Tag: Live Video Streaming

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Live 4Kp60 Optimized Encoding with Beamr CABR and NVIDIA Holoscan for Media

Posted on by Tamar Shoham

This year at IBC 2024 in Amsterdam, we are excited to demonstrate Live 4K p60 optimized streaming with our Content-Adaptive Bitrate (CABR) technology on NVIDIA Holoscan for Media, a software-defined, AI-enabled platform that allows live video pipelines to run on the same infrastructure as AI. Using the CABR GStreamer plugin, premiered at the NAB Show earlier this year, we now support live, quality-driven optimized streaming for 4Kp60 video content.

It is no secret that savvy viewers are coming to expect the high-quality experience of 4K Ultra-High-Definition streamed at 60 frames per second for premium events. What started with a drizzle a few years back has become the high end norm for recent events such as the 2024 Olympics, where techies were sharing insights on where it could be accessed.

Given the fact that 4K means a whopping four times the pixels compared to full HD resolution, keeping up with live encoding of 4K at 60 fps can be quite challenging, and can also result in bitrates that are too high to manage.

One possible solution for broadcasters is to encode and transmit at 1080p and rely on the constantly improving upscalers available on TVs to provide the 4K experience, but this of course means they cannot control the user experience. A better solution is to have a platform that is super fast, and can create live 4Kp60 encodes, which combine excellent quality with an optimization process that minimizes the required bitrate for transmission.

Comparison of 4K Live video before and after optimization

Beamr CABR on Holoscan for Media offers exactly that, by combining the fast data buses and easy-to-use architecture of Holoscan for Media with Beamr hardware-accelerated, quality-driven optimized AV1 encoding. Together, it is possible to stream super efficient, 4K, lower bitrate encodes at top notch quality.

Content Adaptive Bitrate encoding, or CABR, is Beamr’s patented and award-winning technology that uses a quality measure to select the best candidate with the lowest bitrate and the same perceptual quality as a reference frame. In other words, users can enjoy 30-50% lower bitrate, faster delivery of files or live video streams and improved user experience – all with exactly the same quality as the original video.

In order to achieve aggressive bitrates which are feasible for broadcast of live events, we configure the system to use AV1 encoding. The advanced AV1 format has been around since 2018. However, its full potential has not been fully realized by many players in the video arena. AV1 is raising the bar significantly in comparison to previous modern codecs, such as AVC (H.264) or HEVC (H.265), in terms of efficiency, performance with GPUs and high quality for real-time video. When combined with CABR – AV1 is offering up even more. According to our tests, AV1 can reduce data by 50% compared to AVC and by 30% compared to HEVC. We also showed that CABR optimized AV1 is beneficial for machine learning tasks.

Putting all three of these technologies together, namely deploying Holoscan for Media with the Beamr CABR solution inside, which in turn is using NVIDIA’s hardware-accelerated AV1 encoder, provides a platform that offers spectacular benefits. With the rise in demand for high-quality live streaming at high resolution, high fps and manageable bitrates, while keeping an eye on the encoding costs – this solution is definitely an interesting prospect for companies looking to boost their streaming workflows.

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Shows Without Safety Nets: The Lasting Appeal of Live TV

Posted on by Dror Gill

Live video streaming is certainly popular these days, but it’s not a new concept. Instead, it hearkens back to a beloved form of 20th-century entertainment: live scripted television. In fact, this type of non-news, non-sports programming endures to this day.

Live TV Enthralls a Nation

During the 1950s, comedies and dramas on TV were often live. Variety programs like “Your Show of Shows” were full of energetic comedy sketches. Anthology shows were popular as well. “Playhouse 90,” for one, staged different dramatic productions each week. When you tuned in, it was like watching a 90-minute play. For example, “Days of Wine and Roses,” which concerns a couple battling alcoholism, was a gripping 1958 TV movie before it became an acclaimed 1962 film.

However, in 1951, CBS decided to film “I Love Lucy” in front of a studio audience. By the 1960s, live primetime TV had become scarce partly due to this show’s success.

Live Sitcoms? Not.

Let’s give credit to “Roc,” a Fox sitcom about a sanitation worker. The show averaged around 9 million viewers during its first season (1991-92). But when it aired a live show in February 1992, the episode attracted approximately 11 million. The producers then decided to do the whole second season live. It didn’t go as well the second time around.

In March 2015, NBC’s “Undateable” revived this approach. The comedy, which revolves around some slovenly singles, televised a season of live episodes. Unfortunately, like “Roc,” it’s far from a hit.

Live Episodes and Musicals

In 1997, the season premiere of the NBC medical drama “ER,” entitled “Ambush,” was broadcast live. Cast member George Clooney, a fan of 1950s TV, had urged the producers to approve a live episode. The actors had to perform it twice, the second time for the West Coast. With 42.7 million viewers, it was a massive ratings success. And it prompted several other shows to telecast their own live episodes, including NBC’s “30 Rock” and “The West Wing.”

Additionally, in recent years, television has been lighting up social media with live versions of musicals. This trend started with 2013’s “The Sound of Music Live!” on NBC, which starred country singer Carrie Underwood. Filmed at New York’s Grumman Studios, it was the first live Broadway musical on TV in more than 50 years. Nearly 38.7 million viewers caught at least some of this three-hour show, and it averaged about 18.6 million viewers at any one moment.

Video Streaming: Live TV for the 21st Century?

Live TV has lasted because it gives people the feeling that they’re having a unique experience. After all, no one knows what might happen during such a performance. Actors could forget their lines, or an earthquake could hit the studio.

Live video streaming offers that same anything-can-happen thrill. Plus, marketing professionals value it as it lets them interact with consumers and get a sense of their opinions.

Best of all, these videos draw people closer. Friends and family members can sit with laptops, tablets and smartphones and watch them at the same time. Whether they’re in the same room or viewing remotely, a special camaraderie arises. It’s the emotional connection that forms when you know that others are feeling what you’re feeling. Yes, there’s real joy in laughing, crying and gasping as a group.

Moreover, whenever you’re watching a video of a one-time-only event ― for instance, a Periscope video of a birth or graduation ― the shared viewing becomes even more powerful.

It’s the kind of togetherness that many people must’ve known as they gathered in living rooms to watch “Your Show of Shows” and “Playhouse 90” way back when.

Which has us thinking, will services like Facebook live become the new reality TV format? With Facebook now serving 8 billion views a day, a 100% increase over just 6 months earlier according to this TechCrunch article. There is no doubt that the shared, social experience of live video is here to stay.

But what this means technically is what motivates Beamr’s team of 60 video codec engineers and image scientists to not stop innovating. As consumer expectations are increasing for better video quality and improved streaming stability, never before has the need for high quality video encoding that makes the best use of as few bits as possible, been needed.