Why Adaptive Streaming is Better than Single Bitrate

Every once in awhile, a slide comes a long that’s so brilliant that you just have to share it. So it is with the slide below from Will Law’s presentation at the 2013 Velocity Conference entitled Optimizing the Black Box of HTML Video. I’ve always struggled to efficiently (under 30 seconds or less) explain why single bitrate video (SBR) is inferior to adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR); Will captured it in one picture worth far more than 1,000 words. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir on this blog, but there it is. 

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Interestingly, Will, who is CDN Akamai’s Chief Media Architect, is speaking on a panel with me at Streaming Media West next week. it’s a great session entitled, Replacing Flash: Adaptive Streaming and DRM in HTML5, scheduled for Tuesday, November 18 at 2:45. Here’s the description and other participants. 

The Media Source Extensions (MSE) and Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) are the standardized toolsets that enable browsers to deliver adaptive streaming and digital rights management without plug-ins. This session details what these extensions are, how they’re being supported by the different browser and tools vendors, and how soon those delivering premium content will switch over from plug-in-based technologies to these standards. If you’re considering replacing Flash with HTML5 standards-based technologies, this session details how and when you can do it.

 Jan Ozer, Principal – Doceo Publishing, John Luther, VP, Devices – JW Player, Andrew Popovs, CTO – BuyDRM, David Hassoun, Principal – RealEyes, Will Law, Chief Architect, Media Division – Akamai Technologies

Everyone in the industry has high hopes for MSE and EME to replace Flash. Come learn how real that promise is, and what the likely timing will be. I’ve seen Will’s presentation already, and it’s every bit as illuminating and informative as the slide above.  

About Jan Ozer

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I help companies train new technical hires in streaming media-related positions; I also help companies optimize their codec selections and encoding stacks and evaluate new encoders and codecs. I am a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine, writing about codecs and encoding tools. I have written multiple authoritative books on video encoding, including Video Encoding by the Numbers: Eliminate the Guesswork from your Streaming Video (https://amzn.to/3kV6R1j) and Learn to Produce Video with FFmpeg: In Thirty Minutes or Less (https://amzn.to/3ZJih7e). I have multiple courses relating to streaming media production, all available at https://bit.ly/slc_courses. I currently work as www.netint.com as a Senior Director in Marketing.

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