The 2015 MPEG DASH Superguide

PUBLISHED BY

VOLUME 2, NO. 6

OF A SERIES OF BUYER’S GUIDES TO PRODUCTS AND SERVICES SEPTEMBER 2015

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THE 2015MPEG-DASHSUPERGUIDE

WP66 Superguide 6: THE 2015 MPEG-DASH SUPERGUIDE SEPTEMBER 2015 SPONSORED CONTENT

Table of Contents

67DASH INDUSTRY FORUMMPEG-DASH State of Affairs By Iraj Sodagar and alex gIladI

72BITMOVINEncode, Stream and Play MPEG-DASH ContentWith no buffering, low startup delay and in the best possible quality

74UNIFIED STREAMINGTips for Successful Living with DASHBy SImon WeStBroek, UnIfIed StreamIng

76IRDETOMPEG DASH: Bringing Benefits Beyond OTTBy rodrIgo fernandeS – ProdUct dIrector, Irdeto

78NEULIONNeuLion Digital Platform: Adding DASH In All The Right Places

80NAGRADelivering the Best Content on Every ScreenWhy implementing a secure video player strategy is the answer

By SImon trUdelle, Sr. dIrector ProdUct marketIng, nagra

82DIGITAL PRIMATESWhen Will DASH Be Real? Today!

SPONSORED CONTENT SEPTEMBER 2015 streamingmedia.com WP67

INTRODUCTIONA year has passed since the last MPEG-

DASH Superguide was published. This

year saw a significant growth of DASH

deployments as well as its more mature

implementations, including the powerful

features of the MPEG-DASH 2nd edition

standard, which have no counterparts in

other adaptive streaming specifications.

The MPEG-DASH 2nd edition key

features, the support for HEVC/H.265,

newer multi-channel audio codecs,

improved DRM, and advanced

advertising, made their way into the

recently released DASH-IF IOP V3.0

Implementation Guidelines. The

guidelines also include multiple

functionality improvements

for live linear streaming, from

improvements in reliability and

scalability to better accessibility

using CEA-608 and CEA-708

closed captioning standards.

This year also saw a widening

adoption of MPEG DASH by

other industry organizations.

In particular, ANSI/SCTE DASH

profiles were published for

North American TV Everywhere

operators. The upcoming

ATSC 3.0 terrestrial broadcast

specification adopted MPEG-

DASH as its media delivery

format for broadband and broadcast

channels, joining the growing trend of

taking DASH beyond its HTTP/1.1 roots.

The Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)

consortium published its own DASH

client profile, aligned with DASH-IF IOP

3.0. The HbbTV Consortium, the widely

popular for delivery of catch up TV

and streaming service to TV in Europe,

published its V2.0 specification, which

uses the 2nd edition of MPEG-DASH.

In this article, we will present

an overview of the latest technical

development in DASH in this year, as

we moved towards publication of the

MPEG’s 3rd edition of DASH and the

deployment of DASH-IF IOP 3.0 by

industry and various consortia.

THIRD EDITION OF MPEG-DASH: RICHER AND MORE ADVANCED

MPEG published the 1st and 2nd editions

of the DASH standard in 2012 and 2014

respectively and is currently working on

the 3rd edition of MPEG-DASH standard, a

new edition of the specification, by adding

and enhancing several features requested

by content and service providers. Figure 1

summarizes MPEG’s activities on DASH

spec development.

Figure 1. MPEG’s current work items on DASH

MPEG-DASH State of Affairs

By Iraj Sodagar and Alex Giladi

http://www.streamingmedia.com


The new 3rd edition will support

enhanced server-client synchronization,

real-time network operation, improved

accessibility and security (authentication

and authorization), improved ad insertion

and tracking support, and improved

analytics. The 3rd edition also adds more

accessibility features—a regulatory

requirement for many deployments.

Associated audio services—such

as narration for the blind and more

intelligible dialogue for the hard of

hearing—as well as support for mixing

these at the player (“receiver mix”) will

be explicitly supported in the MPEG’s

DASH 3rd edition. The 3rd edition extends

the same generic signaling mechanism

beyond DRM to provide content access

control mechanisms—authentication,

authorization and URL signing. It will also

allow for embedding generic parameters

in HTTP requests—something mentioned

by Hulu in a recent Streaming Media article

(go2sm.com/dashguide1) as an issue they

encountered in their deployment.

DASH-IF: ALL ABOUT LIVE, AD INSERTION, AND SECURITY

Figure 2 captures the

main interoperability

activities in DASH Industry

Forum (DASH-IF).

Robust Live StreamingLive broadcast became

one of the major drivers

of DASH evolution. One

of the challenges there is

lowering the end-to-end

latency. The simplest first

step is to play from the

“live edge”—namely, to

download the most recent

segment the moment it

becomes available. At

this stage even a small

mismatch between the

player and the CDN’s clocks will result in a

download error. Recognizing the problem,

this year MPEG provided a simple explicit

mechanism for synchronizing the player

and the CDN’s clocks, using either pure

HTTP or standard timekeeping protocols

such as NTP.

Based on these advancements,

DASH-IF provided extensive guidelines

in its DASH-IF IOP V3.0. These guidelines

provide a detailed explanation of

the DASH timing model, various

live streaming use-cases and how to

create and offer robust live streaming

services. The guidelines provide

recommendations for implementing

simple DASH 1st edition based services as

well as more advanced live services based

on the DASH 2nd edition features such

as MPD update events. DASH-IF also

maintains an open source live simulator

to allow testing both classes of service.

Dynamic AdvertisementAs with the DASH 2nd edition, advanced

advertisement is another major driver

of innovation. DASH-IF IOP 3.0 now

contains a new section introducing

recommended DASH implementation for

two different paradigms of advertisement.

The native server-driven architecture

makes it possible to implement targeted

real-time advertisement using a generic

DASH client. An alternative “app-driven”

approach uses SCTE 35 cue messages to

indicate ad breaks and relies on the player

(which incorporates the DASH client) to

interact directly with an ad server.

DASH-IF also allows embedding a

VAST response into the MPD in order

to allow interaction with VAST tracking

servers. A much-simplified subset of

this functionality—reporting events

such as playback start, progress and

end—will be part of the MPEG-DASH 3rd

edition events and is already included

in DASH-IF IOP 3.0.

Closed CaptionsDASH-IF IOP 3.0 now supports

embedded closed captioning in video

tracks – the CEA-608/708 closed

captioning – which is ubiquitous in

North America.

Figure 2. DASH-IF’s current interoperability activities


Security The MPEG-DASH specification stays

silent about concrete content and service

protection mechanisms, providing

only sufficient signaling that enables a

multi-DRM system. The MPEG-DASH

1st edition provided DRM signaling, and

MPEG’s Common Encryption standard

provided a media-level framework, both

of which are used by DRM systems.

DASH–IF IOP 3.0 provides updated

and more detailed guidelines for using

Common Encryption with multiple

DRMs signaling. It also provides

improved signaling mechanisms in

manifest for faster license acquisition.

Four new Interoperability Points (IOP)DASH-IF IOP 3.0 combines all the above

features into four Interoperability Points:

1. AVC/264 Main: supports all DASH

tools of the guidelines except MPD

update events, for simple live

streaming and ad-insertion with

AVC coded content.

2. AVC/264 High: supports all DASH

tools of the guidelines including

MPD update events, for enhanced

live streaming and ad-insertion

with AVC coded content.

3. HEVC Simple: support all DASH

tools of the guidelines except MPD

update events, for simple live


HEVC 1080 and AVC coded content.

4. HEVC Main: support all DASH tools

of the guidelines including MPD

update events, for enhanced live


HEVC 1080 and AVC coded content.

Note that these interoperability

points are defined based on two

variations of DASH-IF IOP V3.0 feature

set (one with events and one without)

and two variations of video codecs

(one with AVC and, one with AVC

and HEVC.) In other words, clients

supporting AVC/264 Main and HEVC

Simple use the same DASH engine,

while clients supporting AVC/264 High

and HEVC Main use a more advance

DASH engine handling events. Clearly

clients supporting AVC/264 High

or HEVC Simple can also play back

content encoded for AVC/264 Main and

clients supporting HEVC Main can also

play back encoded for the other three

interop points.

CPIX: Streamlining DRM Backend Workflows

In addition to the DRM update in

DASH-IF IOP 3.0, DASH-IF recently

published its “Content Protection

Information Exchange (CPIX) V1.0,” that

defines an exchange format between the

service and content backend services.

The CPIX file contains key and DRM

information used for encrypting and

protecting DASH content, and can be

used for exchanging this information

among entities in many possibly different

DASH content preparation workflows.

Figure 3 demonstrates such exchange

between possible backend entities. The

CPIX file itself can be encrypted and

authenticated so that its receivers can be

sure that its confidentiality and integrity

are also protected.

The current version of the CPIX

document remains generic and only

defines a container for carrying key and

DRM information used for encrypting

and protecting DASH content.

Figure 3. CPIX provides a container format for exchanging key and DRM information between backend entities



DASH IN OTHER CONSORTIADVB DASH Profile

DVB finalized published its DASH

client profile during the last year. The

specification is based on the MPEG-

DASH 2nd edition and was developed

in collaboration with DASH-IF. DVB

DASH profiles defines a client profile

for delivery of DVB content using HTTP

adaptive streaming. The specification is

aligned with DASH-IF IOP V3.0.

HbbTV 2.0HbbTV 1.1 and 1.5 specifications

have been widely deployed by European

broadcasters and being considered or

deployed in other regions of the world.

The HbbTV consortium published its

2.0 specification in February 2015. This

specification uses the MPEG-DASH 2nd

edition and DVB DASH profile and is also

aligned with DASH-IF IOP V3.0.

SCTE 214SCTE published its set of MPEG-

DASH profiles as SCTE 214. The SCTE

DASH/FF profile is aligned with DASH-IF

IOP 3.0 with adaptations to the needs of

North American cable industry, such as

closed captioning and support for vision-

impaired and hearing-impaired viewers.

SCTE-defined carriage of the ubiquitous

SCTE 35 cue message in MPEG-DASH

is also used in one of DASH-IF IOP 3.0

advanced advertisement use-cases.

ATSC 3.0ATSC is finalizing its next generation

standard, ATSC 3.0. ATSC 3.0 uses IP

for both broadcast and broadband. On

broadband, the specification uses MPEG-

DASH as required format for delivery of the

content. For broadcast and consequently

hybrid delivery, MPEG-DASH can be used

as one of two options.

FUTURE WORKMPEG-DASH: Beyond the 3rd Edition

Beyond the 3rd edition, MPEG is

exploring new horizons, such as use of

the newly standardized HTTP/2 protocol,

standardized player analytics, content

aggregation and playback control, and

in-network quality optimization. The next

advanced step in latency reduction, i.e.

the end-to-end delay between the time

of capture and the time of play back, is

reducing segment duration as much as

possible. The simple solution—very short

segment sizes and therefore small size

GOPs—compromises video quality. MPEG

currently is experimenting with a more

flexible segment structure, which provides

decoupling tune-in latency (i.e. how long

does it take to start displaying video) from

download latency (i.e. how much time

passes between the moment a video frame

was encoded till it can be decoded).

DASH-IF: UHD, Advanced Audio, and Beyond

DASH Industry Forum continues to play

a central role in the DASH development.

On one hand, it collects industry feedback

on DASH implementation and deployment,

and on the other it collaborates with

MPEG as well as other SDOs in order to

improve and add features that are needed

by industry.

One of the unique benefits of the

adaptive streaming model is that it

allows much faster deployment of new

technologies, as the same content can be

made available in both older and newer

formats while the prevalence of legacy

clients does not hold back the rollout

of new technologies. DASH-IF started

exploring delivery of ultra-high definition

(UHD), wide color gamut (WCG), high

dynamic range (HDR) and high frame

rate (HFR) video, and advanced audio

codecs such as AC-4 and MPEG-H.

A new version of CPIX format is also

under development which will support

the key rotation of live streaming. It

will also include a definition of APIs for

exchanging CPIX files and an improved

update versioning.

JOIN DASH-IFA successful standard is a standard

that is widely deployed by industry. It’s

a standard that enables interoperability

among different vendors’ services and

solutions with no pain. DASH-IF is the

catalyst for DASH deployments. Its

members include more than 80 content

and service providers, encoding and

content preparation vendors, cloud and

CDN services, DRM providers, and client

implementers who want DASH to be

the universal standard of the over the

top (OTT) delivery. DASH-IF provides

implementation guidelines, test vectors,

conformance tools, live simulator and

reference player software to assist the

industry for faster deployments. It works

with various consortia to align their

specifications and therefore increase the

interoperability across various business

domains. At the same time, DASH-IF

collaborates with the industry to find the

new use cases and missing features from

the DASH standard, and collaborates

with MPEG and other consortia to find

the best possible extensions of standard

to address those use-cases.

If you are deploying or planning to

deploy OTT streaming services and

solutions, get engaged with DASH-IF.

This is the fastest way to learn the

DASH know-how, best practices, latest

developments, and to impact the future

of the multimedia streaming.

ABOUT DASH INDUSTRY FORUMFormed in 2012, DASH-IF is the organization responsible for promoting market adoption of the MPEG-DASH standard for interoperable streaming of multimedia content over Internet. The organization publishes implementation guidelines, facilitates interoperability testing and collaborates with industry standards bodies to align standard development activities. Additional information about the organization and its 81 participating member companies is available at http://dashif.org.

http://dashif.org

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ONLINE VIDEO HAS CHANGEDThe online video industry moves

quickly. Users are watching more videos

online than ever before, and viewing

grows continuously. Video consumption

is moving from traditional linear TV

towards ubiquitous video consumption

of live and on-demand content on any

type of device. Media streaming can be

technically complex, and content and

service providers often find it difficult to

deliver a satisfactory customer Quality of

Experience (QoE) with low startup delays,

no buffering, and best possible media

quality. These challenges are the result of

complexities introduced due to the large

variety of content formats, protocols,

transmission options, and device-specific

factors as well as continued innovations

including HEVC and 4K/UHD.

Content providers and video platforms

aim to bring their videos online as fast

as possible and make them streamable

on every platform and in Netflix-grade

quality. The percentage of viewers

who actually watch an entire video to

its completion is low. In addition, low

conversion and poor engagement is a

common problem that creates costs for

content providers who want a higher

level of engagement and more customers.

However, these challenges also bring new

opportunities to deliver video content in

new ways to additional customers and

additional end points.

Therefore, the MPEG-DASH standard

was recently established to create

the convergence and interoperability

required for further large-scale market

growth. All previously existing adaptive

streaming standards, such as Microsoft

Smooth Streaming, Apple HLS, and Adobe

HDS—which share the same principles

as DASH—will be replaced by the vendor-

independent MPEG-DASH standard,

especially as this company’s also

participated within the standardization.

So, this standard can be seen as the future

of online streaming. Major streaming

services like Netflix and YouTube already

use it, and this is their key to success.

BITMOVIN: ENABLING THE BENEFITS OF MPEG-DASH

The MPEG-DASH standard is just an

enabler that provides ways to deliver

content with low startup delay, no

buffering, and in the best possible quality.

The way how bitmovin implements the

MPEG-DASH standard is industry leading.

Our implementation of MPEG-DASH

delivers content with the lowest startup

delay going down to 100ms from page

load to first frame. Content created with

bitmovin plays without buffering and

in the best possible quality. Specifically,

bitmovin provides 100% better quality

Encode, Stream and Play MPEG-DASH ContentWith no buffering, low startup delay and in the best possible quality


without buffering compared to the next-

best industry solution.

To deliver this experience, bitmovin

provides two products that can be used

independently but provide the best

experience when used together.

BITCODIN: VIDEO ENCODING SERVICE FOR ADAPTIVE STREAMING

bitcodin encodes videos 100x faster

and provides higher quality output than

any other encoding service. This means

encoding a 2-hour HD movie in just

two minutes, where others need several

hours. This is great for video content

companies in terms of time to market

as well as user experience.

The output format plays everywhere

on every device with low startup delay,

with no buffering, and without the need

for plugins like Flash or Silverlight, as it is

HTML5 adaptive streaming-compliant.

Therefore, cutting-edge streaming

standards such as MPEG-DASH are used,

which is the major format of providers

such as Netflix or YouTube.

Additionally, bitcodin provides

content encryption through Widevine

and PlayReady with MPEG Common

Encryption (MPEG-CENC). This solutions

allows our customers to encrypt their

content once but be able to use it with

multiple DRM systems in parallel or

independently.

bitcodin can be fully integrated into

your workflows to remove capacity

bottlenecks, as bitcodin scales with

your needs. Therefore, developers get

an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and

up-to-date API documentation with

great support. Together with various API

client implementations, examples, and

tutorials, this helps you to build Netflix-

grade streaming systems in a minimal

amount of time, with less effort.

Try bitcodin for free at

www.bitcodin.com

BITDASH: HTML5 ADAPTIVE STREAMING PLAYER

bitdash enables HTML5 adaptive

streaming with MPEG-DASH native in

your browser—no need for plugins like

Flash or Silverlight. bitdash guarantees

for fastest loading and video startup

times with the best possible quality and

no buffering. While other solutions on

the market are struggling in stability

and performance, bitdash just works.

In addition, bitdash enables the

playback of your DRM-encrypted content

in HTML5. We support multiple DRM

systems like PlayReady or Widevine

through MPEG Common Encryption

(MPEG-CENC), native in the browser

using HTML5.

bitdash offers a comprehensive

API and interfaces, which allow our

customers to customize the video

experience for their users in the way as

they want. This includes the styling of

the player or even using a chromeless

bitdash player and building every

control, fully customized to their needs,

using our API and interfaces.

Download bitdash for free at

www.dash-player.com

CONTACT USFor more information on our DASH

encoding, player and streaming solutions,

please contact us at

[email protected] or visit

www.bitmovin.com

ABOUT BITMOVINBitmovin—which is ranked by Streaming Media as one of the Top 100 companies that matter most in online media—specializes in adaptive streaming solutions based on MPEG-DASH and Apple HLS. bitmovin’s implementation of MPEG-DASH delivers content with the lowest startup delay going down to 100ms from page load to first frame. Content created with bitmovin plays without buffering and in the best possible quality. Specifically, bitmovin provides 100% better quality without buffering compared to the next best industry solution. bitmovin’s product line consists of the cloud based video encoding service bitcodin (www.bitcodin.com) and the HTML5 adaptive streaming player bitdash (www.dash-player.com). These two products can be used independently, but when using both together you get the best possible experience. bitmovin actively participates in standardization bodies, including ISO/IEC MPEG, DASH Industry Forum, and IETF, which allows bitmovin to further extend its industry leading position in adaptive bitrate streaming.

www.bitmovin.com

bitmovin delivers what MPEG-DASH promises: video streaming with lowest startup delay and no buffering, in the best possible quality.


http://www.bitcodin.com

http://www.dash-player.com


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bitmovin.com

http://www.bitcodin.com


http://www.bitmovin.com


Reading back my article published

in the DASH Handbook in 2013, I think

nothing has really changed when it

comes to supporting DASH. It is still a

complex matter. From its earliest days,

Unified Streaming has been a strong

supporter of MPEG-DASH, already

having an implementation in 2011,

before the standardization was even

finalized. At that time it felt that these

were pioneering days, as we didn’t know

how the market would react and what

the adoption of market leaders would be.

Now we know that MPEG-DASH is here

to stay (probably), but we also see that

there is not merely one DASH profile. So

how do you cope with the creation of new

variants of DASH, and more importantly,

how do you reduce the time needed to

introduce new DASH profiles?

It might be naïve to think you can

simply package your content to DASH,

store it on a web server, and enjoy the

benefits (control, flexibility, and simplicity)

of the DASH standard. Many different

DASH profiles have been added over

the years, and taking into account the

dynamics on the DRM side, this introduced

even more complexity than simplicity.

So what is the secret of a successful

DASH implementation, then? The secret

is 2-fold, or maybe 3-fold: First of all: Stick

to the standards. As we provide packaging

software for offline (Unified Packager) and

just-in-time packaging (Unified Origin),

we ran into situations many times where

players didn’t play the video correctly.

Analysis on our side immediately led to

the conclusion that the standards were

not followed—by the player. This is in

line with the tips given by Hulu’s Baptiste

Coudurier, who said: “always follow the

standard, it’s your safeguard!” The second

recommendation is to do as much dynamic

packaging as you can. Dynamic packaging

or just-in-time packaging will give you

the flexibility, amongst other benefits

like saving on storage, that you require to

quickly introduce new DASH profiles or

add different DRMs. The third one seems

to be a no-brainer, but is probably the most

difficult to decide on: What source format

do you use, have you been using, and will

you use going forward?

To show you why I think these tips are

crucial for successful living with DASH,

we would like to briefly discuss the

BBC’s and maxdome’s use cases. Both

use Unified Origin, and maxdome uses

Unified Origin with multiple DRM’s.

USE DYNAMIC PACKAGING: BBC’S MEDIA FACTORY MOVE TO DVB DASH

In collaboration with BBC R&D and

BBC Media Services, we have added

support for DVB-DASH. By supporting

DVB-DASH, the BBC will offer DASH

streams on supported connected TV

devices, mobile platforms, and as an opt-

in on desktops via HTML5. The BBC’s

choice for DVB DASH is straightforward,

as it specifies both the on-demand and

live profile of MPEG-DASH and is the

main candidate to be referenced again in

the popular hybrid TV standard, HbbTV

V2. The BBC is using Unified Origin

in the cloud (AWS) to do just-in-time

packaging. As we have added DVB DASH

to Unified Origin, the BBC will simply

have to install the new Unified Origin

software, thus making DVB-DASH

available to their iPlayer viewers. Just-in-

time packaging made their lives easy, as

no changes to the catalog were required.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SOURCE FORMAT: MAXDOME IMPLEMENTING DASH WITH WIDEVINE MODULAR

When Google announced it would

drop support for the NPAPI standard in

Chrome, German VOD service maxdome

started to investigate a solution to stream

MPEG-DASH with Widevine Modular to

satisfy customers using Google Chrome

with the new maxdome HTLM5 MPEG-

DASH player. The main challenge here

was that the catalogue of maxdome

Tips for Successful Living with DASHBy Simon Westbroek, Unified Streaming


is 100% PlayReady encrypted Smooth

(PIFF). As Smooth and DASH are quite

close, we developed a new feature for

Unified Origin, called PIFF2CENC.

PIFF2CENC does what is says, using PIFF-

formatted content and transforming it to

CENC DASH, in this case in combination

with Widevine Modular. There is no

re-encryption needed; it just takes the

PIFF information and creates the CENC

boxes with appropriate PSSH signaling.

For maxdome, implementing PIFF2CENC

was quick and painless, and the best

thing of all is that using PIFF2CENC

(CENC) will open doors to quickly

implement other CENC DRMs for other

browsers. So what source format do

we advise? ISO Base Media File Format

(ISO-BMFF), or popularly known as: MP4

(including variants like fragmented MP4)

To recap a little upon what we have

done so far: In 2012 we showed PlayReady

protected DASH streaming for the VRT

2012 Olympics demo. At IBC 2012 we

showed DASH live streaming to HbbTV,

iPad, and desktop, which was one of the

attractions of the EBU stand. We support

DASH live and on-demand profiles but

also DASH264, and PlayReady, Marlin,

and Verimatrix are available for DRM. In

2013, we did the first CENC demonstration

at IBC with Inside Secure and NXP

software using PlayReady as DRM. As

for audio, next to AAC both DTS Express

and Dolby Digital+ are supported as well

as Fraunhofer’s HE-AAC multichannel

audio codec. We have added HEVC/H.265

streaming with DASH and recently added

support for DVB-DASH.

Sounds quite technical doesn’t it? Well,

for us at Unified Streaming and member

of DASH-IF it is business as usual. We will

support as many industry standards as

possible including DASH in all its variants.

We are fanatical in developing products

strictly according to specifications, which

in turn makes sure our customers don’t

lose any sleep at night.

Does that sound good to you? If so,

Unified Streaming Platform delivers on

the same “complexity reducing” promise

as that of DASH, but we also support all

the other formats like HLS, HDS, and

Smooth. So you don’t have to choose now,

but can say to your customers, “DASH?

Whenever you are ready, we have it. Tick

that box!”

If you’d like more information,

please contact us at:

[email protected]

ABOUT UNIFIED STREAMINGWe are a leading provider of cross-platform video streaming technologies. Dedicated to help companies to create and execute smart video streaming technologies. Our products are in operation around the world with customers ranging from broadcast networks and online content distributors to small companies and webcasters. The ease of use and reliability of our solutions allow customers to shorten their time-to-market. Our solutions fit into existing frameworks (Apache, IIS, Lighttpd, Nginx) thus allowing for greater return on existing investment. The Unified Streaming Platform (USP) provides streaming from one encode simultaneously to multiple players and devices in combination with various DRM’s.

Figure 1. PIFF2CENC overview. No need for re-encoding.




We all share a common goal: to delight

consumers with an effortless experience,

delivering the content they want

instantly, on the device of their choice.

But as the streaming landscape becomes

increasingly fragmented across devices,

browsers, streaming technologies

and security mechanisms; the task of

preparing, protecting and delivering

video content is far from effortless.

For pay TV operators, the picture is

even more complicated. They routinely

deliver the same content both “over

the top” (OTT) and over the broadcast

channel. Most achieve this by deploying

completely separate ecosystems for OTT

and broadcast VOD. This unnecessary

duplication increases staffing costs,

support overhead, and integration effort.

The inevitable result is an increase in both

time to market and total cost of ownership

for each new service and device.

Operators dream of a “silver bullet,”

a single technology stack that will allow

them to break down operational silos and

reach all device types in a single workflow.

They want to ingest, prepare, manage,

protect, and publish each content item

once for many platforms. HTML5 and

DASH have brought us a step closer to this

goal, with a shared code base for apps and

a single adaptive streaming mechanism

across many devices. However, the spread

of DASH won’t see other technologies such

as HLS vanish overnight.

Put simply, there is no silver bullet.

But there is scope for efficiency in a

landscape that involves multiple devices

and content protection mechanisms.

If operators are willing to break free of

existing silos, using DASH can allow

them to adopt a unified, flexible head-

end for both OTT and CA-protected

VOD. In this scenario, switching to

DASH can deliver tangible reductions in

operational expenses, integration effort,

and time to market as well as content

preparation and storage costs.

DASH IN ACTIONMany forward-thinking OTT services

have already adopted HTML5 and DASH

as their standards. Most have been driven

by Google’s decision to drop support for

Silverlight from Chrome. The momentum

grew as Microsoft moved away from

Silverlight for the Edge browser in Windows

10 and Mozilla added the new HTML5

standards Encrypted Media Extension

(EME) and Media Source Extension (MSE)

support and Adobe CDM to Firefox.

Several of Irdeto’s customers have

already made the switch to DASH,

using HTML5 players to serve premium

movies, TV shows, and sports content.

DASH streams are encrypted with DRMs

such as Google Widevine using Irdeto’s

Rights solution, which also protects

HLS streams using PlayReady DRM for

delivery to iOS devices.

One customer, for example, has been

successfully using DASH since March

2015. This leading European OTT provider

is now ideally placed to roll out additional

DRMs for the same DASH streams as the

browser and device market develops.

Working on these real-world

deployments has given Irdeto a deeper

understanding of the benefits and pitfalls

associated with DASH. In particular,

we can now give practical advice on

the essential factors to consider when

deciding whether to buy or build HTML5

clients, players and DASH packagers.

Irdeto’s integration specialists have

also seen first-hand the importance of

matching the DASH packaging feature set

with the capabilities of the player. This

is essential to ensuring interoperability

between the packaged content and the

consumer-facing client.

EXTENDING DASH BENEFITS TO BROADCAST VOD

HTML5 and DASH common

encryption (CENC) allow operators to

reach multiple OTT devices without

the effort and expense of encrypting/

packaging and storing multiple versions

of the same content. But for pay TV

operators who offer the same premium

content on secure STBs, it makes little

sense to limit their DASH roll-out to

OTT. The same DASH streams can be

encrypted with a common key that can

MPEG DASH: Bringing Benefits Beyond OTTBy Rodrigo Fernandes – Product Director, Irdeto


be delivered to devices through studio-

approved CA such as Irdeto’s Cloaked CA

or commercial DRMs, creating a truly

integrated hybrid service.

To successfully consolidate OTT and

broadcast VOD platforms, operators

need a unified head-end with a

management layer that abstracts content

business rules and user entitlement

information from individual protection

mechanisms. A single management

platform that governs both OTT and

CA services helps operators to reduce

the TCO of deploying, maintaining and

operating two separate systems.

In addition, it simplifies the video

delivery ecosystem, by reducing the

number integrations required between

different systems e.g. packagers/

scramblers and Subscriber Management

systems. This effectively halves the

costly and time-consuming integration

effort usually required for separate OTT

and broadcast VOD ecosystems.

A unified approach brings the goal

of effortless VOD management closer

to reality. Further efficiencies can be

achieved if content management is also

consolidated in a single platform.

SIMPLIFIED MULTISCREEN RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

After abstracting business rules

and entitlements from the protection

technology in this way, it’s much easier

to roll out services to new devices,

browsers and client applications. It also

becomes easier to enforce account-level

limitations imposed by content owners,

even in an environment with both CA

and multiple DRMs.

The end customer finds it perfectly

reasonable to start watching a film on

their phone and see the rest on their

laptop, connected TV, or STB. They

don’t know or care that this may involve

multiple DRM licenses plus a CA key. A

unified management platform, such as

Irdeto’s Integrated Management System,

allows the operator to track usage across

all protection mechanisms in a single

interface. Enforcing studio-mandated

rental periods for individual content

items becomes simple. Equally, the

operator can easily monitor and limit the

number of concurrent streams or unique

devices being used by each subscriber.

DASH IN THE RIGHT DIRECTIONSelecting a streaming technology

and management platform for the long-

term is not a decision any operator takes

lightly. Many existing and potential

customers have sought Irdeto’s advice

on adopting a unified, hybrid approach.

An integrated management platform

that supports best-in-class CA and all

major DRM types is the sensible solution.

Important selection criteria include the

availability of flexible APIs to facilitate

easy integration and a track record

of interfacing with leading encoder/

packaging technologies.

The DASH standard is DRM and

resolution agnostic, fitting it for a future

that is likely to include 4K, Ultra HD,

and a variety of new DRM technologies.

Recent talk of DASH royalties may be

troubling for any operator who has

considered (or already adopted) the

standard for their VOD platforms, but

the numerous benefits which DASH

can bring remain clear. With first-hand

experience of DASH deployments,

Irdeto’s multiscreen specialists have

become familiar with these and other

important considerations that apply to

all operators. From a relatively slow start,

DASH is now spreading. To truly reap the

benefits, broadcasters must be ready to

take the next step and standardize on

DASH for their VOD platform.

ABOUT IRDETOAt Irdeto, we believe that businesses must have the freedom to innovate and the confidence to take risks to be in control of their future. To help our customers take control, we secure their infrastructure and content and give them the flexibility for the future with a technology-agnostic and service-oriented approach. Irdeto’s powerful solutions and services enable content owners and providers to securely deliver media across all screens and devices in and out of the home, as well as allowing platform operators to offer innovative services beyond media. With over 40 years of expertise in security, we have the market insights from piracy and consumer data, knowhow and proven track record to be the trusted partner of choice. Irdeto’s unique heritage as a subsidiary of multinational media group Naspers (JSE: NPN) means that we are a well-established and reliable partner. Please visit Irdeto at www.irdeto.com


http://www.irdeto.com


Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over

HTTP (DASH), also known as MPEG-DASH,

is an adaptive bitrate streaming technique

that enables high quality streaming of

media content over the Internet delivered

from conventional HTTP web servers.

The industry is moving to the next

level of maturity with MPEG-DASH. The

NeuLion® Digital Platform has embraced

DASH. NeuLion is adding DASH to its

platform, as well as the industry leading

kits branded through MainConcept®

and DivX®. NeuLion handles the

challenging aspects of packaging,

content management, live services, and

playback to achieve a comprehensive

solution for internet video delivery.

Increased video quality through

resolution, color, brightness, frame rate,

and audio make it more important than

ever to embrace DASH for interoperability

and efficiency. Simply put, DASH is the

natural choice for the 4k resolution and

beyond. DASH helps normalize and scale

for these exciting formats and updates. It

also has the dramatic effect of decoupling

DRM from content packaging through

common encryption. All together, DASH

provides a solid foundation for the next

wave of internet content delivery.

Supporting DASH through the

end-to-end workflow is crucial. DASH

impacts a number of specific aspects of

the streaming value chain, from playlist

creation, muxing, and packaging to

HTTP server playlist/manifest file and

playback client. NeuLion has embraced

DASH in its widely used products to

ensure they work together, including

handling the demanding nature of live

events and managing an increasing

number of related assets.

With its professional and consumer

brands, NeuLion has a showcase

of solutions such as encoding with

MainConcept, delivery via the NeuLion

Digital Platform, and playback using

DivX Streaming on consumer electronics.

Using a common standard profile of “isoff-

live-2011” it allows a seamless flow of high

value content up to 4K (2160p). NeuLion

is there at every step of the way, ensuring

consistency and interoperability. In

addition, NeuLion provides all the features

to power revenue-producing internet video

delivery services that delight consumers.

NEULION DIGITAL PLATFORMThe NeuLion Digital Platform is a

complete content management system

and service able to support thousands of

live events with various business models

and levels of interactivity. It supports

NeuLion Digital Platform: Adding DASH In All The Right Places


adding metadata and interfaces for rich,

immersive sports viewing experiences

that keep customers engaged and

coming back for more.

The addition of DASH gives even more

peace of mind for handling complexity

and ensuring the broadest possible reach.

DASH fits seamlessly for content ingest,

encode, editing, protection, monitoring,

and delivery. Dynamic manifest

generation ensures up-to-date asset lists

as they arrive. With the DASH-enabled

platform, it is easier than ever to deliver

to multiple CDNs by simply changing

the base URLs. The platform was able to

plug in DASH quickly and seamless by

leveraging its established HLS workflow

for features such as ad-insertion.

Overall, supporting DASH enhances the

NeuLion Digital Platform and leverages

all its great features and capabilities.

PACKAGING AND ENCODING: MAINCONCEPT KITS

The quality and consistency of the

video bitstream is crucial to the overall

consumer experience. Some of the

most important and impactful DASH

specifications help guide the video

packaging process. The proven video

processing software development kits

from MainConcept are the primary

ingredients to enabling the best

possible video that supports DASH. The

MainConcept kit includes the following:

• DASH Muxing and Packaging SDK,

which includes the DASH MP4

multiplexer for H.264/AVC DASH-

264 compliant VOD profile creation

and playlist generation to be used in

conjunction with H.264/AVC SDK to

encode the AVC video stream

• DASH/H.265-compliant Live and

VOD profile creation to be used

in conjunction with HEVC SDK to

encode the HEVC video streams

• DASH-compliant AAC audio streams

for H.265/HEVC or H.264/AVC video.

Fraunhofer AAC Encoder is included

in both the H.264/AVC Codec SDK and

HEVC SDK

• DASH Live and VOD playback

achieved using DASH Demuxing and

Client SDK in combination w/ H.264/

AVC Decoder SDK or H.265/HEVC

Decoder SDK for PC Mobile SDK

enables DASH Demuxing and Client

for DASH.264 or DASH.265 playback

on mobile

Whether on its own or integrated as

part of the NeuLion Digital Platform, the

MainConcept kit provides you up-to-

date DASH functionality coupled with

the industry’s leading software encoder

for professional content packaging.

PLAYBACK: DIVX STREAMING IN CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Getting consistent and fully

functional playback on consumer

electronic devices is a challenge. Adding

DASH helps; however, getting it all right is

still a daunting task. The DivX Consumer

Electronics Software Development Kit

(SDK) and Certification Test Kit (CTK)

make it quick and easy to support DASH.

Implementing the DivX kits ensures

playback of thousands of live and

on-demand videos from the NeuLion

Digital Platform. The DivX CE SDK

benefits include the following:

• Implements the DASH specifications

in playback stacks specific for

live streaming

• Tunes parameters such as MBT,

TSB, and Segment size for 4K

live streaming

• Supports audio switching that

is critical for live streaming for

presenting different audio feeds as

separate tracks

• Allows client to optimize reading from

CDNs for the best 4K quality

• Provides ad insertion techniques in

CE platforms

• Leverages the CENC specification, for

easier integration into a robust DRM

and security framework

• Implement advanced techniques to

support massive scale security and

license delivery for 4K live streaming

DivX technology has provided the

expert core technology in getting

internet video on consumer electronics

devices. Adding DASH is the natural

step to the already comprehensive list of

formats and specifications supported by

DivX Certification.

CONCLUSIONGetting DASH to the next level of

maturity is an important step taken in

the NeuLion Digital Platform. All the

great features of the platform are further

enhanced by DASH, allowing it to grow

as video moves to higher quality levels.

The MainConcept and DivX kits handle

seamless packaging and playback.

DASH’s benefits of efficiency and

consistency will help NeuLion stay at

the forefront of Internet video delivery.

ABOUT NEULIONNeuLion is a worldwide leader specializing in digital video broadcasting, distribution and monetization. We deliver live and on-demand content to every Internet-enabled device imaginable; empowering media companies and wowing audiences around the world with interactive experiences leading the digital revolution.



OTT TV services are increasingly important to pay-TV service

providers as they deploy multiscreen offerings to complement

their core services and compete more effectively with internet-

based rivals. But delivering them to consumer electronic (CE)

devices such as PCs, tablets, smartphones, video game consoles,

and smart TVs presents several significant challenges regardless

of the operator’s network type—whether telco, cable, or satellite—or streaming

protocols like MPEG-DASH. These include keeping control over device platforms

themselves, over content security, and over the overall TV experience–which can be

best achieved through the implementation of a secure video player.

KEEPING CONTROL OVER DEVICE PLATFORMS

Service providers are dependent upon

strategic and technological decisions

taken by device manufacturers and

software platform providers. This can

leave them vulnerable, for example, to

changes in browser platforms used on

PCs and to the Android and iOS operating

systems powering mobile devices. This

can also mean that multiscreen TV

applications that worked previously may

suddenly stop streaming content, creating

havoc with subscribers and leading to calls

to customer-care centers, dissatisfaction

with the operator, damage to its brand,

and loss of revenue. We’ve seen this

happen recently with Google’s phasing

out of the Netscape Plug-In API (NPAPI)

in the Chrome browser. Rather than

cement and strengthen the relationship

between pay-TV service providers and

their customers, OTT TV—if not deployed

carefully—could potentially end up

undermining customer confidence.

KEEPING CONTROL OVER CONTENT SECURITY

Service providers also need to ensure

that content security standards are not

compromised by choosing a vertical,

per-device, per-platform, and per-browser

vendor approach, and that content usage

rules are respected. New industry

standards like MPEG-DASH have clearly

helped reduce streaming workflow

complexity as well as the risks and costs of

dealing with platform fragmentation. Yet

DASH does not answer all service provider

needs on its own. For instance, Hollywood

studios and other rightsholders need to

control content casting to larger screens

without authorization as it has become a

key concern in rights negotiations. A

secure player solution that can manage

this requirement and ensure that content

is played out on the intended screens as

laid down in the negotiated contract

(with secure reporting back to the

content rights owners) offers significant

value to service providers.

KEEPING CONTROL OVER THE OVERALL TV EXPERIENCE

Last but not least, the provision

of a consistent set of pay-TV-centric

features and use cases, available across

all devices and platforms, is absolutely

key to the success of service providers.

Here again, such capabilities are

best provided by a secure player with

advanced capabilities that enrich the

user experience while increasing ARPU

and customer loyalty as well as use cases

such as controlled content casting or

sharing between devices.

Delivering the Best Content on Every ScreenWhy implementing a secure video player strategy is the answer

By Simon Trudelle, Sr. Director Product Marketing, NAGRA


BEYOND SECURITY: WHY A SECURE PLAYER IS REQUIRED

In the early days of OTT TV, the

licensing of premium content was

mainly a DRM issue. While relying on a

studio-approved DRM is the norm, new

requirements—which result from the huge

uptake in OTT TV consumption and a new

market vision by content owners—have set

new expectations that increase the need for

service providers to adopt a multipurpose,

multiplatform secure player solution.

Today, service providers need to

look beyond content security to ensure

that their OTT TV services function

optimally. These include the provision of

the following:

• Video trick modes

• Multi-CDN interfacing and

dynamic selecting

• Multi-audio, close captioning and

multi-language subtitles

• Parental and device playout control

• Advanced features such as download-

to-go, electronic-sell-through and

dynamic advertising insertion

• Detailed user-behavior analytics

The implementation of all these

functions, that need to be packaged

together on the client side before

interfacing with backend systems, is best

achieved with a secure video player.

THE NAGRA MEDIALIVE SECURE PLAYER

NAGRA has more than 20 years of

industry experience in securing the

business models of some of the world’s

largest pay-TV service provider and has

delivered multiscreen OTT TV solutions

to more than 20 leading pay-TV operators

worldwide including DISH Network in the

USA, Canal+ Group in France, Telefonica/

Canal+ in Spain, and StarHub in Singapore.

The NAGRA MediaLive Secure Player,

which embeds NAGRA anyCAST PRM,

a DECE and DTLA-approved DRM, was

designed to give service providers a

powerful tool for delivering a superior,

seamless consumer experience that

translates into a fast ROI while reducing

risks in terms of customer satisfaction,

costs overruns, and content-security risks.

With the NAGRA MediaLive Secure

Player, service providers can enable OTT

services with the best content on every

screen along with the following:

• Faster time-to-market

• Better device reach

• Enhanced and consistent QoE

• Lower operational costs

• Fewer business risks

In addition, it ensures that service

providers are continuously protected

from potentially disruptive changes

by CE software providers and stay in

control of their OTT TV services as

technology evolves and as consumer

viewing habits develop.

For more information on how your

business can benefit from a secure player

strategy, download our latest white

paper and contact us at [email protected].

NAGRA is involved in the DASH

standardization effort and is the lead

editor of the recently released content

protection information exchange format

(CPIXF), a specification that allows DRM

license service providers to perform easier

pre-integration with other components of

the streaming backend such as encoders

and CDNs, hence delivering significant

cost savings while improving time to

market and agility.

ABOUT NAGRANAGRA, a digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), provides security and multiscreen user experience solutions for the monetization of digital media. The company offers content providers and DTV operators worldwide with secure, open, integrated platforms and applications over broadcast, broadband and mobile platforms, enabling compelling and personalized viewing experiences. Visit dtv.nagra.com for more information.



http://dtv.nagra.com


®

As each year passes, more and more web technologies are

heading in the direction of open standards, which is a great

thing. For decades, many industries have depended primarily

on open standards for interoperability. But these same

industries have often struggled to modernize and bring their

business to the web because of the lack of open standards.

The broadcast industry is a perfect example of a place

where this struggle has played out. Open standards have

allowed for interoperability between cameras, switching

boards, multiplexers, all manner of devices, even the radios

and televisions in consumers’ homes. While broadcasters

shifted from analog to digital broadcasts, a suite of standards

such as DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) were in place to

oversee the change.

Several competing standards stand in the way of

broadcasters as they work to bring their content and business

online, only a few of which are open. Currently, internet

media delivery tends to happen in one or two ways, either

through real-time protocols (such as RTP, RTSP, RTMP,

etc.) or through the use of HTTP delivery. Today, the most

popular delivery option for media over the internet is HTTP.

A major reason for this is the robust internet infrastructure

that already exists to support HTTP traffic. At the same time,

there are several competing non-open standards that make

up the vast majority of HTTP delivery.

Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), Adobe’s HTTP Dynamic

Streaming (HDS), and Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming (MSS) are

some of the more popular HTTP delivery standards today. Each

of these are solid choices, but they all share a single common

weakness—none are an open standard.

Fortunately, better days are coming. MPEG-DASH exists

as an open alternative to these closed standards. Two of the

three companies with proprietary closed standards have been

actively involved in the formation and promotion of DASH.

Thanks to the efforts of browser manufacturers, MediaSource

Extensions (MSEs, another open standard), have become

available in many browsers, allowing delivery of DASH content

without requiring any additional plugins.

Sadly, the most common delivery format in the U.S. is HLS,

and Apple has shown little interest in supporting MSEs in their

browser, although recent versions of Safari on Mac OS do include

MSE support. But a change is clearly on the way. That change

will result in a massive growth in DASH delivery. Soon enough,

Apple will be forced to embrace the current open standard or

risk losing content that has made their platform so appealing to

its customers. The irony lies in the fact that Apple has boasted

so often about being the leader of the “open web” movement;

meanwhile, the company is the main hindrance delaying the

success of this open standard.

Repeatedly, we are seeing customers who are interested in

making use of MPEG-DASH, but many are afraid that DASH isn’t

ready yet. We are frequently asked “How long until people start

using DASH?” What they don’t realize is that many high-profile

video providers have already made the switch to DASH. Today, the

vast majority of YouTube streams are delivered in DASH. Netflix

has also embraced MediaSource Extensions and Encrypted

Media Extensions to deliver DASH content to web browsers.

The reality is that people waiting for DASH to be ready and

in wide scale use before adopting it themselves need wait no

longer. DASH is here and is a viable and widely used standard

today, especially for delivery to browsers.

MSEs are used to to stream DASH content to browsers. They

are a set of extensions to the HTML specification provided

by the W3C, which allows a programmatic interface to the

HTML video tag. Using MSEs, individual pieces (segments)

of content can be handed to the video tag. Prior to MSEs,

playing video in a browser mostly involved specifying a full

video file, and allowing for the browser to play the whole file

back as it was downloaded. With MSEs, pieces of the file can

be downloaded and handed individually to the Video tag,

allowing for decisions to be made in the process. This allows

for features such as adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming, as the

decisions can be made to determine which quality of content

to play back next, seeking, trick play, etc. With the addition of

Encrypted Media Extensions (EMEs), the ability to play back

DRM protected content becomes available as well.

When Will DASH Be Real? Today!


At right is a simple example of a MSE player.

The first thing to notice is that this is a valid HTML

page, with JavaScript in the head element, and a video tag

in the body. The work is all done in the JavaScript to allow

interaction with the video tag through the MediaSource.

As the file begins, the necessary variables are created,

including an instance of the MediaSource, and an indication of

the numbering scheme of the segments. In a real world DASH

scenario, this information would be read from the manifest,

but for simplicity of explaining MediaSource Extensions, the

segment naming scheme is hard coded in this sample.

The startup method defines event listeners on the

MediaSource, gets a reference to the video tag and sets the

MediaSource as the source (src) of the video tag.

As the sourceopen event occurs, the opened method is

called. This method creates a sourcebuffer and adds it to

the MediaSource. Next it makes a request for the header

segment and appends the data into the source buffer

when it comes back. Lastly, it adds an event listener for the

updateend event, which notifies us that the header has

been read into the buffer. When updateend is heard, the

loadSegment method is called.

The loadSegment method checks if the current

segment number is lower than the maximum number of

segments (ie. Is there still content to be loaded) if there

is, it calls getSegment to load the next segment. The

getSegment method is very similar to the opened method,

except that instead of loading the header, it loads the

individual segments.

This is the process for how content can be streamed

using MediaSource extensions. For more complete

examples—which include manifest parsing, adaptive bit

rate, encrypted media extensions, and more—take a look at

dash.js, a fully free and open source DASH media player.

The future for DASH is bright, and we can all hope to work

with more open standards in the future.

ABOUT DIGITAL PRIMATESDigital Primates is an elite consultancy focused on engineering world class front end experiences. They have built video applications for the worlds most watched live events, and routinely build enterprise applications for many of the world’s largest brands. Their expertise includes virtually all internet connected devices including web browsers, plugins, desktop applications, mobile phones, tablets, connected TVs, and set-top boxes such as Roku, TiVo, and Chromecast.

Jeff Tapper is a Senior Technologist at Digital Primates. He has been building internet applications since 1995 and has authored over a dozen books on Internet technologies. He was the initial architect of the dash.js project, and is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world, including IBC, NAB, Streaming Media East and West, and many more. Jeff is based in New York City.

®


FEATURE ARTICLES

HULU’S MOVE TO DASHBy Nicolas Weil

The U.S. OTT service’s Baptiste Coudurier talks about the hard

work—and black magic—behind the smooth migration to MPEG-DASH,

which now accounts for 75% of its traffic

go2sm.com/dashguide1

HTML5 COMES OF AGE: IT’S FINALLY TIME TO TELL FLASH GOOD-BYEBy Jan Ozer

Media source extensions, encrypted media extensions, and DASH

offer new possibilities for player-based DRM and increase HTML5’s

appeal to video publishers.


AN UNHAPPY SURPRISE: MPEG LA IS FORMING A PATENT POOL FOR DASHBy Jan Ozer

Just when Media Source Extensions and Encrypted Media Extensions

are making HTML5-based video playback a reality, DASH royalties

threaten to derail it.


IS FLASH UNDEAD? WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO FINALLY KILL THE BEAST?By Robert Reinhardt

Everybody’s using HTML5 and MPEG-DASH these days, right? Not so

fast. Reports of Flash’s death have been greatly exaggerated.


THE STATE OF MPEG-DASH 2015By Nicolas Weil

Presenting the past, present, and future of MPEG-DASH, the standard

that’s transforming the entire video landscape in a quiet revolution.


THE STATE OF MEDIA SERVERS 2015By Tim Siglin

Do we even need media servers in 2015? You bet we do; HTTP servers

simply aren’t up to live streaming and adapting to new technologies.

Here’s a survey of the media server market as it stands today.


THE STATE OF VIDEO CODECS 2015By Jan Ozer

H.264 still accounts for most video encoding today, but HEVC/H.265

and VP9 are beginning to make noise. What will 2015 bring?


TRANSCODING TRENDS FOR 2015By Adrian Pennington

What are operators and MVPDs looking for from today’s transcoding

solutions? Automation, flexibility, and future-proofing are high on

the list, and the old hardware vs. software debate continues.


THE CHANGING FACE OF DRM: WHERE DO WE STAND IN 2015?By Jan Ozer

Digital rights management is more important than ever. Here’s a

look at the options available and how they can help you protect and

monetize your content.


HTTP/2.0 AND DASH: PLANNING TOMORROW’S IMPROVED VIDEO DELIVERYBy Christopher Mueller

In this guest post, Bitmovin’s CTO and co-founder explains how

HTTP/2.0 will solve the problems of previous generations and

seamlessly integrate with DASH.


RECOMMENDED READING AND VIEWING

PUBLISHED BY

Want to find out more about MPEG-DASH

and related news?

Check out these articles and videos from

Streaming Media.

WP84

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Authors/6268-Nicolas-Weil.htm

http://go2sm.com/dashguide1




http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Authors/6268-Nicolas-Weil.htm







WILL MSE/EME/DASH LEAD TO SIMPLER WORKFLOWS? DON’T BET ON ITBy Jan Ozer

What the online video industry needs is simple standards for reaching all

viewers. But when have standards ever simplified online video?


STREAMING MEDIA CONFERENCE VIDEOS

IMPLEMENTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES WITH MPEG-DASHEver wanted to zoom in to a player during a live basketball game, or have

your cellular network work with your phone to avoid re-buffering? This

session explores some of the new technologies being brought to the

table by the next version of MPEG-DASH to address these and other

enhancements in OTT delivery. This session covers server and network

assisted DASH (SAND), improved DASH streaming using HTTP 2.0,

WebSockets, and tile streaming using spatial relationship descriptors.


REPLACING FLASH: ADAPTIVE STREAMING AND DRM IN HTML5The Media Source Extensions and Encrypted Media Extensions 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 are considering replacing Flash with HTML5 standards-

based technologies, this session details how and when you can do it.


HOW TO: BUILDING A DASH VIDEO PLAYERAs the MPEG-DASH standard grows in popularity, a common question is

“Where are the players to consume DASH content?” In this session, we will

explore how to consume DASH content, including parsing the manifest,

retrieving the segments, choosing appropriate bitrates, and playing back the

content. This session will focus on playback natively in a browser without

plugins, but is also applicable to Flash, Android, and iOS developers.


DASH IN THE REAL WORLD: WHAT YOU CAN DEPLOY TODAYThis session examines commercial deployments of DASH based solutions

across the spectrum of media delivery. Learn from operators why they

made the decision to move to DASH, lessons learned in the practical

implementation of DASH, and future plans around this format. Come

find out what you can actually deliver using MPEG-DASH with existing

products and services in market today.


ULTRA HD QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE WITH MPEG- DASHA comprehensive overview of MPEG-DASH including where we are

headed in getting to Ultra HD distribution, for which UHD content is

one cornerstone. We provide a definition for Quality of Experience for

UHD MPEG-DASH- based services, and evaluate the QoE for UHD

MPEG-DASH-based services.


MPEG-DASH FOR DISTRIBUTION OF BROADCAST CONTENTExpanding on the previous MPEG-DASH session a panel of experts

discuss how content owners will be turning to MPEG- DASH for OTT

delivery, including production and distribution formats, workflow,

and network and device issues.


PUBLISHED BY

COMING NEXT ISSUESuperguide #7, Vol. 2, October 2015THE 2015 ENTERPRISE VIDEO SUPERGUIDEOne of the surest ways to improve an organization’s bottom line is to utilize online video for both internal and external communications. And unlike days past, when video communications were reserved for large-scale events, solutions are now available that make video the cost-effective choice for everything from executive announcements and external marketing to departmental presentations and small group training sessions. These solutions address many of the challenges faced in enterprise video applications, including the following: storage, indexing, searchability, closed captioning, translation, security, cloud vs. on-premise vs. hybrid, multiscreen compatibility, and future-proofing.

Download more Superguides at www.streamingmedia.com/whitepapers.Questions or suggestions about the Superguides? Contact [email protected] or call 250.933.1111 today.








www.streamingmedia.com/whitepapers



SUPERMARKETNEW GEAR • USED GEAR • SERVICES • JOBS • STARTUPS • MORE

COMING NEXT ISSUESuperguide #7, Vol. 2, October 2015

THE 2015 ENTERPRISE VIDEO SUPERGUIDE

Download more Superguides at www.streamingmedia.com/whitepapers.

Questions or suggestions about the Superguides? Contact [email protected]

or call 250.933.1111 today.

One of the surest ways to improve an organization’s bottom line is to utilize online video for both internal and external communications. And unlike days past, when video communications were reserved for large-scale events, solutions are now available that make video the cost-effective choice for everything from executive announcements and external marketing to departmental presentations and small group training sessions. These solutions address many of the challenges faced in enterprise video applications, including the following: storage, indexing, searchability, closed captioning, translation, security, cloud vs. on-premise vs. hybrid, multiscreen compatibility, and future-proofing.

Need Exposure? Qualified Leads? More Business? LOOK NO FURTHER. Streaming Media, an Information Today, Inc. company, is a diversified news media company serving and educating the streaming media industry and community. Originally founded in 1998, the company was sold by Penton Media to Information Today, Inc. in December 2002. Our business consists of three core areas: StreamingMedia.com, exhibitions and conferences, and research and publications. Led by a team of recognized industry experts, Streaming Media is dedicated to providing industry professionals and corporations utilizing digital media technology with global real-time news, resources, and services through editorial, discussion lists, feature articles, webcasts, and much more.

Streaming Media’s self-qualified 2013 C- & VP-level purchasing decision-maker audience represents billions of dollars of real annual budget ready to be spent on online-video-related products and services. Regarded as the “filter of the industry,” buyers turn to Streaming Media’s advertisers as “the trusted brands” to do business with in the space.

FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING PRINT, ONLINE, & EXHIBITION SALES, CONTACT:

North America and Rest of World Sales: JOEL UNICKOWPublisher, Streaming MediaTel: (250) 933-1111Mobile: (250) [email protected]

UK and Europe Sales: SJOERD VOGTTel: +44 (0)1367 241707 Fax: +44 (0)700 601 9221 Mobile: +44 (0)7810 253111 [email protected]

http://www.streamingmedia.com/About/How_to_Advertise

ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIPS

Axinom CMS enables media vendors to build customer solutions for management, encoding, and delivery of DASH Live and VoD streaming. Axinom Apps enable DASH video on all consumer devices (HTML5, iOS, Android, Windows, Xbox, Smart TV). Axinom DRM 6 is a highly scalable multi-DRM service (supporting Widevine, PlayReady and Fairplay).

AXINOMKurgartenstrasse37Fürth, BY 90762GERMANY

Phone: +49 [email protected]

http://www.axinom.com

www.streamingmedia.com/whitepapers


mailto:joel%40streamingmedia.com?subject=

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http://www.streamingmedia.com/About/How_to_Advertise

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2015 VOLUME 2 • NUMBER 6 OF A SERIES OF BUYER’S GUIDES TO PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

For information on participating in the next white paper

in the Superguide series, contact:

Joel Unickow, Publisher [email protected] Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055TEL: 250.933.1111 MOBILE: 250.797.5635

GOLD SPONSORDASH INDUSTRY FORUM3855 SW 153rd DriveBeaverton, OR 97003USAPhone: (503) 619-4119http://dashif.org

For recent articles that discuss the DASH-IF, see go2sm.com/dashif

SILVER SPONSORS

IRDETOTaurus Avenue 105Hoofddorp, 2132 LSNETHERLANDSPhone: +31 23 556 2000http://irdeto.com/index.html

For recent articles that discuss Irdeto, see go2sm.com/irdeto

NEULION1600 Old Country RoadPlainview, NY 11803USAPhone: (516) 622-8300http://www.neulion.com

For more information and recent articles about NeuLion, see go2sm.com/neulion

BITMOVINLakeside B01 315 Olson Way #317Klagenfurt, Kaernten 9020 Sunnyvale, CAAUSTRIA USAPhone: +43 664 88697790http://www.bitmovin.com

For recent articles that discuss bitmovin, see go2sm.com/bitmovin

UNIFIED STREAMINGStadhouderskade 54hsAmsterdam, 1072 ABNETHERLANDSPhone: +31 20 233 8801http://www.unified-streaming.com

For more information and recent articles about Unified Streaming, see go2sm.com/unifiedstreaming

NAGRARoute de Geneve 22Cheseaux, 1033SWITZERLANDPhone: +41 21 732 03 11http://dtv.nagra.com

For more information and recent articles about NAGRA, see go2sm.com/nagra

®

DIGITAL PRIMATES5450 N. Cumberland Ave.Suite 130Chicago, IL 60656USAPhone: (773) 693-7800http://www.digitalprimates.net

For recent articles that discuss Digital Primates, see go2sm.com/digitalprimates


http://dashif.org

http://go2sm.com/dashif

http://irdeto.com/index.html

http://go2sm.com/irdeto

http://www.neulion.com

http://go2sm.com/neulion

http://go2sm.com/bitmovin

http://go2sm.com/unifiedstreaming

http://dtv.nagra.com

http://go2sm.com/nagra

http://go2sm.com/digitalprimates

Documents

The 2015 MPEG DASH Superguide