When my daughter owned a Tesla during her college years, one thing I never thought to do was play YouTube videos on the LCD panel. It turns out that was a good call—if I had tried to stream AV1 content, playback performance likely would have been choppy and disappointing. Why bring this up? Tesla recently announced that it was rolling …

I recently interviewed Chri Besenbruch, CEO of Deep Render, to discuss their end-to-end AI codec technology. Unlike traditional codecs like HEVC, VVC, and VP9, Deep Render’s AI codec shifts the entire encoding/decoding process to neural networks, promising faster performance and improved efficiency. The YouTube video of our talk is embedded below. Key Takeaways: • Fast Encoding & Decoding: Comparable to …

We all know the trade-offs of Client-Side Ad Insertion (CSAI) and Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI). CSAI offers real-time personalization but is vulnerable to ad blockers and playback hiccups, while SSAI ensures smooth playback and circumvents blockers but lacks real-time targeting and can be expensive. Now, a new technology has entered the scene: Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI). But what exactly is …

This paper, entitled, C3: High-performance and low-complexity neural compression from a single image or video, and authored by a team from Google DeepMind (Hyunjik Kim, Matthias Bauer, Lucas Theis, Jonathan Schwarz, and Emilien Dupont), introduces DeepMind C3, a neural compression method designed to deliver low decoding complexity while achieving competitive rate-distortion (RD) performance. The authors are recognized for their contributions …

The white paper, authored by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, introduces a novel approach to addressing the limitations of pre-trained learned image compression (LIC) models. These models, while effective within the domains they were trained on, often falter when applied to new, domain-specific data. To overcome this, the researchers propose lightweight adapters that allow efficient …

While researching my State of the Codec Market article for the 2025 Streaming Media Sourcebook, I stumbled upon an intriguing report from LexisNexis that sheds light on the patent ownership landscape for VVC and HEVC (link to report). For me, the report helped answer two critical questions: Will VVC be the next codec implemented on Smart TVs? Will AOMedia companies …

We’re excited to announce the addition of a brand-new lesson to Streaming Media 101: Technical Onboarding for Streaming Media Professionals! Titled Choosing a Hardware Transcoder, this lesson dives into one of the most critical aspects of video processing today: selecting the right transcoder for your needs, whether in the cloud or on-premises. The lesson is available free to all current …

It started with a simple observation: Fox plans to upscale a 1080p HDR feed to 4K for the Super Bowl LIX broadcast. The comment came from Dan Rayburn, who shared details about Fox’s planned encoding ladder, including a maximum bitrate of 15 Mbps for 4K delivery. This revelation prompted a lively LinkedIn discussion among industry experts, exploring the decision’s technical, …

When your service spends a fortune on sports rights, the pressure on your technology team to deliver a flawless viewing experience is immense. It’s not just low latency; it’s synchronization across a range of playback devices driven by second-screen experiences and crisp, hiccup-free ad delivery. When it comes to delivering this type of experience, Amazon Prime Video has emerged as …

As third-party cookies are phasing out, the race to refine first-party data strategies is on, and Disney is leading the charge. At CES 2025, Nadine Krefetz, contributing editor at Streaming Media, captured the key elements of Disney’s approach in her article, “CES 2025: Disney Ad Tech, Ad Targeting, and Ad Buying.” The piece provides an insightful glimpse into how Disney …