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Any good streaming solution needs to transcode multiple bitrates and formats. You either need to do that on the source machine or across the network somehow.
by wesleytodd 10y ago
Any good streaming solution needs to transcode multiple bitrates and formats. You either need to do that on the source machine or across the network somehow.
Doing it on the source machine is technically easier, but much more heavy weight on machine. Doing it on the network means that the transcode is happening multiple times, which can result in playback issues if you get a source segment from two different transcodes.
I have thought about doing something like this because I work for a streaming company, but have always come to some roadblock like the one above for a "real" application of this technique. I wonder how they have solved this.
- wesleytodd 10y ago> "Powered by our proprietary and patented peer-to-peer live streaming protocol," And now I care about this much less... source: http://blog.bittorrent.com/2016/05/17/bittorrent-live-multichannel-app-for-live-and-linear-programming-unveiled-at-intx/ http://blog.bittorrent.com/2016/05/17/bittorrent-live-multic...
- cwkoss 10y agoHas BitTorrent (the company) ever developed anything that gained wide traction? (Original client was developed pre-incorporation) Looking through their Wikipedia page, it seems like a list of flops or freeware. Are they actually profitable?
- Chris2048 10y agois bittorrent in any way proprietary? Weren't there extensions?
- elif 10y agoIf you control the client, multiple formats are unnecessary. As we transition to gigabit the need for multiple bitrates becomes diminished, but even now I would argue you could get by just fine with just 2. Most TV shows and movies you torrent today are uploaded with 2-3 quality tiers anyway.
- Veratyr 10y ago> Doing it on the network means that the transcode is happening multiple times, which can result in playback issues if you get a source segment from two different transcodes. Not necessarily. H.264 Annex G specifies a way to encode lower quality subset bitstreams in a higher quality bitstream. Drop some packets and bam, you've got a lower quality stream. AAC specifies something similar for audio.
- wesleytodd 10y agoLink to that spec?
- Veratyr 10y agoAccess to codec specs is unfortunately rather difficult. Wikipedia has a lot of information and some links that may be useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Video_Coding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Video_Coding