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Microservices – Good on a Bad Day [podcast]

Posted on by Dror Gill

Live streaming is arguably the least forgiving industry in today’s market. Anyone involved with live streaming workflows understands the sensitivity and high stakes involved with live streaming any event. Your viewers, on the other hand, don’t factor in the complexities of what happens behind the scenes when it comes to their quality expectations – but they certainly notice when something goes awry. In the words of id3as’ Adrien Roe, “What differentiates a great service from a merely good service is what happens when things go wrong.” And that’s where microservices can save the day.

In “Episode 07: Microservices – Good on a Bad Day,” The Video Insiders sit down with Dom Robinson & Dr. Adrian Roe from id3as to discuss how broadcasters are leveraging microservices to solve some of their workflow challenges.

https://youtu.be/Bt2earTfEU8

Press play to hear a snippet from Episode 07 or click here for the full episode.

Want to join the conversation? Reach out to TheVideoInsiders@beamr.com

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Are viewers the new content aggregators?

Posted on by Dror Gill

Consumer spending on video streaming services is expected to rise 39% this year to about $13 billion, according to the Consumer Technology Association—a staggering factoid, especially when one considers that the average consumer around the world already views 4.4 hours of video a day.

That CTA data point, released at the just-wrapped Consumer Electronics Show (CES), dovetails with a TiVo survey (also released at CES 2018) that indicates an ongoing blurring of the line between streaming and more traditional sources of content. TiVo found that 90% of households subscribe to a traditional pay TV service. Nonetheless, 60% are also subscribers to at least one streaming service, suggesting that the 4.4 waking hours of video consumption is comprised of a mix of sources—with streaming poised to take on an escalating role.

A big driver for this is the proliferation of pacts between pay-TV providers and OTT providers (for instance, Comcast’s integration of Netflix into its Xfinity X1 interface). In turn, this has created a groundswell of streaming services moving to “input one”— meaning that consumers don’t have to toggle between devices or remotes in order to tap into streamed content. That convenience factor is ushering in a new era of content consumption. On-demand binge watching as a shared experience between families and friends in the living room has made shows like Stranger Things, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Mindhunter into overnight pop-culture sensations. Streaming may still be unicast on a technical level, but it’s no longer strictly experienced by one individual viewing content on a secondary screen on his or her own, or on one platform.

“Consumers today are acting as their own aggregator, piecing together what they need from a variety of video service and device combinations to suit their individual needs,” according to the survey. “Success in this new environment will not be about a single content source monopolizing the living room, instead it will be about adapting the business model to deliver value, integrated services, and personalization to meet the evolving consumer needs.”

It helps, too, that smart TV ownership in the US has nearly doubled since 2013, with an average of three connected TV (CTV) devices owned per household, according to yet another CES survey, from Nielsen. It found that 74% of people use their CTV daily and that CTV streaming patterns mirror traditional linear TV. The highest usage by those surveyed was in the 8-11 pm prime-time block.

Along with this, mobile streaming continues to be an important part of the landscape. At CES, it was clear that the TV isn’t the only piece of real-estate catering to the OTT use case. For instance, Razer and Netflix announced a deal to make the service available on the new Razer Phone, which supports HDR video and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sound. It’s a device that’s tailored for high-end media consumption, with the Razer Phone standing as the first smartphone to support both premium audio and video formats for Netflix.

It’s exciting to imagine where we’ll be when next year’s CES rolls around, given that the trends we’ve highlighted here, taken together, point to OTT video beginning to permeate every corner of consumer lives (and across screens that are making it easier than ever to access it). As a result, a complex entertainment economy is emerging, where cutting-edge devices, marquee content, better carrier networks and infrastructure innovation on the compression and quality of experience front all work together to deliver new, revenue-generating consumer experiences that put the viewer in the driver seat.

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CES 2018: Connected TV Tunes into the User Experience

Posted on by Dror Gill

As we roll into 2018, almost half of all US broadband households (45%) now own a smart TV, according to Parks Associates research – and it’s now the most commonly used platform for watching online video content. At the same time, consumers are getting choosy about their user experience (UX), meaning that key points of differentiation for the connected video device market moving forward will be ease of use, content discoverability and, above all, streaming quality.

Makers of smart TVs and streaming media players are in the process of shifting strategies to focus on the UX, which means beefing up middleware, adding bells and whistles (like intelligent voice control) and implementing strategic advances in video quality optimization, such as support for advanced HEVC encoding.

“Parks Associates’ holiday data found 11% of US broadband households had a strong intention to purchase a 4K/Ultra HD TV this holiday season, but overall, device sales of flat-panel TVs have flattened out,” said Jennifer Kent, director, research quality and product development, Parks Associates. “As a result, we are seeing new partnerships among device manufacturers focused on ways to improve or refresh the UI of the smart TV, to make the device easy to use and a single point of content in the living room.”

When it comes to making UX a key differentiator, improving how users search for and discover new content is a growing battlefield. Consumers are for instance expressing a thirst for cross-catalog, cross-platform search, where results from all video providers are in one place, be they streaming services or linear/traditional pay-TV offerings. To that end, in late 2017, Philips partnered with Roku to launch a line of smart TVs that use Roku’s platform to simplify remote control needs and content navigation.

Meanwhile, voice is making inroads into the connected entertainment area: More than 50% of US broadband households find voice control appealing for entertainment and smart-home devices, according to the Parks survey.

“Voice recognition and control are enabling entertainment equipment manufacturers to improve the user experience. An emphasis on a voice-enabled UX will be a key trend in connected CE for 2018,” said Dina Abdelrazik, research analyst, Parks Associates. “We expect to see more voice innovations in streaming services and connected platforms at CES this year.”

These UX advancements, however, won’t translate into market differentiation without one very important piece: A superior video quality of experience.

On this front, we see moves that place video optimization front-and-center, such as Apple enabling HEVC on up to one billion devices thanks to the release of iOS 11 and High Sierra back in September. Also, video streaming services and hardware manufacturers across the board are reevaluating their codec approaches in light of the fact that HEVC offers significantly improved video quality: Up to 40% greater compression with fewer artifacts and smoother playback than H.264. That also translates to the ability to stream 4K and HDR video over networks with reasonable bandwidth consumption, paving the way for more Ultra HD content availability and thus enhanced consumer demand for those connected devices that support it.

In 2018, a high-quality UX that can woo viewers with the right mix of top-notch streaming quality and advancements in content discovery will no longer be a nice-to-have when it comes to connected TV – it will be a critical linchpin for the competitive landscape moving forward. We expect this to be one of the main conversations at CES this week – and we can’t wait to join in.

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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

 

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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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2016 Paves the Way for a Next-Gen Video Encoding Technology Explosion in 2017

Posted on by Dror Gill

2016 has been a significant year for video compression as 4K, HDR, VR and 360 video picked up steam, paving the road for an EXPLOSION of HEVC adoption in 2017. With HEVC’s ability to reduce bitrate and file sizes up to 50% over H.264, it is no surprise that HEVC has transitioned to be the essential enabler of high-quality and reliable streaming video powering all the new and exciting entertainment experiences being launched.

Couple this with the latest announcement from HEVC Advance removing royalty uncertainties that plagued the market in 2016 and we have a perfect marriage of technology and capability with HEVC.

In this post we’ll discuss 2016 from the lenses of Beamr’s own product and company news, combined with notable trends that will shape 2017 in the advanced video encoding space.  

>> The Market Speaks: Setting the Groundwork for an Explosion of HEVC

The State of 4K

With 4K content creation growing and the average selling price of UHD 4K TVs dropping (and being adopted faster than HDTVs), 4K is here and the critical mass of demand will follow closely. We recently did a little investigative research on the state of 4K and four of the most significant trends pushing its adoption by consumers:

  • The upgrade in picture quality is significant and will drive an increase in value to the consumer – and, most importantly, additional revenue opportunities for services as consumers are preconditioned to pay more for a premium experience. It only takes a few minutes viewing time to see that 4K offers premium video quality and enhances the entertainment experience.
  • Competitive forces are operating at scale – Service Providers and OTT distributors will drive the adoption of 4K. MSO are upping their game and in 2017 you will see several deliver highly formidable services to take on pure play OTT distributors. Who’s going to win, who’s going to lose? We think it’s going to be a win-win as services are able to increase ARPUs and reduce churn, while consumers will be able to actually experience the full quality and resolution that their new TV can deliver.
  • Commercially available 4K UHD services will be scaling rapidly –  SNL Kagan forecasts the number of global UHD Linear channels at 237 globally by 2020, which is great news for consumers. The UltraHD Forum recently published a list of UHD services that are “live” today numbering 18 VOD and 37 Live services with 8 in the US and 47 outside the US. Clearly, content will not be the weak link in UHD 4K market acceptance for much longer.
  • Geographic deployments — 4K is more widely deployed in Asia Pacific and Western Europe than in the U.S. today. But we see this as a massive opportunity since many people are traveling abroad and thus will be exposed to the incredible quality. They will then return home to question their service provider, why they had to travel outside the country to see 4K. Which means as soon as the planned services in the U.S. are launched, they will likely attract customer more quickly than we’ve seen in the past.

HDR adds WOW factor to 4K

High Dynamic Range (HDR) improves video quality by going beyond more pixels to increase the amount of data delivered by each pixel. 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. Yes, it’s “that good.” There is no disputing that HDR delivers the “wow” factor that the market and consumers are looking for. But what’s even more promising is the industry’s overwhelmingly positive reaction to it. Read more here.

Beamr has been working with Dolby to enable Dolby Vision HDR support for several years now, even jointly presenting a white paper at SMPTE in 2014. 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. For more information visit http://beamr.com/vanguard-by-beamr-content-adaptive-hevc-codec-sdk

Beamr is honored to have customers who are best in class and span OTT delivery, Broadcast, Service Providers and other entertainment video applications. From what we see and hear, studios are uber excited about HDR, cable companies are prepping for HDR delivery, Satellite distributors are building the capability to distribute HDR, and of course OTT services like Netflix, FandangoNow (formerly M-GO), VUDU, and Amazon are already distributing content using either Dolby Vision or HDR10 (or both). If your current video encoding workflow cannot fully support or adequately encode content with HDR, it’s time to update. Our V.265 video encoder SDK is a perfect place to start.

VR & 360 Video at Streamable Bitrates

360-degree video made a lot of noise in 2016.  YouTube, Facebook and Twitter added support for 360-degree videos, including live streaming in 360 degrees, to their platforms. 360-degree video content and computer-generated VR content is being delivered to web browsers, mobile devices, and a range of Virtual Reality headsets.  The Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Gear VR and Daydream View have all shipped this year, creating a new market for immersive content experiences.

But, there is an inherent problem with delivering VR and 360 video on today’s platforms.  In order to enable HD video viewing in your “viewport” (the part of the 360-degree space that you actually look at), the resolution of the full 360 video delivered to you should be 4K or more.  On the other hand, the devices on the market today which are used to view this content, including desktops, mobile devices and VR headsets only support H.264 video decoding. So delivering the high-resolution video content requires very high bitrates – twice as much as using the more modern HEVC standard.

The current solution to this issue is lowered video quality in order to fit the H.264 video stream into a reasonable bandwidth. This creates an experience for users which is not the best possible, a factor that can discourage them from consuming this newly-available VR and 360 video content.  But there’s one thing we know for sure – next generation compression including HEVC and content adaptive encoding – and perceptual optimization – will be a critical part of the final solution. Read more about VR and 360 here.

Patent Pool HEVC Advance Announces “Royalty Free” HEVC software

As 4K, HDR, VR and 360 video gathers steam, Beamr has seen the adoption rate moving faster than expected, but with the unanswered questions around royalties, and concerns of who would shoulder the cost burden, distributors have been tentative. The latest move by HEVC Advance to offer a royalty free option is meant to encourage and accelerate the adoption (implementation) of HEVC, by removing royalty uncertainties.

Internet streaming distributors and software application providers can be at ease knowing they can offer applications with HEVC software decoders without incurring onerous royalties or licensing fees. This is important as streaming app content consumption continues to increase, with more and more companies investing in its future.

By initiating a software-only royalty solution, HEVC Advance expects this move to push the rest of the market i.e. device manufacturers and browser providers to implement HEVC capability in their hardware and offer their customers the best and most efficient video experience possible.

 

>> 2017 Predictions

Mobile Video Services will Drive the Need for Content-adaptive Optimization

Given the trend toward better quality and higher resolution (4K), it’s more important than ever for video content distributors to pursue more efficient methods of encoding their video so they can adapt to the rapidly changing market, and this is where content-adaptive optimization provides a massive benefit.

The boundaries between OTT services and traditional MSO (cable and satellite) are being blurred now that all major MSOs include TVE (TV Everywhere streaming services with both VOD and Linear channels) in their subscription packages (some even break these services out separately as is the case with SlingTV). And in October, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson vowed that DirecTV Now would disrupt the pay-TV business with revolutionary pricing for an  Internet-streaming service at a mere $35 per month for a package with more than 100 channels.

And get this – AT&T wireless is adopting the practice of “zero rating” for their customers, that is, they will not count the OTT service streaming video usage toward the subscriber’s monthly data plan. This represents a great value for customers, but there is no doubt that it puts pricing pressure on the operational side of all zero rated services.

2017 is the year that consumers will finally be able to enjoy linear as well as VOD content anywhere they wish even outside the home.

Beamr’s Contribution to MSOs, Service Providers, and OTT Distributors is More Critical Than Ever

When reaching to consumers across multiple platforms, with different constraints and delivery cost models, Beamr’s content adaptive optimizer perfects the encoding process to the most efficient quality and bitrate combination.

Whether you pay by the bit delivered to a traditional CDN provider, or operate your own infrastructure, the benefits of delivering less traffic are realized with improved UX such as faster stream start times and reduced re-buffering events, in addition to the cost savings. One popular streaming service reported to us that after implementing our content-adaptive optimization solution their rebuffering events as measured on the player were reduced by up to 50%, while their stream start times improved 20%.

Recently popularized by Netflix and Google, content-adaptive encoding is the idea that not all videos are created equal in terms of their encoding requirements. Content-adaptive optimization complements the encoding process by driving the encoder to the lowest bitrate possible based on the needs of the content, and not a fixed target bitrate (as seen in traditional encoding processes and products).

A content-adaptive solution can optimize more efficiently by analyzing already-encoded video on a frame-by-frame and scene-by-scene level, detecting areas of the video that can be further compressed without losing perceptual quality (e.g. slow motion scenes, smooth surfaces).

Provided the perceptual quality calculation is performed at the frame level with an optimizer that contains a closed loop perceptual quality measure, the output can be guaranteed to be the highest quality at the lowest bitrate possible. Click the following link to learn how Beamr’s patented content adaptive optimization technology achieves exactly this result.

Encoding and Optimization Working Together to Build the Future

Since the content-adaptive optimization process is applied to files that have already been encoded, by combining an industry leading H.264 and HEVC encoder with the best optimization solution (Beamr Video), the market will be sure to benefit by receiving the highest quality video at the lowest possible bitrate and file size. As a result, this will allow content providers to improve the end-user experience with high quality video, while meeting the growing network constraints due to increased mobile consumption and general Internet congestion.

Beamr made a bold step towards delivering on this stated market requirement by disrupting the video encoding space when in April 2016 we acquired Vanguard Video – a premier video encoding and technology company. This move will benefit the industry starting in 2017 when we introduce a new class of video encoder that we call a Content Adaptive Encoder.

As content adaptive encoding techniques are being adopted by major streaming services and video platforms like YouTube and Netflix, the market is gearing up for more advanced rate control and optimization methods, something that fits our perceptual quality measure technology perfectly. This fact when combined with Beamr having the best in class HEVC software encoder in the industry, will yield exciting benefits for the market. Read the Beamr Encoder Superguide that details the most popular methods for performing content adaptive encoding and how you can integrate them into your video workflow.

One Year from Now…

In one year from now when you read our post summarizing 2017 and heralding 2018, what you will likely hear is that 2017 was the year that advanced codecs like HEVC combined with efficient perceptually based quality measures, such as Beamr’s, provide an additional 20% or greater bitrate reduction.

The ripple effect of this technology leap will be that services struggling to compete today on quality or bitrate, may fall so far behind that they lose their ability to grow the market. We know of many multi-service operator platforms who are gearing up to increase the quality of their video beyond the current best of class for OTT services. That is correct, they’ve watched the consumer response to new entrants in the market offering superior video quality, and they are not sitting still. In fact, many are planning to leapfrog the competition with their aggressive adoption of content adaptive perceptual quality driven solutions.  

If any one service assumes they have the leadership position based on bitrate or quality, 2017 may prove to be a reshuffling of the deck.

For Beamr, the industry can expect to see an expansion of our software encoder line with the integration of our perceptual quality measure which has been developed over the last 7 years, and is covered by more than 50 patents granted and pending. We are proud of the fact that this solution has been shipping for more than 3 years in our stand-alone video and photo optimizer solutions.

It’s going to be an exciting year for Beamr and the industry and we welcome you to join us. If you are intrigued and would like to learn more about our products or are interested in evaluating any of our solutions, check us out at beamr.com.

4K TVEncoder ApplicationsH.265HEVCOTTReduce BitrateV.265 Codec SDK

Before you evaluate x265, read this!

Posted on by Dror Gill

With video consumption rising and consumer preferences shifting to 4K UHD this is contributing to an even faster adoption rate than what we saw with the move to HD TV. Consumer demand for a seamless (buffer-free) video experience is a new expectation, and with the latest announcement from HEVC Advance removing royalty uncertainties in the market it’s time to start thinking about building and deploying an HEVC workflow, starting with a robust HEVC encoder.

As you may know, Beamr’s V.265 was the first commercially deployed HEVC codec SDK and it is in use today by the world’s largest OTT streaming service. Even still, we receive questions regarding V.265 in comparison to x265 and in this post we’d like to address a few of them.

In future posts, we will discuss the differences in two distinct categories, performance (speed) and quality, but in this post we’ll focus on feature-related differences between V.265 and x265.

Beginning with our instruction set, specifically support for X86/x64 SMP Architecture, V.265 is able to improve encoding performance by leveraging a resource efficient architecture that is used by most multiprocessors today. Enabling this type of support allows each processor to execute different programs while working on discrete data sets to afford the capability of sharing common resources (memory, I/O device interrupt system and so on) that are connected using a system bus or a crossbar. The result is a notable increase in overall encoding speed with V.265 over x265. For any application where speed is important, V.265 will generally pull ahead as the winner.

Another area V.265 shines compared to x265 is with its advanced preprocessing algorithm support that provides resizing and de-interlacing. As many of you know, working with interlaced video can lead to poor video quality so to try and minimize the various visual defects V.265 uses a variety of techniques like line doubling where our smart algorithms are able to detect and fill in an empty row by averaging the line above and the line below. The advantages of having a resizing feature is recognizable, largely saving time and resources, and out of the box V.265 allows you to easily convert video from one resolution to another (i.e. 4K to HD). One note, we are aware that x265 supports these features via FFMPEG. However in the case that a user is not able to use FFMPEG, the fact that V.265 supports them directly is a benefit.

V.265 boasts an unmatched pre-analysis library with fading detection and complexity analysis capabilities not supported in x265. An application for the V.265 library is video segmentation that is problematic with many encoders because of the different ways two consecutive shots may be linked. In V.265, the fading detection method detects the type of gradual transition, fade type etc. which is needed to detect hard to recognize soft cuts. V.265’s complexity analysis is able to discriminate temporal and spatial complexity in video sequences with patented multi-step motion estimation methods that are more advanced than standard “textbook” motion estimation algorithms. The information gained from doing a video complexity analysis is used during the encoding process to improve encoding quality especially during transitions between scenes.

One of the most significant features V.265 offers compared to x265 is multistreaming (ABR) support. V.265 can produce multiple GOP-aligned video output streams that are extremely important when encoding for adaptive streaming. It is critical that all bitrates have IDRs aligned to enable seamless stream switching, which V.265 provides.

Additionally, with V.265 users can produce multiple GOP-aligned HEVC streams from a single input. This is extremely important for use cases when a user has one chance to synchronize video of different resolutions and bitrates.  Multistreaming helps to provide encoded data to HLS or DASH packagers in an optimal way and it provides performance savings – especially when the service must output multiple streams of the same resolution, but at varying bitrates.


Another significant feature V.265 has over x265 is its content adaptive speed settings that makes codec configuration more convenient such as real-time compared to VOD workflows. Currently we offer presets ranging from ultra fast for extremely low latency live broadcast streams to the highest quality VOD.

To combat packet losses and produce the most robust stream possible, V.265 supports slicing by slice compressed size which produces encoded slices of limited sized (typically the size of a network packet) for use in an error prone network. This is an important feature for anyone distributing content on networks with highly variable QoS.

Continuing on to parallel processing features, V.265 offers support for tiles that divides the frame into a grid of rectangular regions that can be independently decoded and encoded. Enabling this feature increases encoding performance.

V.265 is regarded as one of the most robust codecs in the market because of its ability to suit both demanding real-time and offline file based workflows. To deliver the industry leading quality that makes V.265 so powerful, it offers motion estimation features like patented high performance search algorithms and motion vectors over a picture boundary to provide additional quality improvements over x265.

For encoding by frame-type, V.265 offers Bi- and uni-directional non-reference P-frames which is useful where low-delay encoding is needed to improve temporal scalability

As for encoding tools, V.265 offers a unique set of tools over x265:

  1. Joint bi-directional Motion Vector Search which is an internal motion estimation encoding technique that provides a better bi-direction motion vector search.
  2. Sub-LCU QP modulation that allows the user to change QP from block to block inside LCU as a way to control in-frame bits/quality more precisely.
  3. Support for up to 4 temporal layers of multiple resolutions in the same bitstream to help with changing network conditions.
  4. Region of Interest (ROI) control which allows for encoding of a specific ROI with a particular encoding parameter (qp) to add flexibility and improve encoding quality.

Another major advantage over x265 is the proprietary rate control implementation offered with V.265. This ensures target bitrates are always maintained.

The more supplemental enhancement information (SEI) messages a codec supports the more video usability information (VUI) metadata that may be delivered to the decoder in an encoded bitstream. For this reason, Beamr found it necessary to include in V.265 support for Recovery point, Field indication, Decoded Picture Hash, User data unregistered, and User data as specified by ITU-T T.35.

V.265’s ability to change encoding parameters on the fly is another extremely important feature that sets it apart from x265. With the ability to change encoder resolution, bitrate, and other key elements of the encoding profile, video distributors can achieve a significant advantage by creating recipes appropriate to each piece of content without needing to interrupt their workflows or processing cycles to reset and restart an encoder.

We trust this feature comparison was useful. In the event that you require more information or would like to evaluate the V.265, feel free to reach out to us at http://beamr.com/info-request and someone will get in touch to discuss your application and interest.

4K TVBroadcastContent EverywhereHEVCOTT

The State of Commercially Available 4K UHD Services

Posted on by Dror Gill

In a recent article we did a little investigative research on the state of 4K and four significant trends:

  1. The upgrade in picture quality is significant and will drive an increase in value to the consumer – and additional revenues for services.
  2. Competitive forces are operating at scale – Service Providers and OTT distributors will drive the adoption of 4K.
  3. SNL Kagen forecasts the number of global UHD Linear channels at 95 by the end of 2016 – and 237 globally by 2020.
  4. Geography. 4K is already far more widely deployed in Asia Pacific and Western Europe than in the U.S.

In this article we want to further highlight the state of commercially available 4K UHD services. The UltraHD Forum published a list of UHD services that are “live” and it’s worth checking out.

To break it down, there are 18 VOD and 37 Live services with 8 in the US and 47 outside the US.

The 4K adoption rate isn’t moving as slowly as one might think, so don’t make the mistake of misreading its speed. It’s time to start building your 4K workflows now as the competitive pressure is fast approaching.

Note: The following UHD service chart is courtesy UltraHD Forum.

Operator Country Service Topology Delivery Model Notes
AcTVila Japan VoD OTT Unicast ABR
airtel 4K India Live IPTV broadcast
Amazon US VoD OTT Unicast ABR
Bein Middle East Live DTH Broadcast
BT UK Live IPTV broadcast
Comcast US Push VoD Cable DOCSIS 3.x NBC used HDR10 & Atmos for Rio Olympics
Dalian Tiantu China TS Playout Cable unverified
DirecTV US VoD DTH Push VoD
Dish UHD promo Live IPTV broadcast
Fashion one (SES) Luxembourg Live DTH broadcast
Festival4K France Live IPTV broadcast
Fransat France Live DTH broadcast
Fransat France TS Playout DTH broadcast
Free France Live IPTV Multicast Android middleware, 1 channel at launch: Fashion TV loop
Globo TV Brazil VoD OTT Unicast ABR
High 4K TV Live IPTV broadcast
insight Live IPTV broadcast
Inspur China Live Cable unverified
J:COM Japan Live Cable Broadcast
KPN Netherlands Live IPTV Multicast
KT Korea Live IPTV Multicast
LG Uplus Korea VoD / Live ? IPTV Multicast
M-Go US VoD OTT Unicast ABR
Nasa TV US/Europe Live IPTV broadcast
Netflix US VoD OTT Unicast ABR
NOS Portugal Live Cable Broadcast, Multicast, Unicast ABR OTT trials have occured
NTT Plala Japan Live / VoD IPTV Multicast
Orange France France Live IPTV Multicast Dolby Atmos available on some broadcasts
pearl tv Luxembourg Live DTH broadcast
SFR France Live IPTV Multicast UHD used to promote Fiber
SKBB Korea Live IPTV Multicast
Sky Deutschland Germany Live / Push-VoD DTH / Cable broadcast Launched October 5th 2016, 2 Live channels + Push VoD
Sky Italia Italy Live DTH broadcast “Super HD” launched June 2016, HDR Announced for 2017
Sky UK UK Live DTH broadcast Available to premium Sky Q customers
SkyLife Korea Live DTH broadcast
SkyPerfecTV Japan Live DTH / Opticast broadcast HDR announced for October 2016
Slovak Telecom Slovakia VoD OTT Unicast ABR
Sony US VoD OTT Unicast ABR
Sth Korea’s Pandora Korea VoD OTT Unicast ABR
Stofa Dennmark Live cable Multicast Viasat Ultra HD
Swisscom Switzerland Live & VoD IPTV Multicast Testing HDR
Tata Sky India Live DTH broadcast cricket world cup’15
Telekom Malaysia Malaysia Live IPTV Multicast Demonstration/Trials – Launch soon
Telus Canada VoD OTT Unicast ABR Starts with VoD – Live coming soon
Tivusat Italy Live DTH Broadcast
Tricolor Russia TS Playout DTH broadcast
Turkcell Turkey Live IPTV Multicast
UHD-1 Live IPTV broadcast
UMAX Korea TS Playout Cable broadcast
Videocon India Live DTH broadcast cricket world cup’15
Vidity US VoD OTT Unicast ABR
Vodafone Portugal Portugal Live IPTV Multicast
Vodafone Spain Spain Live / VoD IPTV Multicast, Unicast
VUDU US VoD OTT Unicast ABR Dolby Vision and Atmos support announced
waiku tv France VoD OTT Unicast ABR
4K TVHEVCOTT

4 Facts about 4K

Posted on by Dror Gill

We recently did a little investigative research on the state of 4k and here are four highlights of what we found.

To start, as an industry, we’ve been anticipating 4K for a few years now, but it was just this past April that DIRECTV launched the first-ever Live 4K broadcast from the Masters Golf Tournament. Read more here:

http://ktla.com/2016/03/30/get-ready-for-4k-programming-with-directv/

In May Comcast EVP Matt Strauss spoke with Multichannel News about the company’s plans to begin distributing a 4K HDR capable Xi6 set-top box, but not until 2017.

http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/building-video-momentum/405085

And Comcast did broadcast the Olympics in 4K, but only to the Xfinity App built in to a select set of Smart TVs. Also, as with DIRECTV and DISH Network, the 4K signals were broadcast after a 24-hour delay which I understand was caused mostly by content prep requirements. 

Meanwhile for VOD, Netflix and Amazon are in the game producing and delivering 4K content. While VUDU and FandangoNow also have a limited set of licensed content available for streaming delivery.

Watch Dave Ronca discuss Netflix 4K workflow and technology architecture at Streaming Media East.

As for linear 4K UHD options, in the U.S. today there are just a few TV channels available with the only major operator offering a 24×7 4K UHD linear TV channel being DIRECTV. (There is also a small operator in Chattanooga Tennessee with five 4K UHD channels)

Given the seeming “lack of content” and esoteric discussions about 4K not being easy to “actually see” because most screen sizes are too small due to the extended viewing distance in most homes, you’d be excused for thinking that 4K is still a ways out.

But… our research took us to Best Buy, where the store is filled wall to wall with 4K UHD capable TVs.

Our conclusion?

Forget everything you’ve read: The upgrade in picture quality is real and it’s awesome.

And that brings us to the first key fact about 4K UHD:

  1. The upgrade in picture quality is significant – and it will drive an increase in value to the consumer – and drive additional revenues in return.

SNL Kagan data released in July 2016 the following data. Nearly 2 out of 3 service providers and content producers they surveyed reported they believe consumers are willing to pay more for 4k UHD content. (4K Global Industry Forecast, SNL Kagan, July 2016)

However, it’s important to note that this stunning picture quality isn’t simply resolution. In fact, as we’ll point out in an upcoming white paper, High Dynamic Range is probably as important a feature in today’s 4K UHD TVs as resolution.

HDR enables three key things. Most essentially, HDR improves camera hardware by capturing the high contrast ratios – lighter lights and darker darks – that exist in the real world. As such, HDR images provide more ‘realism’ – and to stunning effect. Also, HDR provides greater luminance (brighter) and thirdly, it offers a wider color gamut (redder reds and greener greens.)

If that consumer benefit can translate into revenue impact, and we believe it will, this will drive accelerated service provider adoption, particularly given our 2nd fact finding about 4k:

  1. Competitive forces operating at scale – amongst Service Providers and OTT providers will drive the adoption of 4K.

Once 4K rollouts start, many in the business feel it will move lightning fast compared to the HD rollout. Why? Consolidation has created more scale in the TV market.

Plus you need to add competitive pressure to the mix with digital leaders like Netflix setting a high video quality bar for not only OTT competitors but MVPDs.

Meantime, major video service providers have been aggressive in efforts to dominate and extend their footprint into consumer homes. Fear and competition will drive decision making and actions at MVPDs as much as consumer delight.

All of the growth pressure described in #2 manifests itself in the growing forecasts for UHD linear TV channel launches.

  1. SNL Kagan forecasts the number of global UHD Linear channels at 95 by the end of 2016 – and 237 globally by 2020.

Of course, this is a chicken-and-egg problem. Few consumers want to purchase 4K TVs if there isn’t enough content to be displayed on them.

But as Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies points out, until 35-40% of homes have a 4K TV, the cable and broadcast networks won’t justify sizable numbers of 4K channel launches. [USA TODAY Jan 2 2016, “More 4K TV programming finally here in 2016”]

Which leads us to our 4th key fact about 4k UHD TV.

  1. Don’t forget about Geography. 4K is already far more widely deployed in Asia Pacific and Western Europe than in the U.S.

It’s clear that 4K UHD is in the earliest stages of a commercial rollout. Yet it is surprising to see how far behind the U.S. is in 4K UHD channel launches, at least according to the SNL Kagan report previously referenced.

In that report, the North American region had just 12% of linear 4K UHD channels globally, compared with 42% in Asia Pacific, and 30% in Western Europe.

But as you think about the state of 4K and your company’s investment level whether that be in acquiring content rights, licensing HEVC encoders, or upgrading your network and streaming technologies to accommodate the increased bandwidth demands, don’t make the mistake of misreading the speed of adoption. Start acquiring content and building your 4K workflows now, because when the competitive pressure arrives to have a full UHD 4K offer (and it will come) you do not want to be scrambling.