Listen to Some of the Most
Important Voices in Video 

Thursday, September 28, 2023, at 11 am EST

Streamlined Streaming: Exploring THEOLive, THEOPlayer, and the Rise of Multi-Codec Adoption with Pieter-Jan Speelmans

Join us on Voices of Video as Pieter-Jan Speelmans, CTO of THEO Technologies, unpacks the intricacies of low-latency technologies, including LL HLS, DASH, WebRTC, WebSockets, and THEO's HESP. Gain a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the selection of low-latency solutions and acquire insights into THEOLive's best practices for achieving minimal latency in live streaming.

Examine the pivotal role of THEOPlayer in the live streaming ecosystem, highlighting its importance in ensuring viewer experience and monetization. Navigate the decision-making nuances between commercial and open-source players, and familiarize yourself with leading commercial player options.

Benefit from Pieter-Jan's insights into evolving trends in codec usage, underscoring the marked shift towards multi-codec adoption among THEOPlayer clientele. Ensure you're equipped with this rigorous and technical overview of low-latency technologies and the indispensable role of video players in live streaming.

Join live to ask your questions in real-time, or you may email your questions ahead of time to voicesofvideo@netint.com.

Can’t make it live?  We have you covered. Register for the event, and an on-demand replay will land in your inbox so you can watch at your convenience.

Thursday, September 7, 2023, at 11 am EST

Solving the Multiview Streaming Problem

Revisit the episode to deepen your understanding of multiview, navigate the plethora of technological options, and discern the pivotal considerations for content creators aiming to deliver enthralling content.

In this episode, our guest, Rob Koenen, Co-Founder of Tiledmedia,  imparted his expertise on the topic of multiview, offering invaluable insights for service providers eager to enhance their streaming capabilities.

We delved into the intricate world of multiview solutions, showcasing offerings from industry forerunners such as Apple, YouTube, and Tiledmedia. Rob illustrated four distinct strategies to address the multiview challenges, touching upon pivotal factors like cost, quality, scalability, and user experience. With a clear grasp of the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, video service providers are empowered to make well-informed choices for their streaming needs.

Drawing from over 12 years of R&D, Tiledmedia showcased their pioneering IP in tiled streaming. Their cutting-edge virtual reality technology has been harnessed to broadcast some of the globe's most significant events and tournaments, including the Beijing Games and the English Premier League. The flawless tiling and pinpoint synchronization, which are central to their VR technology, also underpin Tiledmedia's refined multiview offerings. These offer fresh avenues for immersive live-streaming sessions.

Watch the replay to gain a comprehensive understanding of multiview, explore the available technological alternatives, and discover the key considerations for producers when selecting the most suitable solution for delivering captivating content.

Thursday, July 20, 2023, at 11 am EST

Play Anywhere, Anytime: Transforming Game Distribution with Cloud Gaming

In this conversation, David Cook, the visionary behind Radian Arc, and Mark Donnigan, a leading expert from NETINT,  delved into the exciting world of cloud gaming.

The discussion focused on the expanding reach of OTT video services, the untapped potential of mobile-first markets, and how game distribution is undergoing a transformative shift. They also examined the technical constraints of cloud gaming and shed light on the state-of-the-art technologies driving its future. 

Watch the replay to discover how telcos and OTT streaming services spearhead the go-to-market strategies for this revolutionary gaming phenomenon. Listen to the captivating discussion and unlock a new era in gaming innovation!

Thursday, July 13, 2023, at 11 am EST

Unveiling the Powerhouse Behind Zapping!

Prepare to be transported into the captivating world of Zapping, the groundbreaking virtual pay-TV operator that revolutionized the Latin American entertainment landscape. Operating seamlessly in Chile, Brazil, and soon Peru, Zapping is a force to be reckoned with.

Imagine immersing yourself in a realm where live channels from ESPN, FOX, HBO, Universal, Discovery, Disney, AMC, and TNT come alive, tantalizing your senses with an extraordinary array of content. And that's just the beginning!

At the heart of Zapping's unrivaled success lies its visionary Co-founder and CTO, Nacho (Ignacio) Opazo, whose genius has propelled this revolutionary platform to astonishing heights. In our upcoming episode of Voices of Video, Nacho delves into the very essence of Zapping's triumph, shedding light on the pivotal factors that set it apart.

Nacho captivates your imagination as he shares his invaluable insights on how Zapping views itself as a true "tech company," ensuring that every aspect, from its seamless apps and interfaces to its captivating content, simply "feels better" than anything its competitors offer. Prepare to be enthralled as he unveils the secrets behind Zapping's unrivaled user experience.

Nacho's brilliance shines through as he navigates topics both intricate and far-reaching. Discover the fascinating nuances of HEVC ladders versus H.264 and Nacho's groundbreaking plans to harness the power of AI, elevating viewer Quality of Experience (QoE) to new heights.

This episode is an exhilarating journey into the mind of a true innovator. So don't miss out! Get ready to be spellbound by the technological marvels and visionary insights that lie ahead! Embark on an extraordinary adventure where technology and entertainment fuse seamlessly, only on Voices of Video.

Thursday, June 1, 2023, at 11 am EST

Scalable Distribution in the Age of DRM:
Key Challenges and Implications

In this episode, we hosted Alex Zambelli, a seasoned veteran in the streaming industry. Alex started his streaming career at Microsoft, where he worked on high-profile projects like three different Olympics and Sunday Night Football. Since then, he helped engineer streaming platforms for iStreamPlanet, Hulu, and Warner Bros.

In this episode, Jan Ozer and Alex Zambelli discussed a range of topics, including his experience evangelizing codecs, the best educational paths to success in the streaming world, and his views on the costs and challenges of adding a codec to the streaming mix. We also explore his thoughts on different streaming protocols like HLS, DASH, and CMAF, as well as the implications of DRM and the challenges of distributing at scale.  

We wrapped up with a discussion on the future of the industry and changes the industry can make to simplify streaming encoding, packaging, and delivery to allow publishers to focus on content, not issues like playback compatibility. Hit the replay to hear from Alex and gain insights into the world of live streaming and video production.

Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 11 am EST

Cloud Gaming is Real.
A conversation with the CEO of Blacknut

In this Voices of Video conversation, Mark Donnigan talked with Olivier Avaro, CEO of Blacknut, about what his company is doing to enable the transition from console and PC-based gaming experiences to streaming delivery of games from the cloud. 

Blacknut has built a complete solution for service providers and OTT video services wanting to expand their entertainment offerings. Blacknut offers the technical platform needed and licensed gaming content from more than 100 publishers. 

This conversation addressed the OPEX challenges with cloud gaming and the technical hurdles that come with using the open internet for latency-sensitive and quality-perceptive applications like gaming. A new architecture consisting of CPUs with GPUs for game rendering and VPUs for encoding was presented.

Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 11 am EST

How technology distribution is different in India
than in the rest of the world
(codecs, bandwidths, video production, UGC)

With the largest population in the world, India represents a fabulous opportunity for all streaming professionals. But virtually all key market factors, bandwidth, playback devices, content preferences, and others, are very different from US and European markets. Krishna Rao Vijayanagar has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and has worked for several companies in the US & India before starting his highly successful OTTVerse website and devoting himself to education focused on streaming production and delivery. 
 
In this conversation with Jan Ozer from NETINT, Krishna covers how producing, delivering, and consuming video in India is different from the rest of the world, digging into details like codec support, encoding ladder construction, delivery infrastructure and capacity, and device preferences and penetration. Krishna also shares his vision for expanding streaming-related knowledge and shares insights from what he found meaningful at NAB. 

Streaming professionals interested in providing streaming services, technology, or content to India will find this an invaluable introduction.

Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 11 am EST

Understanding the Benefits and Limitations
of FFmpeg, Gstreamer, and GPAC

In this very technical session, we spoke with Romain Bouqueau, a  main contributor to GPAC and founder and CEO of Motion Spell, the licensing arm of GPAC.

GPAC is an open-source encoding and packaging framework that competes with and relies on FFmpeg. It was recently licensed by Netflix for live streaming.

If you've ever attempted to deploy FFmpeg for complex transcoding operations, you may have experienced poor multithreaded performance. Romain discussed why that is, techniques you can use to minimize this effect, and how GPAC and other frameworks try to mitigate performance issues.

Romain also helped us explore the performance and feature set of projects like FFmpeg, Gstreamer, and GPAC. You shall leave with a solid knowledge of their transcoding and packaging options and a better understanding of FFmpeg's multi-threaded-related performance issues and how to minimize them.

Thursday, March 9, 2023, at 11 am EST

Building Localized OTT Networks

Streaming pioneer Jet Stream joined the conversation with a highly valuable but lesser-known use case – localized OTT video networks. 

In this discussion, Jet Stream's Stef van der Ziel and  NETINT’s Mark Donnigan discussed how individualized streaming applications can solve a unique challenge where bandwidth may be limited, but the customer expectation for quality is not.

Learn how Jet Stream enables live streaming platforms to be built and operated without needing deep engineering expertise or platform operators.

Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11 am EST

The truth about encoding ASICs (Why YouTube and Meta encode with ASICs and how you can too)

Software running on commodity cloud-based servers is thought to represent the ultimate in flexibility, cost control, and implementation speed. Why, then, do the largest video platforms in the world, YouTube and Facebook, run largely on ASICs? The reason lies in the significant power and density advantages that purpose-built silicon delivers.

In this discussion, Dylan Patel from SemiAnalysis and Alex Liu from NETINT will share secrets behind the development of large technology company ASIC projects and reveal the change driving massive investment in ASIC development.

Thursday, February 2, 2023, at 11 am EST

Live Streaming in a Box
Party talk or cutting-edge solution?

Curious how today, everyone can access the cost and performance benefits of hardware video encoding without needing to invest in massive development projects or special hardware? As software encoding in the cloud is getting more expensive, only hardware can deliver the performance and operational cost that is needed for live video streaming at scale.

Watch NETINT’s Mark Donnigan and StreamVX CEO Szymon Karbowski as they discuss how StreamVX is enabling services and platforms to deliver high-quality, low-latency video with their live streaming-in-a-box solution.

December 9, 2023, at 11 am EST

Streaming video industry challenges in a volatile world. Reflections upon the past year

2022 has been a tumultuous year where conventional norms have been upended in every facet of life. This is no less true in the streaming video industry, where new emerging platforms, including cloud gaming and the Metaverse, gain traction but are tempered by volatile markets, environmental pressures, and soaring energy costs driven by global events. 
Where do we go from here?  

While current global events and macroeconomic instability are troubling, they also represent an enormous opportunity to rethink streaming video business models ideally, by leveraging new advanced technologies that will lower both CAPEX and OPEX while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions. 

Watch Bob Fung and Ben Lee's intriguing discussion on the duality that the streaming video industry is facing.

November 11, 2022, at 11 am EST

Why use hardware for video encoding?
Streaming video industry insights

Transcoding with ASICs has gotten a lot of attention lately. From YouTube’s ARGOS VPU to Meta’s new ASIC that prompted noted compressionist David Ronca to comment that there are only two types of companies, “those that are using Video Processing ASICs in their workflows, and those that will.’

Based in Sweden, RealSprint provides live-streaming solutions to companies around the globe. When choosing a transcoder for the AV1 capabilities of its Vindral Live CDN, RealSprint considered software transcoding, as well as GPU and CPU acceleration and ASICs. Not surprisingly, RealSprint made the same decision as YouTube and Meta and chose ASICs.

Watch Jan Ozer from NETINT, and Daniel Alinder from RealSprint, as they discuss the role of hardware encoding and ASICs to enable ultra-low latency 4K streaming with the AV1 codec.