Automatically upgrade your video content to a new and improved codec

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.

 

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 

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

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.

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

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.

How HDR, Network Function Virtualization, and IP Video are Shaping Cable

Beamr just returned from the Internet & Television Expo, or INTX, previously known as the Cable Show, where we identified three technology trends that are advancing rapidly and for some, are even here now. They are HDR, Network Function Virtualization, and IP Video.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) is probably the most exciting innovation in display technology in recent years.

There is a raging debate about resolution, “are more pixels really better?” But there is no debating the visual impact of HDR. Which is why it’s great to see TVs in the market that can display HDR reaching lower and lower price points, with better and better performance. However being able to display HDR is not enough. Without content there is no impact.

For this reason, Comcast EVP and CTO Tony Werner’s announcement at INTX that on July 4th, Comcast will be shipping their Xi5 STB to meet NBC Universal’s schedule of transmitting select Olympic events in HDR, is a huge deal. Though there will be limited broadcast content available in HDR, once Comcast has a sufficiently high number of HDR set top boxes in the field, and as consumers buy more HDR enabled TVs, the HDR bit will flip from zero to one and we’ll wonder how we ever watched TV without it.

Virtualization is coming and already here for some cable companies.

Though on the surface NFV (Network Function Virtualization) may be thought of as nothing more than the cable industry moving their data centers to the cloud, it’s actually much more than that. NFV offers an alternative to design, deploy and manage networking services by allowing network functions to run in software rather than traditional, “purpose-built” hardware appliances. In turn, this helps alleviate the limitations of designing networks using these “fixed” hardware appliances, giving network architects a lot more flexibility.

There are two places in the network where the efficiencies of virtualization can be leveraged, Access and Video. By digitizing access, the Virtual CCAP removes the physical CCAP and CMTS completely, allowing the control plane of the DOCSIS to be virtualized. Distributing PHY and the MAC is a critical step, but separating their functions is ground zero for virtualization.

Access virtualization is exciting, but what’s of great interest to those involved in video is virtualizing the video workflow from ingest to play out. This includes the encoding, transcoding, ad insertion, and packaging steps and is mainly tailored for IP video, though one cable operator took this approach to the legacy QAM delivery by leveraging converged services for IP and QAM. In doing this, the operator is able to simplify their video ingest workflow.

By utilizing a virtualized approach, operators are able to build more agile and flexible video workflows using “best of bread” components. Meaning they can hand pick the best transcoder, packager, etc. from separate vendors if needed. It also allows operators to select the best codec and video optimizer solutions, processes that are considered to be the most crucial parts of the video ingestion workflow, as the biggest IP (intellectual property) is within the video processing, not packaging, DRM etc. With content adaptive encoding and optimization solutions being introduced in the last few years, if an operator has a virtualized video workflow, they can be free to add innovations as they are introduced to the market. Gone are the days where service providers are forced to buy an entire solution from one vendor using proprietary customized hardware.

Having the IT industry (CPU, networking, storage) make tremendous progress in running video processing, packagers, streamer as software-only solutions on standard COTS hardware, this virtualization concept helps vendors focus on their core expertise, whether it is video processing, workflow, streamer, ad etc.

Virtualization can lower TCO, but it can also introduce operational and management challenges. Today service providers buy “N” transcoders, “N” streamers etc. to accommodate peak usage requirements. With virtualization the main advantage is to share hardware, so that overall less hardware is needed, which can lower TCO as file based transcoders could be run during off peak times (middle of the night) while more streamers are needed during peak times to accommodate a higher volume of unicast stream sessions (concurrency). This will require new methods of pay per usage, as well as sophisticated management and workflow solutions to initiate and kill instances when demand is high or when it drops.

For this reason we are seeing some vendors align with this strategy. Imagine Communications is entering the market with solutions for providing workflow management tools that are agnostic to the video processing blocks. Meanwhile, Cisco and Ericsson provide open workflows capable of interoperating with their transcoders, packagers, etc. while being open to third party integration. This opens the door for vendors like Beamr to provide video processing applications for encoding and perceptual quality optimization.

It is an IP Video world and that is a good thing.

Once the network is virtual, it flattens the distribution architecture so no longer does an operator need to maintain separate topologies for service delivery to the home, outside the home, fixed wire, wireless, etc. The old days of having RF, on net, and off net (OTT) systems, are quickly moving behind us.

IP video is the enabler that frees up new distribution and business models, but most importantly meets the expectation of end-users to access their content anywhere, on any device and at anytime. Of course there is that little thing called content licensing that can hold back the promise of anytime, anywhere, anyplace, especially for sports – but in time, as content owners adapt to the reality that by opening up availability they will spur not hamper consumption, it may not be long before the user is able to enjoy entertainment content on the terms they are willing to pay for.

Could we be entering the golden age of cable? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. One thing is certain. Vendors should ask themselves whether they are able to be the best in every critical path of the workflow. Because what is obvious, is that service providers will be deciding for them, as there is no solution from a single vendor that can be best of breed in todays modern network and video architectures. Vendors who adapt to changes in the market, due to virtualization, will be the leaders of the future.

At Beamr we have a 60 person engineering team focused solely on the video processing block of the virtualized network, specifically HEVC and H.264 encoding and content adaptive optimization solutions. Our team comes into the office every day with the single objective of pushing the boundary for delivering the highest quality video at the lowest bitrates possible. The innovations we are developing translate to improved customer experience and video quality whether that is 4k HDR with Dolby Vision, or reliable 1080p on a tablet.

IP Video is here, and in tandem with virtualized networks and the transition of video from QAM to the DOCSIS network, we are reaching a technology inflection point that is enabling better quality video than previous technological generations were able to deliver. We think it’s an exciting time to be in cable!

HDR adds ‘kapow’ to 4k

High Dynamic Range (HDR) improves video quality by going beyond more pixels to increase the amount of data delivered by each pixel. As a result, HDR video is capable of capturing a larger range of brightness and luminosity to produce an image closer to what can be seen in real life. Show anyone HDR content encoded in 4K resolution, and it’s no surprise that content providers and TV manufacturers are quickly jumping on board to deliver content with HDR. HDR definitely provides the “wow” factor that the market is looking for. But what’s even more promising is the industry’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to it.

Chicken and egg dilemma will be solved

TV giants Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and LG have all launched HDR-capable 4K TVs  in the premium price range. However, Vizio get the credit for being the first to break through with low cost UHD HDR TV’s with their P-Series. Available now and starting at just $999, this removes the price objection for all but the most budget conscious consumers. Check out the price chart below referenced in a recent CNET article.

VIZIO P SERIES 2016 TVS

Model Size Price Dimming zones Refresh rate Panel type
P50-C1 50 inches $999 126 60Hz VA
P55-C1 55 inches $1,299 126 120Hz IPS
P65-C1 65 inches $1,999 128 120Hz VA
P75-C1 75 inches $3,799 128 120Hz VA

The availability of affordable TV’s is an extremely promising factor that is pushing the market to believe that HDR is here to stay. The fact that HDR sets are starting at such a low price this early in the market development of the technology is a good indicator that the category is going to grow quickly, allowing consumers to experience the enhancement of high dynamic range sooner than is normally possible when new advanced technologies are first introduced. In fact, some are predicting that these prices will fall to “as little as $600 to $700” for a 50-55inch UHD TV with HDR capability, which if true, brings HDR and UHD even closer to the price of current 1080p models.

Now all we need is content  

In January 2016, Netflix announced the availability of streaming of Marco Polo series in Dolby Vision and HDR10. At CES 2016, Netflix also showed clips from the Daredevil series in Dolby Vision. Far from being demos only, Daredevil season 2 was released on March 18th and Marco Polo season 2 will be released on July 1st.  Thus, it’s safe to say that Netflix sees HDR as “the next generation of TV”.

HDR standards are emerging

Publishing guidelines to ensure compatibility and consistent user experience across the device ecosystem for HDR content and displays, is the next natural and significant step to insure industry adoption of HDR, and on April 18th the UHD Forum announced the, UHD Forum Guidelines. The ITU-R Study Group 6 works on recommendations for HDR and the publication is expected in July 2016.

Surveying the current market, there are several HDR technologies that exist and cover the spectrum of both dual and single layer HDR, with the main ones being Dolby Vision dual and single layer, and a Technicolor-Philips single layer solution, known as HDR10.

What is the difference between dual and single layer HDR workflows? The dual layer approach provides backward compatibility with legacy SDR systems (set-top-boxes, TVs), but requires two decoders for endpoint devices. Single layer is not backwards compatible with SDR systems, but it makes TV sets and set-top-boxes more economical and less complex.

Since there are multiple standards, it presents certain challenges for an industry-wide rollout. Dolby Vision is getting a lot of attention due to its well-recognized name and the Vizio and LG endorsement. At the same time Ultra HD Premium (HDR10) is required by Blu-ray Disc Association. All these competing standards make choosing the appropriate one more challenging. But never fear, there is an encoder in the market today, which is capable of generating Dolby Vision single and dual layer streams, and HDR10 compatible streams or files.

Meet V.265 Beamr’s HDR-optimized encoder

Beamr has been working with Dolby to enable Dolby Vision HDR support for several years now, even jointly presenting a white paper at SMPTE. The V.265 codec is optimized for Dolby Vision and HDR10 and takes into account all requirements for both standards including full support for VUI signaling, SEI messaging, SMPTE ST 2084:2014 and ITU-R BT.2020.  

Pesky stuff the industry is addressing

There are many commonalities between HDR technologies, but there are common challenges too. For example SDR to HDR conversion, and conversion between HDR formats can happen in various parts of the distribution chain, causing headaches on the metadata management side. Additionally, peak brightness management across the production chain, and metadata propagation are known challenges too. Metadata propagation from content mastering to distribution is one more area that requires standardization. SMPTE will have a role in solving these and the new IMF format may be a good candidate. Beamr welcomes all these challenges and recognizes that HDR is here to stay. Our engineering teams are well equipped to address them.

If you crave a deeper understanding of HDR I encourage you to read our white paper titled, “An Introduction to High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Its Support within the H.265/HEVC Standard Extensions.” It not only gives a great introduction to HDR, but also explains how the set of extensions approved by MPEG and VCEG in July 2014 provides the tools to support HDR functionality within the HEVC standard.

The future is HDR so you better wear shades

I can remember racing to my friend Craig’s house during our lunch break at High School, just so we could watch this new music TV channel, MTV.  Being musicians and huge fans of music, we were mesmerized.  

Though the television technology we watched MTV on was no match for the displays of today, the intersection of content which I highly valued, and an engaged entertainment experience (24/7 music video with cool VJ’s) – shaped – dare I say revolutionized, not just me and my friends, but an entire generation.  

I can’t say that high dynamic range (HDR) will have the same effect on millions of people, it’s highly unlikely.  But I do think you better wear shades because the future is bright for content distributors, television manufacturers and anyone who cares about creating new and exciting entertainment.

Three possibilities for improving video quality

The first option for improving the perceived quality of video (as observed by the human eye) is to increase resolution.  

It stands to reason that if we encode a video file with 3,840 pixels across rather than 1,920, there should be a noticeable improvement in quality.  After all, you have more dots represented, and thus a greater chance of visual details not being lost.  

However, it turns out that in the real world, for a variety of reasons, higher resolution cannot always be noticed.  Example: if you have a 60″ TV, to be able to see the increased resolution of a 4k UHD panel, you must sit less than 8′ away from the television and in many homes that is simply not practical or even desired.  TV resolution viewing chart

The second way you can improve video quality is to transmit more frames.  This method utilizes the same resolution (typically HD) but doubles or quadruples the number of frames shown every second.  For high-speed action, namely sports, increasing the frame rate of the capture and display can offer a demonstrable improvement in quality.  Still, this step is not sufficient to push the TV viewing experience to a “wow”.

HDR opportunity

In walks high dynamic range (HDR), the third option for improving video quality.  

Now let me just say, wide color gamut (WCG) is also a way to bring more realism to video, but we’ll cover WCG in a separate blog post.

The term dynamic range is used to signify the difference (or range) between dark and light sections.  High dynamic range is the designation of a television capable of displaying brightness that is closer the real life.  Thus, the reason a reference to wearing shades seems apropos.  Vanguard Video whitepaper on HDR support within the HEVC standard.

With the acquisition of Vanguard Video, Beamr now has the designation of being the first commercially available HEVC encoder in the market with HDR support for HDR-10 and Dolby Vision.  

Chicken and the egg

As with any new technology, there is always an initial awkward period where the buzz is growing while the reality is quite different.  For HDR, it’s not enough to have a standard, and it’s not sufficient to have an encoder.  If the content that is HDR compatible isn’t being produced, and without a high number of displays capable of supporting the format, technology adoption cannot go mainstream.

After several years of wrangling in the various standard bodies and industry consortiums, two HDR standards have emerged: HDR-10 and Dolby Vision, and Beamr supports both. A third standard, which merges the HDR standard proposals or Technicolor and Phlips, seems to be lagging behind, with initial demonstrations expected at NAB 2016, and commercial deployments in chip form expected by the end of the year.

Though each group can explain how their approach is best, and trade-offs exist between the front-runners, HDR-10 is a baseline that offers the minimum support required for UHD Blu-ray.  As such, many streaming content distributors are encoding with HDR-10 to satisfy playback ubiquity.  Whether a display supports Dolby Vision or Technicolor’s proposed standard, the chances that the consumer can experience an enhanced picture with HDR, are high, provided they buy a TV anytime after today.

HDR content and televisions, available now

The first mover with fully compatible HDR televisions, and most importantly content that can play on them, is Vizio with their new Reference Series.  http://www.vizio.com/r-series

Vizio Reference Series supports native UHD + HDR streaming from Netflix and VUDU with Amazon Instant Video support coming.

VUDU’s catalog can be browsed here: http://www.vudu.com/movies/#featured/12434

Netflix is starting with Marco Polo season one but reported to Engadget that more titles are coming soon including Marvel’s Daredevil.  One can assume next season’s House of Cards will allow us an even more realistic view into the Underwood’s political life.

Beamr HEVC encoders support Dolby Vision & HDR-10 today!

Be sure to visit us at NAB, April 18th to the 21st to check out the full line of Beamr H.264 and HEVC encoding and optimization solutions including our HEVC products that support Dolby Vision and HDR-10. Beamr encoding solutions including HEVC + HDR can be seen in the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall Upper booth #SU11710.

You can see Beamr optimization products at the Beamr Video stand located in the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall Upper booth #SU11902CM.