In 2014 we had published an article on our blogo entitled: “So You Want to Webcast in HD – WHY???”
In that long ago techno-stoneage era, the post had tried to dissuade event managers from webcasting in High Definition – this was due to bandwidth limitations of their viewing audience, who may have been unable to handle the high bandwidth required by HD streams.
Well, you’ll be happy to know that times have changed!
With the advent of MBR (Multi-bitrate) Streaming, it is now possible to stream in a way that accomodates viewers with any type of Internet connection – high or low!
MBR streams allow viewers to watch a video stream without freezes or jitters, regardless of their Internet connection speed, while we webcast your event in 3 speeds simultaneously – High Definition, Standard Definition and Low Definition.
This is how we do it using a ‘Multi-bitrate’ Broadcast…
MBR Streaming is where the webcaster would be sending out multiple streams at different ‘bitrates’ simultaneously. For example…
- 240p at 400 Kbps (for mobile devices)
- 480p at 800 Kbps (for slower connections)
- 720p at 2 Mbps (for regular connections)
- 1080p at 4 Mbps (for high speed connections)
We are of course assuming that the event venue has enough Internet bandwidth to support a total Mbps of all four streams (which in this case would add up to 7.2 Mbps X 2 = 14.5 Mbps) – this is a facility most hotels and conference rooms typically provide. You would thus be catering to the needs of ALL your viewers, without the inevitable frustrations of a slow, single stream webcast.
But how, you may ask would the viewer’s browser and video player know to select which stream speed? Surely they cannot view all 4 speeds at the same time?
This is where our Adaptive Video Player springs into action!
Old video players could only handle one stream at a time. Modern, Adaptive Video Players on the other hand, have the technology to detect the viewer’s local connection speed on the fly and select the correct stream out of the four, to match the viewer’s exact requirements.
So if you, as the event manager, truly care for your audience’s QoE (Quality of Experience) you would be:
- Inquiring as to how your webcaster intends to stream the video.
- How much upload bandwidth your event venue can provide for streaming.
Attention to these two details (among others) would ensure the best QoE for your audience and to the eventual success of your Live Webcast.
At MediaStreams Communications, we routinely stream live video using Multi-bitrate Streaming (assuming the venue can handle the outgoing bandwidth – which they usually can).
The relationship between bitrate (bits per second) and video resolution is explained more clearly in our other post – “The Relationship between Video Quality & Viewer Experience”.
Call us at 604.970.5055 or visit our website to send us an email, for more information on how we use this technology to improve the quality of your next Live Event Webcast.