Network video Streaming technology

Real time audio and video streaming technology has been available almost as long as the World Wide Web. The increasing capacity of IP networks and the increasing processing power of computers have in recent years made Web Video the number one application on the internet.

 

There are 3 fundamental standards for streaming video on the internet:

  • ISMA 2.0 streaming (Quicktime + VLC player)
  • Flash video streaming (flash video, youtube)
  • WMV (VH1) streaming (windows media player)

 

The technology developments ensure increased performance, video quality and hence a greater user experience within web streaming. Developments such as Flash video, Windows media streaming and the ISMA streaming standard has contributed to establishing

 

Web Streaming Standards Timeline

1995 ==>

2000 ==>

2005 ==>

2008 ==>
  • Real video
  • QCIF quality
  • 64 kbps (ISDN)
  • Microsoft ASF
  • CIF quality
  • 384 kbps (1 gen DSL)
  • ISMA MPEG-4
  • Flash Video ON2 VP6
  • 4CIF quality
  • 700 kbps (2 gen DSL)
  • ISMA H.264
  • Flash Video H.264
  • Microsoft VC-1
  • 720p quality
  • 2mbps ( 3 gen DSL)

Streaming codecs

H.264 and Microsofts WMV (VC-1) codecs are the main competing web streaming codecs today. These will probably also be the cocecs of choice for the next five years. The trends in the industry are leaning towards a higher adoption of H.264 than VC-1, as H.264 is a industry standard codec, while VC-1 is a proprietary Microsoft codec.

 

Web streaming services

New services and products have emerged as a results of better bandwidths and higher quality codecs. These standards include:

  • Web entertainment services (Youtube, Google video, Myspace)
  • Web TV services (Joost and others)
  • Real time surveillance system (CCTV MPEG-4 streaming)

 

Open standards vs proprietary standards.

The web streaming arena is dominated by proprietary technologies like Flash Video and Windows Media. The only widely available open web streaming standard is the ISMA standard, which is supported by Apple Quicktime and the VLC videolan player among others.

 

Pixavi has chosen to use the ISMA standard in order to make use of existing players on the market and enable increased flexibility and customization which this open platform offers. Check out our streaming technology products for further information