Over the past several years, the video streaming industry has been working on solutions to achieve low-latency OTT delivery in order to compete with traditional broadcast of live content. This was initially achieved with the MPEG DASH format, using CMAF, standardized in January 2018 by MPEG, followed in October 2019 by DVB delivering the low latency update of its DVB DASH specification. In June 2019, Apple announced during its Worldwide Developers Conference that the HLS protocol is being updated to support low latency, (the “Apple way,” of course).

The challenge: Two separate ecosystems exist today for the delivery of live content in DASH and HLS, the most popular delivery formats. In order for OTT to scale, we have to rationalize the two approaches and find a common groundwork for low latency.

CMAF: A FOUNDATION FOR CONVERGENCE

As a solution to possible convergence, Common Media Application format (CMAF), an ISO media format standardized in January 2018, provides a promising framework. When Microsoft, Apple and other industry players came together to propose the CMAF standard, many believed convergence was a done deal.

But this was not and is still not the case, and there are still some missing pieces to the puzzle. Service providers that wish to distribute their content in both formats (i.e., HLS and DASH) still need to have separate workflows at some points and duplication of media file caching in the network, which increases their overall costs; it also increases complexity and puts more stress on the OTT business model and therefore slows down OTT deployments.

WHY ISN'T THERE A SINGLE WORKFLOW FOR LIVE CONTENT DELIVERY?

Low-latency delivery is an essential feature for highly valuable content such as premium sports, which also drags the largest audience for live. Therefore, now more than ever, it is important for the industry to figure out a way to produce and cache a single set of media files in the network to optimize processing, caching and storage costs. This was the promise of CMAF from its onset, but hurdles with regards to low latency delivery methods need to be removed to make it a reality.

Indeed Low Latency DASH, also called “DASH LLC” (Low latency Chunk), and Low latency HLS, as proposed by Apple in June 2019 (LL-HLS), rely on different sets of tools and protocols for delivery, despite both using CMAF (including CMAF chunks) for the media file format. The former uses HTTP chunk transfer encoding while the latter (which is still an Apple draft specification) uses HTTP/2 and the more problematic HTTP/2 push method (not widely deployed or even supported), creating a lot of pushback from the CDN industry.

As a result, for the delivery of low latency services, the OTT industry is still grappling with two sets of media files, duplicate caching and high costs while fighting to find a profitable business model.

THE LATEST UPDATE ON LOW LATENCY

The end of 2019 brought about positive changes to the OTT industry. Apple and other industry players, including technology solution providers for encoding, packaging, origin, CDN and OTT players, expressed the willingness to find a compatible mode between DASH and HLS for low-latency content delivery.

It would be beneficial for the industry to see some evolutions on the current draft LL-HLS proposal to finally achieve the initial promise of having a real common format for media files and a common delivery workflow.

CONTENT PROTECTION: DRM AND AD INSERTION

For service providers, content needs to be monetized, so DRM and ad insertion tools are therefore critical to ensuring that service providers can take advantage of the abundant revenue opportunities in the OTT environment. As part of the global workflows for content delivery, there should also be a way to build common methods for these features.

There is now unified support for the CBCS encryption scheme by all of the major DRM systems such as Apple FairPlay for HLS, and Google Widevine and Microsoft PlayReady for DASH. With this approach a single media file can be encrypted in the CBCS format and distributed to any player, no matter what DRM system is in use. This fulfills the initial promise of CMAF. Detailed discussions still need to take place around DRM, but the industry is headed in the right direction.

Ad insertion—in particular dynamic and targeted ad insertion—is increasingly being used by OTT service providers to make ads more relevant. Through dynamic ad insertion solutions, service providers can dramatically boost their OTT revenues by creating more value for advertisers and improving the end-user experience.

For targeted ads to be successful, service providers need to ensure a seamless video experience, with smooth dynamic ad insertion. Both DASH and HLS Low Latency specifications are currently scrutinized to make sure the industry practices used in legacy workflows can be used or slightly adapted to take into account the additional constraints brought about by the shorter delivery path. Guidelines for both HLS and DASH will have to be updated to properly use the timing information for inserting ads in the low latency streams. It is still a work in progress but there is hope this can be achieved to enable a common workflow.

CONCLUSION

At Harmonic, we believe that the industry has to develop a unified CMAF based, Live OTT streaming system that supports: common encryption (already done with CBCS), ad insertion and low latency for both delivery formats (HLS and DASH).

Under this approach, media files are only stored once, which saves processing, storage and delivery costs. And, of course, there are two different HLS and DASH manifests that can always be cached separately.

This will create an optimized delivery scheme that will enable all of the key features OTT operators are looking for. Failing to accomplish this will fragment the market, make OTT less profitable and slow down its development.

Patrick Gendron is director of innovation at Harmonic.

Stand 14.D10, IBC 2019, RAI, Amsterdam: Intinor Technology, Sweden’s leading developer of products and solutions for high quality video over IP networks, has announced that ESL, the world's largest esports company, has deployed a combination of Intinor’s Direkt router, Direkt router lite, and Direkt receiver units to cover its linear broadcasting needs.

ESL wanted to move away from a rigid managed service model for traditional linear broadcasting and expand its internal distribution workflows for the web and, for the first time, take care of linear broadcasts internally.

ESL Director of Streaming, Steven Jalicy, said, “We wanted a solution that could dynamically scale and deliver high quality and high reliability without generating out of control service costs and technology bottlenecks. Furthermore, we wanted the future capacity and potential to merge our online and linear workflows into a single ecosystem.

“To achieve this, we needed a hardware system that was protocol and service agnostic. Something we could build into our own infrastructure and workflows to deliver traditional linear content to traditional linear takers, but deploy it using the same concepts that have been so successful for ESL when it comes to delivering content to our core audience on online platforms. Intinor was the perfect partner for this project.”

Intinor’s solution for ESL was to use a combination of Direkt router, Direkt router lite, and Direkt receiver units. The receiver units enable ESL’s takers to receive content via IP transport, which then breaks out to an SDI output that conforms to the respective traditional broadcast standards required. The routers enable ESL to contribute and distribute content from live events directly to takers worldwide and are the backbone of the deployment as they handle SDI source inputs onsite; perform live video encoding; process IP contributions; and ensure content distribution across the vast ESL network.

With the Direkt system, ESL can now directly manage and operate its own linear content distribution network without an expensive managed service, and without investing in the traditional infrastructure and hardware that would normally be required for linear content delivery.

Additional benefits include the ability to use Intinor’s proprietary Bifrost Reliable Transport (BRT™) protocol for 100 percent redundant transport over the public internet while also staying flexible and agnostic with options for RTP, HLS, RTMP and SRT protocols. Owning the hardware also enables ESL to integrate Intinor technology with ESL’s own workflows, which can then deliver key functionality for innovative broadcast concepts without increased costs for services and development.

Jalicy added, “Set against a backdrop of an almost impossible deadline - we had to go from fundamental design, through proof of concept and then onto a full scale deployment in less than four weeks - Intinor has been a great partner throughout this process and we will soon deliver our first live event using the new Intinor system, which takes place 28th-29th September 2019, live from the Barclays Center, New York. This represents just the beginning of our plans and we are confident that Intinor technology is going to play a crucial role in ESL’s continued innovation in the live broadcast space.”

Intinor CEO Roland Axelsson said, “We are delighted to have delivered such a robust and well-received Direkt system for ESL that eliminated their need for an external, restrictive, and expensive managed service provider. Having freed them from such hold-ups, we very much look forward to even more exciting applications and deployments for both companies.”

ESL will feature prominently in The IBC Esports Showcase on Tuesday 17 September, which will include information and discussions on entry into esports and managing the complexity of production through to the seamless technical delivery of an esports broadcast.

Intinor will feature the Direkt router, Direkt router lite, and Direkt receiver on Stand 14.D10 during IBC 2019.

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About ESL
Founded in 2000, ESL has been developed into the world’s largest esports company leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international leagues and tournaments such as ESL One, Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL Pro League and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as ESL National Championships, grassroots amateur cups and matchmaking systems, defining the path from zero to hero as short as possible. With offices all over the world, ESL is leading esports forward on a global scale. ESL is a part of MTG, the leading international digital entertainment group.

About Intinor
Intinor develops its own products and comprehensive solutions for high quality video over IP networks. With solutions for contribution, as well as for distribution and web TV, Intinor has customers ranging from small production to major television channels. Intinor also work as consultants with product development and has extensive experience in developing custom-designed systems to meet specific needs. For more information, visit www.intinor.com.

Company Contact:
Martin Weber, European Sales Manager
Sales and Marketing
+49(0)176-231 322 65
+49(0)8122-84 700 59
martin.weber@intinor.se

Media Contact:
Jennie Marwick-Evans
Manor Marketing
jennie@manormarketing.tv
Phone: +44 (0) 7748 636171

NEW YORK—Day-after conversations around the water cooler about sporting events inevitably come around to “did you see that play” or “call”—and when it comes to the Super Bowl, “commercial.”

However, no one ever thinks to ask “when did you see that” –no one except for real-time streaming specialist Phenix. The company, which has created its own spin on WebRTC to power live video streaming at scale with about 500 milliseconds of latency, is keenly aware of the when, especially when it comes to Super Bowl LIII.

“On average, there was a streaming delay ranging from 30 to 47 seconds depending on the platform,” says Jed Corenthal, CMO of Phenix.

To arrive at that finding, Phenix compared the time plays actually occurred on the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta to when the same play began on eight platforms used to stream the game, including the CBS Sports App, NFL.com, Xfinity, CBSSports.com, YouTube TV, the NFL App, CBS All Access and the Yahoo Sports App.

The company released its findings Feb. 5 in the form of two online graphs, one laying out the averages for measured lag behind real-time for Super Bowl 2019 and the other presenting the measured audience drift –or ranges of lag for viewers on the same platform—for the game.

More than 800 data points were collected for the eight streams on multiple devices, such as laptop computers, smartphones and tablets. Each was compared by measuring the delay behind the over-the-air, cable or satellite TV signal.

To establish the start times for each sampled play, a Phenix researcher in the stadium reported on a cellphone when measured plays actually began, explains Corenthal, adding that using the cellphone created about 40 to 50 milliseconds of latency.

Some 20 people around the country using different digital devices and streaming platforms then recorded when the same play began on the streaming devices. Measurements were taken throughout the game.

Phenix found that the CBS Sports App performed best among the streaming platforms with an average of 28.2 seconds of latency compared to the on-field game. On the other end of the continuum was the Yahoo Sports App with an average of 46.7 seconds of latency.

The study also looked at audience drift, or the range of lag viewers on the same platform experienced. YouTube TV recorded the greatest drift with 107.8 seconds, while the NFL App with 69.3 seconds recorded the least drift.

The culprit is HLS, or HTTP Live Streaming, which “wasn’t designed for real time,” says Corenthal.

“They [HLS-based platforms] may be able to do things to it that alter the latency of their particular stream, but when you add up the encoding, the content delivery and all of the points along the way, what happens in HLS is you are kind of relegated to a certain amount of latency because that is the way the technology is built,” he says.

Latency may or may not be a problem for viewers, but any Super Bowl fan who was watching the game on traditional TV and also turning to a smartphone or tablet for the game likely saw the effects of streaming latency firsthand.

“Look, for some people that’s OK. It’s not a big deal. But what we are seeing is the general fan is getting tired of that; tired of streams that are behind; streams that are buffering,” says Corenthal.

“The good news is most of the streams had pretty good quality, and quality and scale have been the first two pegs of the triangle that have been somewhat solved. It’s when latency is added –all three pegs of quality, scale and latency—that’s where these platforms come up a bit short in our estimation.”

More information is available on the Phenix website.

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J.—Content distributors might play follow the leader after Apple made the announcement that in June 2017 that it would be using HEVC-encoded video to the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) specification. In a survey conducted by Unisphere Research, and sponsored by Harmonic and Streaming Media, we could see a major deployment of the HEVC codec in the coming year.

The current landscape for HEVC among online content distributors—TV networks, content sites, commercial sites, SVODs and more—that responded revealed that 25 percent (25.1 to be exact) are currently distributing video encoded with HEVC. Those not using it are primarily using other codecs or content aware encoding and make the case that either H.264 is meeting their needs, or that they don’t understand the royalty scheme, among others.

Despite these reservations, the tide is shifting. Given a scale of one to five, with five labeled as “very strong effect,” 66.2 percent of respondents said Apple’s decision to include HEVC ranked either three, four or five.

In addition, asked at what is the soonest that they planned to deploy HEVC, 62.5 percent said that they had intentions to do so by the end of 2018. Only 27.9 percent said they had no plans at this time.

The survey did find that there is interest in other codecs by respondents, most notably AV1 and VP9. However, 53.8 percent of respondents said they do not plan on adding any new codecs.

To see the complete survey, click here.