes, web browsers, and game consoles using the most-efficient video codecs for each device type.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOur content-aware transcoding capabilities, both per-title and per-scene, let you further optimize your Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) ladder to reduce your Content Delivery Network (CDN) cost significantly. It even supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, allowing you to captivate your audience with an immersive sound experience. Similarly, support for High Dynamic Range (HDR), including Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), and HDR10, as well as the ability to convert Dolby Vision inputs to HLG and HDR10, let you deliver visually spectacular video to any HDR-capable viewing device. You can even up-convert Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) video to HDR to rejuvenate your existing content library.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nBitmovin’s Video Encoding is well suited for any industry that streams video over the internet, such as organizations within Media & Entertainment, Broadcast, Publishing, eLearning, Sports and Events, esports, social media, and even Telcos. Additionally, large customers with AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) agreements benefit from purchasing SaaS products through AWS Marketplace because those purchases apply to their EDP commitment.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSee how Bitmovin’s Video Encoding, available in AWS Marketplace, can help you quickly and easily harness the power of video streaming for your use case!
\\n","description":"Leading-edge Innovation over the cloud Live and on-demand streaming video have become ubiquitous for every use case ranging from Over-the-Top (OTT) video services such as Apple TV+ and HBO Max to eLearning platforms, religious services, music and sporting events, social…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/bitmovin-video-encoding-in-aws-marketplace/","author":"Brandon Zupancic","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-09-22T04:25:25.039Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/AWS-image.png","type":"photo","width":604,"height":241}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Google Quietly Added HEVC Support in Chrome","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/google-adds-hevc-support-chrome/","content":"Quietly, without any announcement or updates on support pages, Google fixed a bug in Chrome with a significant implication for the video streaming industry: Support for adaptive streaming of HEVC/H.265 video content has finally been enabled!
\\n\\n\\n\\nThanks to Bitmovin (Humble Brag, just kidding), we submitted a bug report about 6 years ago about this very thing. After a “small” bit of waiting, we got the answer that It’s now officially supported for Chrome 104, and with a little investigation also found out that it’s enabled by default for Chrome 105 for all platforms, ready to be used in the wild.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nHigh-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) provides better compression for files than the ubiquitous AVC/H.264, meaning you will be able to stream the same quality with lower bandwidth and big savings on CDN costs with the added bonus of improving the user experience.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWhile HEVC is commonly used for serving content to Smart TVs, set-top boxes, and devices like Roku and Fire TV, its usage on mobile and desktop browsers was limited to just Safari for a long time (after Microsoft changed the Edge browser to being Chromium-based). With Safari’s market share still below 19% globally, the vast majority of users had no choice but to use another codec. However, with this latest change from Google, Chrome’s market share of more than 65% can be “theoretically” added to the HEVC-capable browsers, making it available to 84% of browser users.
\\n\\n\\n\\nI say “theoretically”, as there’s often a caveat: HEVC is only supported if the underlying device has an HEVC hardware decoder.
\\n\\n\\n\\nToday’s modern devices should already have that as standard, but reliable global data on this point are scarce. If you are curious to see if your device can play HEVC-encoded DASH and HLS streams, open our stream test page with an HEVC-encoded DASH and HLS URL, or you can use this example URL.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThat’s where the catch is, unfortunately. The biggest drawback is that HEVC with Widevine DRM is not supported at this point, only clear, unprotected content. It’s unclear whether Google has plans to add support for this in the future or not.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWhile this sounds like a feature Google should be boasting about to the moon over their comms channels, they haven’t really updated their documentation. In fact, Chromium’s Audio/Video codec & container support page was not updated as of the writing of this article, and the popular caniuse.com still lists HEVC as unsupported.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAndroid already supported HEVC, but Chrome on Android only supported HEVC with progressive files, not via the Media Source Extension (MSE) API, which is used for adaptive streaming like DASH or HLS. After little movement for years from Google, the bug finally got picked up earlier this year and fixed. So despite the original scope being just Android, it was a very positive surprise to see HEVC support enabled and rolled out on all Chrome platforms. Now, we just need to see DRM supported along with it!
\\n","description":"Quietly, without any announcement or updates on support pages, Google fixed a bug in Chrome with a significant implication for the video streaming industry: Support for adaptive streaming of HEVC/H.265 video content has finally been enabled! Thanks to Bitmovin…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/google-adds-hevc-support-chrome/","author":"Daniel Weinberger","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-09-21T07:25:07.186Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/google-104-105-1024x587.png","type":"photo","width":512,"height":294}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"A Triumphant Return to IBC","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/triumphant-return-ibc/","content":"IBC made a welcome return to Amsterdam following a two-year absence, and we caught up with our CEO and co-founder, Stefan Lederer, to discuss how he found the show, the big trends he saw and what comes next!
\\n\\n\\n\\nBusy! Which is how you want IBC to be! We had great conversations with prospects, customers and partners throughout the show. NAB was the first significant industry tradeshow; conversations focused on industry trends and catching up, which was important. At IBC, everything focused on driving opportunities and projects forward. This was our best IBC to date. We had lots of quality meetings, a great buzz around the brand and the best-designed stand in Hall 5!
\\n\\n\\n\\nInnovation in video streaming technologies has accelerated in the last two years at a remarkable rate, which was evident at IBC. Back in 2019, the video streaming companies at IBC were in Hall 14, essentially a tent connected to the RAI, but this year we were in Hall 5, one of the biggest halls at the show. It’s proof that video streaming has grown exponentially and become ingrained in our day-to-day lives.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThere was a big focus on codecs, including AV1, AV2 and VVC, as demand for high-quality streams at lower bitrates continues to grow. Also, technologies to optimize the encoding and streaming experience, like per-title and per-scene, became a big trend. I also noticed many innovations around digital rights management, which is incredibly important because there’s still room for improvement in content protection for video streaming.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOne of the biggest trends I think this year was live. It seems there is an enormous appetite for cloud-native workflows, event-based streaming for sports, news, and events, reliable ingest using SRT and Zixi, efficient scaling and operations, and of course, highest quality and low end-to-end delay.
\\n\\n\\n\\nWhen speaking about Live, FAST was a big topic at IBC. FAST services are an interesting blend of linear television with the speed and agility of video streaming technologies which are already hugely popular in the US. I expect we will see FAST services take off in other markets over the next 12 months, bringing an exciting change to linear television. However, I also think this could be hype and result in way more FAST channels available than customers can consume, eventually resulting in a quick saturation of the market. I am interested in seeing how FAST plays out.
\\n\\n\\n\\nI thought the MediaKind stand was really cool, especially with its F1 Grand Prix simulator, which was a fun game and a great way to get people on the stand. I also saw a lot of startups with impressive innovations throughout the show.
\\n\\n\\n\\nI slept as soon as I got home, but now I feel refreshed and ready to return to work! Lots of work goes into an event like IBC, and the work doesn’t finish when the event ends, but I am excited about the conversations we had with the great companies we met at the show. Stay tuned!
\\n","description":"IBC made a welcome return to Amsterdam following a two-year absence, and we caught up with our CEO and co-founder, Stefan Lederer, to discuss how he found the show, the big trends he saw and what comes next! How was IBC 2022 for you?\\n\\nBusy! Which is how you want IBC to be…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/triumphant-return-ibc/","author":"Stefan Lederer","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-09-14T07:08:29.549Z","media":null,"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"IBC Preview [2022]: 5 Minutes with… Reinhard Grandl","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/ibc-preview-5-minutes-with-reinhard-grandl/","content":"All roads lead to IBC, in our latest blog series, we spent 5 minutes with some of the Bitmovin team to get their thoughts on why IBC is important and tips for enjoying the show.
\\n\\n\\n\\nSay hello to Reinhard Grandl, who oversees Bitmovin’s product department, who develops the company’s product strategy and ensures it is optimized for customers.
\\n\\n\\n\\nDiscover his insights in the big trends at IBC 2022 and how to enjoy the show
\\n\\n\\n\\nBusiness is, ultimately, based on building trust and the best way to do this is with human interaction. Things are starting to change due to the rise of SaaS companies, but there’s no doubt that in-person meetings are still valuable. Shows like IBC are vital because they bring all of our customers, partners and prospects together in one place and provide multiple opportunities to connect with them, from giving them a demo on the stand to going out for dinner later. Last but not least, it’s a forcing function for vendors to announce new products and thus helps propel the industry forward.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIt’s changed massively. Part of it is due to the pandemic, but some technical and business trends were already emerging. One significant difference is the range of streaming services available. Almost all major US conglomerates have built streaming services to compete with the likes of Netflix and AppleTV. Furthermore, many sports leagues are trying to monetize their content for fans or via sports-focused streaming services like DAZN.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAll of this creates a fragmented market for viewers who need multiple subscriptions to watch their favorite content. Without a doubt, there will be some market consolidation, but from a technological perspective, it’s creating a huge demand for technologies that can offer a superior viewing experience. At IBC2022, I expect we will see many product launches that focus on offering an optimal viewing experience while simultaneously reducing costs.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe will see the next steps in the evolution of technology; 5G, the VVC codec or new cloud-hosted services, to just name a few. I am particularly interested to see how much they’ve evolved since the last IBC in 2019. Of course, sustainability will be high on the agenda. It’s been inspiring to see so many projects emerge with the sole intention of helping the media and entertainment industry reduce its carbon footprint.
Bitmovin is going Live! We’ve expanded on our award-winning VoD encoding engine to build a live encoding solution that is more resilient and cost efficient than anything before. Ready to run on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure, the Bitmovin Live Event Encoder frees you from vendor lock-in and allows you to migrate or build multi-cloud redundancy with the same encoding workflows.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n✅ RTMP
\\n✅ SRT
\\n✅ Zixi
\\n✅ DRM
\\nThe RTMP protocol is older than some Twitch streamers at this point, but it’s still one of the most popular for live streaming. Lately a lot of professional workflows are switching to SRT or Zixi, which are better at delivering high bandwidth streams through network congestion. Whichever protocol you’re using now or in the future, we’ll have you covered and with support for end-to-end DRM, you can be sure your content and investment are protected.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOur team of video engineering experts have put together a comprehensive comparison of the best live contribution encoders available. Keep reading for the what, where, when, and why of video encoding: The 20 Best Live Streaming Encoders: Software & Hardware [2023]
\\n\\n\\n\\nWant to learn more? Check out all the details and features of the Bitmovin Live Event Encoder, sign up for a free trial and start streaming today!
\\n","description":"Bitmovin is going Live! We’ve expanded on our award-winning VoD encoding engine to build a live encoding solution that is more resilient and cost efficient than anything before. Ready to run on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure, the Bitmovin Live Event Encoder frees you from vendor…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/unbreakable-live-streams-event-encoder/","author":"Andy Francis","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-09-07T07:20:47.158Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/unbreakable-live-event-encoder.png","type":"photo","width":1999,"height":854}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"Introducing Bitmovin Playback","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/introducing-bitmovin-playback/","content":"In the latest news from Bitmovin, we will launch the first category product suite at IBC focused on ensuring Playback for audiences across devices and simplifying deployment and optimization for developers.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nGuaranteeing Playback quality is challenging, especially when development teams have multiple priorities they have to account for before they launch streaming platforms. Building video playback into apps, for example, can take many hours, depending on the workflow and tools your team has at hand. Additionally, it would typically take multiple partners to provide a complete picture of how your streams perform across devices, resulting in a higher expense for your team.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nStream Lab – Automated Testing
\\n\\n\\n\\nGain access to test your streams on over 22 physical devices in real streaming scenarios with transparent reporting on Playback quality without needing to go live first.
\\n\\n\\n\\nPlayer – Quick Deployment and Advanced Features
\\n\\n\\n\\nConfigure and tailor Bitmovin’s trusted Player to your workflow needs while ensuring customer satisfaction through features such as customizable ABR, offline playback, and integrated DRM.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAnalytics – Optimizing the User Experience
\\n\\n\\n\\nOur Analytics empowers you to take action by monitoring viewer experience with actionable reporting insights.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nWe are showcasing our Playback Products at our booth in IBC from September 9 – 12th in Hall 5 at Stand #C68. Book a meeting with us today or stop by the booth, and we will be able to take you through all the benefits!
\\n","description":"In the latest news from Bitmovin, we will launch the first category product suite at IBC focused on ensuring Playback for audiences across devices and simplifying deployment and optimization for developers. Why Does This Matter?\\n\\nGuaranteeing Playback quality is…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/introducing-bitmovin-playback/","author":"Adam Massaro","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-09-05T08:23:17.547Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/playback-diagram-1024x977.jpg","type":"photo","width":1024,"height":977}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"IBC Preview [2022]: 5 Minutes with… Ian Baglow","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/ibc-preview-5-minutes-with-ian-baglow/","content":"All roads lead to IBC! In our latest blog series, we spent 5 minutes with some of the Bitmovin team to get their thoughts on why IBC is important and tips for enjoying the show.
\\n\\n\\n\\nSay hello to Ian Baglow, our Chief Revenue Officer, who oversees our revenue function, primarily focusing on customer retention, customer growth and new customer acquisition. He has significant experience in leading growth at software-as-a-service companies.
\\n\\n\\n\\nDiscover why he thinks trust is the currency of the media and entertainment industry and the trends he expects to see on the show floor.
\\n\\n\\n\\nA defining characteristic of the media and entertainment industry is that it’s primarily based on relationships and trust. While the industry remained resilient during the pandemic and the absence of face-to-face, it’s clear it’s the right time to get back to in-person events. IBC is unique because it’s one of those rare occasions when most of your customers and partners are in one place, so conversations that start on the stand can continue over coffee or dinner.
\\n\\n\\n\\nShows like IBC also provide a great snapshot of the industry and its trajectory. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen numerous streaming services launch but also a significant number of mergers and acquisitions as media and entertainment businesses diversity their products. An event like IBC provides an excellent opportunity for technology vendors to showcase how they can help these companies.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThere will be a host of product launches, of course. However, I believe key trends will centre around user experience as we enter a new phase of the streaming wars. The “battle for eyeballs” is intensifying, and streaming services have a renewed focus on quality of experience alongside the potential total cost of ownership cost savings due to challenging results announced by many M&E customers.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe biggest highlight for me was the industry’s reaction to our Next-Generation VOD Encoder at NAB. We received incredible feedback from users and key industry influencers, which helped validate all the hard work that had gone into it.
\\n\\n\\n\\nMy biggest learning has been the importance of industry partnerships. Video workflows can be complex, so it’s important to be open to working with partners to help solve a customer’s problem. Sharing knowledge and expertise is how we’ll deliver the great viewing experiences our customers’ audiences expect and deserve.
\\n\\n\\n\\nIBC will be a great place to source feedback on our new products and how well our products are integrating with partner solutions. I am particularly interested in speaking to industry influences about market trends so we can stay ahead of the curve, particularly with live streaming, which requires you to keep your finger on the pulse and constantly innovate.
\\n","description":"All roads lead to IBC! In our latest blog series, we spent 5 minutes with some of the Bitmovin team to get their thoughts on why IBC is important and tips for enjoying the show. Say hello to Ian Baglow, our Chief Revenue Officer, who oversees our revenue function, primarily…","guid":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/ibc-preview-5-minutes-with-ian-baglow/","author":"Ian Baglow","authorUrl":null,"authorAvatar":null,"publishedAt":"2022-08-26T02:43:00.018Z","media":[{"url":"https://bitmovin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/header-2.jpg","type":"photo","width":1600,"height":600}],"categories":null,"attachments":null,"extra":null,"language":null},{"title":"139th MPEG Meeting Takeaways: MPEG issues Call for Evidence for Video Coding for Machines","url":"https://bitmovin.com/blog/139th-mpeg-meeting-takeaways/","content":"Bitmovin is a proud member and contributor to several organizations working to shape the future of video, none for longer than the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG), where I along with a few senior developers at Bitmovin are active members. Personally, I have been a member and attendant of MPEG for 15+ years and have been documenting the progress since early 2010. Today, we’re working hard to further improve the capabilities and efficiency of the industry’s newest standards, such VVC, LCEVC, and MIV.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe past few months of research and progression in the world of video standards setting at MPEG (and Bitmovin alike) have been quite busy and though we didn’t publish a quarterly blog for the 138th MPEG meeting, it’s worth sharing again that MPEG was awarded two Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards for its MPEG-DASH and Open Font Format standards. The latest developments in the standards space have expectedly been focused around improvements to VVC & LCEVC, however, there have also been recent updates made to CMAF and progress with energy efficiency standards and immersive media codecs. I’ve addressed most of the recent updates. The official press release of the 139th MPEG meeting can be found here and comprises the following items:
\\n\\n\\n\\nIn this report, I’d like to focus on VCM, Green Metadata, CMAF, VSEI, and a brief update about DASH (as usual).
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nMPEG’s exploration work on Video Coding for Machines (VCM) aims at compressing features for machine-performed tasks such as video object detection and event analysis. As neural networks increase in complexity, architectures such as collaborative intelligence, whereby a network is distributed across an edge device and the cloud, become advantageous. With the rise of newer network architectures being deployed amongst a heterogenous population of edge devices, such architectures bring flexibility to systems implementers. Due to such architectures, there is a need to efficiently compress intermediate feature information for transport over wide area networks (WANs). As feature information differs substantially from conventional image or video data, coding technologies and solutions for machine usage could differ from conventional human-viewing-oriented applications to achieve optimized performance. With the rise of machine learning technologies and machine vision applications, the amount of video and images consumed by machines has rapidly grown.
\\n\\n\\n\\nTypical use cases include intelligent transportation, smart city technology, intelligent content management, etc., which incorporate machine vision tasks such as object detection, instance segmentation, and object tracking. Due to the large volume of video data, extracting and compressing the feature from a video is essential for efficient transmission and storage. Feature compression technology solicited in this Call for Evidence (CfE) can also be helpful in other regards, such as computational offloading and privacy protection.
\\n\\n\\n\\nOver the last three years, MPEG has investigated potential technologies for efficiently compressing feature data for machine vision tasks and established an evaluation mechanism that includes feature anchors, rate-distortion-based metrics, and evaluation pipelines. The evaluation framework of VCM depicted below comprises neural network tasks (typically informative) at both ends as well as VCM encoder and VCM decoder, respectively. The normative part of VCM typically includes the bitstream syntax which implicitly defines the decoder whereas other parts are usually left open for industry competition and research.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nFurther details about the CfP and how interested parties are able to respond can be found in the official press release here.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nMPEG Systems has been working on Green Metadata for the last ten years to enable the adaptation of the client’s power consumption according to the complexity of the bitstream. Many modern implementations of video decoders can adjust their operating voltage or clock speed to adjust the power consumption level according to the required computational power. Thus, if the decoder implementation knows the variation in the complexity of the incoming bitstream, then the decoder can adjust its power consumption level to the complexity of the bitstream. This will allow less energy use in general and extended video playback for the battery-powered devices.
\\n\\n\\n\\nThe third edition enables support for Versatile Video Coding (VVC, ISO/IEC 23090-3, a.k.a. ITU-T H.266) encoded bitstreams and enhances the capability of this standard for real-time communication applications and services. While finalizing the support of VVC, MPEG Systems has also started the development of a new amendment to the Green Metadata standard, adding the support of Essential Video Coding (EVC, ISO/IEC 23094-1) encoded bitstreams.
\\n\\n\\n\\nMaking video coding and systems sustainable and environmentally-friendly will become a major issue in the years to come, specifically since more and more video services become available. However, we need a holistic approach considering all entities from production to consumption and Bitmovin is committed to contribute its share to these efforts.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe third edition of CMAF adds two new media profiles for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, ISO/IEC 23008-2, a.k.a. ITU-T H.265), namely for (i) 8K and (ii) High Frame Rate (HFR). Regarding the former, the media profile supporting 8K resolution video encoded with HEVC (Main 10 profile, Main Tier with 10 bits per colour component) has been added to the list of CMAF media profiles for HEVC. The profile will be branded as ‘c8k0’ and will support videos with up to 7680×4320 pixels (8K) and up to 60 frames per second. Regarding the latter, another media profile has been added to the list of CMAF media profiles, branded as ‘c8k1’ and supports HEVC encoded video with up to 8K resolution and up to 120 frames per second. Finally, chroma location indication support has been added to the 3rd edition of CMAF.
\\n\\n\\n\\nCMAF is an integral part of the video streaming system and enabler for (live) low-latency streaming. Bitmovin and its co-funded research lab ATHENA significantly contributed to enable (live) low latency streaming use cases through our joint solution with Akamai for chunked CMAF low latency delivery as well as our research projects exploring the challenges of real-world deployments and the best methods to optimize those implementations.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nAt the 139th MPEG meeting, the MPEG Joint Video Experts Team with ITU-T SG 16 (WG 5; JVET) issued a Committee Draft Amendment (CDAM) text for the Versatile Supplemental Enhancement Information (VSEI) standard (ISO/IEC 23002-7, a.k.a. ITU-T H.274). Beyond the SEI message for shutter interval indication, which is already known from its specification in Advanced Video Coding (AVC, ISO/IEC 14496-10, a.k.a. ITU-T H.264) and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, ISO/IEC 23008-2, a.k.a. ITU-T H.265), and a new indicator for subsampling phase indication which is relevant for variable-resolution video streaming, this new amendment contains two Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) messages for describing and activating post filters using neural network technology in video bitstreams. This could reduce coding noise, upsampling, colour improvement, or denoising. The description of the neural network architecture itself is based on MPEG’s neural network coding standard (ISO/IEC 15938-17). Results from an exploration experiment have shown that neural network-based post filters can deliver better performance than conventional filtering methods. Processes for invoking these new post-processing filters have already been tested in a software framework and will be made available in an upcoming version of the Versatile Video Coding (VVC, ISO/IEC 23090-3, a.k.a. ITU-T H.266) reference software (ISO/IEC 23090-16, a.k.a. ITU-T H.266.2).
\\n\\n\\n\\nNeural network-based video processing (incl. coding) is gaining momentum and end user devices are becoming more and more powerful for such complex operations. Bitmovin and its co-funded research lab ATHENA investigated and researched such options; recently proposed LiDeR, a lightweight dense residual network for video super resolution on mobile devices that can compete with other state-of-the-art neural networks, while executing ~300% faster.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nFinally, I’d like to provide a brief update on MPEG-DASH! At the 139th MPEG meeting, MPEG Systems issued a new working draft related to Extended Dependent Random Access Point (EDRAP) streaming and other extensions which it will be further discussed during the Ad-hoc Group (AhG) period (please join the dash email list for further details/announcements). Furthermore, Defects under Investigation (DuI) and Technologies under Consideration (TuC) have been updated. Finally, a new part has been added (ISO/IEC 23009-9) which is called encoder and packager synchronization for which also a working draft has been produced. Publicly available documents (if any) can be found here.
\\n\\n\\n\\nAn updated overview of DASH standards/features can be found in the Figure below.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nThe next meeting will be face-to-face in Mainz, Germany from October 24-28, 2022. Further details can be found here.
\\n\\n\\n\\nClick here for more information about MPEG meetings and their developments.
\\n\\n\\n\\nHave any questions about the formats and standards described above? Do you think MPEG is taking the first step toward enabling Skynet and Terminators by advancing video coding for machines? 🦾 Check out Bitmovin’s Video Developer Community and let us know your thoughts.
\\n\\n\\n\\nLooking for more info on streaming formats and codecs? Here are some useful resources:
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