Smooth Streaming Technical Overview

John A. Bocharov(jboch@microsoft.com)

Program ManagerMicrosoft Corporation

What is Smooth Streaming?

Cacheable HTTP-based delivery method for video, audio, text, and metadata

Platform-enabling technology for rich user experience and video monetization

Feature in IIS Media Services end-to-end media delivery platform

IIS Media Services Platform

User experience that smoothly scales to true HD

Best quality for the moment given network/CPU

Responsive interactivity (instant start/seek)

Platform to monetize video on the web

User engagement tracking and rich reporting

Technology that scales to your business

Industry-leading scale at lowest cost

Cacheable HTTP to align with Web infrastructure

Features: Smooth Streaming (VOD & Live), Smooth Streaming Client, Advanced Logging, Bit Rate Throttling, Web Playlists

Traditional Streaming• Responsive User

Experience• Bandwidth Use• User Tracking

Progressive Download• Works from a

Web Server• World-wide scale

w/HTTP

Challenges• No cacheability• Separate,

smaller streaming networks

Challenges• Limited User

Experience• User tracking• Bandwidth Use

(20% watched)

Streaming and Prog. Download

●User Tracking●Bandwidth Use●Responsive User ExperienceTraditional Streaming

Progressive Download●World-wide scale w/HTTP●Works from a Web Server

●Separate, smaller streaming networks●No Challenges

Smooth Streaming:Best of both approaches

Traditional Streaming• Responsive User

Experience• Bandwidth Use• User Tracking

Progressive Download• Works from a

Web Server• World-wide scale

w/HTTP

Movie

Media Delivery Approaches

Traditional Streaming

Smooth Streaming

Movie

Progressive Download

Play Seek Pause

Video @ 01:04?Video @ 01:06?

Video @ 01:08?

The "Last Mile" Challenge

Edge Server

The “Last Mile” from Server to Client

Low BandwidthFast CPU

High BandwidthSlow CPU

“Best quality I

can download”

High Bandwidth Fast CPU

“Best quality I

can render”

“Best quality, period ”

Conditions change every second

Adapting Bit Rate in Real-Time

2.4M

…

300K

Bit Rate Heuristics

300K @ 00:00?700K @ 00:02?

2.4M @ 00:04?1.5M @ 00:06?

2.4M @ 00:08?

00:00 00:02 00:04 00:06 00:08300K (start quickly)

700K (good network)2.4M (great network)

1.5M (glitch)2.4M (play on…)

Scaling: Streaming Networks

Edges maintain 1:1 link with each client

Client sends commands: play, pause, seek, etc.

Server sends media packets

Every server must be a streaming server

Typically one tier of edge servers

Streaming capacity limits audience size

e.g. US Presidential Inauguration

Using a Streaming Network

Challenge: Scale(“The Day Live Web Video Streaming Failed Us”)

Media Origin

Media Edges

Scaling: HTTP Networks

Comparatively massive

e.g. Akamai has 36,000 HTTP caches (Source: SmoothHD.com)

Many tiers of HTTP caching used

HTTP caches are everywhere

ISPs

Enterprises

Remote regions

HTTP capacity not a limiting factor

Using an HTTP Delivery Network

HTTP Origin

HTTP Edge

Servers

Remote Region

HTTP Distribution

Servers

ISP

Enterprise

Scaling: Smooth Streaming

Every N seconds is a cacheable object

Makes full use of existing HTTP networks

Adding a media origin enables streaming

Existing caching networks provide fanout

Media-aware caches add incremental value

Not a hard requirement to stream

Using Smooth Streaming

Media Origin

Media Distribution

Servers

Media Edge

Servers

Client-Server Platform Features

Advertising-based monetization

End-to-end platform for seamless ad insertion

Extensible business logic for asset selection

Advanced Logging

Real-time integration for log data

Rich user engagement data to improve ROI

Centralized client logging for large networks

Playback rate control and smooth scrubbing

Summary Getting Started w/Smooth Streaming

Reasons to use IIS Media Services

Light up your Web Site with Media

Give your users the best playback experience

Use platform components to scale and monetize

Start with IIS Media Services today by

Optimizing your Prog. DL content (1.0)

Solving the “Last Mile” w/Smooth Streaming (2.0)

Using Live, Advanced Logging, and Edge Caching (3.0)

Try IIS Media Services at http://iis.net/media

Expression Encoder: http://microsoft.com/expression

Silverlight: http://silverlight.net

Demos and Showcases

http://iis.net/media/experiencesmoothstreaming

http://smoothhd.com

http://www.us.nextcdn.com/Silverlight.htm

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conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.