Read the original LinkedIn article here: How Video Encoder Computing Efficiency Can Impact Streaming Service Quality
Written by:
Mark Donnigan is Vice President of Marketing at Beamr, a high-performance video encoding technology company.
Computer system software application is the bedrock of every function and department in the business; appropriately, software application video encoding is important to video streaming service operations. It's possible to enhance a video codec execution and video encoder for two but rarely 3 of the pillars. It does say that to deliver the quality of video experience consumers expect, video suppliers will need to evaluate industrial services that have actually been efficiency optimized for high core counts and multi-threaded processors such as those offered from AMD and Intel.
With so much upheaval in the distribution model and go-to-market company plans for streaming entertainment video services, it may be appealing to press down the priority stack selection of new, more efficient software application video encoders. With software application eating the video encoding function, compute performance is now the oxygen needed to prosper and win versus a significantly competitive and congested direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketplace.
How Video Encoder Computing Efficiency Can Impact Streaming Service Quality
Till public clouds and ubiquitous computing turned software-based video operations mainstream, the process of video encoding was carried out with purpose-built hardware.
And after that, software application consumed the hardware ...
Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape and a16z the renowned endeavor capital firm with investments in Foursquare, Skype, Twitter, box, Lyft, Airbnb, and other similarly disruptive business, penned a short article for the Wall Street Journal in 2011 entitled "Why Software Is Consuming The World." A version of this post can be discovered on the a16z.com website here.
"6 years into the computer transformation, four years because the development of the microprocessor, and 2 years into the increase of the contemporary Web, all of the innovation required to transform industries through software lastly works and can be widely provided at worldwide scale." Marc Andreessen
In following with Marc Andreessen's prophecy, today, software-based video encoders have almost entirely subsumed video encoding hardware. With software applications released from purpose-built hardware and able to operate on common computing platforms like Intel and AMD based x86 makers, in the data-center and virtual environments, it is totally precise to say that "software is consuming (or more properly, has eaten) the world."
However what does this mean for an innovation or video operations executive?
Computer system software application is the bedrock of every function and department in the enterprise; accordingly, software application video encoding is vital to video streaming service operations. Software video encoders can scale without requiring a linear boost in physical space and utilities, unlike hardware.
When handling software-based video encoding, the 3 pillars that every video encoding engineer needs to attend to are bitrate effectiveness, quality conservation, and computing performance.
It's possible to optimize a video codec implementation and video encoder for two however rarely 3 of the pillars. Most video encoding operations therefore focus on quality and bitrate performance, leaving the compute efficiency vector open as a sort of wild card. As you will see, this is no longer a competitive technique.
The next frontier is software computing performance.
Bitrate performance with high video quality needs resource-intensive tools, which will cause slow operational speed or a significant boost in CPU overhead. For a live encoding application where the encoder should run at high speed to reach 60 frames-per-second (FPS), a compromise in bitrate effectiveness or absolute quality is often needed.
Codec intricacy, such as that needed by HEVC, AV1, and the forthcoming VVC, is outpacing bitrate performance developments and this has actually created the need for video encoder efficiency optimization. Put another method, speed matters. Traditionally, this is not an area that video encoding specialists and image researchers require to be worried about, however that is no longer the case.
Figure 1 highlights the advantages of a software application encoding execution, which, when all attributes are normalized, such as FPS and objective quality metrics, can do two times as much deal with the exact same AWS EC2 C5.18 xlarge instance.
In this example, the open-source encoders x264 and x265 are compared to Beamr's AVC and HEVC encoders, Beamr 4, and Beamr 5.
No alt text offered this image
For services needing to encode live 4Kp60, one can see that it is possible with Beamr 5 however not with x265. Beamr 5 set to the x264 comparable 'ultrafast' mode can encode four individual streams on Get More Info a single AWS EC2 C5.18 xlarge circumstances while x265 operating in 'ultrafast' can not reach 60 FPS at 4K. As you can see in this poignant example, codec efficiency is straight associated to the quality of service as an outcome of fewer machines and less complex encoding structures required.
For those services who are mainly concerned with VOD and H. 264, the best half of the Figure 1 graphic programs the performance advantage of an efficiency optimized codec application that is set up to produce very high quality with a high bitrate performance. Here one can see approximately a 2x advantage with Beamr 4 compared to x264.
Video encoding compute resources cost genuine cash.
OPEX is considered thoroughly by every video supplier. But suppose entertainment experiences like live 4K streaming can not be delivered reliably as an outcome of an inequality between the video operations ability and the expectation of the customer. Remembering that many mobile devices offered today can 1440p if not 4K screen. And consumers are desiring material that matches the resolution and quality of the gadgets they bring in their pockets.
Since of performance limitations with how the open-source encoder x265 utilizes compute cores, it is not possible to encode a live 4Kp60 video stream on a single device. This does not indicate that live 4K encoding in software application isn't possible. It does state that to deliver the quality of video experience consumers anticipate, video suppliers will require to assess business services that have actually been performance optimized for high core counts and multi-threaded processors such as those available from AMD and Intel.
The need for software application to be enhanced for greater core counts was just recently highlighted by AMD CTO Mark Papermaster in an interview with Tom's Hardware.
Video distributors wishing to use software for the flexibility and virtualization alternatives they offer will encounter excessively complicated engineering hurdles unless they pick encoding engines where multi-processor scaling is belonging to the architecture of the software application encoder.
Here is a post that reveals the speed benefit of Beamr 5 over x265.
Things to believe about worrying computing performance and performance:
It's tempting to think this is only a problem for video streamers with tens or hundreds of millions of subscribers, the same compromise factors to consider should be thought about regardless of the size of your operations. While a 30% savings at 1080p (H. 264), which is encoded at 3.5 Mbps, will offer more than triple the return, at a 1 Mbps savings. The point is, we should thoroughly and systematically consider where we are spending our compute resources to get the optimum ROI possible.
An industrial software option will be built by a devoted codec engineering team that can stabilize the requirements of bitrate efficiency, quality, and calculate performance. This remains in stark contrast to open-source jobs where contributors have different and specific top priorities and agendas. Precisely why the architecture of x264 and x265 can not scale. It was developed to achieve a different set of tradeoffs.
Insist internal groups and experts carry out compute efficiency benchmarking on all software encoding solutions under factor to consider. The three vectors to determine are absolute speed (FPS), individual stream density when FPS is held continuous, and the total variety of channels that can be developed on a single server using a nominal ABR stack such as 4K, 1080p, 720p, 480p, and 360p. All encoders need to produce similar video quality throughout all tests.
The next time your technical group prepares a video encoder shoot out, ensure to ask what their test strategy is for benchmarking the compute effectiveness (performance) of each solution. With so much turmoil in the circulation design and go-to-market organisation plans for streaming entertainment video services, it might be tempting to press down the top priority stack choice of brand-new, more effective software application video encoders. However, surrendering this work might have a real influence on a service's competitiveness and ability to scale to fulfill future entertainment service requirements. With software eating the video encoding function, compute performance is now the oxygen needed to thrive and win against an increasingly competitive and congested direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketplace.
You can try Beamr's software video encoders today and get up to 100 hours of free HEVC and H. 264 video transcoding monthly. CLICK ON THIS LINK
