Understanding TV Everywhere or Multiscreen Video Delivery CCTA Technical Training Puerto Rico July 16, 2013 Louis Sebastiani, Project Manager 1
Understanding TV Everywhere or Multiscreen Video Delivery How can we deliver video to consumers on managed and unmanaged networks? This requires to understand the differences between Cable TV, IPTV and Over the Top delivery (OTT) using the Internet. The following points will be addressed: Difference between MPEG2-Transport Stream delivery and HTTP streaming Adaptive Bit Rate streaming technology overview Comparing HTTP streaming technologies Overview of the multiscreen video delivery ecosystem (from content to consumer devices) 2
Cable TV, IPTV and OTT MPEG-TS over Managed Networks Cable TV / IPTV / Satellite Internet Over-The-Top Delivery (OTT) Delivery of video over Un-Managed Networks 3
Difference betwen Managed and Unmanaged Networks Managed Network (HFC, DSL, FTTH, Satellite) Bandwidth is controlled and constant Jitter is controlled Network Engineering allows stable conditions (QoS is assured) MPEG-TS is the preferred mechanism to deliver video (QAM, IPTV, Satellite). Because MPEG-TS requires stable network conditions and no packet loss: need Managed Network Unmanaged Network (Internet) Bandwidth varies / Conditions are not stable Quality of Service is not guaranteed ( Best Effort ) MPEG-TS is not a good solution So, need to use IP video streaming techniques to deliver video over-the-top top (OTT) audio video video 4
MPEG-2-TS on Managed Network IP Video Streaming 0110011010110101001101 video video audio MPEG-2 TS (or) ASI IP TCP/IP QAM (Cable) QPSK/8PSK (Satellite) DSL (Telco) GPON/EPON (FTTH) Direct Connection from Headend to Customer Packet-Switched Best Effort Network 5
What is OTT Video Streaming? For the purpose of this presentation: ti - A toolkit of different technologies - Making Use of the Public Internet and its Standard Protocols - To deliver multimedia content t - Either Live or On-Demand 6
Video Streaming Examples 7
IP Stack Standard Protocols Key Words Application Layer Transport Layer TELN NET FTP HTTP Clients/ Servers TCP (acknowledgement) DHC CP DNS SNM MP RTMP/ RTP RTSP UDP (no acknowledgement) Internet Layer IP IGMP 4 layer model (Internet Protocol Suite) From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/internet_protocol_suite Lin nk Lay yer Ethernet t (Media Access Control) MAC address 8
An example with MPEG-TS Application Layer Transport Layer TELN NET FTP HTTP Clients/ Servers TCP (acknowledgement) DHC CP DNS SNM MP RTMP/ RTP RTSP UDP (no acknowledgement) Internet Layer IP IGMP nk yer Li La Ethernet (Media Access Control) 9
Video Streaming Protocols All streaming protocols are in the application layer Application Layer Transport Layer Internet Layer TELNET T FTP Clients/ Servers TCP (acknowledgement) DHCP DNS SNMP RTMP/ RTSP UDP (no acknowledgement) Clients and servers exchange messages in a request-response messaging pattern HTTP Streaming Protocols use the layers RTP below to transport content IP IGMP HTTP TCP IP RTSP/ RTMP UDP Link Layer Ethernet (Media Access Control) MAC Video streaming over the Internet 10
Video Streaming Protocols Evolution Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. RTSP means Real Time Streaming Protocol RTMP means Real Time Messaging Protocol 1 HTTP App plication Layer ort r Transp Laye Int ternet Layer Link Layer TELNET FTP HTTP Clients/ Servers TCP (acknowledgement) IP DHCP RTP DNS SNMP UDP (no acknowledgement) Ethernet (Media Access Control) 3 HTTP 2 RTSP/ RTMP RTSP/ RTMP 1. Progressive Download uses HTTP (eg. Youtube) 2. RTSP/RTMP Streaming RTMP (Flash Players) RTSP IGMP (QuickTime, Android) 3. Adaptive HTTP Streaming (Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Apple HLS, Flash HDS) 11
1. Progressive Download principles Progressive Download is supported by: Flash, HTML5 browsers, the ipad/iphone and On the server side: every regular webhoster supports downloads, as does every Content Delivery Network (CDN) Youtube uses Progressive Download Features and Characteristics Simplest to implement HTTP protocol (using TCP/IP) When hit Play the media player starts downloading the file until the whole file is received. Playback as soon as enough data in buffer Trick play (seeking in the video) if system is provisioned for pseudostreaming Downsides A lot of bandwidth is wasted for data downloaded but unwatched Inhability to change the video quality at midstream Full screen looks bad (even if would have the bandwith for a higher resolution); or Playback stutters upon network congestion Not possible to do live streaming Conclusion Good solution for short clips and when no live streaming Simple to implement Alternate solutions RTMP/RTSP streaming Adaptive HTTP streaming Info from http://www.longtailvideo.com/blog/19578/what-is-video-streaming 12
2. RTMP/RTSP Streaming principles RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) is what Flash uses RTSP was developed by the Multiparty Multimedia Session Control Working Group (MMUSIC WG) and published as RFC2326 in 1998 RTMP (Flash) is the most widely used streaming protocol Almost all PCs have flash players * Not supported by iphones / ipads Hulu uses RTMP Streaming Features and Characteristics RTMP/RTSP are Stateful protocol (vs HTTP which is a Stateless protocol) Requires a dedicated Streaming Server. The media player initiates a communication with a Streaming Servers Uses RTP/UDP streaming with a remote control protocol (TCP/IP to maintain end-to-end connection) RTMP uses port 1935; RTSP uses port 554 Downsides RTP(UDP) has no retransmit capability so packet loss will result in issues RTMP/RTSP packets may be blocked by certain firewalls (because of ports 1935/554) RTMP packets can t leverage standard HTTP caching mechanisms The required server may also limit scalability as compared to HTTP-based streaming, since there are many more HTTP servers than RTMP. Conclusion RTMP distribution is still widely and beneficially used by many websites today. However, at this point if you re considering implementing a streaming technology, the overwhelming sentiment is to deliver via HTTP. For adaptive delivery to Apple devices (and Android 3.0 and higher?), HLS is your only option. Info from http://www.longtailvideo.com/blog/19578/what-is-video-streaming and http://www.streamingmedia.com/articles/editorial/what-is-.../what-is-a- Streaming-Media-Protocol-84496.aspx and Wikipedia. 13
3. Adaptive HTTP Streaming principles Profile A Profile B Profile C Video is encoded in several resolutions to adapt for network conditions (different Profiles ) Cients play the video stream by requesting segments in a profile from a Web Server (via HTTP) Adaptive delivery enables a client to adapt to fluctuating network conditions by selecting video segments from different profiles (Intelligence in client) Features and Characteristics Creation of fragments of encoded video (2 seconds or 10 seconds chunks) hosted on regular HTTP server HTTP is firewall friendly (vs RTMP) Support for different resolutions i.e. each fragment can be encoded in different quality levels IDR Frame alignement and equal duration of fragments to switch between resolutions during playback H.264 video Codec and AAC audio Note: see upcoming slide for discussion i on WebM and VP8 Downsides Requires more overhead because of TCP which requires acknowledgement (vs RTP/UDP transport) A lot of small files to manage (chunks) No Single and Widely used implementation Currently, some of the options are: Apple HLS Microsoft Smooth Streaming Adobe HDS Lack of standardization, except effort from: MPEG-DASH (MPEG consortium) Objective: join the merits of RTMP/RTSP Streaming (bandwidth efficiency, quality switching) with those of Progressive Download (no special servers or protocol needed simple HTTP). CDN Friendly. The list of available profiles is called a manifest file or playlist. This is used by the client to know what to expect and download Info from http://www.longtailvideo.com/blog/19578/what-is-video-streaming and RGB white paper Comparing Adaptive HTTP Streaming Technologies 14
3. Adaptive HTTP Streaming High Quality Video H.264 Encoder H.264 Multi Bit Rate Transport Streams Creation of several bit rates/resolutions ti for delivery to different devices (STB, PC,Tablets, Phones, etc.) Pac ckaging / Seg gmenting Lower Bit Rate -------------------- Higher Bit Rate + Playlist/Manifest File Creation of small chunks (2 or 10 seconds) for each resolution and streaming format (HLS, HDS, MSS) * For HDS, a Flash Media Server is required; For MSS, a IIS-7 Server is required HTTP Server* Managed Network or Delivery to CDN The video files are published over the Network like any other HTTP file for delivery on the Internet Client dynamically selects best size chunk according to network conditions Adaptive Streaming Client High Bit Rate Network Congestion Low Bit Rate Time 15
HTTP dynamic streaming (HDS) example http://www.thekuroko.com/what-is-http-dynamic-streaming/ p 16
3. Adaptive HTTP Streaming HLS: HTTP Live Streaming (Apple) 2009 MSS: Smooth Streaming (Microsoft) 2009 ISO Standard in order to provide a Universal Delivery Format HDS: HTTP Dynamic Streaming (Flash) 2010 Features Apple HLS Microsoft Smooth Streaming Adobe HDS mpeg-dash Codec Used H.264 H.264, VC-1 H.264, VP-6 H.264 (or other MPEG codec family) Open Standard No No No Yes Subtitle Support Partial Yes Partial Yes Multiple Audio Support V4 only Yes Yes Yes Trick Mode Support Partial Yes Partial Yes CDN-Friendly Requires Chunk Carriage Optimization Requries specific IIS-7 origin server Requires specific Flash Media Server(origin) Yes Common Encryption No No No Yes Summary of HTTP Protocol Differences. Excerpts from Harmonic August 2012 Article: Dash: A Universal Standard for Streaming Video Content to Multiple Devices, by Thierry Fautier. 17
What about WebM and VP8? WebM is an media file format designed for the web Open and royalty-free A WebM file (.webm) consists of : VP8 video codec (vs H.264 video codec) Vorbis audio codec (vs AAC audio vs) In a container based on Matroska (.mkv) Embed video directly in HTML5 web page with simple tag No need for plug-in in web page The project's development is sponsored by Google Type of Format: Media Container Internet Media Type (MIME Type) video/webm audio/webm Native WebM support by Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome browsers More Information http://www.webmproject.org/about/ 18
The State of HTML5 support Information from: http://www.longtailvideo.com/html5/ Last updated April 10, 2013 19
Summary: Streaming Support This table sums up support for the various streaming methods across devices and servers. Posted by Jeroen Wijering on April 27, 2011 Devices Progressive Download (only on demand) RTMP/RTSP Streaming (live and on demand) Adaptive HTTP Streaming (live and on demand) Adobe Flash Player MP4, FLV RTMP HLS, HDS, Smooth HTML5 (Safari & IE9) MP4 - - HTML5 (Firefox & Chrome) WebM - - ios (ipad/iphone) MP4 - HLS Android Devices MP4, WebM RTSP HLS (as of 3.0) CDNs (e.g. CloudFront) MP4, FLV, WebM RTMP HLS Web Servers (e.g. S3) MP4, FLV, WebM - HLS Info from http://www.longtailvideo.com/blog/19578/what-is-video-streaming 20
Multiscreen Video Delivery from the perspective e of the Cable or Telco operator 21
So why should I care? Because anyone can now reach the customers using the Internet (OTT delivery) Because we are at a new Product cycle in the video delivery (and many different ways to skin the cat...) New Players are proposing new Business Models New Technologies/Players means change in the equilibrium * Need to understand what the customer wants (need) * Need to understand which technologies are available to answer the need * SWOT analysis to maintain $ margins * Need to choose a strategy 22
Taken from presentation at OTTCon March 20, 2013: Will Law, Principal Architect - Media Engineering at Akamai. This is slide 7 of his presentation. 23
The Marketing Mix (4P s) Product Price Promotion Place The Consumer s Need Cost Communication *Convenience Ease of: Live Video On-Demand Content Time Shift Catch-up TV Multiscreen * Every product as a life cycle (growth, maturity, decline) * Many factors affect cost including the consumer s cost to change products/ services Advertising Special Promotions Communication Channel Buying the product Finding the product Finding information on the product This is what Cable/Telcos have done. By aggregating content, they have made the multimedia viewing experience easier for the consumer. Now, the Cable/Telcos need to adapt to the change in demand of the consumers (new Product). 24
Blockbuster vs Netflix Blockbuster failed to adapt to customer needs Stoped providing value to customers Does this mean to jump in TV everywhere and multiscreen delivery with your eyes closed? 25
Internet Ubiquity Ubiquitous Definition Having or seeming to have the ability to be everywhere at once; omnipresent But this comes with a downside Image from: http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/mobile/support-vs-optimization/ 26
The Age of Overwhelming Information Things That Happen every 60 seconds on the Internet (Dec 2011) Image from: http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-things-that-happen-every-60-seconds-on-theinternet-2011-12?utm_source=twbutton&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sai 27
What has not changed? How to Adapt? Humans are social animals Better Price? Better Viewing Quality? Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. are ways to stay in contact Live content will always be imp. Watching TV is for Pleasure Too many choices creates Anxiety No service Interuption ti (live feeds) Good and Interesting Content? Make it easier for the consumer 1st rule: Content is King (Good Content!) In consequence: Content Aggregators (Cable / Telco / Netflix / Hulu / etc.) can bi bring Value Vl Added dby PACKAGING Good Content and offering a simplified user experience 28
Cable Operator SWOT analysis Strenghts Familiar with video delivery Already have relationship with Content Providers Already have relationship with Customers Weaknesses Footprint of cable/telco operator limited to network coverage territory Need to learn new technologies (resistance to change) TV everwhere/multiscreen may be a defensive move Opportunities Threats Offer customers a better user experience Reduce Churn Differentiate vs competing offerings Content Providers, Consumer Electronics Manufacturers and new Aggregators can offer TV services directly to consumers OTT *HEVC should provide 40-50% reduction in bitrate vs H.264 29
What is my strategy? Market Dominance Strategies 1. Market Leader 2. Market Challenger 3. Market Follower - Play it safe strategy 4. Market Specialist (Nicher) Roger s Technology Adoption Lifecycle All In? Undecided? More Info : http://smartamarketing.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/market-dominance-strategy/ 30
Comcast: no business model for OTT video outside its cable footprint Article of Ryan Lawler dated August 3rd 2011: http://gigaom.com/2011/08/03/comcast-not-down-with-ott/ More than most cable providers, Comcast could offer a streaming offering with its XfinityTV.com website and ipad app. But it has no plans to extend its products to customers outside its cable footprint, in part because there s no money in it, according to CEO Brian Roberts. That s not to say that Comcast doesn t have room to improve its core business, and Comcast Cable president Neil Smit gave some details about how the company is innovating by adding new products like its ipad app, improving customer service and working on customer retention. For now, its focus will be on improving services for its existing customer base, as well as trying to win over the 50 million households that are in its cable footprint, not going after those that aren t. What do you think? Some analysts (July 2013) think that Cox maybe looking at offering video services outside their footprint (OTT) with their FlareWatch service 31
Understanding the TV everywere ecosystem from the Cable/Telco Operator s perspective 32
IPTV / OTT Ecosystem From Beenius-Verimatrix white paper 33
TV Everywhere challenges Authentication i This is the biggest hurdle to adoption of TV everywhere needs to be simple for all users High reliability live streaming Multiplicity of devices and streaming formats makes the headend more complicated ipads, iphones, Android, XBOX, PCs, Connected TVs, STB, etc Security Complexity of Digital Rights Management Advertising Measurement 34
Incospec s s efforts in the TV everywhere ecosystem 35
Our TV EVERYWHERE Trio MPEG-TS over Managed Networks 3 components to unify the delivery of TV content on managed/unmanaged networks Internet Over-The-Top Delivery (OTT) Adaptive Bit Rate Streaming over Un-Managed Networks 36
Our TV EVERYWHERE Trio Interactive TV service delivery platform (middleware for IPTV and Multiscreen/Over-the-Top TV) http://www.beenius.tv/ Edgeware provides the video delivery servers needed to offer video services across managed and unmanaged networks, with the ability to reach any screen, at any time, with any content. These services include: - video on demand (VOD), - Live TV, time shift TV and network Personal Video Recorder (npvr), -as well as offering wholesale l Content t Delivery Network (CDN) management services Edgeware is a hardware (server) manufacturer and software provider. http://www.edgeware.tv/ Multiscreen (OTT) adaptive bit rate streams and MPEG transport streams monitoring probes http://www.bridgetech.tv/ 37
IPTV/OTT middleware Multiscreen support Enables interactive TV on smartphones, tablets, PCs and TVs Same look and feel regardless if content is coming from managed (IPTV) or unmanged network (OTT). Social TV and Interactive TV Direct link on user interface to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr 38
Same Look and Feel iphone GUI ipad GUI Television (STB) GUI 39
Distributed Delivery Video Architecture The ONLY Network Caching Solution Very long tail: npvr (> 10TB) Content/Service/ Server Management Long tail: Central servers / logical clusters (~5 10TB) CDNs, OTT operators, telco/cable core networks Network Short to mid tail: Distributed servers (~1TB storage) Telco/cable metro & access networks 20% Core N/W 80% Edge Caches Demand Short Tail Mid Tail Long Tail Storage & streaming close to user: Most demanded closest: Short tail Frequently demanded between: Mid tail Leastdemanded atcentre: Long tail Ranking 40
Product Portfolio On-demand services in managed networks IPTV & Cable TV Intelligent caching and session management On-demand services in unmanaged networks Web TV & OTT Content/Service/Server Management 41
Introducing the new Orbit 3020 platform Simultaneous managed and unmanaged network support with hardware acceleration MTBF measured in decades Up to 24TB of Flash Storage Up to 20Gbps Transmission (up to 32,000 concurrent streams/users) 85W peak power 42
OTT monitoring probes SUPPORTS: - Microsoft Smoothstream - Apple HLS - Adobe HDS Alarm categories are: - Transport errors (e.g bandwidth) - HTTP errors (e.g missing files on servers) - XML structure errors (e.g wrong structure of manifest files) ALARMS sent to central VBC server (or 3 rd party system) for tracking of where issues arise in chain 43
NAB2013 Game Changer Award...Bridge Technologies among the five recipients of its Game- Changer Awards, presented at this year s NAB show. The award is given in recognition of solutions that transform accepted rules, processes and strategies, and which typically lead a movement of related businesses in the same direction. The Award recognizes five products judged to have the greatest potential to revolutionize the industry. This year s distinguished winners are Bridge Technologies for PocketProbe, Masstech for Emerald for News, TC Electronic for LoudnessRadar, isovideo for Viarte, and Emmis for TagStation. The Game Changer Awards were open to all broadcast, digital media, and entertainment industry manufacturers and their products, and the award winners were selected by a panel of impartial experts who toured the show undercover and reviewed products and solutions during the first two days of the show. Accepting the award for Bridge Technologies, Chairman Simen Frostad said, It s particularly pleasing to be considered a gamechanger because that implies thinking outside the box, taking a fresh look at a problem and finding a better solution being smart and creative, in short. And we definitely have a lot of smart, creative people working at Bridge. PocketProbe Based in Oslo, Norway, Bridge Technologies designs and develops advanced analysis, measurement, and monitoring solutions for the digital media industries. 44
Our Markets Our Know-How MPEG-2/4 Compression Satellite Fiber Transport Cable TV and RF distribution IPTV and data communications TV and FM Broadcast MPEG-2 TS analysis PSIP / PSI-SI (Metadata and Guide) Digital TV headend design CATV, IPTV and OTT delivery RF distribution (QPSK, QAM, 8VSB) Carrier Ethernet / DWDM solutions RF Test and Measurement CATV Network Powering Wireless Point-to-Point and Multipoint HFC and PON distribution design Network Management L-Band Signal Management and transport 45
Understanding TV Everywhere or Multiscreen Video Delivery Thank you, Gracias, Danki, Merci to the CCTA members Louis Sebastiani LSebastiani@incospec.com http://www.incospec.com/resources/webinars/webinars.php Serving the industry since 1978 with pride, integrity it and commitment t 46
Some of Incospec s Associates 47