The titles is very misleading as we need a good frame rate to ensure a smooth luxurious Marks & Spencer style video but what else is important? It is a brilliant question and one todays blog will investigate in the form a mini practical and they said my blogs would be boring!

This practical will explore the different types of video formats but we will go one step more and inspect each video container and analyse the detailed jargon into understandable information that will help use further our knowledge of encoded video technology. I looked at a range of different video codecs and picked out three that I thought were worth a good view. It must be noted that information doesn’t change much from codec to codec, mostly the files size vs quality. Below are the specification recorded using a little application called ‘Scoop’ which inspects media and displays the information inside. It is much like hitting the properties tab on a drop down window for a computer file. I also had MediaInspector but in all honesty it wasn’t very detailed for my liking!

Test Video 1 

• MKV = Matroska Video File – Supports audio, image, subtitles (Lifewire, 2019).
• Codecs – H264 – digital video compression, standard
• MPEG 4 – This uses half the space of a MPEG 2 while delivering the same beautiful video quality.
• Resolution = 1920 x 1080
• Aspect = 16:9
• Frame rate = 30 fps 
• Frame rate mode = constant 
• Scan type = Progressive 
• Bit rate = Variable – 538 kb/s

Test Video 2

• MP4 – MPEG 4  – Video and audio (How-To Geek, 2018).
• 5 seconds long 38k KB
• 87 MB per second due to the fast moving lights 
• Codecs = MP42 
• Frame Rate = 23.976
• Frame Rate Mode = Constant 
• Scan type = Progressive 
• Bit rate = 8478 kb/s

Test Video 3

• AVI = Audio Video Interleave file 
• Codec = M4S2
• Resolution = 640 x 480
• Aspect = 4:3
• Frame Rate = 29.970 
• Bit Rate = 1987 kb/s

Another video codec that sadly didn’t make the cut is AVC standing for Advanced Video Codec based on H.264. What is this H.264? Well it is a well known video compression standard used for most if not all high definition (HD) digital video and is sometimes referred to as MPEG 4 – Part 10. It is interesting to note that this codec currently supports resolutions unto 8K (Haivision, 2019).

There are the specifications and as far as my dear Mother is concerned they have no impact on the film “PS I Love You” No matter how blurry Gerard Butler gets!!! However to us video geeks it is the be all and end all of video. These details tell us a lot about a videos playback quality and device compatibility

The frame rate determines the videos smooth playback, lack of frames will quickly cause a jerky video and video gamers will be hot on the frame rate when deciding on a GPU (Graphics Card). Frame rate is measured in FPS (Frames Per Second) which stems from the very first silent films. However we have some standards when it comes to TV which is set at 30fps giving a smoother feel for live TV, Ironically cinema has 6 less frames resulting in 24fps and we won’t mention the America standard of 25fps (Wistia, 2019). 

James? What is frame rate mode I here you say… Well we have two to choose from CFR (Constant Frame Rate) and VFR (Variable Frame Rate)… As a gamer I was always told to lock the frame rate to around that of the display which is normally 60fps to give good constant viewing but why? At the time my PC could easily hit 120fps on Battlefield 3, until I encountered a taxing complex area of the map where the fps started to bounce between 65fps to 150fps causing a weird sense of time travel. The same applies to video. A constant frame rate allows for good smooth viewing without taxing your devices CPU (Bandicam, 2018). 

Resolution is the amount of pixels within a video, Ideally you want this to match your screens native resolution but this is not always the case and aspect ratio is the reason we get the letter box effect when we watch a film as this is shot in a much wider ratio 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 as a aspect ratio pixel. For TV and video we are very used to 16:9 and if your still living in 1970’s your viewing in the good old 4:3, seriously though get yourself a better TV (En.wikipedia.org, 2018). 

Among the spec’s you can see scan type, we have two primary types available to us, progressive and interlaced. Progressive has become the normal due to it smoothness during high motion and fast pace footage scenes and avoids artefacts appearing. Interlaced refreshes the screen in alternating lines where as progressive is frame by frame (Lights Film School, 2018). 

So what is encoding? We can’t say it hasn’t come up… Well it is described by encoding.com as a “process of converting a digital video file from one format to another.” (Encoding.com Help, 2019). It must be noted that this process is done at the point of uploading a video and also ensure the video is compatible with as many devices as possible.

References

Bandicam. (2018). Bandicam – Recording Software for screen, game and webcam capture. [online] Bandicam.com. Available at: https://www.bandicam.com/support/tips/vfr-cfr/ [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].

Encoding.com Help. (2019). What is video encoding? – Encoding.com Help. [online] Available at: https://help.encoding.com/knowledge-base/article/what-is-video-encoding/ [Accessed 28 Oct. 2019].

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Aspect ratio (image). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image) [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].

Haivision. (2019). H.264 Video Compression | Video Streaming Definition. [online] Available at: https://www.haivision.com/resources/streaming-video-definitions/h-264/ [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].

How-To Geek. (2018). What Is an MP4 File (and How Do I Open One)?. [online] Available at: https://www.howtogeek.com/365037/what-is-an-mp4-file-and-how-do-i-open-one/ [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].

Lights Film School. (2018). What is the difference between progressive and interlaced Scanning? | Lights Film School. [online] Available at: https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-progressive-and-interlaced-scanning [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].

Lifewire. (2019). What’s an MKV File and How Do You Open One?. [online] Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/mkv-file-4135396 [Accessed 1 Nov. 2019].

Wistia. (2019). What is frame rate? – Wistia Video Glossary. [online] Available at: https://wistia.com/learn/production/what-is-frame-rate [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Today’s blog will explore HTTP streaming and why it is vastly used to stream media online across various platforms as well some great online projects that are a great example of the flexibility of this protocol. 

Lets get started with some basic background information to wet the appetite… HTTP in the most simple form stands for ‘HyperText Transfer Protocol’ – Very exciting stuff right? It is the protocol used by the World Wide Web which ultimately defines how we send and receive data messages/commands and the response we get back (Webopedia.com, 2013). HTTP is layered onto of a TCP ‘Transmission Control Protocol’ to give a request-response transport protocol… In normal talk, we make a request and get a single response back to which the connection is then terminated, probably by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself for all we know! 

Now HTTP Streaming which is also known as HLS which was originally developed by Apple in 2009 (En.wikipedia.org, 2019). This type of protocol has the same request-response system but this time we make a single request but can receive a number of responses meaning the connection stays established using server-sent event text in HTML5 (Stack Overflow, 2011). It also means that video downloaded using this protocol can be opened in a text file document. Thats right a use for the Notepad application finally!! 

It must be noted that we aren’t really talking about streaming here, yes we are ‘streaming’ but the client receive this as a progressive download meaning the information is stored on their computer as a HTML file which is giving the video in segments and in most cases it is impossible for the user to put all the segments together to recreate the video for continued use without a internet connection to the server (Brightcove, 2009).

References 

Brightcove. (2009). Progressive Download versus Streaming. [online] Available at: https://www.brightcove.com/en/blog/2009/03/progressive-download-versus-streaming [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].

En.wikipedia.org. (2019). HTTP Live Streaming. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].

Stack Overflow. (2011). WebSockets protocol vs HTTP. [online] Available at: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14703627/websockets-protocol-vs-http [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].

Webopedia.com. (2013). What is HTTP – HyperText Transfer Protocol? Webopedia Definition. [online] Available at: https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/HTTP.html [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].

This blog will cover my first experience setting up and boardcasting a live stream as part of the Video Streaming & Display Technology module at the University of Derby conducted by the legendary Ben Sams. Before we head into the exciting details associated with a live stream we need to understand the basic principles behind, in front and to the side of streaming.

A live stream in basic terms is the transmission and receiving of live video or even audio content over the internet (Thinkuknow.co.uk, 2018). The history of streaming doesn’t go back as far as you think with the earliest official record being 1995 where a New York Yankees game was boardcast live using RealNetwork by Microsoft which prompted the creation of RealPlayer streaming plugins. This being said there is an earlier notation of streaming in 1993 by Xerox PARC when engineers decided to try out some new boardcasting technology and by happy accident ended up boardcasting live over the internet (Mason, 2017).

An example of streaming services are Periscope, Facebook Live, UStream or a classic YouTube Live gaming stream of Call of Duty by SocialChaos79, whoever that might be! (Bell, 2017). The point being due to Richard Branston dishing out fibre and everyone else following suit as well as increasingly improved boardband speeds we can all actually receive and send a live video stream easily! This all being said a live video does not benefit from any kind of video editing after all it is of course live.

My first stream would be a simple upload to a private YouTube account using a website tool called YouTube Studio which is linked to a video player in this case VLC Player an open source platform. I was given a selection of video clips that were played and looped on VLC and then shared to YouTube Studio. A unique key was generated to lock the URL to my stream ensuring others could not send to my account. YouTube streaming address is the same address for everyone in the whole world so the generated streaming key is the only way to identify my stream from the masses. YouTube actually gives you some options to help best fit your stream and device. The first being ‘Simple’ designed for a mobile stream or webcam and ‘Customised’ for capturing content such as your desktop or from an external camera via capture card inside the computer. It details this as ‘best for gamers’ (Support.google.com, 2019). 

The image above is an example of YouTube and YouTube Studio all in one beautiful capture (Youtube.com, 2019).

Okay, so I encountered some problems, the stream took place at the University of Derby and unfortunately they have strict firewall both internally and externally which prevented some of us actually streaming as well as problems setting up a YouTube account due to instant streaming restricts (IE my account had to be verified). I think actually a lot of this could have been avoided with better time management and preparedness on my part. I think in the future I might even give streaming a go on my PS4… Maybe Lego Harry Potter? Watch this space! 

Reference

Bell, C. (2015). Live streaming: A brief history | Didit. [online] Didit. Available at: https://www.didit.com/live-streaming-a-brief-history/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019].

Mason, A. (2017). The First Live Stream is 20 Years Old – Monitis Blog. [online] Monitis Blog. Available at: https://www.monitis.com/blog/the-first-live-stream-is-20-years-old/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019].

Support.google.com. (2019). Introduction to live streaming – YouTube Help. [online] Available at: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2474026?hl=en-GB [Accessed 21 Oct. 2019].

Thinkuknow.co.uk. (2018). A short guide to live streaming. [online] Available at: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/articles/what-is-live-streaming/ [Accessed 21 Oct. 2019].

Youtube.com. (2019). YouTube. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKf6NF0OD5A [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Hello and a warm welcome to the Video Streaming & Display Technology blog by me… James Riddell. 

This blog will aim to explore the vastly growing world of video technology, it will analyse the very latest streaming methods and investigate the technical jargon associated with encoding videos. It will also have some fantastic information on subjects like LED video wall, projection mapping, live streaming including an exclusive on a real world live stream for an event throughout the year. 

During the blog journey I intend to inform, excite, bewilder and possibly at times bore! So grab a glass of wine, gin or even a cold beer and let’s dive ‘screen’ first into a world of video madness. 

Use the tab below to move forward to the next blog. You will be able to move both backwards and forwards through the blogs as you please.