December 2, 2015
By Tim Siglin Contributing Editor
Featured Articles

天气预报称2016年大部分地区多云，有可能下小雨

As we near the end of 2015, two major trends are bringing the streaming industry closer and closer to a cloud-centric model for delivery: First, 随着观众转向OTT (over-the-top)观看，掐线速度加快, and, second, 需要提供一个更加“渠道化”的OTT环境. The latter has as much to do with live-linear content as it does with the on-demand media consumption that’s been the mainstay of OTT offerings to date.

我们随处可见这些趋势的迹象，从 Streaming Media/Unisphere surveys and subsequent analyses to the moves made to consolidate hardware-based media encoders and transcoders into cloud-based video service offerings.

例如，在我最近做的分析中 Streaming Media由第3级赞助的一项全球调查表明实时线性OTT正迅速成为一种必需品 if OTT providers hope to steal viewers away from traditional cable and satellite services, 更不用说与其他OTT服务竞争了.

“Offering both VOD and live-linear channels will be critical for OTT providers to entice new prospects and gain market share,” I wrote in the report “Over-the-Top Video Delivery: Challenges and Opportunities for Global OTT Service Providers.” “For existing OTT providers, 提供视频点播服务可能不足以维持, much less grow, market share.”

Rather than waiting until the 2016流媒体行业资料手册 to give a weather report on this fast-moving front of cloud-based acquisition and delivery, we’re bringing our readers a snapshot of the trends we see in today’s increasingly cloudy forecast.

这些趋势共同标志着内容获取方式的巨大变化, processed, 同时面向小众受众和主流受众. In this article, 我们强调先进收购的趋势, content preparation, advertising insertion, and multiplatform delivery.

Advanced Acquisition

无论是实时线性内容还是基于文件的资产, some acquisition—or contribution, 正如它在广播中所说的那样，工作流已经转向支持基于云的流程.

One of the biggest reasons for this is a change in the acquisition gear, from cameras to encoders. These days, 越来越多的摄像机提供直接IP流, the job of “acquisition” falls more to the media server than it does to a traditional encoder. Still, 当涉及到广播制作时, 与传统摄像机相比，IP摄像机的总体数量非常少, and even IP cameras are converted back to serial digital (SDI) or HDMI if they are part of a multi-camera setup.

The encoder itself, though, has reached a tipping point, 如果最近的编码器公司收购是任何迹象. From big players (Elemental, Envivio)到更小的利基编码器, the acquisition rounds point to a trend of consolidating these encoders into an overall cloud-based acquisition strategy.

即使是在一个牢牢扎根于H.264 encoding and delivery, 这种向基于云的获取的转变——使用编码器作为专用的, if less expensive, end point tied directly to a cloud-based media service—opens the door to the use of other codecs, including H.265/ HEVC和其他专有解决方案作为仅可获取的格式.

Elemental 率先将HEVC用作收购/贡献格式, 而且这一立场可能并没有损害公司自身的财务状况. Today there are only a few field-based HEVC encoders on the market— including VITEC’s MGW Ace, which we cover in a review in this issue—but even proprietary and nonstandard codecs can be used as a way to slim down the thickest pipe in the overall workflow.

In other words, 如果有办法把前端的头发削掉50%或更多, high-resolution, 从远程位置到媒体服务器的高帧率内容采集, we should. 在获取过程中使用的格式或编解码器对最终观看者无关紧要, as long as the media server can decode it—set it up for either transcoding or translating, or both, 然后把它包装起来供终端用户使用.

Content Preparation

我们将这一趋势分为两类:转码和重新包装, 以及在线内容编辑.

As mentioned above, there is a trend to consider non-standards-based codecs for acquisition. 但是一旦内容到达媒体服务器, a cloud-based delivery solution will need to prepare that content for delivery in standards-based forms.

在某些情况下，如果基于标准的编解码器(如H.使用264，并且内容以相同的分辨率编码(例如.g., 1920x1080, 1280x720, 等)作为预期的最终用户交付解决方案, 唯一需要做的就是降低比特率. This is called transrating. In other instances, changing the entire video from one codec to another would require transcoding. 基于云的内容准备可以针对两者进行优化, given the sheer amount of processing power that can be thrown at a compression problem in an Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure instance.

BEYOND TRANSCODING

The additional processing power in a cloud-based content preparation workflow allows for visually optimizing the content itself for easier or better quality delivery. 正如安迪·比奇在他最近的文章中指出的那样， “视频优化和你的业务，” there are two primary reasons to focus on optimization: improving the user experience and saving on the cost of delivery itself.

“通过降低视频流的比特率, 公司改进了终端用户体验的关键指标——更快的流启动, fewer rebuffering events, 在用户当前的带宽下，可以获得更高质量的视频,” Beach wrote. “By lowering bitrates, a company [also] enables a significant reduction in delivery (CDN) costs to content providers and over-the-top service providers as well as lower overall storage costs.”

The biggest issue for this kind of optimization is the need to either integrate directly into an encoder, 作为海滩覆盖的解决方案之一, 或者在基于云的工作流中包含专门的硬件, 这意味着需要将硬件复制到云中使用的每个数据中心. 在实时线性采集的情况下, this would mean specialized hardware for every channel in every data center that makes up the particular cloud delivery service your company uses to meet its business goals.

ONLINE EDITING

虽然不像基于云的交付那样成熟, or even advanced acquisition, 在线编辑工具的使用作为一种趋势至少值得称赞. Companies such as Aframe continue to expand their cloud-based video editing suites, and Adobe 继续钻研adobeanywhere的虚拟视频编辑概念.

“Adobe Anywhere operates across standard networks and requires no proprietary hardware,” the company states, adding that “its collaborative capabilities are embedded directly in specific versions of Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Prelude CC, 因此，团队成员不必学习新的视频工具.”

In the case of Adobe Anywhere, 企业已经迈出了第一步, with administrative tools used for security purposes but leveraging enterprise cloud storage as the primary repository of bins and media assets to be used in the editing process. Still, the trend toward online, collaborative editing workflows is unmistakable and should reshape the concept of a traditional post house in 2016 and beyond.

Advertising Insertion

Advertisements have been a common means of paying for content delivery throughout the streaming industry’s 17-year history.

What began as sponsorships and pre-roll advertising has now morphed into some very complex interstitial advertising insertion workflows, 模仿传统的广播广告模式. In some cases, cloud-based advertising solutions used for live-linear OTT can even track the broadcast and commercial break flags of traditional broadcasts, 并使用这些标记动态地插入针对特定受众进行微调的广告.

To do so, though, one major aspect of advertising insertion has to change: the reliance on client-side advertising insertion (CSAI) for dynamic ads.