Broadcasting XXI century
Today they talk a lot about adaptive broadcasting, about how cool and convenient it is. Strictly speaking, it is not surprising if we consider the fact that over the last 10-15 years, the requirements for high-quality multimedia content delivery have increased significantly, which entails the emergence and spread of new broadcasting technologies. Today, for broadcasting video content, most companies use adaptive broadcasting technology, among them: Youtube, Apple, Tektronix, Telebreeze and others.
From the name itself one can guess the essence of the technology, but it is still interesting how it works. In professional terms, adaptive broadcasting technology allows you to send audio and video via HTTP from a regular web server for playback on various devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs. At the same time, adaptive broadcasting supports both live broadcasts and recorded content, which is important for the current distribution of peering. Adaptive broadcasting provides data encryption and user authentication via HTTPS, which allows publishers to protect their work. Schematically, this method of broadcasting is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Processing and delivery of audio / video files
The principle of operation of adaptive broadcasting itself is that there are several alternative streams with different playback quality for different speeds of the Internet, and the client, or more precisely client software, can efficiently switch streams, taking into account changes in network bandwidth, i.e., adaptive broadcasting works as follows in the following way:
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If several stream qualities are available, the video player will constantly monitor the current bandwidth and select the next fragment from the highest quality that it can download (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Adaptive streaming scheme
Currently, there are three well-known implementations of adaptive broadcasting technology from Microsoft, Adobe and Apple: Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Adobe Flash Dynamic Streaming, Apple HTTP Adaptive Bitrate Streaming.
Thus, the technology of adaptive broadcasting is very convenient and improves the quality of playing video content, because instead of various delays in broadcasting a video stream, only the quality of the video will deteriorate, and the playback itself will be non-stop.
From the name itself one can guess the essence of the technology, but it is still interesting how it works. In professional terms, adaptive broadcasting technology allows you to send audio and video via HTTP from a regular web server for playback on various devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs. At the same time, adaptive broadcasting supports both live broadcasts and recorded content, which is important for the current distribution of peering. Adaptive broadcasting provides data encryption and user authentication via HTTPS, which allows publishers to protect their work. Schematically, this method of broadcasting is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Processing and delivery of audio / video files
The principle of operation of adaptive broadcasting itself is that there are several alternative streams with different playback quality for different speeds of the Internet, and the client, or more precisely client software, can efficiently switch streams, taking into account changes in network bandwidth, i.e., adaptive broadcasting works as follows in the following way:
- An existing file or live broadcast is divided before being sent to several files of different quality for different Internet speeds, and these files are divided into short pieces (segments), usually in 5-10 seconds.
- These segments are stored on a standard web server and are individually served on a video player request on the device.
- During playback, the player easily stitches the segments together.
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If several stream qualities are available, the video player will constantly monitor the current bandwidth and select the next fragment from the highest quality that it can download (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Adaptive streaming scheme
Currently, there are three well-known implementations of adaptive broadcasting technology from Microsoft, Adobe and Apple: Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Adobe Flash Dynamic Streaming, Apple HTTP Adaptive Bitrate Streaming.
Thus, the technology of adaptive broadcasting is very convenient and improves the quality of playing video content, because instead of various delays in broadcasting a video stream, only the quality of the video will deteriorate, and the playback itself will be non-stop.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/206136/
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