H.265

AOM AV1AVCH.264H.265HEVCVideo EncodingVideo Trends

The Video Codec Race to 2025: How AV1 is Driving New Possibilities

Posted on by Tamar Shoham

With numerous advantages, AV1 is now supported on about 60% of devices and all major web browsers. To accelerate its adoption – Beamr has introduced an easy, automated upgrade to the codec that is in the forefront of today’s video technology

Four years ago we explored the different video codecs, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, and took a look at current and predicted market share. While it is gratifying to see that many of our predictions were pretty accurate, that is accompanied by some degree of disappointment: while AV1 strengths are well known in the industry, significant change in adoption of new codecs has yet to materialize.

The bottom line of the 2020 post was: “Only time will tell which will have the highest market share in 5 years’ time, but one easy assessment is that with AVC current market share estimated at around 70%, this one is not going to disappear anytime soon. AV1 is definitely gaining momentum, and with the giants backing we expect to see it used a fair bit in online streaming. “

Indeed we are living in a multi-codec reality, where AVC still accounts for, by far, the largest percentage of video content, but adoption of AV1 is starting to increase with large players such as Netflix and YouTube incorporating it into their workflows, and many others using it for specific high value use cases.

Thus, we are faced with a mixture of the still dominant AVC, HEVC (serving primarily UHD and HDR use cases), AV1 and some additional codecs such as VP9, VVC which are being used in quite small amounts.

The Untapped Potential of AV1

So while AV1 adoption is increasing, there is still significant untapped potential. One of the causes for slower than hoped rollout of AV1 is the obstacle present for adoption of any new standard – critical mass of decoding support in H/W on edge devices.

While for AVC and HEVC the coverage is very extensive, for AV1 that has only recently become the case, with support across an estimate of 60% of devices and all major web browsers, and complementing the efficient software decoding offered by Dav1d. 

Another obstacle AV1 faces involves the practicalities of deployment. While there is extensive knowledge, within the industry and available online, of how best to configure AVC encoding, and what presets and encoding parameters work well for which use cases – there is no such equivalent knowledge for AV1. Thus, in order to deploy it, extensive research is needed by those who intend to use it. 

Additionally, AV1 encoding is complicated, resulting in much higher processing power required to perform software encoding. In a world that is constantly trying to cut back costs, and use lower power solutions, this can pose a problem. Even when using software solutions at the fastest settings, the compute required is still significantly slower than AVC encoding at typical speeds. This is a strong motivator to upgrade to AV1 using H/W accelerated solutions (Learn more about Beamr solution to the challenge).

The upcoming codec possibilities are also a deterrent for some. With AV2 in the works, VVC finalized and gaining some traction, and various groups working on AI based encoding solutions, there will always be players waiting for ‘the next big thing’, rather than having to switch out codecs twice.

In a world where JPEG, a 30+ year old standard, is still used in over 70% of websites and is the most popular format on the web for photographic content, it is no surprise that adoption of new video codecs is taking time.

While a multi codec reality is probably going to stay with us, we can at least hope that when we revisit this topic in a blog a few years down the line, the balance between deployed codecs leans more towards the higher efficiency codecs, like AV1, to yield  the best bitrate – quality options for the video world.

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Automatically upgrade your video content to a new and improved codec

Posted on by Tamar Shoham

Easy & Safe Codec Modernization with Beamr using Nvidia GPUs 

Following a decade where AVC/H.264 was the clear ruler of the video encoding world, the last years have seen many video coding options battling to conquer the video arena. For some insights on the race between modern coding standards you can check out our corresponding blog post.

Today we want to share how easy it can be to upgrade your content to a new and improved codec in a fast, fully automatic process which guarantees the visual quality of the content will not be harmed. This makes the switchover to newer encoders a smooth, easy and low cost process which can help accelerate the adoption of new standards such as HEVC and AV1. When this transformation is done using a combination of Beamr’s technology with the Nvidia NVENC encoder, using their recently released APIs, it becomes a particularly cutting-edge solution, enjoying the benefits of the leading solution in hardware AV1 encoding.

The benefit of switching to more modern codecs lies of course in the higher compression efficiency that they offer. While the extent of improvement is very dependent on the actual content, bitrates and encoders used, HEVC is considered to offer gains of 30%-50% over AVC, meaning that for the same quality you can spend up to 50% fewer bits. For AV1 this increase is generally a bit higher.. As more and more on-device support is added for these newer codecs, the advantage of utilizing them to reduce both storage and bandwidth is clear. 

Generally speaking, performing such codec modernization involves some non-trivial steps. 

First, you need to get access to the modern encoder you want to use, and know enough about it in order to configure the encoder correctly for your needs. Then you can proceed to encoding using one of the following approaches.

The first approach is to perform bit-rate driven encoding. One possibility is to use conservative bitrates, in which case the potential reduction in size will not be achieved. Another possibility is to set target bitrates that reflect the expected savings, in which case there is a risk of losing quality. For example, In an experimental test of files which were converted from their AVC source to HEVC, we found that on average, a bitrate reduction of 50% could be obtained when using the Beamr CABR codec modernization approach. However, when the same files were all brute-force encoded  to HEVC at 50% reduced bitrate, using the same encoder and configuration, the quality took a hit for some of the files.

 

Source AVC
Beamr HEVC codec modernization
HEVC Brute-Force encode

This example shows the full AVC source frame on top, with the transcodes to HEVC below it. Note the distortion in the blind HEVC encode, shown on the left, compared to the true-to-source video transformed with CABR on the right.

The second approach is to perform the transcode using a quality driven encode, for instance using the constant QP (Quantization Parameter) or CRF (Constant Rate Factor) encoding modes with conservative values, which will in all likelihood preserve the quality. However, in this case you are likely to unnecessarily “blow up” some of your files to much higher bitrates. For example, for the UGC content shown below, transcoding to HEVC using a software encoder and CRF set to 21 almost doubled the file size.

Yet another approach is to use a trial and error encode process for each file or even each scene, manually verifying that a good target encoding setup was selected which minimizes the bitrate while preserving the quality. This is of course an expensive and cumbersome process, and entirely unscalable.

By using Beamr CABR this is all done for you under the hood, in a fully automatic process, which makes optimized choices for each and every frame in your video, selecting the lowest bitrate that will still perfectly preserve the source visual quality. When performed using the Nvidia NVENC SDK with interfaces to Beamr’s CABR technology, this transformation is significantly accelerated and becomes even more cost effective. 

The codec modernization flow is demonstrated for AVC to HEVC conversion in the above high-level block diagram. As shown here, the CABR controller interacts with NVENC, Nvidia’s hardware video encoder, using the new APIs Nvidia has created for this purpose. At the heart of the CABR controller lies Beamr’s Quality Measure, BQM, a unique, patented, Emmy award winning perceptual video quality measure. BQM has now been adapted and ported to the Nvidia GPU platform, resulting in significant acceleration of the optimization process .  

The Beamr optimization technology can be used not only for codec modernization, but also to reduce bitrate of an input video, or of a target encode, while guaranteeing the perceptual quality is preserved, thus creating encodes with the same perceptual quality at lower bitrates or file sizes. In any and every usage of the Beamr CABR solution, size or bitrate are reduced as much as possible while each frame of the optimized encode is guaranteed to be perceptually identical to the reference. The codec modernization use case is particularly exciting as it puts the ability to migrate to more efficient and sophisticated codecs, previously used primarily by video experts, into the hands of any user with video content.

For more information please contact us at info@beamr.com 

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Beamr Helps Businesses Keep Up With AI-Generated Content 

Posted on by Tamar Shoham

The proliferation of AI-generated visual content is creating a new market for media optimization services, with companies like Beamr well positioned to help businesses optimize their video content for reduced storage, faster delivery, and better user experiences.

We are living in a brave new world, where any image and video content we can imagine is at our fingertips, merely a prompt and AI based content generation engine away. Platforms like Wochit, Synthesia, Wibbitz, and D-ID are using AI technology to automate the video creation process. Using these tools makes it almost trivial for businesses to create engaging video content at scale. These platforms allow users to create tailored content quickly and efficiently, with minimal time and cost.

Wochit, for example, offers a library of pre-made templates that users can customize with their own branding and messaging. The platform’s AI technology can also automatically generate videos from text, images, and video clips, making it easier for businesses to create engaging video content without needing specialized video production skills.

However, as businesses increasingly rely on AI-generated content to reach their audiences, and can create a multitude of ‘perfect fit’ videos, the struggle with storage and bit rates becomes a significant factor in their operations. When dealing with bandwidth gobbling video, companies need to ensure that their videos are optimized for fast delivery, high quality, and optimal user experiences. That’s where Beamr comes in.

Beamr’s technology uses advanced compression algorithms to automatically optimize image and video content for fast delivery over any network or device, without compromising quality. This means that you will get to keep the full look and feel of the content, and maintain standard compatibility, but reduce the file sizes or bitrates – without having to do anything manually. The underlying, patented and Emmy Award winning technology will guarantee that the perceptual quality is preserved while any unnecessary bits and bytes are removed. This allows businesses to deliver high-quality content that engages their audience and drives results, while also minimizing the impact on network resources and reducing storage and delivery costs.

Video generated on wochit.com

To demonstrate the synergy between AI based video content generation and Beamr’s optimization technology we went to Wochit and created a magnificent video showcasing Ferrari above. We then applied the Beamr optimization technology, and received the reduced size perceptually identical optimized video, with file size down from the original 8.8MB to 5.4MB, offering saving of almost 38%.

For our next experiment we took the title of this blog, went to D-ID, and turned the text into a promotional video, using all the default settings. This resulted in the source video shared below.

Video generated on dd-id.com

With an easy drag & drop into the Beamr optimization utility, a completely equivalent video file – using the same codec, resolution and perceptual quality was obtained, except its size was reduced by 48%. 



Image synthesis using AI is also becoming more and more common. Along with the already commonplace AI based image generators such as DALL-E (2), many additional platforms are becoming available including Midjourney, DreamStudio and Images.ai.

Feeling the tug of the Land-Down-Under we headed to https://images.ai/prompt/ and requested an image showing ‘a koala eating ice-cream’. The adorable result is shown below on the left. Then we put it through Beamr optimization software and obtained an image with the exact same quality, but reduced from the original 212 KB JPEG, to a mere 49 KB perceptually identical fully standard compliant JPEG image.

Original version
Optimized version

Beamr is also preparing to launch a new SaaS platform that leverages Nvidia’s accelerated video encoding technology, to further speed up the video optimization process. This will allow businesses to optimize their video content even faster than traditional video encoding services, giving them a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving market for AI-generated video content.

For businesses that use Wochit to create their videos, Beamr’s technology can be integrated into the delivery process, ensuring that the videos are optimized for fast delivery and high quality. This allows businesses to stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving market, and keeps their audiences coming back for more. As the demand for AI-generated video content continues to grow, media optimization services like Beamr will become increasingly important for businesses that want to deliver high-quality image and video content that engages their audience and drives results ensuring that they stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving market.

Beamr 4Beamr 5Codec PerformanceH.264H.265HEVCx264x265

Beamr AVC & HEVC Live Encoding Performance Milestones

Posted on by Dror Gill

It has been two years since we published a comparison of the two leading HEVC software encoder SDKs; Beamr 5, and x265. In this article you will learn how Beamr’s AVC and HEVC software codec SDKs have widened the computing performance gap further over x264 and x265 for live broadcast quality streaming.

Why Performance Matters

With the performance of our AVC (Beamr 4) and HEVC (Beamr 5) software encoders improving several orders of magnitude over the 2017 results, it felt like the right time to refresh our benchmarks, this time with real-time operational data.

It’s no secret that x264 and x265 have benefited greatly, as open-source projects, from having thousands of developers working on the code. This is what makes x264 and x265 a very high bar to beat. Yet even with so many bright and talented engineers donating tens of thousands of development hours to the code base, the architectural constraints of how these encoders were built limit the performance on multicore processors as you will see in the data below.

Creative solutions have been developed which enable live encoding workflows to be built using open-source. But it’s no secret that they come with inherent flaws that include being overly compute intensive and encumbered with quality issues as a result of not being able to encode a full ABR stack, or even a single 4K profile, on a single machine.

The reason this matters is because the resolutions that video services deliver continues to increase. And as a result of exploding consumer demand for video, data consumption is consuming network bandwidth to the point that Cisco reports in 2022, 82% of Internet traffic will be video.

Cisco says in their Visual Networking Index that by 2022 SD resolution video will comprise just 23.4% of Internet video traffic, compared to the 60.2% of Internet video traffic that SD video consumed in 2017. What use to represent the middle-quality tier, 480p (SD), has now become the lowest rung of the ABR ladder for many video distributors.

1080p (HD) will makeup 56.2% of Internet video traffic by 2022, an increase from 36.1% in 2017. And if you thought the resolution expansion was going to end with HD, Cisco is claiming in 2022, 4K (UHD) will comprise 20.3% of all Internet-delivered video. 

Live video services are projected to expand 15x between 2017 and 2022, meaning within the next three years, 17.1% of all Internet video traffic will be comprised of live streams.

These trends demonstrate the industry’s need to prepare for this shift to higher resolution video and real-time delivery with software encoding solutions that can meet the requirement for live broadcast quality 4K.

Blazing Software Performance on Multicore Processors

The Beamr 5 software encoder utilizes an advanced thread management architecture. This represents a key aspect of how we can achieve such fantastic speed over x265 at the same quality level.

x265 works by creating software threads and adding them to a thread pool where each task must wait its turn. In contrast, Beamr 5 tracks all the serial dependencies involved with the video coding tasks it must perform, and it creates small micro-tasks which are efficiently distributed across all of the CPU cores in the system. This allows the Beamr codec to utilize each available core at almost 100% capacity. 

All tasks added to the Beamr codec thread pool may be executed immediately so that no hardware thread is wasted on tasks where the data is not yet available. Interestingly, under certain conditions, x265 can appear to have higher CPU utilization. But, this utilization includes software threads which are not doing any useful work. This means they are “active” but not processing data that is required for the encoding process.

Adding to Beamr encoders thread efficiency, we have implemented patented algorithms for more effective and efficient video encoding, including a fast motion estimation process and a heuristic early-termination algorithm which enables the encoder to reach a targeted quality using fewer compute resources (cycles). Furthermore, Beamr encoders utilize the latest AVX-512 SIMD instruction set for squeezing even more performance out of advanced CPUs.

The end result of the numerous optimizations found in the Beamr 4 (AVC) and Beamr 5 (HEVC) software encoders is that they are able to operate nearly twice as fast as x264 and x265 at the same quality, and with similar settings and tools utilization. 

Video streaming services can benefit from this performance advantage in many ways, such as higher density (more channels per server) which reduces operational costs. To illustrate what this performance advantage can do for you- consider that at the top-end, Beamr 5 is able to encode 4K, 10-bit video at 60 FPS in real-time using just 9 Intel Xeon Scalable cores where x265 is unable to achieve this level of performance with any number of computing cores (at least on a single machine). And, as a result of being twice as efficient, Beamr 4 and Beamr 5 can deliver higher quality at the same computing envelope as x264 and x265.

The Test Results

For our test to be as real-world as possible, we devised two methodologies. In the first, we measured the compute performance of an HEVC ABR stack operating both Beamr 5 and x265 at live speed. And for the second test, our team measured the number of simultaneous live streams at 1080p, comparing Beamr 4 with x264, and Beamr 5 with x265; and for 4K comparing Beamr 5 with x265. All tests were run on a single machine.

Live HEVC ABR Stack: Number of ABR Profiles (Channels)

This test was designed to find the maximum number of full ABR channels which can be encoded live by Beamr 5 and x265 on an AWS EC2 c5.24xlarge instance.

Each AVC channel comprises 4 layers of 8-bit 60 FPS video starting from 1080p, and the HEVC channel comprises either 4 layers of 10-bit 60 FPS video (starting from 1080p), or 5 layers of 10-bit 60 FPS video (starting from 4K).

Live HEVC ABR Stack Test – CONFIGURATION

  • Platform: 
    • AWS EC2 c5.24xlarge instance
    • Intel Xeon Scaleable Cascade Lake @ 3.6 GHz
    • 48 cores, 96 threads
  • Presets: 
    • Beamr 5: INSANELY_FAST
    • x265: ultrafast
  • Content: Netflix 10-bit 4Kp60 sample clips (DinnerScene and PierSeaside)
  • Encoded Frame Rate (all layers): 60 FPS
  • Encoded Bit Depth (all layers): 10-bit
  • Encoded Resolutions and Bitrates: 
    • 4Kp60@18000 Kbps (only in 4K ABR stack)
    • 1080p60@3750 Kbps
    • 720p60@2500 Kbps
    • 576p60@1250 Kbps
    • 360p@625 Kbps

Live HEVC ABR Stack Test – RESULTS

HEVC Live Stacks Beamr 5 vs x265

NOTES:

(1) When encoding 2 full ABR stacks with Beamr 5, 25% of the CPU is unused and available for other tasks.

(2) x265 cannot encode even a single 4K ABR stack channel at 60 FPS. The maximum FPS for the 4K layer of a single 4K ABR stack channel using x265 is 35 FPS.

Live AVC & HEVC Single-Resolution: Number of Channels (1080p & 4K)

In this test, we are trying to discover the maximum number of single-resolution 4K and HD channels that can be encoded live by Beamr 4 and Beamr 5 as compared with x264 and x265, on a c5.24xlarge instance. As with the Live ABR Channels test, the quality between the two encoders as measured by PSNR, SSIM and VMAF was always found to be equal, and in some cases better with Beamr 4 and Beamr 5 (see the “Quality Results” section below).

Live AVC Beamr 4 vs. x264 Channels Test – CONFIGURATION

  • Platform: 
    • AWS EC2 c5.24xlarge instance
    • Intel Xeon Scaleable Cascade Lake @ 3.6 GHz
    • 48 cores, 96 threads
  • Speeds / Presets: 
    • Beamr 4: speed 3
    • x264: preset medium
  • Content: Netflix 10-bit 4Kp60 sample clips (DinnerScene and PierSeaside)
  • Encoded Frame Rate (all channels): 60 FPS
  • Encoded Bit Depth (all channels): 8-bit
  • Channel Resolutions and Bitrates: 
    • 1080p60@5000 Kbps

Live AVC Beamr 4 vs. x264 Channels Test – RESULTS

Live HEVC Beamr 5 vs. x265 Channels Test – CONFIGURATION

  • Platform: 
    • AWS EC2 c5.24xlarge instance
    • Intel Xeon Scaleable Cascade Lake @ 3.6 GHz
    • 48 cores, 96 threads
  • Speeds / Presets: 
    • Beamr 5: INSANELY_FAST
    • x265: ultrafast
  • Content: Netflix 10-bit 4Kp60 sample clips (DinnerScene and PierSeaside)
  • Encoded Frame Rate (all channels): 60 FPS
  • Encoded Bit Depth (all channels): 10-bit
  • Channel Resolutions and Bitrates: 
    • 4K@18000 Kbps
    • 1080p60@3750 Kbps

Live HEVC Beamr 5 vs. x265 Channels Test – RESULTS

NOTES:

(1) x265 was unable to reach 60 FPS for a single 4K channel, achieving just 35 FPS at comparable quality.

Quality Comparisons (PSNR, SSIM, VMAF)

Beamr 5 vs. x265

NOTES:

As previously referenced, x265 was unable to reach 4Kp60 and thus PSNR, SSIM, and VMAF scores could not be calculated, hence the ‘N/A’ designation in the 3840×2160 cells.

Beamr 4 vs. x264

Source Clip Downloads

All source clips used in this comparison are publicly available at  https://media.xiph.org/video/derf.

Conclusion

Video engineers are universally focused on the video encoding pillars of computing efficiency (performance), bitrate efficiency, and quality. Even as technology has enabled each of these pillars to advance with new tool sets, it’s well known that there is still a tradeoff between each that is required.

On one hand, bitrate efficiency requires tools that sap performance, and on the other hand, to reach a performance (speed) target, tools which could positively affect quality cannot be used without harming the performance characteristics of the encoding pipeline. As a result, many video encoding practitioners have adapted to the reality of these tradeoffs and simply accept them for what they are. Now, there is a solution…

The impact of adopting Beamr 4 for AVC and Beamr 5 for HEVC transcends a TCO calculation. With Beamr’s high-performance software encoders, services can achieve bitrate efficiency and performance, all without sacrificing video quality. 

The use of Beamr 4 and Beamr 5 opens up improved UX with an increase in resolution or frame-rate which means it is now possible for everyone to stream higher quality video. As the competitive landscape for video delivery services continues to evolve, never has the need been greater for an AVC and HEVC codec implementation that can deliver the best of all three pillars: performance, bitrate efficiency, and quality. With the performance data presented above, it should be clear that Beamr 4 and Beamr 5 continue to be the codec implementations to beat.

GET INFORMATION ON BEAMR 4 & BEAMR 5


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2018 Video Trends: 8K Makes a Splash

Posted on by Dror Gill

At the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, video hardware manufacturers came out swinging on the innovation front—including 8K TVs and a host of whiz-bang UX improvements—leading to key discussions around the business and economic models around content and delivery.

On the hardware side, TV has dominated at CES, with LG and Samsung battling it out over premium living room gear. LG, in addition to debuting a 65-inch rollable OLED screen, made headlines with its announcement of an 88-inch 8K prototype television. It’s backed by the new Alpha 9 intelligent processor, which provides seven times the color reproduction over existing models, and can handle up to 120 frames per second for improved gaming and sports viewing.

Not to be outdone, Samsung has debuted its Q9S 8K offering (commercially available in the second half of the year), featuring an 85-inch screen with built-in artificial intelligence that uses a proprietary algorithm to continuously learn from itself to intelligently upscale the resolution of the content it displays — no matter the source of that content.

The Korean giant also took the wraps off of what it is calling “the Wall,” which, true to its name, is an enormous 146-inch display. It’s not 8K, but it’s made up of micro LEDs that it says will let consumers “customize their television sizes and shapes to suit their needs.” It also said that its newest TVs will incorporate its artificial digital assistant Bixby and a universal programming guide with AI that learns your viewing preferences.

It’s clear that manufacturers are committed to upping their games when it comes to offering better consumer experiences. And it’s not just TVs that are leading this bleeding edge of hardware development: CES has seen announcements around 4K VR headsets (HTC), video-enabled drones, cars that can utilize a brain-hardware connection to tee up video-laden interactive apps, and a host of connected home gadgets—all of which will be driving the need for a combination of reliable hardware platforms, content availability and, perhaps above all, a positive economic model for content delivery.

This year CES provided a view into the next generation of video entertainment possibilities that are in active development. But it will all be for naught if content producers and distributors don’t have reliable and scalable delivery networks for compatible video, where costs don’t spiral out of control as the network becomes more content-intensive. For instance, driving down the bitrate requirements for delivering, say, 8K, whether it’s in a pay-TV traditional operator model or on an OTT basis, will be one linchpin for this vision of the future.

We’re committed to making sure we are in the strongest position to bring our extensive codec development resources to bear on this ecosystem. HEVC, for instance, is recognized to be 40 to 50 percent more efficient for delivering video than legacy format, AVC H.264. With Beamr’s advanced encoding offerings, content owners can optimize their encoding for reduced buffering, faster start times, and increased bandwidth savings.

We’re also keeping an eye on the progression of the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia)’s AV1 codec standard, which recently added both Apple and Facebook to its list of supporters. It hopes to be up to 30 percent more efficient than HEVC, though it’s very much in the development stages.

We’re excited about the announcements coming out of CES this year, and the real proof that the industry is well on its way to delivering an exponential improvement on the consumer video experience. We also look forward to helping that ecosystem mature and doing our part to make sure that innovation succeeds, for 8K in the living room and very much beyond.

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Beamr Live HEVC Encoding Speed Test on the Intel® Xeon® Scalable Platinum Processor

Posted on by Dror Gill

It’s no secret that Intel-based hardware is ubiquitous in many video encoding data centers, which explains the high level of interest in the new Intel® Xeon® Scalable Platinum processor family. This article examines the live HEVC 4Kp60 10-bit encoding performance from the perspective of speed with Beamr 5 running on the scalable Platinum 8180 where the results are nothing short of amazing.

Intel is known for pushing the state of art with ever faster and more capable processors, which enable software encoding vendors like Beamr to achieve performance benchmarks some thought impossible. Since Intel’s announcement of their new processor series, Beamr has been excited to see what is possible with the version 5 Xeon® processor.

The result? 

Mind-blowing.

Video services needing to encode live 4Kp60 10-bit HDR video can achieve 6 simultaneous streams on a dual-socket Intel® Xeon® Scalable Platinum 8180 processor using Beamr 5 v4.1. This performance represents a 6x speed advantage over x265 and establishes an entirely new benchmark for HEVC software encoders.

Intel & Beamr set new HEVC software encoding standard 4K HDR live with 6 simultaneous channels broadcast quality

CLICK HERE for a speed comparison of the Beamr 5 HEVC software encoder and x265 running on Amazon EC2.

Executive Introduction

As over-the-top (OTT) and IP overtake traditional linear delivery systems, the ability to encode video on software, in real time, is now a requirement.

  • According to Cisco, consumer Video-on-Demand (VoD) traffic will almost double by 2021. This trend is driven largely by new video services and entertainment formats such as Cloud DVR, UHD (4K), High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 360 degree AR/VR immersive video. These advanced video formats carry with them much greater encoding complexity which places high operational demands on the computing environment. This means more efficient software requires less server time which translates to fewer machines and lower capex and opex.
  • With content and operational costs rising, and end user pricing under pressure, it is essential for operators to invest in video encoding technology that can provide advanced services in the most efficient way possible. As NFV and virtualized container based architectures advance in the data center, encoding density and speed is becoming a critical vector within the encoder selection process. Also, the ability to operate across a wide range of general purpose platforms is essential. Many GPU bound solutions are inextricably linked to a single processor or limited series. Beamr’s HEVC encoder scales across the entire Intel® Xeon® family.
  • Apple is playing a pivotal role in enabling the HEVC ecosystem starting with iOS 11 and High Sierra. It is estimated that up to 1 billion devices in the Apple ecosystem can now play HEVC without any special update or third-party apps needed. With HEVC files now supported from big screens to mobile devices, video services can transition their entire library with all resolutions to HEVC, and benefit from the reduced bitrate and improved quality that HEVC is able to deliver. This represents hundreds of thousands if not millions of hours of content needing to be encoded by each video distributor.

With Beamr 5 running on an Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor, video encoding engineers can perform up to 6 times more live video encoding, which leads to a reduction in:

  1. Power
  2. Rackspace
  3. Capital investment

For more background, read Intel’s Solution Brief’s on the Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor family and the Beamr 5 HEVC video encoder.

6 simultaneous live hevc channels with beamr 5 & intel purley  

 

 

 

 

The new Beamr 5 HEVC software encoder exploits multiple features of the Intel® Xeon® Scalable platform, making it possible to deliver the performance of hardware with the scale and flexibility that only software allows. Beamr 5 is able to utilize the entire range of Intel® Xeon® processors from the entry-level Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v5 family to the best in class Intel® Xeon® Platinum Scalable 8180 processor. For real-time live video encoding operations that require resolutions up to 4K and frame rates as high as 60 FPS, higher performance means less computing resources required.

Solutions like Beamr 5 running on Intel® Xeon® Scalable Platinum processors contribute to decidedly lower operational and capital investment costs.

In addition to the live workflow benefits, offline VoD applications can also benefit from greater performance as the shorter turnaround time to complete VoD encodes and transcodes means the content will be available for distribution more quickly.  

Beamr 5 opens up compelling options for MSOs, CDNs, and broadcasters to build video workflows that exceed their service expansion plans and technical goals while also enabling service operators to deploy media processing workflows across public clouds and on-premise data centers.

With Beamr 5 running on Intel® Xeon® processors, new video encoding workflows can be imagined as edge encoding services running Intel® Xeon® E3 processor-based points of presence (PoPs) for JIT transcoding are now possible. The high performance of Beamr 5 directly enables workflows to be split and re-deployed without a need to redesign workflows.

beamr 5 operating on intel scalable platinum processors offers the higher performance

Beamr’s Next-Generation Video Encoding Technology on Intel

At the foundation of Beamr’s HEVC software encoder is technology that stems from more than a dozen years of codec development by our codec engineering team. Though we’ve developed our solution and technical advantages entirely in-house, working closely with Intel gives us a significant technical and business advantage.

Of the many points related to how we achieved our massive speed advantage, the two we will highlight are motion estimation advantage and micro-level parallelization.

Incoming frames are extensively analyzed by Beamr 5. It is this step which determines the complexity of the scene as rough motion vectors are calculated, and estimates for the bit demand of the encoded frame are made. These estimates guide the second stage of the encoder and allow those activities to focus on visually meaningful aspects of the frame. By partitioning the encoding process, unproductive calculations can be avoided, thus improving the speed of the encoder and the quality it produces.

Second, Beamr 5 features micro-level parallelization which is the result of the codec engineering team leveraging software engineering lessons learned from earlier generations of Beamr real-time software encoders. This experience led the team to design a micro-level parallelization approach that stages portions of the encoding tasks in a controlled manner, staggering their execution so each micro-task begins when the data is available (and still in the cache). This results in wasteful power and CPU cycles spent writing and fetching data being eliminated. Careful design of these micro-tasks assures that they are executed efficiently across the whole frame and in an even manner so that all cores are kept uniformly busy, and none are left waiting for their next task.

Uniquely, the Beamr encoder does not rely on the operating system to manage these critical execution threads but instead is under full control of the pooling and process allocation between the available cores and threads. Beamr’s advanced encoder controls the execution priority based on the availability of pipelined data.

Test Methodology

As in part 1 of our x265 vs. Beamr 5 performance test, we encourage you to experience our speed claims first hand. For qualified video distributors, services and platforms, we are happy to offer a FREE evaluation agreement. To take advantage of this, please contact sales@beamr.com.

The purpose of this test was to measure the speed of Beamr 5 for live encoding applications running on Intel® Xeon® Scalable Platinum processors. In our first comparison of codec performance based on CPU, we decided to run a few comparisons with x265. For this comparison, x265 was benchmarked in its fastest speed setting ‘ultrafast’ – while for Beamr 5 we operated the encoder at its highest speed setting “15” with the performance boost modifier ‘TURBO1’ which activated our latest algorithmic improvements that are available in version 4.1. (All files were 4Kp60.)

For this second test, we wanted to dig deeper using Beamr 5 version 4.1 running on the same 2S Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8180 processor-based machine that we tested with in September, to see what gains were possible. What we found was nothing short of stunning.

In Graphic 1, HTOP shows Beamr 5 loaded 108 threads (from 112 available) at an impressive 90% utilization rate. This demonstrates the high degree of effectiveness with our Intel specific optimization.

Graphic 1: HTOP Intel 8180 dual socket 108 thread utilization at 90% across each thread.

intel purley beamr 5 cpu utilization hitop window

More speed and performance benchmarks from Intel: CLICK HERE.

Conclusion

The drive to increase density with software-based video encoding and transcoding infrastructure is key to securing a competitive advantage for multi-service operators, OTT video distributors, and content distribution networks. At the same time, video architects must enable encoding and delivery of advanced entertainment content, by embracing new technologies, capabilities, and codecs such as HEVC, HDR, and 4K.

With a Beamr + Intel® Xeon® optimized video encoding solution, density – efficiency – quality – and flexibility of video encoding operations for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid data centers can be realized. Beamr 5 running on Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors offers TCO benefits and provides a meaningful improvement to the video processing capabilities of any video distribution solution.

If you missed part 1 of this post, be sure to check it out since additional technical details about Beamr 5 and its operational and performance advantages against x265 were specifically discussed. Find the x265 vs. Beamr 5 Speed Test here.

4K TVBeamr 5Content-AdaptiveEncoder ApplicationsH.265HDRHEVCIBCMobile VideoOTTReduce Bitrate

How to deal with the tension on the mobile network – part 2 (VIDEO Interview)

Posted on by Dror Gill

In late July, I reported on the “news” that Verizon was throttling video traffic for some users. As usual, the facts around this seemingly punitive act were not fully understood, which triggered this blog post.

At IBC last month (September 2017), I was interviewed by RapidTV where much of the conversation was around the Apple news of their support for HEVC across the device ecosystem running iOS 11 and High Sierra. As I was reviewing this interview, it seemed natural to publish it as a follow up to the original post.

There is no doubt that mobile operators are under pressure as a result of the network crushing video traffic they are being forced to deliver. But the good news is that for those operators who adopt HEVC, they are going to enjoy significant bitrate efficiencies, possibly as high as 50%. And for many services, though they will chose to take some savings, this means they’ll be able to upgrade their resolutions to full 1080p while simultaneously improving the video quality they are delivering.

I hope you find this video insightful. Our team has a very simple evaluation offer to discuss with all qualified video services and video distributors. Just send an email to sales@beamr.com and we’ll get in touch with the details.

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The Need for Speed: x265 & Beamr 5 Epic Face Off

Posted on by Dror Gill

UPDATE 11/15/2017: Be sure to check out part 2 of this post which covers Beamr 5 performance on the new Intel Scalable Platinum processor.

 

This article offers a comparison between the performance and quality of the Beamr 5 HEVC software encoder, and the open-source x265 software encoder. 

There should be no debate over which standard will be the next generation winner with Apple’s adoption of HEVC (H.265). As the leading HEVC commercial software encoder implementer, we see video distributors who were waiting on the sideline prior to Apple’s announcement jumping into evaluations now that Apple has released the public versions of iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra.

The criteria for determining the best HEVC implementation will vary across application and service type and the business model of the video service will influence the decision of which solution to use. Yet, there is one factor that should be at the top of the decision tree for software based video encoders, and that is the performance (speed) of the encoder.

If you operate the encoding function for a live streaming service, then the performance and speed of your encoder is already top of mind, and the benefits of a solution which is 2 times faster is understood. But for those who operate SVOD and VOD services, the need to measure performance may not be as obvious. Read on to discover the benefits of operating a software encoder that is 2x faster.

Why a speed “face off”?

There is an inherent tradeoff between speed and quality with video encoder’s. With unlimited computing resources, one simply needs to apply the appropriate CPU power to meet the quality objective being targeted. In the case that an encoder is slow and inefficient, provided it can deliver the desirable quality, one can always reach the quality target if sufficient computing power is available. But, in the real world, there are constraints that cannot be ignored- whether budget, power, or space in the rack, few services have the luxury of operating as if they have unlimited computing resources. Which is why CPU performance is as critical an evaluation vector as absolute quality.

With Beamr 5 you will experience the following operational benefits as a result of the encoding operation being up to two times faster than x265 (based on the settings applied).

  • Up to half the server resources compared with x265
  • 50% of the power utility draw compared with x265
  • 50% less cooling and connectivity cost
  • Half the rack space

Evaluating Software Video Encoders

First, let’s examine the correlation between speed and quality by taking a look at the world’s best HEVC software video encoder, Beamr 5, as compared to the free open source alternative, x265.

The complexity of video encoder evaluations is such that you must understand not only what video files were used for the input, but also the precise settings (configuration) used. For this speed and quality evaluation you will note that x265 offers ten (10) performance presets that do a reasonable job of balancing the encoder’s speed and efficiency. Beamr 5 has a similar parameter named ‘enc_speed’ where there are a total of sixteen (16) levels available.

Out of the box Beamr 5 offers more granularity in its speed selection than x265, allowing for easier and more precise tuning across a wider range of computing platforms and architectures. However, to ensure an “apples to apples” comparison, other than matching the speed preset of each encoder, all other default parameters were left unchanged.

We want you to experience Beamr 5’s speed and quality first hand which is why we’ve provided the x265 settings that were used for each test. Readers are encouraged to duplicate the same tests, and we have provided download links for all files so that you can run your own independent analysis. Don’t believe our results? You can check them yourself.

As a commercial vendor working with the largest OTT and broadcast customers in the world, we design our products to be maximally usable by any video encoding engineer operating a video service. For the analysis we used x265 ‘veryslow’, ‘medium’, and ‘ultrafast’ settings since this test was designed to mirror real world use cases and not theoretical targets of either extreme speed or quality. 

At Beamr we are all about the numbers, but as all video encoding engineers say, the eyes never lie. After you review the data in the charts below, please download the corresponding files so you can see for yourself Beamr 5’s superior quality.

We start with comparing the highest video quality modes of both encoders, akin to what an SVOD service may use, and move to slightly reduced video quality, but with faster performance needed for real-time (live) applications. Here we can demonstrate that Beamr 5 ‘enc_speed 0’ is much faster than the ‘veryslow’ x265 preset, while at the same time Beamr 5 produces better overall video quality.

The original source files can be downloaded from https://media.xiph.org/video/derf/, and converted from .y4m to yuv using the following FFmpeg command:

$./ffmpeg.exe -i Netflix_BarScene_4096x2160_60fps_10bit_420.y4m -f rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p Netflix_BarScene_4096x2160_60fps_8bit_420.yuv

All Beamr 5 and x265 encoded files may be download from the links in the following tables or by click here. (all files were encoded in 4K resolution)

To aid in your subjective visual evaluation we suggest that you use a video comparison tool that is capable of rendering two videos in sync on the same screen. If you do not have a copy of Beamr View (formerly VCT), you may request a copy here. Beamr provides a limited license to our PC and Mac HEVC and H.264 software viewing tool FREE of charge to qualified video distribution services, content owners, and video platforms.

Test machine spec used for all clips: Amazon EC2 c3.4xlarge instance, Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2 @ 2.8GHz (16 threads), 30GB RAM, 160GB SSD.

Encoder versions: x265 version 2.5 release candidate 7/13/2017, Beamr 5 version 4.0

Highest Quality VOD Settings Comparison

The following chart provides a comparison of CPU performance at the maximum encoding quality with x265 configured at the ‘veryslow’ setting and Beamr 5 working at speed 0. The following chart shows the ability of Beamr 5 to produce higher video quality with much greater speed than x265. All other configuration settings were unchanged, except those required to align both codecs in keyframe interval, rate control limitations, and appropriate multithreading settings.

Table 1: Highest quality (VOD) configuration.

These are the settings used to test the highest quality presets (Beamr 5 enc_speed 0, x265 preset ‘veryslow’)

 

 

Command line example for x265 Highest Quality VOD setting:

$./x265 – –input BarScene.yuv – –input-res 4096×2160 – –frames 1200 – –fps 60 – –preset veryslow – –keyint 90 – –pools 16 – –bitrate 7000 – –vbv-maxrate 14000 – –vbv-bufsize 112000 – –hrd –o x.265

 

 

 

 

Table 2: Comparing highest quality (VOD) settings – Beamr 5 vs. x265.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screen capture 1: Highest quality (VOD) settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Aerial’ frame 228, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 83% faster than x265 with slightly better quality.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Screen capture 2: Highest quality (VOD) settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Ritual Dance’ frame 166, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 71% faster than x265 with noticeably better quality.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Screen capture 3: Highest quality (VOD) settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Driving POV’ frame 234, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is almost twice as fast as x265 at 98% with demonstrably better video quality.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Comparing High Quality Settings

With x265 set to the ‘medium’ preset and Beamr 5 ‘enc_speed’ set to 3, we observed that Beamr 5 maintained a 15% to 50% speed advantage over x265 while Beamr 5 consistently produced better quality. As with all other tests, configuration settings were unchanged, except those required to align both codecs in keyframe interval, rate control limitations, and appropriate multithreading settings.

Table 3: High quality preset configuration.

 

 

Command line example for x265 High Quality setting:

$./x265 – –input BarScene.yuv – –input-res 4096×2160 – –frames 1200 – –fps 60 – –preset medium – –keyint 90 – –pools 16 – –bitrate 7000 – –vbv-maxrate 14000 – –vbv-bufsize 112000 –hrd –o x.265

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4: High quality preset performance Beamr 5 vs. x265.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screen capture 4: High quality settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Wind and Nature’ frame 518, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 50% faster with a slight edge on video quality over x265.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Screen capture 5: High quality settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Ritual Dance’ frame 565, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 50% faster than x265 and Beamr 5 has a definite edge on video quality.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Screen capture 6: High quality settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Pier Seaside’ frame 18, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 43% faster than x265 and Beamr 5 has noticeably better video quality.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Comparing Live Settings

Let’s examine how x265 and Beamr 5 fair when used for live encoding of 4K resolution video. When we set Beamr 5 to an equal speed configuration of x265 ‘ultrafast’, Beamr 5 was found to be faster while producing the same or better video quality.

Table 5: Live preset configuration.

 

 

Command line example for x265 live (real-time) configuration:

$./x265 – –input BarScene.yuv – –input-res 4096×2160 – –frames 1200 –fps 60 – –preset ultrafast – –keyint 90 – –pools 16 – –bitrate 7000 – –vbv-maxrate 14000 – –vbv-bufsize 112000 –hrd –o x.265

 

 

 

 

 

Table 6: Live configuration performance of Beamr 5 vs. x265.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screen capture 7: Live settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Bar Scene’ frame 595, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 15% faster and produced better video quality than x265.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Screen capture 8: Live settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Dinner Scene’ frame 528, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 15% faster than x265, while both exhibited comparable quality.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Screen capture 9: Live settings Beamr 5 vs. x265.

4K resolution video ‘Tango’ frame 274, left side is Beamr 5, right side is x265. Beamr 5 is 11% faster with comparable quality, than x265.

click to enlarge photo to actual size | click to access video files

 

Summary Beamr 5 Technical Advantages

  • Beamr has 30 granted and 23 pending patents, including a fast motion estimation process which is useful when speed and quality are at competing priority. Beamr 5’s fast motion estimation process is a significant factor in our performance advantage.

 

  • Beamr 5 uses a heuristic early-termination process which enables it to reach a targeted quality using less computational resources.

 

  • Beamr 5 allows for more possible frame hierarchies (levels) than what is provided by the H.265 standard. When encoding hierarchical B-frames, x265 uses a 2-level B-frame hierarchy. Beamr 5 on the other hand, encodes with a 3-level B-frame hierarchy when encoding seven B frames between P-frames.

 

  • x265 begins encoding frames before all reference frames are finished, which limits motion estimation to only the parts of reference frames that are available. When high performance (speed) is needed, x265 encoding quality can be degraded. This provides a serious advantage to Beamr 5 which supports full codec multithreading while x265 uses slices and tiles for parallelism (when WPP is disabled for maximum efficiency).

 

  • Beamr 5 achieves better parallelism without the limitations noted above because it is based on utilizing all possible independent encoding tasks inside a single frame. This is called wave-front and it is active even when entropy wave-front is not used. Multithreading in de-blocking and SAO filtering provides additional quality benefits.

 

Evaluating an encoder is one of the most important jobs for a video encoding engineer and we are proud of the advanced HEVC codec implementation we’ve developed. All information presented may be tested and verified and we invite you to take advantage of the video files using Beamr View to subjectively analyze the results above.

For those interested in Intel specific support, you will want to stay tuned for important speed breakthroughs that we will be showing soon. Get a preview of what was announced at IBC 2017 – Beamr 5 running on the new Intel Xeon Scalable Platinum Processor. Six live 4Kp60 10-bit HDR streams on a dual socket 8180 board.

For more information simply send an email to info@beamr.com and a member of our technical sales team will reach out.

 

If you would like to learn more about Beamr 5 performance on the Intel Scalable Platinum processor family, check out our benchmark test. CLICK HERE

 

H.265HEVCMobile VideoOTTReduce BitrateUncategorized

How to deal with the tension of video on the mobile network – Part 1

Posted on by Dror Gill

Last week, the Internet erupted in furor over Verizon’s alleged “throttling” of video streaming services over their mobile network. With a quick glance at the headlines, and to the uninitiated, this could be perceived as an example of a wireless company taking their market dominance too far. Most commenters were quick to pontificate calling “interference” by Verizon a violation of net neutrality.

But this article isn’t about the argument for, or against, network neutrality. Instead, let’s examine the tension that exists as a result of the rapid increase in video consumption on mobile devices for the OTT and video streaming industry. Let’s explore why T-Mobile, Verizon, and others that have yet to come forward, feel the need to reduce the size of the video files that are streaming across their networks.

Cisco reports that by 2021, 82% of all Internet traffic will be video, and for the mobile network video is set to explode equally so that by 2022 75% of data flowing over a mobile network will be video according to Ericsson. This increase of video over the mobile network means by 2021, the average user is set to consume a whopping 8.9GB of data every month as reported by BGR. These data points reveal why escalating consumption of video by wireless subscribers is creating tension in the ecosystem.

So what are the wireless operators trying to achieve by reducing the bitrates of video that is being delivered on their network?

Many mobile service operators offer their own entertainment video service packages, which means they are free to deliver the content in the quality that is consistent with their service level positioning. For some, this may be low to medium quality, but most viewers won’t settle for anything short of medium to high quality.

As most mobile networks have internal video distribution customers such as AT&T with DirecTV Now, at the same time, AT&T delivers video for Netflix. Which means, DirecTV Now is free to modify the encoded files to the maximum extent in order to achieve a perfect blend of quality and low bitrate, while for premium services like Netflix, the video packets cannot be touched due to DRM and the widespread adoption of HTTPS encryption. The point is, mobile carriers don’t always control the formats or quality of video that they carry over the network and for this reason, every content owner and video distributor should have an equal interest in pre-packaging (optimizing) their content for the highest quality and smallest file size possible.

As consumers grow more savvy to the difference in video and service quality between content services, many are becoming less willing to compromise. After all, you don’t invest in a top-of-the-line phone with an AMOLED screen to watch blocky low resolution video. Yet, because of the way services deliver content to mobile devices, in some cases, the full quality of the devices’ screen is unable to be realized by the consumer.

We see this point accentuated when a mobile network operator implements technology designed to reduce the resolution, or lower video complexity, in order to achieve a reduced bandwidth target. Attempts are made to make these changes while preserving the original video quality as much as possible, but it stands to reason that if you start with 1080p (full HD) and reduce the resolution to 480p (standard definition), the customer experience will suffer. Currently, the way bandwidth is being reduced on mobile networks is best described as a brute force method. In scenarios where mobile operators force 480p, the bitrate is reduced at the expense of resolution. But is this the best approach? Let’s take a look.

Beamr published a case study with findings from M-GO where our optimization solution helped to reduce buffering events by up to 50%, and improved stream start times by as much as 20%. These are impressive achievements, and indicative of the value of optimizing video for the smallest size possible, provided the original quality is retained.

A recent study “Bit rate and business model” published by Akamai in conjunction with Sensum also supports M-GO and Conviva’s Viewer Experience Report findings. In the Akamai/Sensum study, the human reaction to quality was measured and the researchers found that three out of four participants would stop using a service after even a few re-buffering events.

For the study, viewers were split into two control groups with one group exposed only to a lower resolution (quality) stream that contained at least one stream interruption (re-buffering event). This group was 20% less likely to associate a positive word with the viewing experience as compared to viewers who watched the higher quality full resolution stream that played smoothly without buffering (resolutions displayed were up to 4K). Accordingly, lower quality streams lead to a 16% increase in negative emotions, while higher quality streams led to a 20% increase in emotional engagement.

There are those who claim “you can’t see 4K”, or use phrases like “smarter pixels not more pixels.” With the complexity of the human visual system and its interconnection to our brain, the Akamai study shows that our physiological systems are able to detect differences between higher resolution and lower resolution. These disruptions were validated by changes in the viewers eye movements, breathing patterns, and increased perspiration.

Balancing the needs of the network, video distributor, and consumer.

  • Consumers expect content at their fingertips, and they also expect the total cost of the content and the service needed to deliver it, to be affordable.
  • Service providers are driven by the need to deliver higher quality video to increase viewer engagement.
  • Mobile network operators welcome any application that drives more demand for their product (data) with open arms, yet, need to face the challenge of how to deal with this expanding data which is beginning to outstrip the customers willingness to pay.

Delivering content over the Internet is not free as some assume. Since the streaming video distributor pays the CDN by the size of the package, e.g. gigabytes delivered, they are able to exploit the massive network investments made by mobile operators. Meanwhile, they (or more specifically their end-customers) carry the expectation that the capacity needed to deliver their videos to meet demand, will always be available. Thus, a network operator must invest ahead of revenues with the promise that growth will meet the investment.

All of this can be summed up by this simple statement, “If you don’t take care of the bandwidth, someone else will.”

Video codecs are evolutionary with each progressive codec being more efficient than the last. The current standard is H.264 and though this codec delivers amazing quality with reasonable performance and bitrate reduction, it’s built on a standard that is now fourteen years old. However, as even entry level mobile phones now support 1080p, video encoding engineers are running into an issue with H.264 not able to reach the quality they need below 3 Mbps. In fact, some distributors are pushing their H.264 bitrates lower than  3Mbps for 1080p, but in doing so they must be willing to introduce noticeable artifacts. So the question is, how do we get to 2 Mbps or lower, but with the same quality of 3-4 Mbps, and with the original resolution?

Enter HEVC.

With Apple’s recent announcement to support HEVC across as many as 400 million devices with HW decoding, content owners should be looking seriously to adopt HEVC in order to realize the 40% reduction in bitrate that Apple is reporting, over H.264. But how exactly can HEVC bring relief to an overburdened mobile network?

In the future it can be argued that once HEVC has reached broad adoption, the situation we have today with bitrates being higher than we’d like, will no longer exist. After all, if you could flip a switch and reduce all the video traffic on the network by 40% with a more efficient compression scheme (HEVC), then it’s quite possible that we’ll push the bandwidth crunch out for another 3-5 years.

But this thinking is more related to fairytales and unicorns than real life. For one thing, video encoding workflows and networks do not function like light switches. Not only does it takes time to integrate and test new technology, but a big issue is that video consumption and advanced entertainment experiences, like VR, AR, and 360, will consume the new white space as quickly as it becomes available, bringing us back to where we are today.

Meeting the bandwidth challenge will require us working together.

In the above scenario, there is a shared responsibility on both the distributor and the network to each play their role in guaranteeing that quality remains high while not wasting bits. For those who are wondering, inefficient encoding methods, or dated codecs such as H.264 fall into the “inefficient” category.

The Internet is a shared resource and whether it stays under some modicum of government regulation, or becomes open again, it’s critical for all members of the ecosystem to recognize that the network is not of infinite capacity and those using it to distribute video should respect this by taking the following steps:

  1. Adopt HEVC across all platforms and resolutions. This step alone will yield up to a 40% reduction over your current H.264 bandwidths.
  2. Implement advanced content-adaptive technologies such as Beamr CABR (CABR stands for Content-Adaptive Bitrate) which can enable a further reduction of video bitrates over the 40% that HEVC affords, by an additional 30-50%.
  3. Adopt just in time encoding that can allow for real-time dynamic control of bitrate based on the needs of the viewing device and network conditions. Intel and Beamr have partnered to offer an ultra-high density and low cost HEVC 4K, live 10bit encoding solution using the E3 platform with IRIS PRO P580 graphics accelerator.

In conclusion.

  • With or without network neutrality, reducing video bandwidth will be a perpetual need for the foreseeable future. Whether to delay capex investment, or to meet competitive pressure on video quality, or simply to increase profitability and decrease opex, the benefits to always delivering the smallest file and stream sizes possible, are easy to model.
  • The current method of brute forcing lower resolutions, or transcoding to reduced framerate will not be sustainable as consumers are expecting the original experience to be delivered. The technical solutions implemented must deliver high quality and be ready for next generation entertainment experiences. At the same time, if you don’t work to trim the fat from your video files, someone else may do it, and it most certainly will be at the expense of video quality and user experience.
  • HEVC and Beamr CABR represent the state of the art in high quality video encoding and bitrate reduction (optimization) without compromise.

If you’d like to learn more, keep an eye out for part two in this series, or take a moment to read this relevant article: It’s Unreasonable to Expect ISP’s Alone to Finance OTT Traffic

In the meantime, you can download our VP9 vs. HEVC white paper, learn how to encode content for the future, or contact us at sales@beamr.com to talk further.

 

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Comparing HEVC & VP9 Made Easy

Posted on by Dror Gill

Apple recently announced their plans to enable HEVC on up to one billion devices with the release of iOS 11 and High Sierra later this year, causing video services to reevaluate their workflows and the codecs they are using. With video codecs in a constant state of ongoing development, it can be hard to know which one is right to choose.  But with the ever increasing pressure to reduce bitrates and upgrade quality, video service providers looking for a competitive edge, are examining next generation encoding platforms, namely HEVC and VP9.

To aid in the evaluation process, our software video encoding engineers have compiled a guide that will eliminate the guesswork of comparing HEVC and VP9. This guide provides a qualitative overview of the strengths, weaknesses, and key differences between the HEVC (H.265) and VP9 codec toolsets, including:

  • Partitioning approaches & block sizes
  • Variable length coding features
  • Transform types and sizes
  • Intra & inter prediction
  • In-loop filters

Click graphic to download the full white paper.

beamr-hevc-vp9-comparison-chart