Optibase is using software encoding..................................
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Optibase Eyes A 'Smarter' Way To Stream DV
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A corporate network only has so much bandwidth to allot, so bringing bitstreams below 100Kbps is important to businesses. But the problem with that practice is that with ISO-standard-compliant MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 decoders, hardware and software will not play back video encoded at less than 30 frames per second at the proper speed (with the lowest possible bitrate between 300Kbps and 400Kbps).
So how do you balance the competing requirements? The solution is frequently to live with the less-than-stellar video rather than bring a network to its knees. But it doesn't have to be, or at least that's the rationale pitched by MPEG codec developer Optibase Inc.
The company has devised a way for its encoders to "trick" standard decoders into recognizing a 100Kbps (24fps) file as a normal MPEG file, then play it back as synchronized video.
The process, which Optibase calls "smart multiplexing," encodes broadcast-quality video into MPEG bitstreams of 100Kbps or less, shrinking the size of files so they demand less of a network's available capacity.
The company has integrated the process into its latest DV transmission solution, the MPEG ComMotion UDP (v. 2.5), which encodes and sends high quality MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 streams in real time over a broad range of standard TCP/IP networks.
Optibase officials assert that smart multiplexing is substantially more cost-efficient than competing products.
We have a "thorough understanding of the bits and bytes of MPEG encoding and transport stream multiplexing," said Brian Dean, director of strategic business development for Optibase. "And we were able to find ways to trick standard decoders into recognizing bitstreams of less than 30 fps as though they were normally encoded streams.
"If a 400 Kbps file shrinks down to 100 Kbps, then that data can be streamed across the network using only 25 percent of the original bandwidth requirement, without incurring any loss of image or audio quality," he added. The savings in network capacity can then be devoted to the transport of other important data traffic the corporate intranet must accommodate.
Smart multicasting gives the company an edge in the corporate market, but the company knew it would need to add more capabilities to compete. With the MPEG ComMotion UDP upgrade, Optibase enhanced the efficiency of its encoders a little more by adding support for IP Multicasting, an industry-standard networking protocol for streaming Internet Protocol-encapsulated data from one source to many destinations simultaneously.
ComMotion turns its encoders into IP Multicast transmitters that use MPEG compression to packetize live or tape-delayed video according to the IP format and stream it in real time to the desktop. It also takes video from a variety of sources and formats, and compresses it from 56 Kbps video-only, up to 15 Mbps, or broadcast-quality video with audio.
In addition to the software, ComMotion consists of: ComMotion Transmitter, which sends stream at rates of up to 15 Mbps to single or multiple network clients; and aComMotion Receiver, which plays back incoming streams at remote sites onto composite and VGA monitor screens, or transfers data to a PC for local storage.
If a corporate intranet network is based on either 10 Base T or 100 Base T Ethernet, which moves data at 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps respectively, (less 20 percent due to operational overhead), even sending 100 Kbps files can potentially tax a network if everyone requests a copy of a file simultaneously. Rather than have a video server generate ten copies of a file, IP Multicasting technology makes it possible for the server to send one copy of the file which can be viewed by a single individual, by groups, or by the entire enterprise.
Through the use of IP network protocols, the Windows-based ComMotion is able to send encoded video seamlessly to third-party servers, regardless of whether they are running IRIX, Unix, or Sun platforms.
While the video encoding is handled by a PC running ComMotion the encoded signals are then fed seamlessly to third-party servers via TCP/IP connections, then distributed to the network clients. The tool will support Silicon Graphics, Inc.'s [SGI] WebFORCE Media Base video server software, the Oracle [ORCL] Video Server, and supports Microsoft's ActiveMovie software decoder for playback.
"Our primary focus is on the integration of our enhanced networking technology with the industry's leading servers, by vendors such as SGI, Oracle, and Starlight, as well as in IP Multicasting software, by such companies as Starlight and Precept Software," Dean said.
Starlight Networks has already used Optibase's software developers kit, to implement "smart multiplexing" technology in its own IP Multicasting software product, called StarCast, as well as its StarWorks video server. Optibase's MPEG-2 technology and Starlight's StarCast are integral parts of a corporate intranet serving Smith Barney's 10,000 client PCs. (Optibase, 408/260-6760) |
