Turnkey Web Video Publisher Finds Way to Deliver DVD-Quality Video (January 2007)
One Content Supplier Claims It’s Using the Technology to Delivery HD over High-Tier Broadband
By Peter Lambert
Delivery of Web-based content has crossed an important threshold with the introduction of full-screen DVD-quality video streaming based on technology supplied by turnkey video publisher and distributor GridNetworks.
Long-tail video aggregator ReelTime Rental and game-related movie developer GW Channel are the first programmer clients for GridNetworks' platform, which overcomes bandwidth barriers to very high-quality video streaming by breaking video files into thousands of segments and distributing them across a hybrid peer-to-peer/content delivery network. While ReelTime claims only to achieve full-screen DVD-quality for standard definition video, GW Channel claims it is delivering files in HD over the network to a game-player audience typically outfitted with faster than average broadband connections.
Availability of HD content over the broadband Internet tops industry research firm In-Stat's "featured predictions" in its recently released "In-Stat Predictions 2007."
However, real-time streaming of even standard-definition video in full-screen, DVD quality (720 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second over a typical 1.5 mbps connection) itself would mark a breakthrough for living-room quality video streaming as an instant-viewing alternative to waiting several hours per video file download before viewing.
"Whether you blow up to 42-inch or 120-inch display, we achieve the quality people already expect from DVD or cable TV on their TVs," says ReelTime Rental founder and CEO Barry Henthorn.
GridNetwork's formatting process breaks video files into six-second segments, as many as 10,000 per video. The company's GridCast streaming video delivery service also combines the best of traditional content delivery network (CDN) and peer-to-peer (P2P) media distribution architectures, says CEO Jeff Payne.
Rather than requiring deployment of expensive local edge proxy servers, the GridNetworks CDN extends edge capacity through its GridCast Core software and GridCast Player client software residing on subscriber PCs. "All subscribers hold onto many segments in an encrypted area on the hard drive, spreading the load across many, many nodes, and they can share with friends across a broadband neighborhood," Payne says. As it receives a video stream, the client player acquires each sequential movie segment by seeking the topologically closest source, looking across as many as 16 sources, including the encrypted areas on peer subscriber hard drives.
Through edge server savings, Payne estimates that the cost of "GridCasting" full-screen, instant-on, DVD quality video is about half as much as traditional CDNs, which lowers the barriers to market entry for content owners seeking to compete with big players on the Web. "In terms of marketplace opportunity, GW channel is a perfect example of putting a small company on a level playing field with large media companies as it seeks worldwide exposure to millions of consumers," he says.
Those economics were also key to ReelTime's September video rental and subscription service launch over GridNetworks, says ReelTime's Henthorn.
"With a server-based CDN, you have to pay for bandwidth every time something is watched, so with popular titles and multiple concurrent streams, you get a centralized bandwidth glut, and your quality is more challenged," he says. By contrast, with the P2P/CDN hybrid and segmented file system, "bandwidth costs are shared by users themselves, so it's far less costly than over a traditional CDN. Your costing can come down to where you can afford to offer subscription TV and assume a very long tail content role."
Citing "a fair amount of development" behind the Grid technology, Henthorn says competitors won't match the quality results overnight. "To our knowledge, there's not a better end-to-end delivery system available. In this game, if you don't have some type of distributed network, you're at a disadvantage. As congestion happens, it will be increasingly a game of efficiency."
Payne says other video vendors have signed on to the GridNetworks service, and the company is in discussions with major media companies who "say they are getting killed by standard CDN costs."
The GridCast client software, which is both a viewer with VCR functionality and a source of intelligence for sharing content with peers, "all works within Windows Media and with Macromedia Flash" he says. "Underneath is the player taking care of the sharing, which is lightweight, so it does not press on the end user's bandwidth or step on VoIP calls or online gaming," or other concurrent applications.
Serving more than five million viewers through third-party video distributors, GW Channel previously had provided only downloads of its feature-length films including ClanWars and Militia 2 and other original programming, which it produces to promote specific videogames and related products.
However, even for those who had paid a subscription fee to get first in line for new releases, "you had to wait several hours for the download," says GW Channel founder Daniel Frome. "It makes much more sense to stream."
As of November, GW Channel is satisfied it has a way to stream even HD content over limited bandwidth. With in-house expertise in encoding and other production skills, GW is producing files at 720 x 1280 resolution, "where HD starts," Payne says, for targeted customers with connections who tend to have faster than 2 mbps connections.
By the end of 2006, Frome says members also will be able to upload and distribute their own DVD and HD video files on GW Channel.
"Our Web site is for the ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder] generation who wants to see things right away," he says. "It's not just about hosting on our own site, but delivering at top quality. We have about a hundred titles in the pipeline and develop a lot of the content, so we care about pixels."
Frome says the streaming capability also alters the revenue landscape for GW. "In 2005, ClanWars had over 100,000 downloads in the first 48 hours after release, but the company that distributed the film for us retained most of the advertising and subscription revenues," he says. "By cutting out the middle man and contracting with GridNetworks, GW Channel can stream its own films and directly collect advertising and subscription revenues. We also get to brand GW Channel, not a third party, as the premier online destination for gamer films and programming."
However, for programmers who want it, syndication also figures into GridNetworks' offering. The service abstracts the publishing process from distribution by providing an interface to its Media Vault that captures all business rules and metadata for multiple languages, so GW and other programmers can export some sets of their catalogs, establishing business rules via an XML capture by authorized syndication sites.
Payne suggests that advances in cable, DSL and other broadband operator access speeds will make it yet easier for programmers like GW Channel to deliver HD in 2007. Further, he anticipates announcing deals with consumer electronics makers in early 2007 to bring GridNetwork content to the TV as well as the PC.
"This is enabled by broadband, so we are able to deliver with central command and control all sorts of content to broadband-connected devices," he says. "The vast majority are terminating on PCs, but set-tops and game consoles are important going forward for this high-quality, long-form entertainment content. We're working with two manufacturers. Early in 2007, you'll see deals where we compile on set-tops. The same with game consoles. We need to be on those devices, including TiVo, as well."
