Will Virtual Reality Determine the Future of Streaming?

As video services take a more aggressive approach to virtual reality (VR), the question of how to scale and deliver this bandwidth intensive content must be addressed to bring it to a mainstream audience. While we’ve been talking about VR for a long time you can say that it was reinvigorated when Oculus grabbed the […]

The TV of Tomorrow Needs Standards Today: Why the streaming video industry must work together to solve video delivery quality issues

Nearly 50 percent of Americans have an entertainment subscription service like Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, accessed via a connected television or devices like Amazon Fire TV, Roku, or Apple TV, according to recent research from Nielsen. Furthermore, a quarter of those in the coveted 18-to-34 demographic have either cut their cable or satellite services […]

Applications for On-the-Fly Modification of Encoder Parameters

As video encoding workflows modernize to include content adaptive techniques, the ability to change encoder parameters “on-the-fly” will be required. 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. For VOD or file-based […]

Net Neutrality Means Bye Bye HOV Lanes

What started as a rant from comedian John Oliver calling for support of an open internet, has now developed into a monumental philosophical debate riddled with controversy that is centered upon the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) attempt to reclassify broadband based on its role in modern day life. For the past two decades, the Internet […]

Dolby Vision and HEVC, an Introduction

Notice that some material from this post appeared originally in the article, “Integrating HEVC Video Compression with a High Dynamic Range Video Pipeline,” by Raul Diaz, Sam Blinstein, and Sheng Qu, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, 125 (1): 14-21, January/February 2016. You can download the original paper here. Advances in video capture and display are moving […]

Using Beamr’s V.265 HEVC Encoder to Generate MPEG-DASH Compliant Streams

Recent developments in video encoding and streaming technology have come together to supply two major tools to optimize the delivery of synchronized video streams across multiple devices. The first development is the next generation video coding standard HEVC, which offers significant compression efficiency gains over AVC. And the second is MPEG-DASH, which gives key advantages […]

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 […]

Stop Paying Data Overages and Get Content on Your Terms

The digital landscape is changing as content everywhere becomes the new norm. One of the biggest factors driving this change is the explosion of mobile video consumption. With video no longer the domain of large-screen TVs, viewers today want to watch content anywhere, anytime and on every device. Computers, tablets, and smartphones are becoming the […]

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 […]

Content-Adaptive Optimization is Bringing Next Level Performance to OTT and Broadcast Encoding Workflows

As the digital landscape continues to grow, it’s no surprise that the demand for a high-quality and reliable streaming video experience on mobile devices is increasing. In fact, Cisco reported that by 2019, video will represent 80% of all global consumer Internet traffic. This means, once every second, nearly 1 million minutes of video content […]