Demystifying Video Delivery Protocols

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  • Demystifying Video Delivery Protocols (July)

Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 10:00am (PT)

When streaming hit center stage, it was dominated by RTMP and RTSP. But these were proprietary protocols, requiring dedicated servers and infrastructure. Then came chunked HTTP delivery which radically changed the game, enabling delivery to leverage established HTTP servers and technologies long used to serve web pages. Fast-forward to today and you have a bevy of streaming protocols available, from traditional technologies like RTMP and RTSP, to HTTP Adaptive protocols like HLS, MPEG-DASH, and CMAF, and newer entrants like SRT, WOWZ, and WebRTC. In this webinar, we’ll explore the pros and cons of the different streaming protocols for different use cases as well as looking at best practices for implementation including configuration tuning and other optimization that make the protocols operate at peak performance. Panelists for this exciting webinar included: – Ali C. Begen (Comcast) – Maxim Sharabayko (Haivision & SRT Alliance) – Kieran Kunhya (Open Broadcast Systems & RIST Forum) – Josh Pressnell (Penthera) – Barry Owen (Wowza) This panel was moderated by Jason Thibeault, Executive Director of the Streaming Video Alliance.

Webinar Recording

Topics Covered

  1. How do we classify protocols? Are there different protocols for ingest? For delivery? Specifically for streaming? What influences a streaming provider to choose one over another?
  2. What is the state of SRT today? Are we seeing a lot of adoption? Commercial deployments? What are the use cases it primarily addresses?
  3. RIST has recently come to the streaming world. What was the reason behind its development and how is it faring?
  4. WebRTC, as a delivery protocol, has seen a lot of interest, especially for ultra low-latency use cases (like gambling and sports). What are the primary differences between it and LL-HLS or LL-DASH?
  5. Are there performance or architectural considerations for choosing which live streaming protocol to use?
  6. What are the primary differences between today’s live streaming protocols (DASH, HLS, Smooth) and those before (RTMP and RTSP)?
  7. What are some of the decisions a streaming provider should make when selecting a low-latency protocol?
  8. Is the fragmentation of streaming protocols causing confusion for streaming platform operators, especially as streaming picks up stream as a viable replacement for traditional broadcast?
  9. How does scale impact the selection of a streaming protocol?
  10. What are the impacts of live streaming protocol choice on other parts of the streaming tech stack?
  11. What’s on the horizon for the current set of protocols? Are there new approaches and technologies being tested as well? Will we see another protocol in the next year? Two years?

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Panelists

Click on a panelist’s picture to visit their Streaming Video Alliance profile. Note: if their profile is not public, this will redirect to their LinkedIn profile.

Ali C. Begen ( at Comcast/NBCUniversal)

Ali C. Begen is currently a computer science professor at Ozyegin University and a technical consultant in Comcast’s Advanced Technology and Standards Group. Previously, he was a research and development engineer at Cisco. Begen received his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006. To date, he received several academic and industry awards (including an Emmy® Award for Technology and Engineering), and was granted 30+ US patents. In 2020 and 2021, he was listed among the world’s most influential scientists in the subfield of networking and telecommunications. More details are at https://ali.begen.net.

Barry Owen (Chief Solutions Architect at Wowza Media Systems)

No bio available.

Josh Pressnell (CTO at Penthera)

Joshua Pressnell is the Chief Technology Officer at Penthera. Pressnell joined Penthera after a long career as a military contractor developing chemical and biological defense systems and standards. He has brought his extensive experience in real-time software to the mobile software development industry, and quickly built a stellar reputation as an independent developer of top-ranked and top-grossing iOS mobile apps. Pressnell joined Penthera in 2011 as the iOS Team Lead, eventually taking on the role of Director of Engineering, and now Chief Technical Officer.

Kieran Kunhya (Founder/CEO at Open Broadcast Systems)

Kieran Kunhya is the Founder and Managing Director of Open Broadcast Systems, a world leading broadcasting software company, and a Director of the RIST Forum. He leads a team of engineers who push the boundaries forward with using software and IT equipment in a live broadcast environment. Under his direction, Open Broadcast Systems has worked with many leading broadcasters, facilitating both IP and IT for video contribution and in building next-generation IP facilities.

Maxim Sharabayko (Sr. Software Developer at Haivision)

No bio available.

Ali C. Begen ( at Comcast/NBCUniversal)

Ali C. Begen is currently a computer science professor at Ozyegin University and a technical consultant in Comcast’s Advanced Technology and Standards Group. Previously, he was a research and development engineer at Cisco. Begen received his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech in 2006. To date, he received several academic and industry awards (including an Emmy® Award for Technology and Engineering), and was granted 30+ US patents. In 2020 and 2021, he was listed among the world’s most influential scientists in the subfield of networking and telecommunications. More details are at https://ali.begen.net.

Barry Owen (Chief Solutions Architect at Wowza Media Systems)

No bio available.

Josh Pressnell (CTO at Penthera)

Joshua Pressnell is the Chief Technology Officer at Penthera. Pressnell joined Penthera after a long career as a military contractor developing chemical and biological defense systems and standards. He has brought his extensive experience in real-time software to the mobile software development industry, and quickly built a stellar reputation as an independent developer of top-ranked and top-grossing iOS mobile apps. Pressnell joined Penthera in 2011 as the iOS Team Lead, eventually taking on the role of Director of Engineering, and now Chief Technical Officer.

Kieran Kunhya (Founder/CEO at Open Broadcast Systems)

Kieran Kunhya is the Founder and Managing Director of Open Broadcast Systems, a world leading broadcasting software company, and a Director of the RIST Forum. He leads a team of engineers who push the boundaries forward with using software and IT equipment in a live broadcast environment. Under his direction, Open Broadcast Systems has worked with many leading broadcasters, facilitating both IP and IT for video contribution and in building next-generation IP facilities.

Maxim Sharabayko (Sr. Software Developer at Haivision)

No bio available.

Moderated by Jason Thibeault

CEO

Jason Thibeault is the Chief Executive Officer of the Streaming Video Technology Alliance, the international association of companies collaborating to solve critical challenges in delivering a better streaming video experience and increasing adoption. Prior to this role, Jason spent eight years at Limelight Networks, a leading CDN, where he held several roles including product manager and marketing strategist. Jason is an inventor on multiple technical patents in the streaming industry and a proven entrepreneur. He is also a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine.

About the Streaming Video Technology Alliance

The Streaming Video Technology Alliance is the international technical association addressing critical challenges in streaming video. By educating the industry on the technical nature of the issues, providing a neutral forum for collaboration across the video ecosystem, and publishing documentation that defines technical solutions, the SVTA is helping to improve the streaming video experience at scale. Over 100 companies including network operators, content rights holders, OTT platforms, service providers, and technology vendors – representing some of the biggest names in global streaming – participate in bi-weekly working group activities and quarterly face-to-face meetings.