In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, media firms are in constant pursuit of innovative strategies that can enhance viewer experiences while leveraging significant savings. One promising strategy is the implementation of advanced media technologies within the streaming workflow. This blog post describes six advanced media technologies from CDNetworks and delves into how they optimize different stages of the streaming workflow to deliver improved viewer satisfaction and significant savings for media companies and related markets.
Before proceeding, it is important to understand that a typical streaming workflow starts with capturing content followed by encoding, transcoding, packaging, and finally delivery through Content Delivery Networks (CDN). Each stage can be enhanced significantly using advanced technologies, leading to an overall increase in viewer satisfaction and considerable savings. Let’s explore the first innovation we support, H.266, the successor to the H.265 codec.
H.266 Support: Pioneering the Future of Codecs
Whether it’s live streaming or on-demand streaming, encoding is a critical step in the efficient distribution of video content and the first step in the streaming workflow. The choice of encoding format is not only closely related to decoding, but also directly relates to the subsequent distribution efficiency and viewing experience. The emerging H.266 codec revolutionizes the encoding phase of the streaming workflow.
With bitrate reduction and traffic savings as much as 50% compared to H.265, H.266 delivers superior video quality up to 16K streaming while reducing bandwidth usage. By harnessing H.266, media companies can realize cost savings, improved efficiency, and deliver unparalleled viewer experiences.
CDNetworks understands what lower distribution costs and higher distribution efficiency mean for media companies in today’s fiercely competitive markets. Imagine the impact to your business if your competitor adopted a more advanced encoding format under the same cost scenario. The competitor would undoubtedly attract more viewers due to lower latency and better video quality.
Market response is consistent when it comes to H.266. For transmission scenarios with high demand for real-time video interaction, such as Immersive Video Streaming and Online Video Gaming, H.266 is highly favored due to the advantages mentioned above. In some scenarios, such as storing high-definition videos in the cloud-based Internet of Things, H.266’s smaller file size and clearer video quality are features actively sought by media platforms.
Based on market feedback and analysis of H.266’s technical characteristics, CDNetworks actively embraces this cutting-edge technology to provide enterprises with support for next-generation codec technologies. The power of H.266 and CDNetworks helps media companies tap into a myriad of possibilities with versatile video coding, enhanced user experiences, and improvements to their competitive posture in the market.
Low Bandwidth High Definition: A Perfect Transcoding Solution
Like encoding, transcoding also plays a crucial role in adapting videos to different playback devices and network environments. CDNetworks continues to invest in research and development efforts and, as a result, has developed a number of disruptive transcoding technologies designed for media companies. Let’s discuss how CDNetworks’ in-house Low Bandwidth High Definition (LBHD) technology empowers media enterprises.
As mentioned earlier, transcoding is all about adaptation – finding ways to output videos in ways that best suit different devices and network conditions in order to provide the best viewing experience. Finding the right balance between this adaptation and experience is where LBHD truly shines. With features like Scenario-based Transcoding, Dynamic Bitrate Control, and Video Details Restored, LBHD considers every aspect of video—from storage and distribution efficiency to video quality.
For example, with the help of AI, LBHD can apply different encoding formats to encode and compress videos according to the complexity of a particular video scene, allowing compression to change scene by scene. LBHD can also identify the importance of video scenes based on an adaptive bitrate control algorithm, intelligently allocating bitrate so that the core part of a video is untouched. After a series of compression processes, LBHD also restores some details by denoising, sharpening, and improving contrast, making details more qualitative and keeping the video quality level unchanged prior to and after processing.
In the swan in the video below, the video’s bitrate is compressed to varying degrees as the wings start and stop flapping. When the image tends to be still, the bitrate is compressed to the lowest, saving bandwidth for transmission. Even when the wings flap at the highest frequency, no details are lost. From the video file perspective, CDNetworks’ Low Bandwidth High Definition reduced the file size to a mere 37.6 MB, less than half of the original 83.4 MB, without compromising the video’s stunning quality.
This groundbreaking result means that the traditional trade-off between lower transmission efficiency and optimal user experience for media platforms is now a thing of the past. With CDNetworks’ in-house LBHD technology, media platforms can transmit the same high-quality videos more efficiently and at lower network bandwidth costs, leading to higher user satisfaction. This feature is not only suitable for on-demand scenarios, but also ideal for live broadcast scenarios. Based on these disruptive advantages, LBHD is the perfect transcoding solution.
AI Super Resolution: Breathing New Life into Old Videos
AI Super Resolution is also a proprietary transcoding technology developed by CDNetworks and designed specifically for on-demand video. Leveraging the power of AI, AI Super Resolution enhances the quality of older videos without manual intervention, effortlessly achieving significant improvements in video quality and resolution. It can even upscale the resolution of old videos by up to 6 times, reaching as high as 8K resolution. Let’s take the following two leopards as an example to explain how AI Super Resolution works.
With the assistance of AI, CDNetworks AI Super Resolution technology optimizes blurred details in the original video. From the edges of the fur, we can see that AI sharpens the image. Overall, the color of the frame also has been enhanced. Hidden here is an important AI working principle known as Recreation. In practical on-demand video scenarios, long-standing videos often need to be super-resolved. These videos usually have low image quality and often are suitable for playback only on small screens. To display such videos on large screens without noise following the super resolution process, it’s necessary to leverage AI’s Recreation capabilities. These capabilities soften the color of the frame; harmonize colors, brightness, and saturation; and ultimately present the video with unparalleled image quality to the audience.
These achievements are done by reconstructing the video at a higher resolution to transform blurry content into brilliant, dazzling viewing. Media companies can utilize this technology to upgrade their legacy content and provide viewers with an upgraded viewing experience. More importantly, this technology breaks the conventional concept that transcoding technology can only downgrade the video quality. Instead, with the help of AI, this bottleneck is removed, helping to restore and reconstruct low-quality videos into ultra-high-definition videos. In this way, AI Super Resolution gives new life to old videos. And with its ability to fit comfortably onto a big screen without sacrificing picture quality, classic scenes become more accessible and impactful to more viewers, while creating value for media companies that deliver the content.
Enhanced RTMP/FLV Support: Transforming Protocols
The transport stream ingest protocol (also known as streaming protocol or push stream protocol) is intricately related to encoding and transcoding in the live streaming process. The choice of the streaming protocol directly determines the range of applicable encoding standards described in the preceding steps. A high-quality streaming protocol also significantly impacts the live streaming quality and viewer experience.
Taking the mainstream streaming protocol RTMP as an example, currently about 75% of broadcasters use RTMP for streaming. However, because updates have stopped for FLV, the standard used for RTMP’s corresponding encapsulation container, new encoding formats such as H.265 and H.266 are not supported. To address this issue, CDNetworks actively supports the latest streaming protocol, Enhanced RTMP/FLV. This removes the restrictions that had been placed on the encoding formats (H.266, H.265, AV1, and VP9) involved in the streaming process. This allows broadcasters at the streaming side to directly use live streaming apps embedded with stream ingest features, or directly use common streaming software such as OBS, VLC to stream without requiring any plugins.
This kind of support will undoubtedly prove to be a major convenience for media platforms, especially interactive entertainment platforms that focus on low-latency live streaming. It allows contracted broadcasters on the platform to present live content to fans easily without the need for complicated operations during the streaming process. At the same time, media platforms will no longer have to abandon low-latency streaming protocols like RTMP due to compatibility issues, gaining higher audience satisfaction.
8K Transcoding Support: Breaking the Boundaries of Ultra-High Resolution
With the development of streaming technology and the support of related equipment, people are increasingly pursuing the ultimate experience driven by high-definition picture quality. This quest places higher demands on streaming solution providers. One major challenge of 8K video transmission is its high bitrate and low transmission efficiency, which often require high network availability. In response to this trend, CDNetworks supports 8K transcoding technology and extends this support to the following areas such as transcoding, transmission, and distribution to provide end-to-end global 8K distribution services for media platforms.
Firstly, at the CDN level, CDNetworks uses over 2800 globally distributed points of presence, which deliver 8K videos quickly to users worldwide.
Secondly, in terms of bandwidth costs, CDNetworks’ 8K transcoding capabilities convert high-bitrate 8K videos into lower bitrate 8K Video. This allows 8k-quality videos to be delivered without requiring or waiting for high network availability, all while offering considerable cost savings to media companies.
Lastly, on the resource side, CDNetworks provides media platforms with content quality improvement services. These services can upscale current 1080P or 4K videos to 8K quality, eliminating concerns that media platforms often voice about lacking 8K video resources.
Overall, CDNetworks’ technologies empower media companies to deliver ultra-high-resolution content, setting a new industry standard for video quality. In genres such as live entertainment, sports competitions, large conferences, press releases, and speeches, support for the transcoding technologies described in this blog raise the bar when it comes to achieving differentiation in a fiercely competitive environment in which media companies do battle. It is CDNetworks’ intention to spur the development of ultra-high-definition in the media industry as increasing numbers of households turn to 8K to view content.
QUIC Protocol: Speeding up & Solidifying Connections
While the aforementioned technologies are important when it comes to improving the overall workflow of streaming media, the underlying protocol called Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), which provides support for these technologies, is equally important. As a representative transport protocol of the Web 3.0 era, QUIC offers features such as Lightning-Fast Connections, Secure Transmission, Streamlined Multiplexing, Revolutionized Congestion Control, and Forward Error Correction (FEC) capabilities (see Blog: What is QUIC? How Does It Boost HTTP/3?). These features make QUIC a particularly important transport protocol in scenarios where content is delivered over poor-quality networks. Media companies that leverage the QUIC protocol on the CDNetworks’ platform can deliver faster and more efficient streaming services in an effort to expand their audience base and enhance viewer experiences.
In summary, the cutting-edge media technologies that CDNetworks introduced or supported this year are designed to push media companies to the limit in the content and viewing experiences they deliver. They consider all aspects of streaming media, from encoding, transcoding, push-pull streaming, and CDN to an audience comprised of worldwide users. All of this is achieved by supporting various protocols and formats, as well as the company’s in-house technologies. Each of these technologies has its own unique features, but they share a common goal of enhancing viewing experiences. Whether it’s reducing latency in live broadcasts, providing higher quality visuals, ensuring more stable and smoother playback, or reaching a wider user base through technology, all these efforts are aimed with this objective in mind.
It’s worth mentioning that adopting these advanced media technologies does not increase costs for companies. On the contrary, they can help media companies reduce operating costs and create value through significant savings on bandwidth costs, reduced operational expenses, less infrastructure investment, and the re-use of old video resources. Looking ahead, CDNetworks remains dedicated to actively developing and applying cutting-edge technologies to provide greater possibilities, create even more value for media and related industries, and further maximize viewer experiences and savings.
