What were the biggest highlights for you this year?

NAB is an intense 5 days, but it’s always worth it for the satisfaction of seeing customers, partners and prospects in person. This year’s event was also super special because it was NAB’s 100th show! It made me reflect on how much the media and entertainment industry has changed and how much video has shaped the world – from the growth of broadcasting, which delivered landmark moments such as the 

first televised coronation of a monarch to the first music video to ever be aired on TV. The media and entertainment industry was further revolutionized by the growth of video streaming which paved the way for companies such as Netflix, which fast became a cultural phenomenon by pioneering the Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) business model and still remains a tastemaker for content and technology trends today. 

100 years of NAB also led me to think about Bitmovin’s own journey at the show as we prepare to celebrate our 10th anniversary as a company on 16th June. We began exhibiting at NAB around 7 years ago with a much smaller team and booth, so it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come from those days and what we’ve built together. This year’s NAB was an outstanding show for us, with a tonne of great announcements, including our CMCD partnership with Akamai, having Nomad on our booth and also taking home an NAB Best of Show Award for Smart Chunking!

AI has gained real momentum as a trend across the technology industry. What are your thoughts on that and did you see any exciting AI innovations at NAB?

A few years ago AI was a huge topic in the media and entertainment industry and the buzz for it has definitely returned because of major advancements in AI/ML with ChatGPT (which a lot of Bitmovers have had a lot of fun with, including using it to make a rap song about video codecs!) and generative AI. Although some might use it as a buzzword, it is great to see some practical applications of AI and Machine Learning in video streaming, such as  in our Video Complexity Analyzer and Super Resolution upscaling. With the ongoing interest in the industry, I am curious and excited to see what new solutions emerge, especially when it comes to improving efficiency and sustainability. 

Sustainability has also been pretty high on the news agenda, what are your thoughts on that?

It is encouraging to see the industry embracing more and more sustainability as a core value, and I think it’s great the industry’s first-ever Excellence in Sustainability Awards were presented at the show. Becoming more sustainable is something every company should be striving for, and as an industry,  we need to do better on a corporate and technical level. At Bitmovin, we are implementing new policies and guidelines to help us reduce our carbon footprint. We’ve also partnered with the University of Klagenfurt on a research project called GAIA, which has the ultimate goal of creating a climate-friendly video streaming platform that provides complete  energy awareness and accountability, including energy consumption and GHG emissions, along the entire delivery chain.

I did also hear some cool discussions related to sustainability at the show, including the prominent advantages of cloud-native solutions over the “lift-and-shift” or “rehosting” approach, which delivers promising results in terms of performance and carbon footprint reduction.

What were some of the other biggest trends you saw at NAB?

AI and sustainability dominated discussions at NAB Show, there were also other big topics that are just as important. The first is ATSC 3.0 and 5G local networks, which represent state-of-the-art and the latest evolution within traditional broadcast television and telecommunications workflows. These technologies are enabling new possibilities for efficient content distribution, interactivity, and remote production. ATSC 3.0 had a huge presence in the convention hall this year, and there were a number of demonstrations around using private 5G pop-up networks for live contribution feeds, which is something that some of our partners in the Bitmovin Innovator Network are starting to take advantage of. 

On the other hand, WebRTC is a technology that is disrupting a lot of workflows that had traditionally been in the broadcasting or telecommunications domain. It’s been around for several years now, but we’re starting to see it evolve from being an open-source, DIY-type solution into something where there are now mature products and commercial offerings using WebRTC as the underlying technology. It’s pretty incredible that any modern web browser can now power 2-way or group video communication that used to require expensive, dedicated hardware.

Now NAB is over what are your plans?

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy for the entire team as we prepared for NAB. I also ran the Paris marathon, so I am definitely going to have a short break, but not for too long! NAB is a huge event to prepare for, but there is also a lot of work that needs to be done following the show with customers, prospects and partners.

The post It’s a Wrap! NAB 2023 in Review with Stefan Lederer appeared first on Bitmovin.

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. 

It’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.

2023’s hot topics

So online video consumption still growing, but what are the trends that will define video streaming in 2023?

We 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.

I 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.

While 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.

On 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!

Along 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.

Daring to stream bigger in 2023

I 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.

In 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.

Until then, the team will enjoy some well-deserved downtime to recharge, so we are ready to take on 2023!

On behalf of everyone at Bitmovin, I’d like to wish you Happy Holidays and a healthy, prosperous, and happy new year.

The post 2022 End of Year Wrap Up with Stefan Lederer appeared first on Bitmovin.

 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?

Nobody 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.

So what could this mean for Netflix?

Our 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. 

Of 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. 

So, 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.

Personally, 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. 

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How was IBC 2022 for you?

Busy! 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!

The last IBC Show was in 2019; how has the video streaming industry changed since then?

Innovation 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.

What big trends do you see at IBC this year?

There 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.

One 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. 

When 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.

Which stands did you visit during the show?

I 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.

What’s the plan post-IBC?

I 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!

The post A Triumphant Return to IBC appeared first on Bitmovin.

Bitmovin is one of the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the United States! 

I am incredibly proud to share that Bitmovin made the Inc 5000, which is a prestigious list of the most successful US businesses this week. It’s the second time we’ve appeared on the list, but I am still just as honoured and excited as the first time. I would also like to congratulate every business that made the rankings. Bitmovin is in great company, and I can’t wait to see what you achieve in the coming years.

This year’s Inc 5000 ranking feels even more special because we’ve continuously innovated and kept growing despite facing global challenges. The past year hasn’t been easy for businesses, and difficulties still lay ahead, which is why I think it’s important to celebrate successes and achievements – no matter how big or small. When we founded Bitmovin 10 summers ago in Klagenfurt, we were hugely excited about the growth of video streaming and the opportunity to help media and entertainment businesses deliver the best viewing experience for their audiences. Bitmovin originated from a small town in Austria, but we had global ambitions. Today we’ve realized many of those ambitions and established ourselves as the Emmy® award-winning category leader in video streaming infrastructure. In the media and entertainment space, we work with globally renowned brands, including the BBC, DAZN, discovery+, fuboTV,  Globo, and The National Rugby League, and help them deliver superior viewing experiences. Bitmovin, which started as a handful of people, has become an international team of almost 200. 

I am incredibly proud of our achievements, but it is also important to acknowledge the fact that the road to our current destination wasn’t easy. We’ve faced the same growing pains as any young company, coupled with a global pandemic; the war in Ukraine, inflation, huge market corrections, increasing interest rates, and a looming recession. 

However, despite facing several challenging macro trends, I am still confident that Bitmovin will continue demonstrating growth. This is because we have a clear strategy to maintain our position as the category leader in video streaming infrastructure in the media and entertainment space while also continuing to expand into the New Media sector, which is ripe with opportunity. Companies in the eLearning and Edtech, Health and Fitness,  eCommerce and Religion and Culture sectors are quickly understanding the importance of making video central to their business strategy. To an extent, most businesses will become media companies, and we intend to be the go-to partner for making that a reality. For this reason, New Media will be central to our growth strategy in the coming years and, hopefully, our hat trick for returning to the Inc 5000 next year!

I would like to finish off by saying a huge thank you to every Bitmover, customer, partner and industry friend who’s helped shape the Bitmovin story so far – I cannot wait for the next chapter.

The post Bitmovin makes Inc. 5000 list – again! appeared first on Bitmovin.

After almost three years without a major industry trade show, being back in Las Vegas for NAB Show almost felt like a mirage because we had waited so long for it. Despite fewer attendees than in previous years and much-needed COVID-19 health and safety guidelines to protect our well-being and the newly built West Hall, it quickly felt normal to be back on the show floor to meet customers, partners, and industry friends. For Bitmovin, it was the busiest and most successful show we have ever had! Despite a three-year absence of industry trade shows, Bitmovin made a big splash. We reaffirmed our position as the category leader in video streaming infrastructure thanks to our fantastic team, which I am incredibly proud of.

We kicked off NAB with our highly coveted Bitmovin opening party, with over 500 guests who we hosted at the Marquee nightclub! Bitmovin’s NAB party is infamous and the show’s highlight for the creme-de-la-creme of the media and entertainment technology industry. On the show floor, we surpassed our target number of meetings with prospects, existing customers, partners, future partners, and renowned industry influencers. We also had an overwhelming amount of interest and positive feedback about the value of our products, especially our Next-Generation VOD Encoder and Stream Lab. We also saw a strong interest in our analytics product, and there’s a lot of excitement about our upcoming solutions for live events. Stay tuned to see what solutions we’re adding to our product suite to drive forward innovations in video streaming infrastructure!

NAB ended on a high with MPEG-DASH winning an Emmy® award! Our co-founder and CIO Christian Timmerer played a leading role in developing MPEG-DASH, the only commercially used and open international standard technology for media streaming over HTTP. MPEG-DASH formed the foundation for the success of Bitmovin because it was co-created by our founders, with our solutions being the first made for this streaming standard. Congratulations again to the MPEG-DASH team!

Overall, while Bitmovin managed to successfully pivot to virtual events and meetings during the height of the pandemic, the return of NAB clarified my thoughts on the value of in-person events. Video is a powerful form of communication that serves as a source of entertainment, information, and education and helps us remain connected even when we’re physically apart. The mental and emotional toll of the pandemic would have been so much harder without video streaming. However, nothing beats in-person interactions!
For some people, the success of NAB was going to indicate the future of in-person events. There have been discussions that industry trade shows are too costly and the ROI is too low. However, it’s those chance encounters on the show floor and those impromptu coffees that often lead to new customers and successful partnerships, or extremely valuable feedback on our products or trends in the industry, and that’s what makes the ROI of in-person events priceless. 
Roll on IBC!

The post Message from the CEO: Thanks for a great NAB Las Vegas 2022 appeared first on Bitmovin.

• Build a platform with the developer in mind
• Enable open and frictionless access to our products
• Make our products commercially accessible

Built for developers, by developers

Obviously, our platform is built by many very capable developers. However, up to now, our Enterprise-heavy model meant our external communications weren’t open or transparent, nor were we getting much feedback from the developer community at large. We’re now turning this upside down, starting with the launch of our Bitmovin community site. This will be an open site to which everyone can come and ask questions, share things they’ve achieved, and more. Our goal is to get everyone up and running quickly so that users can implement their use cases on their own websites and/or apps while benefiting from our scalable video technology.

Open and frictionless sign-up

Next up, our platform wasn’t broadly accessible, held behind a closed approval process. We’ve removed all barriers, and now anyone can access a free 30-day trial to see how easily they can achieve their use case with our solutions. In addition, we added SSO sign-up with Google, Github, and Slack, to reduce time-to-launch.
The trial lets you experiment with our platform by encoding videos, embedding our video player on your website or app to serve your first impressions, or tracking an analytics session to see how your video is performing. A very useful place to start is with our Starter Documentation, which will give you an idea of how the system works and how to get started in each area. Under the hood, we’re constantly adding features to make life easier as well, for example, you can test your own stream directly within our dashboard now. Stay tuned for more ongoing feature announcements.
 

Making our products commercially accessible

While accessing trials and getting started is great, we had another hurdle with our Enterprise packages. Many sites don’t have the traffic volume that would warrant a full-blown Enterprise license. To address this, we’ve launched more affordable plans that are completely self-service, which you can subscribe to on a yearly or monthly basis, with lower volume commitments. In the case that the subscription plan isn’t right for you, we also offer a pay-as-you-go option by request. This gives you the full flexibility to purchase whatever you feel comfortable with for whichever stage your company is at. We’re here to grow with you and can explore which plans make more sense for you at each stage.
If your team is working with video and you’re still wondering if our video technology solution is right for you, give it a try! You can explore some of Bitmovin’s case studies in various verticals such as Broadcast, Media & Entertainment, Health & Fitness, eCommerce, Gaming, Sports & eSports, e-Learning, Telco & Cable.

So, what’s next?

While we listed quite a few things, we’re hard at work to evolve the platform. Keep your eyes out in February for our community site, more APIs to explore, and a rewards program.

Community Site

Bitmovin’s community contains a wealth of public projects, open & solved questions, a forum, hundreds of new resources, and will be an excellent location to exchange information with your peers or share your opinions about our products.

Fun rewards/referral program

Our world-famous swag kit is here! And you don’t need to see us in person or attend a virtual event to get your own. We’re having a limited window of time in February during which you can activate your trial, and then Encode a minute of content, serve a Player impression, or record an impression in Analytics – and get your swag.
We’ll follow that up with a referral program, through which you can get bigger swag with more referrals. More on that later.

New APIs

We have listened to our valued customers, their wish for an easier way to do video encodings and just launched a new approach to Encoding, our Simple Encoding API. It greatly reduces the complexity of Encoding videos at first, while letting you unlock the full potential of Encoding in the future. We’re working hard to improve live encoding solutions, mobile player SDKs, launching what we call the “Stream Lab”, and much more!

Second chance trials

Did you try Bitmovin in the past? Do you want to give it another go? No worries! We’re delighted to talk, Contact Us to extend your trial.

Feedback

We live an open feedback culture within and outside Bitmovin. Share with us what you think and what you want to see next in our products via the contact form shared before or on Twitter or LinkedIn using the hashtag #DareToStream

Video technology guides and articles

• Back to Basics: Guide to the HTML5 Video Tag 
• What is a VoD Platform?A comprehensive guide to Video on Demand (VOD)
• Video Technology [2022]: Top 5 video technology trends
• HEVC vs VP9: Modern codecs comparison
• What is the AV1 Codec?
• Video Compression: Encoding Definition and Adaptive Bitrate
• What is adaptive bitrate streaming
• MP4 vs MKV: Battle of the Video Formats
• AVOD vs SVOD; the “fall” of SVOD and Rise of AVOD & TVOD (Video Tech Trends)
• MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP)
• Container Formats: The 4 most common container formats and why they matter to you.
• Quality of Experience (QoE) in Video Technology [2022 Guide]

The post Enabling Video Technology for Developers appeared first on Bitmovin.

What is the Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award?

The Emmys®, a world-renowned awards ceremony was founded in 1955 by the National Academy of Television & Sciences (NATAS) as a method of recognizing the advancements of arts and sciences and the promotion of creative achievements within the television industry. However, what you may not know is that this creativity-oriented ceremony was predated by the Technology and Engineering award of 1948 that recognized the companies, organizations, and individuals for breakthroughs in television technology. 
As time has progressed, so has the Technology and Engineering award – in the age of streaming, innovations are no longer oriented towards traditional broadcast media alone, but also towards those who have a significant focus on television engineering online. As such, the award categories expanded from focuses around recording, transmission, and “simple” storage technologies towards complex topics such as the development of Open Perceptual Metrics, Content Delivery, Standardizations of Media Formats, and Massive Processing Optimized Compression Technologies.

The Award for Development of Massive Processing Optimized Compression Technologies

As the number of households consuming content online (as opposed to traditional broadcast) soars to new heights, alongside the number of available services to stream new content, there’s an equally growing demand for efficient transmission of the millions of hours of content worldwide. As of summer 2020, there was an estimated count of 105,000 available hours of content in the US alone on average per household. Given the recent launches of HBO Max, Peacock, Discovery+, and more, one can assume that the number has drastically increased over the course of the last year. 
Delivering that much content at scale is no easy achievement, especially when it comes to maintaining a high perceptual quality, in a timely fashion, and across all varieties of available bandwidth. That’s where Massive Processing Optimized Compression Technologies (encoding) come into play to ensure that as much content is delivered as efficiently as possible for as many organizations as possible. Thus, a new Emmy® Award was born to display the innovations in chunk and/or shot-based encoding mechanisms that transmit information into finer and smarter segments. As of February 2021, Bitmovin is the honored recipient of the Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for Development of Massive Processing Optimized Compression Technologies.

How did we get here?

Our educational roots

Bitmovin’s DNA and our original founding story came from contributing to the development of the open-source MPEG DASH adaptive bitrate standard through our founder’s Ph.D. research and as active members of the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia). Our innovative mindset towards improving streaming quality has been at our core since our founding in 2013 in the form of public research, shared development of open-source standards and code, and real-world deployments of proprietary commercial implementations at scale.
This came to fruition when the other two Bitmovin founders, Chris Mueller & Christian Timmerer, and I, contributed to the development of the MPEG-DASH standard which became the de facto video streaming standard used today by the largest online broadcasters in the world Netflix, Google, YouTube. Bitmovin’s earliest products essentially referenced implementations of this standard in development for both processing (Encoder) and playback (Player) when Bitmovin was founded as a spin-out of the University of Klagenfurt, Austria in 2013.

Our encoding product is born

Quickly after its founding and release of commercial stable products in 2014, Bitmovin saw stunning growth as evidenced by its roster of some of the world’s largest online broadcasters such as Hulu Japan, the BBC, and hundreds of others.
As of 2016, Bitmovin released the next generation of video streaming innovation with its Per-Title encoding service – one of the first commercial solutions available for broadcasters to leverage the power of perceptual quality measurement as applied to video encoding bitrate optimization. Again, Bitmovin grew its roster of global scale online broadcasters with this technology including Hulu, HBO, and Stan – officially premiering the solution at the 2018 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC).

Developing technology for the future: Per-Title Encoding

The joint project established a dedicated research team to investigate potential new tools and methodologies for encoding, transport, and playback of live and on-demand video using the HTTP Adaptive Streaming protocol that is widely used by online video and TV providers. The resulting findings will help empower the creation of next-generation solutions for higher quality video experiences at lower latency, while also potentially reducing storage and distribution costs while leveraging the human-centered perceptual quality metrics.
Most recently, Bitmovin further improved its parallel encoding compute capabilities by launching additional cloud-based processes with Cloud Connect Encoding. Bitmovin’s Cloud Connect encoding supports massively parallel encoding to achieve significant multiples over real-time deployed on the 3 most popular infrastructure services: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. Each of these services has different API specifications as well as for instance (hardware) configuration particularities.
All of these innovations culminated with Bitmovin as an honored recipient of the Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for Development of Massive Processing Optimized Compression Technologies. But that’s not the end of the story.

What does this mean for the future of Bitmovin & Online Video?

Bitmovin will continue to develop and evolve our per-title encoding solution with plans to create real-time implementations of quality-based encoding at low latencies as it is still an early-stage technology and lacks widespread accepted industry standards. We also expect to see further adoption and improvements to AI and machine learning for video quality measurements that will allow organizations like Bitmovin to apply even more optimal encoding parameters. However, it may take a few more years to see material impacts on the market from AI/ML applied to encoding, as it’s in the early research and experimentation phase.
Our research wing at the Klagenfurt of University aims to improve the “hackable” predictive quality measurement models of video with deeper metrics and analytics. And we look forward to closing the video workflow loop by connecting Encoding with Analytics. After encodings are created it is important to “close the loop” to monitor the actual performance of the encoded assets such as exploring usage patterns to note correlations with positive and negative performance.

The post You May be Wondering How We Got Here: Emmy® Award for Innovations in Online Broadcasting appeared first on Bitmovin.

MPEG-DASH sample streams and HLS test streams or m3u8 streams as they are often called, are important tools that you should have available throughout your development process.

It’s good to have a variety of streams available when you are testing your adaptive streaming solution to ensure you are covering all aspects of your playback. We have collected the following list of publicly available and free MPEG-DASH and HLS examples, test streams and datasets to help you through your development process:

DASH Industry Forum: MPEG-DASH Test Vectors

These MPEG-DASH examples are provided by the DASH Industry Forum and its members to validate conformance to the DASH264 profile of the DASH-IF. They contain a broad variety of streams, e.g. SD only, HD streams, multichannel audio extensions, negative test vectors, single and multi-bitrate MPDs, multi-resolutions, multiple audio representations, the addition of timed text, multiple periods, encrypted streams including key rotation, dynamic segment offering, and MPD updates, tick modes, etc.
These streams will provide a great set of tools for thoroughly testing your player and environment.
DASH industry forum test streams

Bitmovin’s Teststreams from the Most Popular Encoders and Streaming Servers

As part of our demo section, we provide a wide range of test-streams from the most popular encoders and streaming servers on the market to ensure compatibility and integration. We also provide our test live-streams that showcase time-shift/DVR functionalities and that are produced by our Bitmovin encoding service. You can also find High-Frame-Rate (HFR) content, as well as MPEG-CENC compliant Microsoft PlayReady, Apple Fairplay, Adobe PrimeTime, or Google Widevine content.
Our demonstration page shows you how to test your own stream with the Bitmovin Player. Similarly, we can give you some insights and demos on encoding. You can also find our DRM test player useful when you start working on your protected content.

University Klagenfurt, ITEC: DASH Dataset

The ITEC: DASH Dataset was the first MPEG-DASH dataset available, and is consistently getting updated with the current status of MPEG-DASH. Today, the ITEC research department has expanded to its own unique research wing called ATHENA Labs. The DASH dataset contain full-movie-length content in up to 15 different quality representations with resolution up to 1080p. The content is available in different segment length versions from 1 to 15 seconds. This is an important parameter in adaptive streaming systems.

• University Klagenfurt DASH dataset

Telecom ParisTech, GPAC: UHD HEVC DASH Dataset

This is a great UHD HEVC dataset, which includes several sequences shot during the 4Ever project. The DASH sequences provide HEVC encoding ranging from 720p30 @ 2Mbps up to 2160p60 @ 20 Mbps, with one 1080p60 and one 2160p60 in 10 bits.

• UHD HEVC DASH dataset

University Klagenfurt, ITEC: Distributed DASH Dataset

This dataset takes some of the content from the DASH Dataset of ITEC, and makes it available on different mirrors worldwide. Currently there are 8 mirrors active around the world, which makes it possible to test multi-origin/multi-CDN, fail-over, multi-BaseURL, etc. scenarios.

• University Klagenfurt Distributed DASH Dataset

YouTube, MPEG-DASH Sample Media

As previously mentioned, Youtube widely uses MPEG-DASH. The interesting thing here is that YouTube also uses WebM-based MPEG-DASH, therefore we can also find such test streams on their page. They also provide DRM protected content using MPEG-CENC and Widevine.

BBC R&D: MPEG-DASH Teststreams

The BBC is one of the first-movers on the MPEG-DASH side and have a very active development team. They also provide some test streams on their R&D website. The BBC has been using MPEG-DASh in production for several years now.

• BBC Teststreams

Bento4 sample MPEG-DASH streams

Also the popular open-source packaging software, bento4, provides some test streams produced by the software, using multiple qualities of the well-known Tears of Steel movie.

Microsoft Azure Teststreams

Microsoft and the Azure Media Services team are also very active in the DASH field, and support MPEG-DASH in their products such as Azure Media Services, IE11, etc. They also provide different test streams.

GPAC MPEG-DASH Dataset

This is a second MPEG-DASH dataset of the GPAC group at Telecom ParisTech. It includes MPEG-DASH test content using both ISO Base Media File Format as well as MPEG2-TS containers. This content is really convenient for testing audio/video sync.

• GPAC Dataset

Bitmovin’s OnDemand and Live MPEG-DASH & HLS Demostreams

With the Bitmovin cloud-encoding platform everybody can simply and easily create MPEG-DASH content within a few minutes. You can try it out by registering on the website.

Encode MPEG-DASH & HLS Content

Encode your content with the same technology as Netflix and YouTube in a way that it plays everywhere with low startup delay and no buffering. The Bitmovin cloud encoding server is not only the fastest in the industry, but it has a full set of capabilities including DRM, Multi-language, ads, subtitles 360° and much more. Sign up for a free trial and test it today.
This blog post was originally posted in April 2015, and was checked and updated on the August 2022.

Thanks and best,
Stefan from the Bitmovin Team
Follow me on Twitter: @slederer
Follow bitmovin on Twitter: @bitmovin

Video technology guides and articles

• Back to Basics: Guide to the HTML5 Video Tag 
• What is a VoD Platform?A comprehensive guide to Video on Demand (VOD)
• Video Technology [2022]: Top 5 video technology trends
• HEVC vs VP9: Modern codecs comparison
• What is the AV1 Codec?
• Video Compression: Encoding Definition and Adaptive Bitrate
• What is adaptive bitrate streaming
• MP4 vs MKV: Battle of the Video Formats
• AVOD vs SVOD; the “fall” of SVOD and Rise of AVOD & TVOD (Video Tech Trends)
• MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP)
• Container Formats: The 4 most common container formats and why they matter to you.
• Quality of Experience (QoE) in Video Technology [2022 Guide]

The post Free & Public MPEG-DASH and HLS Example Test Streams and Datasets appeared first on Bitmovin.

Typical DASH and HLS Chunk Sizes

For the following detailed evaluation of segment sizes, we created a dataset which is encoded and multiplexed using different segment sizes, ranging from 2 seconds (i.e., Microsoft Smooth Streaming) to 10 seconds per segment (recommended by Apple HTTP Streaming) with some steps in between and at the lower and higher end, which results in the sizes of the segments of 1, 2, 4, 6, 10 and 15 seconds, which we took as the basis for the following evaluations.

Segment Length Decision: Encoding Efficiency and Quality?

To enable seamless switching between the different quality representations of adaptive streaming formats such as HLS or DASH, it is required to maintain fixed I-frame positions in the video, e.g., after 48 frames, an I-frame has to be set in a 24 frames-per-second (FPS) video and a segment length of two seconds. This is necessary to guarantee I-frames at the beginning of each segment, which is needed to be able to switch representations between different segments. By doing so at the beginning of a new segment, the decoder does not need any references to previous frames or segments and therefore the new segment can have frames in different resolutions, bitrates, or framerates. Fixed I-frame positions can be achieved by restricting the group-of-picture (GOP) size of the encoder to the desired segment size of the content. As a consequence, from the encoding point of view, smaller segment sizes have a disadvantage because of the higher number of segments in the final encoding, and due to this, there are also more I-frames needed to guarantee representation switching at the segment boundaries. This leads to a lower encoding efficiency because I-frames, which cannot leverage temporal prediction, need more bits for encoding than predicted (P-) frames and so the overall quality of the content gets worse in comparison to conventional encoding at the same bitrate such as used for HTTP progressive download or segments with longer segment sizes. This problem is well-known and needs to be considered in content generation for adaptive HTTP streaming.
As a consequence of this lower encoding performance introduced by the fixed GOP sizes, the following evaluation demonstrates the effect of the different segment sizes on the encoding quality in terms of PSNR. This table shows the PSNR values for different segment sizes and provides evidence that this needs to be considered in the evaluation process for the segment sizes of adaptive HTTP streaming systems.

As shown, small segment sizes can affect the overall quality of the content by up to 1,5 dB of the PSNR value. However, the influence of this effect is reduced significantly by an increase in segment size. As shown in the following figure, segment sizes with lengths smaller than two seconds perform very poorly. In combination with other factors such as network characteristics shown in the following evaluation, such small segments (e.g. 1-second segment length) should generally be avoided.

Segment Length Decision: Avoiding Stalls, Streaming Performance and Web Server/CDN Configuration

From a network/internet perspective, there are also a lot of influencing factors that have to be considered. E.g. longer segment lengths may cause stalls using wireless internet connection with high bandwidth changes, but short segment lengths may result in poor streaming performance due to overhead produced by requests and the influence of the network delay. To investigate this, we built up an evaluation environment to emulate standard Internet connections, in order to show the impact of the segment size of adaptive streaming content, as well as other factors such as HTTP server configuration (e.g. allowing persistent connections). For this purpose, a standard HTTP Web server was used to enable persistent HTTP 1.1-compliant connections as well as non-persistent HTTP 1.0-compliant connections. We also emulated the network characteristics of a last-mile (e.g., ADSL) Internet connection and added a network delay of 150 ms for this evaluation.
The optimal segment size of the given network configuration scenario for both cases, with and without the usage of HTTP1.1/persistent connections, was evaluated. For this purpose, the performance results of the 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, and 15-second segment length versions of Big Buck Bunny of the dataset were analyzed and interpolated to a graph showing the performance of the segment sizes in terms of effective media throughput. As shown in the following figure, the optimal segment size for this network setting would be between 2 and 3 seconds if one uses web servers/CDNs using HTTP 1.1 persistent connections, and between 5 and 8 seconds without using them (e.g. using HTTP 1.0). The effective media throughput of the optimal segment lengths of both configurations differs only by about 50 kbit/s. The reason why the effective media throughput does not improve when increasing the segment size is that the available bandwidth in the evaluation setting changes over time. When longer segments are used, the client is not able to adjust as flexibly and quickly as it would be possible with shorter segments and therefore the overall bitrate deteriorates for longer segment lengths. On the other hand, the influence of the network delay (RTT) increases when using smaller segment lengths. This especially affects the non-persistent/HTTP1.0 connection results, because in this case there is one round-trip-time (RTT) required for establishing the TCP connection to the server after each segment. But also the persistent connection/HTTP1.1 results suffer from the influence of the delay when using very small segments, which is visible in the version with a segment length of one second in the following figure. In this case, half of the RTT necessary for requesting the segment becomes significant and the average throughput decreases.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of these evaluations, as well as our experiences from customer deployments, Bitmovin would recommend using DASh or HLS chunk sizes of around 2 to 4 seconds, which is a good compromise between encoding efficiency and flexibility for stream adaption to bandwidth changes. It is also recommended to use Web servers and CDNs that enable persistent HTTP connections, as this is an easy and cost-effective way to increase streaming performance. Thus, in doing so, the effective media throughput and QoS can be increased without any changes to the client’s implementation, by simply choosing the right segment length.
We hope this blog post helps you when creating your content with the optimal segment length for your use case. If you have further questions on this, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can also have a look at our support section including tips on encoding, the Bitmovin Player in general and analytics.

Encode MPEG-DASH & HLS Content

Encode your content with the same technology as Netflix and YouTube in a way that it plays everywhere with low startup delay and no buffering with the Bitmovin Cloud Encoding Service. 
Best regards,
Stefan from the Bitmovin Team!
[Free Download: Video Developer Report 2020 – Key insights into the evolving technology trends of the digital video industry]
Follow me on Twitter: @slederer
Follow Bitmovin on Twitter: @bitmovin

Video technology guides and articles

• Back to Basics: Guide to the HTML5 Video Tag 
• What is a VoD Platform?A comprehensive guide to Video on Demand (VOD)
• Video Technology [2022]: Top 5 video technology trends
• HEVC vs VP9: Modern codecs comparison
• What is the AV1 Codec?
• Video Compression: Encoding Definition and Adaptive Bitrate
• What is adaptive bitrate streaming
• MP4 vs MKV: Battle of the Video Formats
• AVOD vs SVOD; the “fall” of SVOD and Rise of AVOD & TVOD (Video Tech Trends)
• MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP)
• Container Formats: The 4 most common container formats and why they matter to you.
• Quality of Experience (QoE) in Video Technology [2022 Guide]

The post Optimal Adaptive Streaming Formats MPEG-DASH & HLS Segment Length appeared first on Bitmovin.